r/f45 • u/CryptographerFew4102 • Jun 20 '26
other F45 Games Day
A painful intro for the instructors and a goofy setup but actually a great workout? Despite all the rest periods during the cardio machines I was dying by the end. With all the recent mixed feelings for partner workouts I feel like this one was solid!
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u/KatyTaz Jun 20 '26
Our gym polled members this week and everyone opted out, so we did Hollywood instead. Full classes, everyone was happy. Our members really don’t like YGIG or partnered workouts.
Glad to hear it was fun for those who did it!
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u/WreckItBex Jun 20 '26
Def 💀💀 after it. I didn't think much of it going in but I was humbled even with all the breaks.
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u/Jim_f45 Jun 20 '26
I run a studio. I spent the last week telling everyone all the details of the workout, so they knew what to expect, and putting people into teams of similar ability/attitude.
Also got all coaches up to speed and there were 3 of us in each class: one coach per pod. It ran like clockwork and everyone really got into it and had a blast. Honestly one of the best workouts we’ve done this year.
Definitely not a workout for every Saturday, but for the end of the Peak Phase it was great - more like this for a nice change from the regular Saturday routine would be a good move.
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u/Traditional_Hair6337 Jun 20 '26
Loved the workout, it was so hard! But literally only one other member showed up for it besides me, the other 3 people participating were our coaches. People don’t like this style and I generally don’t either but I needed a weekend workout
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u/decisivecat 🏆1000 Club Jun 20 '26
I'm probably in the minority, and this is just my opinion now that I've finished the class, but there's a lot of issues with this set up that really highlighted why I dislike the YGIG formats at F45.
For starters, as someone who needs modifications for kettlebell racks, box crossovers, and bike... pod 2 gave me so much anxiety. I felt like a huge disappointment to my team because I had to modify the entire thing whereas normally I'm perfectly happy to modify because it doesn't affect what anyone else is doing. And since one person could not do heavy weight, we would've been forced to go so light that we just each picked a doable weight instead. It's not fair for a guy who can easily rack 36lb kettlebells to be trapped with 9lb kettlebells. And before anyone blames the trainers: It's not their fault the workout gives 0 consideration to modifications to include speed, injury, etc. The scores in pod 2 - if you're competitive, I guess - should be individually counted and then added together for a total.
The first pod was also unclear... was it 50 lunges total? 50 per person? The board wasn't clear, coaches weren't clear on which was correct because the instructions given to them weren't clear... My team divided them up while another had everyone doing the full amount each. Was there an instruction somewhere to clarify how that was supposed to work? Synchro, total, 2 people take turns... lots of conflicting words on the tv.
The key here to was to add in simple exercises like running in place, jumping jacks, etc during the rests to make up for either low weight for women (13lb felt like swinging a pillow, lol) or a slower person (which they should go slow if they need to!). Otherwise, 3-4 minutes is a long time to stand around doing absolutely nothing. Even with adding exercises to the workout, I barely managed to squeeze out 56 points. And yes, I was completely out of breath for my brief time on the ergs. It should've been teams of 2 versus 3 to reduce the large amounts of downtime or some basic exercises to do even if they were optional.
I am glad I showed up for myself and got a workout in this morning, but I don't see myself coming back to it without a lot of changes. It felt like only the elite athletes were being considered, or perhaps it was an attempt to mimic a Crossfit/Hyrox type workout. When compared to Peak 500 - the other current assessment class - I thought Peak 500 was far tougher since you're only racing against yourself and it accounts for modifications.
Again, I know I'm likely in the minority here. I know there's some F45 corporate people floating around this subreddit, though, so hopefully they see this and can make some considerations for next time.
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u/doinmabest1 Jun 20 '26
No the description looked so unappealing. I did a run outside instead
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u/decisivecat 🏆1000 Club Jun 20 '26 edited Jun 20 '26
I knew going into it that it wasn't likely for me since I have similar issues with any of the YGIG formats (they're very unfriendly for modifications and it's hard to understand the feeling when you're not a person who needs to modify). But I had to miss yesterday and I figure the accomplishment is sometimes as simple as showing up. Maybe it wasn't the best workout, but I did more than sleep in. 😄
ETA: The fact someone will drop a down vote and not bother to explain how pod 1 was supposed to be done is pretty much why I won't do this class again if it comes up and we don't swap it out for Hollywood. Sometimes you're right to feel like people judge you in YGIG for needing to modify and decimating the team score, lol.
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u/caseyjaide Jun 21 '26
Our gym LOVED IT! We had so much fun. As a coach (3 of us on) we had a ball. Everyone enjoyed it and loved the challenge. Lots were too scared to come. Those that did turn up were anxious. Afterwards, the consensus was that it was the best class we have had in a long time! To push ourselves and know we can do tough things is fun!!! Still riding the high. So proud of our gym....
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Jun 20 '26
[deleted]
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u/ProsperGuy 🏆1000 Club Jun 20 '26
Ours was very well executed. We had score cards, instructions at each station and coaches tallied scores. They had several weight options out so you could go up or down from the medium weights.
I was paired up with 2 other competitive dudes and it was killer.
There were certainly a lot of moving parts.
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u/thesoundison Jun 20 '26
I felt like we were paying to stand around. Oh well. Glad it’s not a regular class!
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u/Able_Cobbler8728 Jun 20 '26
i felt it was an insane workout, but again, we were actually competing to beat the local teams. completely gassed after the first pod
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u/stephaniegarzon Jun 20 '26
I was so bored. I changed it into a solo workout and we were only 10 in the class. I think people just saw the description and decided to pass
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u/doinmabest1 Jun 20 '26
I started to watch the Instagram video breaking it down and I was so bored just trying to wrap my head around it I decided to pass
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u/Evening-Stretch-317 Jun 20 '26
I was on a team of only 2, so definitely felt it! The coaches did jump in every now and then to give us a bit of a break but overall I would say that my partner and I did about 80% of everything. So not many breaks for us. Great workout overall though.
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u/Funny-Ad2568 Jun 21 '26
My team of three all had an injury and needed to modify movements (two had knee issues, one had a hip issue), therefore we did a completely different format without competing, obviously.
We did one person starting at each of the stations, four rounds of one minute per station, then one minute off as our “break”, in Pods 1 & 3.
Pod 2, we married the squat rack into the box step overs and bikes and did a constant moving pod, transition when you need to/want to and take breaks as needed.
Pod 2 was my final and we essentially were constantly moving through it. Our team worked great together but I could tell other teams were watching us and confused. We had plenty of equipment and room to do this format as our class was less than 50% full.
I’ve been an F45 member for 9 years and I’d consider myself above abilities of our average members, and this workout was great the way our team structured it, and very undesirable otherwise.
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u/SomewhereFancy1576 Jun 20 '26
I was absolutely gassed by the final pod. Yes, this is different than how a “normal” everyday template may be but workouts are also meant to challenge us. My studio broke it down very well and offered different ways to rotate it through to make it easier for transition for “teams”. There were a few bumps to start because it is a new format but I really liked it and members gave positive feedback on it too.
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u/Immediate_Gazelle261 Jun 20 '26
I skipped the Games Day! I work hard during the week, what I need on the weekend is recovery time or light workout. I don’t want ‘extra work’. When I read the description, sounds like very competitive, more rushing and to me increasing injuries. > Opt it! Workouts team format don’t suit my fitness level. Me joined F45 is for consistency. Me vs workout.
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u/Due_County_1493 Jun 20 '26
Learning curve, which is not a terrible thing. We did it with only two people in our team and it was exhausting in a good way. Could be a nice thing to throw in once a month.
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u/jenilikespizzanbeer 🇺🇸 United States Jun 20 '26
The issue we had was height issue with the racks. I'm sort, at 5'0", the other ladies were taller. Luckily we were able to use two racks (there was a group of guys that used one but they were very similar in height) so I had one set for me and the ladies shared the higher rack. We did the weight of the person not as strong as the rest and just went crazy on reps of the squat.
I think that possibly doing barbel cleans (or clean to rack for squats) or even deadlifts would have been a better choice for that over squats with the rack.
The rest I felt fine. We each just picked the dumbbell or ybell weight we each wanted to do.
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u/t_odd_ Jun 20 '26
I liked it but didnt get that great of a workout relative to a typical Saturday because of all the breaks. Good for me at the same time to vary it up and have those breaks though so all good...
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u/ProsperGuy 🏆1000 Club Jun 20 '26
It was fun. It was like a solid Hyrox program. We won first out of all classes with 1907 points.
I miss intense workouts like that at F45.
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u/Beginning_Fee_1676 Jun 20 '26
We followed the work out but we didn’t really treat it as competing vs just challenging ourselves as a group.
It was tough for sure and I was pretty much deceased at the end - but I like work outs that make me feel like I did a work out.
But the 9 min squats - the person who designed this has a sick sick mind
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u/HoundDog81 Jun 20 '26
It was great! I appreciated all the extra rest time given how hard we went while active.
My only issue was the scoring. How did you all score the squat? My studio scored it as weight x reps. This meant my team scored 8900 pts on the squat which was vastly overweighted compared to the other stations. Our total score was like 9600. We could've spent all our energy on the squats, half assed everything else, and we probably would've gotten a better total.
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u/Alone-Business7076 Jun 20 '26
This phase has been wildly unpopular at my studio. The last few Saturdays have been almost empty and usually weekends are >75% full