iFit Review 2023 | TreadmillReviewGuru.com

A Brief History of iFit

iFit is owned by ICON Health and Fitness, but in 2021 ICON changed its name to iFit Health and Fitness Inc. Their headquarters id in Logan, Utah. ICON Health and Fitness was founded in 1977 by Scott Watterson and Gary E. Stevenson. iFit has grown into one of the most popular brands in fitness and is the parent company to popular brands like NordicTrack and ProForm. iFit started out simply as the fitness app that is featured on NordicTrack and ProForm equipment but to stay consistent with branding, ICON rebranded the entire company as iFit.

What You Get With An iFit Membership

Cost of plan types:

• Yearly Family Plan: $396/year
• Yearly Individual Plan: $180/year
• Monthly Family Plan: $39/month

Plan features:

• Up to 5 users have access with the family plan
• No contract/cancel anytime
• Log into as many iFit enabled equipment as you want
• Access to iFit’s library of classes and features available on iFit integrated machines
• Access to iFit’s library of classes available on the app
• App available for IOS and Android

In-depth Review of iFit

Class & Workout Options

There are several different types of classes that you can take on iFit. We’re are really impressed with the wide variety that’s offered.

Running on the treadmill is never boring when you’re taking an iFit class.

In addition to being found on treadmills, iFit offers classes on indoor exercise bikes, rowers, ellipticals, and Fitness mirrors like NordicTrack’s Vault and ProForm’s Vue. They have mat classes like yoga, and strength training. There are also meditation, mindfulness, nutrition, cooking, and other classes that work out your mind as well.

iFit has audio classes, too. You can listen to a trainer while you run outside, take a series of strength classes in your backyard, or during an audio-guided meditation.

There are over 180 trainers and health professionals leading the classes, so you won’t get bored with the content. iFit adds to its already large library daily, too.

With the wide variety of classes in all kinds of categories, as well as the number of instructors, every class feels different. You get to know the trainers and their personalities during class, and each one provides you with a unique experience.

Indoor And Outdoor Classes

iFit offers classes that are filmed indoors and outdoors in almost every class type. When taking an indoor cycling class, for instance, it feels a lot like taking a studio class. There’s an instructor that leads it and the camera will also show other people riding in person with the instructor as well.

The studio classes usually have an interesting background screen behind the instructor.

Some of the other indoor classes, like the ones on the mat, feature just the instructor. The nutrition and cooking classes are typically filmed inside, often in a kitchen. All of the indoor classes on iFit are in excellent studios and indoor locations.

As of right now, when you use smart gym systems like The Vault from NordicTrack, the classes are inside with just the instructor against a black screen. They are filmed this way because The Vault and the ProForm Vue Home Gym are both reflective so you can see yourself, as well as the instructor while you exercise. This is great, but since these classes are filmed this way, they are a little bit more limited with how many they offer, especially compared to all of the other classes available on iFit.

Personally, I think iFit really stands apart with its outdoor classes. They literally have classes available to take that are filmed on every continent!

You can hike through parts of Montana or bike through streets in Italy.

The graphics alone are unmatched. When taking a rowing class in Lake Bled, Slovenia, the map of the course is shown beforehand so you know where you’re going. Throughout the class, the camera is shown from the trainer’s perspective as they row. The camera also pans to wide shots of the lake to show you the beautiful landscape as well.

This really engages you and makes you feel like you’re there. You can hear the swooshing of the water as the instructor paddles, as well as their voice. I’ve really enjoyed all of the outdoor classes that I’ve taken. They’re in beautiful areas all around the world and they let you explore unique places without leaving your home. No matter the setting for an iFit class, know that the picture will be clear, well-lit, and of high quality.

Another way that you can explore the world through iFit, is with the Google Maps feature. It is only available on iFit-enabled equipment, however. Within this feature, you can pick a location and create your own class there.

I took a ride around Santa Barbara, California on the NordicTrack S22i Studio Bike through a map that I created. During the ride, I could switch back and forth between viewing where I was on the map and seeing the street views. iFit uses images from Google Earth to let you explore different areas.

When I was riding, I moved from image to image as I made my way down each street.

If you’ve ever used Google Earth and tapped the screen to look further up the street at the location you’re viewing, you’ll see that the experience with the Google Map feature on iFit is very similar.

On-Demand Classes And Closed Captioning

iFit offers on-demand classes to take at any time. This way you don’t have to worry about timing your workout to fit to a specific schedule. The classes are there and available to take when it’s convenient for you. Each class is led by an instructor who guides you through the workout. The instructor not only motivates you and takes you through a complete workout from start to finish (including warm up and cool down), but in the outdoor classes they act as tour guides to give you tidbits of the surrounding area. They’ll also talk about different topics usually related to health, fitness, and wellness during class, too.

Closed captioning is available in all of iFit’s classes, which is really nice. This feature is accessible on iFit-enabled equipment as well as on the app.

I prefer to keep the captions on, but you can turn them off at any time.

iFit Features

Music

One aspect that we aren’t a big fan of is the music on iFit. iFit uses a radio-like feature called FEED.FM to play music. It is available in almost all iFit classes. Throughout class you can choose a station to listen to music from the following categories:

• 80’s Pop
• Pop
• Pop Throwback
• Top 40
• Uptempo Pop Remixes
• Hip-Hop Throwback
• Classic Rock
• Rock
• Country
• Dance/EDM
• Downtempo Yoga

Within each of these categories, the playlist is preselected. You can’t skip through the songs in a playlist, but you can change stations during class. You can also turn off the music completely.

While this feature is great for letting users pick the type of music they like, it makes the music aspect of the class less involved and interesting. As an indoor cycling instructor, I create my classes around music, as do most instructors. This way, the class experiences the music the way the instructor intended. The music often sets the tone and energy for the class. The beat of the music can be used to push you when you ride as well.

Even when I’m on the treadmill, or just taking a strength class with some dumbbells on a mat, music keeps me going. I always really like it when the instructor has a brief moment to sing or dance along to a song during class, too.

On iFit, since you can pick your own music, you miss out on the experience that comes with a playlist being integrated into the class. However, it’s nice that you can pick the type of music you want to listen to.

The volume settings also allow you to adjust the volume of the instructor’s voice and the music separately. So, you can balance them or mute one or the other.

SmartAdjust And Active Pulse

Other iFit features that are only available on certain iFit integrated machines are SmartAdjust and Active Pulse.

SmartAdjust will automatically adjust the treadmill, bike, or whatever iFit equipment you’re on when the instructor cues it. So, if you’re running on the NordicTrack x32i Incline Trainer, the treadmill will change the speed/incline throughout the class. That way, all you have to do is keep up.

Of course, you can manually adjust these settings yourself and turn off the SmartAdjust feature entirely.

I really like this feature because it lets you be in sync with your instructor, and it can be adjusted based on your intensity and fitness level. That way your workouts are customized to work for you.

iFit also has an Active Pulse feature that rates your intensity level based on your pulse, when you’re wearing a compatible heart rate monitor. It then will adjust the machine’s resistance for you depending on how hard you’re working.

Both of these features make your workouts very customizable and convenient.

Challenges And Series

iFit offers several challenges and series. When you join a challenge, you’ll be signed up to take multiple classes depending on what the challenge is for. So, I can sign up for the “iFit Gives Back Challenge: Walking for Research”. The challenge consists of 6 walking classes. Some of the challenges are meant to be completed in a certain time period, like this walking challenge, however, even though it is listed as a past challenge I can still sign up and participate on my own.

There are several challenges to participate in.

The challenges are fun because they can make your workout routine a little more structured, challenging, and encouraging. They can also help you build a routine if you’re just starting out.

We really like all of the series that iFit offers, too. Just like with the challenges, iFit has multiple series in almost every category. They’re available on iFit equipment as well as the iFit app.

Often, a series will take you through a specific place, or event, or let you train with a certain trainer. iFit even brings in professional athletes to lead workouts, for instance, there are several classes that you can take with Olympian, Michael Phelps.

There are a series of classes led by the professional soccer player, Alex Morgan, too.

iFit even films reallife live events like the Boston Marathon. In this series, you can run the Boston Marathon with iFit trainer Heather Jenson. It is split up into 8 parts to make the marathon more accessible to users.

Comparison To Other Fitness Apps

When compared to other popular fitness apps, iFit’s library of classes is vast and offers a lot of variety. For instance, the JRNY App from Bowflex continues to add classes regularly but its library is nowhere near as full as iFit’s.

JRNY also offers outdoor classes for you to explore different areas of the world, but they aren’t led by an instructor like iFit’s outdoor classes. In our opinion, iFit really shines with its outdoor classes in terms of quality and variety.

Peloton has started to offer outdoor classes, which are trainer-led and have great graphics, but they are still pretty limited and not available on the Peloton App as of the time of this review. Peloton is better for their indoor classes as far as their music than iFit’s use of music. However, iFit is the only app that offers filmed live events that you can train in.

Where You Can Use iFit

iFit can be found on equipment from NordicTrack, ProForm, FreeMotion, Weider, and Matrix. When you buy a treadmill from NordicTrack, iFit is integrated into the treadmill so your speed and incline can automatically adjust when the trainer cues it, and your real-time stats are shown on the screen.

On iFit enabled equipment you’ll be able to see and compete on the leaderboard in classes as well. When you’re on an iFit machine like a rower from ProForm, you’ll see all of the available rowing classes to take. The same is true for when you are on an indoor bike, treadmill, or elliptical machine. You’ll also be able to use all of iFit’s features mentioned above when you use iFit-enabled equipment.

All of the classes are available on the mobile app. So, even if you don’t have a machine that has iFit integrated into it, you can use your own equipment. For example, some treadmills are Bluetooth enabled and offer features like screen mirroring so you can connect iFit to them.

It’s important to be aware, however, that using iFit on your own equipment or through the mobile app, won’t let you use some of iFit’s features. Let’s say you’re riding an indoor cycling bike and following along with an iFit class on your phone. During your ride, your specific stats won’t be shown on the screen and you won’t be able to change your resistance on the bike through iFit, you’ll have to manually adjust the bike itself.

Stats are shown on the bottom of the screen in the app, but they’re an overall average not your individual stats. There’s also an app for your TV so you can take classes on a bigger screen than your mobile device.

Performance & Functionality

Overall, our team really likes taking classes on iFit. The app is very convenient to use if you are traveling, or if you want to listen to a class as you run or walk outside. The app is also great if you want to occasionally take a class on your own equipment. If you want to use the app all the time, however, I recommend getting an iFit-enabled machine to train on.

The features available on iFit’s equipment like SmartAdjust and the leaderboard, or even just seeing your own metrics on the screen make the workouts feel more interactive and engaging. One thing to keep in mind is that the majority of the machine’s functionality is in the touch screen, so if the screen is damaged the machine might not work.

This is the main screen that is displayed when you log in.

Navigating the app on your phone or even on iFit equipment is a little clunky. You have to scroll a bit on the homepage to find certain classes. If you’re looking for a specific class, it is best to use the search bar and filters.

The filters are really great to find specific workouts and series of workouts.

You can filter by duration, workout type, trainer, intensity, which area of your body you want to work out, what continent you want to take a class from, and more.

Frequently Asked Questions

How to switch users on iFit?

Click the menu in the upper left-hand corner. Scroll down to log out. Once you click yes for the question, “Are you sure you want to log out?”, you’ll be taken to the login screen. This is where you will log in with a different account.

Can iFit be used on any treadmill?

iFit is built into equipment from NordicTrack, ProForm, FreeMotion, Weider, and Matrix. So, you can use it on machines from those brands. You can use it on other equipment, like treadmills, by using the iFit mobile or TV app. Here, you’ll have access to classes, but your workout metrics like speed/incline and distance won’t be reflected in iFit.

Can you fast-forward iFit workouts?

At this time, you can’t fast forward through iFit workouts. You can skip through the warm-up and cool-down sections before and after class, however. You can also pause all of iFit’s classes at any time.