Class Review: SoulActivate

We had the opportunity to preview the new SoulCycle class, Activate, and take a couple community classes. We’ve tried it with David, Brian, and Love in the Los Angeles area, so far. We are ABSOLUTELY obsessed.

Activate really plays on the “athlete” part of SoulCycle’s mantra. It is a high intensity interval training (HIIT) class on the bike. We rarely get sore anymore from SoulCycle, but we were feeling it immediately after we took Activate.

Here’s our review on the class!

Class: SoulActivate

Studio: SoulCycle, offered currently in LA, SF, and NY only

Length: 60 minutes

Difficulty (1-5): 4-5, depending on the instructor and how hard you make it

Recommended for beginners?: No. If you’ve never done SoulCycle before, you CAN take this class. However, we suggest taking at least a couple regular classes first.

Recommended Instructors: David (We can’t recommend anyone else because the class is super new! So we haven’t tried many instructors.)

What to expect: Some regular SoulCycle choreography mixed with heavier AND slower weight section AND intervals.

You’ll grab 2 regular weights and 1 heavy weight. SoulCycle has even added 8 and 10 lbs to the studio. The arm portion is heavier, slower, and MUCH harder. Sometimes we think the arms section can be too easy. But in this class, you double up weights and do all your bicep curls, tricep extensions, shoulder presses, and such at a much slower speed. You’ll feel it immediately.

You’ll also do 2 sets of intervals on a high resistance. The first is 20 seconds with 1 minute FULL rest. Trust us, you need this break. If you think the break is too long and you don’t need it, you need to turn it up.

The second is tabata, 20 seconds on and 10 seconds off. This second set is KILLER. You will be huffing and puffing. But you won’t die. Trust us! We didn’t!

Other: Don’t be afraid to turn up the resistance on the intervals! You really should listen to your instructor. Get that heart rate up!!

Let us know what you think if you’ve tried it!!