Hot Yoga Inc. Bellevue — Local services in Bellevue

The first thing you should know... is that this studio is EXTRA hot... I've been doing Bikram for a while, and I rarely struggle with the heat... I love it toasty.... I was dying in this studio. That being said, others were not, so it's obviously not totally unbearable. The really annoying thing about the heat, is that it radiates directly down, it doesn't circulate. So there's a good 10 degree difference between the front and the back of the room, and I like to be in the front, right next to the mirror... but it literally get's so hot, you can't touch the floor. (I mean you can... but it's really really hot, and you don't want to.)

Now my #1 complaint, is how crowded some of the classes are. Sometimes you can barely find a spot, and unless you are there super early, good luck being able to see yourself in a mirror. (3 walls have mirrors, which is great, but they should really have all 4 coverd with this many people!)

The instructors are hit or miss... I had a few who were average, just went through the motions, didn't really help people, and there were some that were fantastic! I learned a lot and got a lot out of their class. And some instructors were terrible... I don't know what they were doing or thinking or why... because some of the things they had us doing weren't working our bodies, they were stressing our bodies... I'm a professional athlete... I'm fit. I was the only one keeping up and I was struggling, and I knew they were bad exercises. Yes you might feel sore the next day like you had a tough workout... but there's a difference, and it's not good... (hint: wasn't impressed with the sculpt class...)

The classes are also hit or miss... some were actually what they said they were going to be... like one hatha (wanna be Bikram) class was more of a mix of yoga and circuit training... but not really even hatha yoga... same for the power classes (wanna be vinyasa). It's like the instructors were bored and wanted to try something new and different... but that's not what we signed up for... and some of the classes moved through the postures so quickly you barely had time to get in them in the first place... and what was really annoying was the fact that there would be ZERO students in the room doing them correctly... and there was no correction or explanation made... no demonstration... so it's pretty much a waste of everyone's time and energy. That being said, there I had a couple classes, that were the total opposite.

The showers and bathrooms were great, the location is great, the staff is friendly and professional. I really don't know which way to swing on this studio... the 10 class intro wasn't enough for me to really get a full grasp of all the classes and instructors. But essentially it's hit or miss. I had some fantastic classes, and I had some downright awful classes.... Give it a try, see what you think. I think it's too overpriced for me to try buying a membership seeing as it's so...

This is a review only of Yoga Sculpt - other classes may very well be a better fit for me.

Yoga sculpt isn't yoga in any way, shape or form. It's a bootcamp style class that is for some reason heated. The heat comes from specific units on the floor, so if you're near them it will be hot enough that you cannot keep your hand on the wooden floor. There were a couple of exercises where you needed to put your hands on the floor outside of the width of the mat, and I couldn't keep them there due to the heat.

In general, the benefit of heat in yoga is that it can raise your heartbeat and allow you to stretch deeper into your poses. The sculpt yoga is just interval training with essentially zero stretching components. For that reason, the heat element makes little to no sense to me. You could get the same workout at room temperature; you'd just be able to do more reps/weight. There's only so much energy you can exert and doing HIIT at high temperature just reduces your performance in terms of reps,form and weight.

My biggest complaint about the class is it appears to offer a lot of risk for injury. There were about 20 participants and one instructor. The idea is to make it very difficult. To a point, that's fine. However, looking around the room, 75% of participants were getting through the workout using improper form. When you push yourself to the point that you're sacrificing form, injuries occur. Rushed weight lifting, exceeding the bounds of what participants in your class can do, doesn't lead to long term success. It leads to people taking the class and seeing great gains for a bit, then having a huge setback due to injury. The instructor, Ryan, felt the need to emphasize that this was the easiest version of his class. This might motivate some people. For me when I'm trying to my best and dripping with sweat, this just came across as insulting and condescending.

In general, I didn't like this class. However, it is a popular class and so I understand some people will like it a lot. The customer service department reached out to me with a nice e-mail addressing my concerns, and for that I changed my review from 1 star to 2 stars. I appreciate the fact that they care about the experience and appeared to legitimately listen to concerns. They also didn't ask me to change my review, just reached out to address concerns. Ryan, the instructor, communicated via customer service that it was the slowest pace boot camp he's ever run. That may very well be, but I maintain the opinion the vast majority of people were doing the workout incompletely with poor form. If that's the easy version of the class, then it should be adjusted to achieve results without risking injury. I did not like that customer service responded to my comment that the class was leading to poor form by most of the participants by saying "Ryan said it's the slowest class he's ever lead". That's not really relevant and a weird argument/response to...

I don’t typically write reviews, but this needs to be shared! This business falsely advertises. They use a scam to get you in the door. They promoted 10 days for $10 for new students, but when I arrived, they refused to honor the offer.

I was excited to try this studio after seeing the new student offer of 10 classes for $10 advertised on their website. However, when I arrived, I was told I wasn’t eligible because I’m from out of state—a restriction that was not mentioned anywhere online.

I’ll be in town for a full month—well beyond the 10-day period the offer covers. Although this shouldn't matter, I did explain that to the teacher handling the transaction. I usually practice yoga five times each week, so I was genuinely looking to be a consistent student during my stay.

Regardless of how long I’m in the state, the promotion should be transparent and clearly detailed in their advertising! It’s frustrating to discover hidden restrictions only after arriving and being ready to commit.

I ended up paying full price for a single class.

Here is my response to their reply:

1. I want to point out that I have never left a negative review before in my life. I left this one because there is clearly dishonest advertising and a lack of ownership on the owner's part.

2. I just relooked over the website. In 2 locations it says 10 classes for 10 dollars with no mention of a local requirement. This is bad advertising. It gets people to drive to the studio, then they are told it will cost more than anticipated. Sadly, I am not able to post screenshots. Owner- you should fix this and admit your error.

3. I created a registration at your studio. How would someone who registers at your studio know beforehand that your advertised deal is only for local residents? They wouldn't.

Since I can't post screenshots, this is a direct quote of your add:

"NEW STUDENT SPECIALS First time doing hot yoga? Get a special 10 class pass for only $10! Offer is available at the studio."

There are no asterisks and no fine print on at least 2 pages of your website.

You mislead people with false advertising (this is called a scam) to get them in the door. Then people are already there and end up paying $32 for a single class.

What this company should do is update their website.

4. Since you mentioned my email - you made this post 22 hours after I sent my email, which you never responded to. That is fine, but you did respond to my post here...