When you ask why you should live stream fitness classes, you’ll find that half the trouble of starting a workout is getting to the gym. After the pandemic, it became more difficult, to say the least.
If there is one good thing that has come about in 2020, it is the possibility to stay at home and do those crunches. Live-streaming fitness classes have, in just the span of a few months, become one of the fastest growing segments in the fitness industry.
It is safe to say that Zoom, Facebook live, and Instagram live have replaced the four walls of a fitness studio. Whether you have always been an online fitness instructor or you’re a physical gym owner and have adopted hybrid-style classes, WpStream has just the solution for you to live stream on your website.
Do recorded videos still hold up better than live streaming?
In order to stay fit, motivation and discipline are essential. If you’re strong enough, these factors can carry you a long way. Fitness instructors encourage their clients and instill discipline in them. The best way to do it is probably face to face.
Fortunately, live streaming allows you to interact in real time with the audience, which was virtually difficult in the days of aerobics videotapes. But hold on; we’ll go over all the advantages and disadvantages of live streaming.
Pros and Cons of Live Streaming
+ Real-Time Exercise
The best option if you want to keep your classes authentic is live streaming. You can ensure that everyone can keep up with the pace in this way.
+ No editing necessary
The lack of editing required when live broadcasting is one of its most alluring features. Think about having hours and hours of video that needs to be edited. It’s a nightmare! Thank goodness you won’t waste time on that any longer.
+ Planned classes
You can schedule your session as a streamer so that your viewers know when to join you. Live fitness streaming are subject to the same rules.
+ Real-Time Interaction
Working out live and communicating with your audience is one of the most crucial components of a good fitness session.
+ Home workouts
Think of how you should live stream fitness classes that your audience can perform in their living rooms. You shouldn’t use a lot of specialized equipment for your exercises. Although this is generally a drawback, the COVID-19 pandemic has unquestionably made it a huge benefit since more individuals may now be active while staying at home.
– Possible failures
On live television, people frequently make mistakes, and that’s totally fine. You could, however, take some time to adjust to your own shortcomings. On live streams, mistakes are regrettably inevitable. On the bright side, your viewers will appreciate your authenticity!
– Requires preparation
To prevent unneeded blunders, take into account arranging the live session. The audience prefers to witness your dedication over a few improvisations.
What do I need in order to live stream a workout?
It can be difficult to launch your own fitness program and live stream it for thousands of viewers. As a result, we have broken down this enormous task into a few manageable phases. We’ve also created a more in depth check list for before you go live here.
Make a class schedule
It’s crucial to develop a fitness plan before ever considering going live. Maybe you already have one. Then, think about making some modifications to make it acceptable for live streaming. It’s a good idea to consider a fallback strategy in case your audience doesn’t like your initial one. But don’t be concerned. We have no doubts about your performance!
Set up your equipment
Let’s now get into some additional technical details. Without specific tools, live broadcasting is practically impossible. Therefore, you would need a computer or a smartphone to start. A webcam is obviously necessary if you want to live stream from your PC, but recent smartphones already come equipped with two or even three cameras.
Lastly, you require a live streaming application. The finest free PC programs are probably OBS Studio and Streamlabs OBS. You can utilize Twitter, Livestream, Facebook Live, or Instagram Live on mobile devices.
Check the quality of your internet connection
A reliable internet connection is necessary for live broadcasting. Additionally, it is crucial to have a respectable upload speed, commonly referred to as upload bandwidth. Typically, an upload bandwidth of 4 Mbps is sufficient.
Find the best streaming platform for your needs
These days, there are a ton of incredible streaming services, such as Twitch, Facebook Live, Instagram Live, Twitter, YouTube Live, etc. Therefore, YouTube Live is definitely your best choice if you’re unsure on where to start.
However, if you want your very own streaming platform or wish to control every aspect of your live streams and monetize, find yourself a white-label solution.
About free streaming platforms
We’ve all heard of almost every social media platform providing live-streaming options to their users to live stream fitness classes. So why pay for one? The issue with free live streaming is that the user has very limited options and flexibility when it comes to monetization and content creation. Amongst all the platforms that offer streaming services, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram are the most popular.
All these platforms provide a simple, user friendly approach to live-streaming. However, most live-streamers don’t want a platform that only offers a mere ad revenue model of monetization as seen with YouTube. Furthermore, YouTube content is heavily moderated and those pesky bots will flag content without thorough analysis.
Data privacy and Facebook sounds quite contradicting in the same sentence. As a streamer (or a viewer), you do not have access to the type of data the platform is collecting and what is being done with it. Of course, it may just be used for marketing and regulating your algorithm nowadays, but that may not be something that you are interested in as a streamer with your own website.
Since Instagram is also owned by Facebook, similar features exist. Your online activity is tracked and you cannot add a live-stream to your own website. Another reason why these platforms are not the ideal option is that you cannot record and store live-streams in playlists as VODs with multiple monetization options.
Live Stream Fitness Classes with WpStream
WpStream is a platform that allows you to live stream, create Video-on-Demand, and Pay-Per-View. We provide an affordable and user-friendly way for small and big businesses alike to showcase their skills and talents through live streaming. According to the size of your audience, we provide four subscription plans that you can choose from, each suiting your own needs.
Our services can be used on any WordPress website and it is possible to stream directly using specialized RTMP broadcast software such as OBS, WireCast, vMix, Zoom, StreamYard, or Restream. To guide our customers, we have plenty of video tutorials on our YouTube channel. You can choose to monetize your fitness classes or offer them for free using WooCommerce.
Easy To Use
With just basic WordPress knowledge and by watching one or two of our YouTube video tutorials, you are set to start your fitness streaming adventure. Of course, we provide support to all our customers. So if anything comes about, do not hesitate to contact us.
Live Stream directly (no 3rd parties)
You can add your live-stream directly to your WordPress fitness website without the need of 3rd Party platform interference. Furthermore, you have control over your content and full ownership of your live-streams and VODs. We pride ourselves in providing better privacy and data security to our customers in a time where this issue is gaining momentum.
Add the live-stream/VOD to your own website
If you want to add the live-stream to your WordPress Pages/Posts, you can do so using the ‘WpStream Player’ block by just adding the Product ID of your live-channel or VOD. Alternatively, you can manually enter a shortcode and it will appear on your website.
Three demo websites
Live-Stream using any broadcaster that uses RTMP
RTMP is one of the most popular ways to stream, used by Facebook Live and YouTube. Different broadcasters such as OBS, Wirecast, vMix, and Zoom include RTMP as their input option which can be used to live-stream content to your website. All you have to do is insert a username and a stream key. See here for more information on how to set up a live-stream.
Affordable
WpStream could be used by big businesses as well as entrepreneurs that are new to the scene. With plans starting at as low as $19, you can find the right subscription plan at a convenient price.
Monetize/offer for free
According to the type of content you produce and what you are working with, you have the opportunity to monetize your videos in different ways or offer your content for free
Have multiple channels running simultaneously
If you have multiple ideas in mind and don’t know what you want to stream, why choose? You are able to set up multiple channels and run them at the same time with different events. These channels can run 24/7 and keep your viewers entertained all day, every day.
Customize live streams with logos and other graphics
To emphasize how important it is to be able to embed your live-stream onto your own website, you have the option to customize your live-streams, logos, and other graphics that would have otherwise not been possible with free streaming websites.
Monetization
Free Videos
As the name suggests, you can choose to offer your live-streams and VODs for free to your viewers. Although it does not seem like a profitable way to go at first, you can gain valuable viewers at first by offering them free videos.
Once viewers acknowledge the quality content you provide, they would be willing to pay for more content in the future should you choose to monetize it. Keep in mind, you can include ads and sponsored content into your videos and have a revenue stream flowing without having your viewers pay to watch.
Pay-Per-View
Pay-per-view means that your viewers will pay to watch each of your live-streams or VODs. Simply put, it is similar to buying tickets to watch a movie at the cinema. PPV is a great way to monetize your fitness classes since you may have people casually joining an online kickboxing or aerobics class one once in a while.
Usually, people prefer to PPV at first and get a feel for the different workouts and exercises available. Later on, they may fully commit to monthly payments. It is important to offer your students options.
Subscription
With a subscription business model, viewers make monthly payments and have access to all the content on a website. Economically speaking, it is cheaper for viewers to subscribe to monthly payments as opposed to paying for each video individually.
However, it is more difficult to get new viewers to subscribe monthly from the get-go. They will need some time to get accustomed to your content. In the end, good content will keep viewers coming back. Therefore, focusing on the quality of your streams and VODs should be prioritized.
Hybrid
Finally, if you create a website, start streaming and create VODs, you always have the option of adding a variety of monetization options to each channel. You may choose to offer your warm up and stretching exercises for free, but add the circuit training workout as Pay-Per-View.
As for your subscription videos, you can include daily workouts such as warm up, leg day, and cool down. Your subscription plans can also offer a schedule for your students packed with daily meal recipes. All in all, you can organize your workout plans as you see fit.
What can I live stream?
While these are just a few examples of what workout and exercise classes can be live-streamed, there are plenty more ways you can live stream fitness
- Cardio
- Strength training
- HIIT
- Aerobics
- Zumba
- Bokwa
- Hip-hop
- Break-dance
- Belly-dancing
- Ballroom
- Barre
- Yoga
- Pilates
- Bootcamp
- Kickboxing
- Boxing
- Muay Thai
- Cycling
- Spinning
- Crossfit
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