Small Business Shoutout: Alchemy 365 Fitness Platform
HIIT the yoga mat. A fitness streaming service with in-person studios in Minneapolis, MN and Denver, CO, Alchemy 365 classes combine intervals of strength building moves with bursts of cardio, and bookend them with a yoga flow warmup and cool down.
The star of Alchemy Anywhere, Alchemy 365's home workout platform and app - well, aside from their instructors' extreme likability and winning Minnesota accents - is the Torpedo, a proprietary weight with handles on both ends. It's meant to serve as a cross between a dumbbell, a kettlebell, and a barbell, and from curls to thrusts to swings to presses, the Torpedo is indeed a versatile piece of equipment.
But it's not necessary to do Alchemy 365 workouts in your living room. A fair number of the 30- to 60-minute classes are bodyweight-based, and all classes that use a Torpedo are just as easy to do with dumbbells. I've been enjoying Alchemy Anywhere since Summer 2020, and I haven't bought a Torpedo. At first it was because they were persistently sold out, but since I found this nested dumbbell to compensate, I've found it serves all of the Alchemy Anywhere moves I do just as well. It also has the added benefit of being adjustable for my personal strength gains...and after the holidays, losses.
At printing, Alchemy 365 was offering Alchemy Anywhere home workout memberships for $19.99 per month, with a free 7-day trial. Members - who will come to know themselves as Alchemy Athletes - have the option of streaming workouts live with Alchemy instructors and a couple of in-studio Athletes, or selecting from hundreds of archived classes in the growing library to do on-demand.
In addition to their trademark HIIT-style classes, Alchemy Anywhere also offers sessions that are more cardio- or more strength-based, as well as full yoga classes.
Small Business Shoutout
Small Business Shoutout is a new series I'm trying out that spotlights products and services offered by local, little, and/or independent operations. Plenty of past Dude posts have featured small businesses - e.g., pretty much every Etsy shop out there - but Small Business Shoutout will largely aim to cover those with their own website, online marketplace, etc.
A key component of the Shoutout will be the availability of the small business' product or service to a large audience. For example, while Alchemy 365 has fitness studios in Minneapolis and Denver, their Alchemy Anywhere streaming service is a workout from home option anyone in the world can subscribe to and take part in.