Heated workout pods hit America. Get hot, lose weight?

Sit in a booth, get warm and lose weight? We’re intrigued.

It’s called Iobella, and it is currently taking California by storm. Unlike Bikram Yoga, the whole room is not heated and it is not a group class. These private sessions claim to melt your fat away whilst toning and sculpting muscles – but it doesn’t come cheap.

The Iobella technique has been around for four decades, in various places across the globe. Working out using the ‘pod method’ is popular in South America and Europe. Iobella was first developed in Switzerland before making its way to Argentina where it became popularised (there are 7 studios in Argentina) and now making a name for itself in the exclusive Santa Monica studio in California.

Santa Monica’s exclusive Iobella studio is more like a boutique spa than a gym. Owner Roxana Lissa told Racked that “working out in heated pods activates the metabolism and circulation, and you burn more fat than with other workouts”.  Iobella claims spot training is not a myth, as it targets individual areas to sculpt and tone- helping women lose centimetres. But at US $125 a session, it’s an expensive way to lose weight.

“working out in heated pods activates the metabolism and circulation, and you burn more fat than with other workouts”.

The personalised glass pods are temperature-controlled and utilise weighted pulleys (like resistance bands) to work your entire body in 30 minutes, in a fast paced, high repetition, no-break style workout. The plexiglass pods are heated between 36 and 38 degrees in order to melt the fat away and burn calories, whilst speeding up your metabolism.

The claim that heated pods melt fat has not been scientifically backed up, but its gathered Iobella lots of attention and an ever-growing client list in California and South America. The program is set up for individual clients and combines heated work out pods, and triple oxygen spa cabins to renew your skin and improve the appearance of cellulite.

A customised program for every client includes a personal training plan- based on your fat-to-muscle ratio, a dietician, and continuous goal setting to help you stay on track (goals and measurements are re-assessed after every 6 sessions).  Paired with an Iobella consultant, you are first assessed to determine which areas of your body could lose centimetres and benefit from toning.

Following the workout, clients then spend 15 minutes in a triple oxygenated cabin, set at approximately 26 degree, to promote detoxification and make your skin glow.

Unfortunately this heated pod workout is not for everyone, apparently. Due to the intensity of a workout regime done in the heat, the Iobella studio won’t accept anyone with a BMI greater than 40 without a Doctor’s note, for fear of heart and blood pressure issues. Iobella is also specifically designed for trouble areas effecting women, so as of yet men are not accepted into Santa Monica’s studio.

As Iobella is recently new to America, the expansion across the States is a work in progress. There is no word as to whether we will receive a studio on our side of the ocean. But with promises to melt the fat away, reduce cellulite, and help women lose centimetres- here’s hoping…

By BB intern Brooke Davie.

Would you try Iobella?