My personal review of Ascend vs Evolve
Hello Ladder friends!
I have been on the app for about 6 months, and I have trained on team Ascend and team Evolve. A little background on me, I am 31F and I come from a weightlifting background of a little over 10 years. My main goal is body recomp.
My first team was Ascend with Aria, and I stuck it out about 4 months there. I started experiencing burnout with the workout lengths, so I switched to Evolve with Sam. I did Evolve for 1 series and made the switch back to Ascend. Here is my personal comparison of the teams.
Coach Cues - Both are great, but Arias cues worked better for me. She does a great job of explaining how to target a specific muscle a stretch.
Coach Personality - Also love both of them. The key difference for me is that Aria feels a bit more straight to business and strict, whereas Sam feels a bit more spiritual and encouraging. I think both styles are great and supportive, but I personally perform better with Arias coaching.
Exercise Split - Aria is VERY lower body focused. Sam is either equal parts upper body/lower body or maybe a little more upper body heavy? Also, Sam incorporates more ab work than Aria, and Aria incorporates more cardio (small amounts of incline walking from what I experienced).
Exercise Content - I’m torn here. I started feeling burnout with Aria due to the frequency of some moves. For example, 1 week might contain a version of deadlifts, squats, and hip thrusts on 3 different days each. Also, many of those big exercises have unilateral sets. So, a leg day might contain 3 sets of rear elevated squats on each side, 3 sets of cable kickbacks on each side, and 3 sets of weighted step ups on each side (plus a few more exercises). Sam’s workouts had some unilateral movements, but not to this extent. Overall, Aria’s workout plan can feel repetitive and “boring”, but she is using traditional movements that get you results.
Workout Flow - This is the biggest thing I noticed that made me switch back to Aria. I go to a large commercial gym with a lot of equipment variety, and I’m largely able to perform the intended exercise without doing swaps. I have to praise Aria big time here, because she does an amazing job of building your workout so you can stay at the same 2-3 machines the entire workout. Sam’s workouts are technically shorter, but I found myself at the gym for the same amount of time due to waiting around on machines. Then I would end up doing swaps to keep things moving, which frustrated me. As an example, Aria will put 3-4 exercises in a row at the squat rack, then move you to a cable machine for 2 more movements, and then you are done. Sam would put me at shoulder press at the squat rack, then 2 movements at an adjustable bench, then chest fly machine, then 1 movement at the cable machine, then abs on the ground. My busy gym is not compatible with me moving around that much. Another small note is that the rest break flow worked better for me with Aria than Sam. I was originally bored of Aria’s rest break times, but she has her process for a reason, and I realized I am able to push myself harder with her.
I think both teams and coaches are GREAT, and I hope my review can help others get more clarity on what to expect with each team. Overall, Ascend is a better fit for me, due to Aria’s stricter coaching personality, her exercise content (lots of traditional bodybuilding moves that yield results and heavy focus on lower body), and her strategic flow as someone who attends a busy gym.