Recently I read an article on Buzzfeed from former navy men stationed on submarines who had advice on surviving isolation. (I linked it Monday in the featured links, which appear at the bottom of every post on the desktop version.) They recommended having a routine, eating healthy, keeping in touch with friends and exercising every day. (May I also add: make a to-do list every day.) As someone who works from home this has not been as radical of an adjustment for me, but I miss seeing friends and especially going to the gym. I’ve always loved working out at home also. Here are some of my favorite at-home workouts. (Thanks Molly for asking me about this on Twitter!) I really like spin, dance and old school floor aerobics.
Les Mills on Demand is offering over 100 free workouts which my Y recently linked. I don’t think they’ll mind if this is publicized as it’s an open site with an icon to share it. There are body pump, body combat, yoga, and dance workouts. If you’d like to support them you can subscribe to Les Mills on Demand for more. I used to be a member and loved their body combat workouts especially. Plus some of the instructors are very hot and they’re Australian.
Spin and stationary bike workouts
On Fat Tuesday, before I realized how much time I’d be stuck at home, I subscribed to Studio Sweat on Demand on sale for $30 for three months. (Not a plug and they still have this deal.) It’s a studio in California that has hundreds of classes available on demand. I have a spin bike at home and love the variety of spin classes. Plus they have barre, pilates and weight classes too. You can try their classes for free on their YouTube channel. My two favorite free spin classes from them are this one (45 minutes) and this one (60 minutes). If you only have a stationary bike, instructor Cat usually includes instructions for people who can’t stand up. (Incidentally Amazon has Sunny spin bikes under $250 but they take about a month to arrive.) Global Cycling Network has so many great at-home workouts for spin and stationary bikes too. This one (45 minutes) and this one (35 minutes) are my favorites. They also have hot instructors who are British.
Dance, kickboxing, conditioning
If you’re looking for dance, kickboxing, body weight and conditioning workouts PopSugar Fitness has so many options. I recently discovered this cardio dance and toning workout (30 minutes) and have done it a few times, I love it. Other favorites include this cardio dance workout (30 minutes), this dance workout with serious toning (30 minutes) and this choreographed dance workout (25 minutes). For a tough but rewarding kickboxing workout, try this 45 minute one which includes a lot of conditioning. I’ll be honest, I only did it once and I had to take breaks. Here’s a 30 minute Les Mills-type body combat workout which was more manageable for me.
Gentler Workouts
For gentler and less intense options, I workout with Denise Austin as she’s my old school favorite. I used to work out with her in high school and college. Some of her older classes are on the BeFit Channel, which has so many other workouts to choose from. My favorites include cardio calorie blast (19 minutes), cardio calorie dance burn (32 minutes), and total body burn cardio dance (31 minutes). (I know these are retro but I still do them!)
Barre, fusion and walking
Jessica Smith has a lot of gentler workouts too, including walking videos, some fun dance videos (30 minutes) and boot camp type conditioning workouts (25 minutes). She also has some invigorating but less intense barre-type workouts (30 minutes). (I’ve done all of those linked videos many times.) Plus she is mindful of the space you have in your living room and her workouts are mostly designed for smaller spaces.
Misc channels to try
Honorable mentions include Fit Body by Ashley for fun dance workouts, The Body Project, which includes so many kickboxing and conditioning classes, The Fitness Marshall, who has incredible zumba-style dance workouts to hit music and XHit, which has a ton of conditioning workouts.
Yoga
Oh and for Yoga you can’t go wrong with Adriene! Just google “Yoga with Adriene + your problem, i.e. neck” and you’ll find a workout targeted for that area. My friend Clare on Twitter told me that she always does Adriene’s workout for period cramps and it works great. I also recently got an inversion bench. (My mom got me this one for my birthday, it’s still in stock, it was easy to put together and my teenager loves it too.) By searching for workouts with inversion benches I found Yoga with Kassandra and found her excellent too.
Thanks for reading all this and let me know if you have any favorites! There are two Amazon affiliate links above.
Source: Read Full Article