Gym memberships are pricey. Even pricier are memberships for boutique studios that offer trendy workouts like barre, yoga and pilates. Luckily, you don’t have to have a gym membership in order to get your daily work out in. In fact, you don’t even have to leave your own house. All you need is your own body weight, and a few supplies like a yoga mat, a resistance band, a pair of hand weights, a yoga ball and maybe a kettle bell, and you’re all set to get in a sweat session in your own living room.
You might be thinking, there’s no way you’ll be able to get your heart rate up enough to burn calories at home, but you’d be surprised how much difference a little strength training can make. Check out these 5 YouTube channels for work outs that will target your problem areas and change your definition of “hitting the gym”.
POPSUGAR Fitness
The POPSUGAR Fitness channel has more than 1 million subscribers and it’s not hard to see why. Their workout videos have a high production value and the list of different workouts to choose from is massive. From beginner videos and short 10 minute sessions, to videos that target certain areas like abs or butt and trendy workouts like a dance cardio hybrid favoured by celebrities, there’s something for everyone.
They also have videos that show you how to do a squat correctly and how to put those resistance bands to good use. Whether you have 5 minutes or 45, POPSUGAR Fitness’s selection of upbeat videos means you’ll never get bored doing the same workout over and over.
blogilates
Cassey Ho, the creator of POP Pilates, is nothing short of a fitness guru. She has her own workout DVD called POP Pilates: Total Body Workout and a book called Cassey Ho’s Hot Body Year-Round: The Pop Pilates Plan to Get Slim, Eat Clean, and Live Happy Through Every Season. But all that started with her YouTube channel, blogilates. She posts videos of Pilates-based workouts that target certain areas like abs, butt, and legs and thighs, as well as full body workouts. She also has a number of videos on clean eating and healthy recipes.
Ho is an advocate for living a healthy lifestyle and she believes in the importance of maintaining a positive body image. Her videos will help you find a workout routine that fits into your life and doesn’t promote unhealthy goals like working towards having a “thigh gap”.
FitnessBlender
The FitnessBlender YouTube channel keeps it simple with over 500 videos ranging in length from 10 to 40 minutes. Husband and wife team, Daniel and Kelli, have been running the channel for over 6 years and the variety of workouts available is unbeatable. You can use their website, FitnessBlender.com to search for exactly the workout you want, including videos of a certain length, ones that focus on a particular muscle group, and workouts that use equipment (or not). They also take the time to make videos answering specific questions from their community of subscribers. If you want to bring your fitness routine back to basics, this is the channel for you.
BeFiT
If you need celebrity trainers like Jillian Michaels, Jane Fonda and Brian Tanaka on your screen to really get motivated to work out, so be it. Luckily, you don’t have to buy their DVDs because the BeFiT channel has curated hundreds of their videos on YouTube so you can get fit for free. The videos aren’t limited to one style of workout either. There is everything from strength training and cardio to dance-inspired workouts, yoga and even krav maga. Some of their most popular videos are part of 30-, 60- or 90-day programs to help you transform your body and get healthy with a daily workout.
Yoga with Adriene
Yoga is one of those workouts you can totally do at home and avoid having to lug your yoga mat to a studio where you’re paying expensive fees for the privilege of sweating in a room with a bunch of strangers. No matter what level you’re at, Yoga with Adriene can guide you through the learning process, including how yoga can help you not only physically, but also mentally, emotionally and spiritually. The channel provides work outs with a variety of different goals in mind including learning the foundations, weight loss, and healing. Adriene is a strong advocate for making yoga a lifestyle rather than just a workout you do for 30 minutes a day, and her love of the practice comes across in her videos.
What are some of your favourite YouTube workout channels? Share you knowledge with us in the comments!
