At-home workouts are gaining great popularity this year for obvious reasons. And what some might have considered a stop-gap measure till they were able to go back to the gym, may become a way of life or extra fitness option for busy professionals looking for a way to exercise during the day. In fact, a recent survey found 3 and 5 Americans think they won’t ever be going back to the gym. And three-quarters of those surveyed said at-home workouts were just easier to fit into their day. Cardio and strength training top our list of most popular at-home workouts. Coming in close second are yoga/pilates, spin, high-intensity interval training and kickboxing. While there’s a ton of workout apps available including: Nike Training App, Core Power Yoga, YMCA 360, Lifetime Athletic and Fight Camp, we decided to ask around to see the ones our friends preferred. It turns out they do a mix of free and paid apps. The majority (33%) said they’d pay up to $20/month for a fitness app. The main drawback with the free fitness content online is that of course, your workout could be interrupted by an ad. Without further ado, a few of our favorites.
Here are a few of our favorite At-Home Workouts:
Blogilates
Cost: Free for fitness; extra fee for POP Pilates® Certification
Cassey Ho is a popular YouTuber that records great pilates videos. It’s all surrounded by supporting, motivational content designed to motivate you or help you organize your workouts with a calendar. Under the Challenges section, you can quickly scroll down to challenges for legs to abs, glutes, etc… “7 Day Abs Challenge” or “30 Day Thigh Slimming Challenge” to name a few.
Appeal factor: “The virtual workouts are more convenient and cost effective. The convenience is key, since this definitely allows me to carve time out of my day to work out,” says Sarah. Cassey even has recipes and a blog to keep people coming back. She’s upbeat and doesn’t stop smiling through the most intensive workouts. We were worried watching her Christmas special workout video that she’d knock the tree over on her set.
Kamps Fitness online workouts
Cost:$25/month $7/Drop in
Deals: First Class Free
Appeal factor: Bailey from Wisconsin tells us she loves Kamps Fitness online workouts because they offer a variety of workouts, different instructors, varying length of workouts and they even offer live classes that you can do at certain times of the day. “I think it’s very worth it. I love doing yoga over my lunch break to mentally check in and incorporate mindfulness into my daily routine,” she says. Kamps also offers virtual personalized personal trainers for hire to maximize your workout experience. Classes are organized well: you can quickly scan for workouts that use equipment, no equipment, varying number of weights, etc…
GetHealthyUTV
Cost: $6.95/month
$69/Month Premium + $20 Extra for Gold
Deals: Free Workouts available
Get Healthy UTV is the online fitness channel from Smart Lifebites frequent contributor Chris Freytag. Here’s a workout from Freytag here. This 10-Minute Total Body Firm Up Workout will get your heart rate up, and work key muscle groups. To sample Freytag’s Get HealthyUTV workouts, visit her free 10-minute workouts, free to everyone. Premium access to Freytag’s site ranges from $6.95 a month to $69 annually. Premium gives you access to workout videos, programs and calendars. If you upgrade to Gold membership, you can get unlimited access to GetHealthyUTV’s full library of streaming workouts and exclusive LIVE weekly workouts. Right now Freytag says she’s offering the Gold membership for $20 for 12 months using the coupon code CHRISGOLD20.
Appeal factor: Freytag’s workouts are high-energy and varied. You can search by length and type. There are overview teasers of every video so you can get a flavor for the workout before you commit to it. They’re also paced so you can easily follow along but at the same time, you’ll be breathing hard and sweating by the end.
Peloton Strength Training
Cost: $12.99/month to download the app with a 30-day free trial.
Appeal factor: Gab prefers Peloton strength training workouts. If you don’t have a Peloton bike or tread, you can still download the app for $12.99/mo with a 30 day free trial. With the app, you are able to access their full library of workouts streamed live and on-demand. If you’re someone who never wants to do the same workout twice, then Peloton is the perfect app for you! There are over 10,000 on-demand workouts and new workouts added every day with different instructors. The workout classes range from 5 minutes to an hour, making it easy to find a workout that fits in anyone’s schedule.
MadFit’s 20 Min. Full Body Workout
Cost: Free
Appeal Factor: This is a no excuses workout that’s apartment friendly, in case you’re concerned with your jumping waking up your neighbors. In 20 minutes you can get your heart rate up, build balance and tone or build core muscles. The instructor does the entire workout from a very small area with no weights. I was out of breath doing it but it wasn’t so over the top difficult that you were tempted to throw in the towel. Lots of planks, sit-ups and tabletop dips. It hits every single part of your body in only 20 minutes. Don’t need much time, space or any equipment. MadFit’s Youtube Channel has 4.86 million subscribers No commercial interruptions was a big plus.
And while everyone we interviewed agreed that they tend to push themselves more in a group-fitness setting, people felt OK with these new virtual coaches. So, if you haven’t tried these at-home workout apps yet, go ahead and give them a try. It’s a great way to squeeze extra fitness into your daily routine.
–Patty Yeager
