Homebody Is the New Hard Body
We’ve all become homebodies in the last year and a half. With that, unfortunately, has come a home-body, meaning a body you wouldn’t want to show outside the home. With gyms becoming a pressure cooker for Covid and all, people needed ways to stay healthy, stay hot, and prevent boredom all without leaving their domicile. Enter the home workout program. Home workouts are by no means a new thing and have been a varied and ever-expanding market for years. All the pandemic did was supercharge a market from one that, only a decade or two ago had limited options, to an oversaturated one. In a space where many feel uncomfortable, and with an ocean of options to choose from, it can be easy to drown in uncertainty. To help get that homebody moving quicker, here are some at-home workout options we dig.
BODYWEIGHT
One of the difficulties of home workouts is that they aren’t necessarily made for every home or every lifestyle. Some people live in tiny studios. Some people travel on a regular basis and don’t always have a large accommodation or access to a gym. For these reasons, bodyweight workouts are the way to go as they take up little space and only use one weight: You.
You may have heard of Insanity. Created in 2009, Insanity was one of trainer Shaun T’s first-ever fitness programs and probably still his hardest to date. It includes 29 workout videos that range from 15-minute ab and recovery workouts to 60 minutes of literal hell. After which you’ll be able to see yourself in the pool of sweat on the floor beneath you. This isn’t meant to scare you, but it is called “Insanity” for a reason. Who knew you could work out this hard with no weights? As part of the Beachbody network of workout programs you have to sign up for a Beachbody membership to access Insanity. The membership comes with over 100 different programs each with dozens of different workouts, fitness and nutrition guides, and access to online coaching (some of the other programs are on this list).
If you prefer to exercise on your own schedule or create your own workout program, the Nike Training Club, or NTC as they call it, is a great option. The NTC isn’t one workout program but a variety of ever-expanding options, all of which are free, and many of which require no equipment. The key is that workouts can be filtered based on whether or not you have access to a gym or equipment, so you can easily find bodyweight-only exercises. Because of the easy searchability as well as the exercises that NTC constantly recommends to you based on your preferences, you can build a program that works for you with very little effort. In fact, the recommendations are one of the best parts of the NTC as they allow you to be spontaneous with your workouts.
Sarah's Day is an Australian fitness influencer. Those words may make you run for the hills, but despite her eye-rolling fake boho vibes, she has over one million subscribers on both Instagram and YouTube. Turns out the thing she’s doing right is her workouts. She has a whole slew of other products from activewear to skincare, but her two workout eBooks (each are a one-time payment of $70.00) are genuinely worth it. The first, called Sweat It To Shred It, is a 92-page booklet filled with 8 weeks of no-equipment-required workouts. The most interesting thing about this workout book, is that it’s a book. There are no videos. The book explains each intense exercise in great detail so you can do it yourself. Sarah has also created a helpful timer app (costs $2) that helps lets you know when to start, when to stop, when to rest, and so on. This may seem a bit inconvenient but actually, this method allows you to do your workout wherever you want. Suddenly your home workout could become a backyard workout or a park workout.
EQUIPMENT NEEDED
Some people don’t go to gyms simply because they don’t like gyms. It has nothing to do with their lifestyle or financial situation. They just prefer not to workout on machines while literal models stare at them impatiently to get off, all in a sweat-reeking room filled with the sounds of elevator music. We totally get it, but if you want a more complete gym experience you’ll have to invest in some basic equipment. Fortunately, once you get it, it will last you quite a long time.
This workout program is nearly as classic as Jane Fonda’s Workouts from the 80s. P90x was created by now celebrity trainer Tony Horton back in 2003 and still holds up as a great program. It’s classic in more ways than one in that the exercises you do are pretty fundamental. Curls, pushups, pullups, burpees, the works. You may wonder why you need someone to tell you how to do such basic moves, but work through P90x and guaranteed you’ll find that you’ve been doing some of these moves incorrectly. But the real joy of many home workouts, and it really shows through in P90x, is the comradery. It’s often more enjoyable to workout with other people, even if they are prerecorded people on a screen. Tony Horton’s talent isn’t necessarily that his workouts are so revolutionary. It’s that he’s very good at inspiring you, keeping you going, and keeping things fun. If the original P90x becomes a bit too predictable, he’s created two sequels, P90x2 and P90x3.
Another Beachbody workout worth trying is 21 Day Fix. Trainer Autumn Calabrese is a staple at Beachbody with many programs under her belt, but 21 Day Fix is probably her most widely accessible. It includes 14 pretty standard workouts with the primary advantage being ease. Each workout is only 30 minutes and is relatively easy compared to many of the programs on this list. If you feel some of the more advanced programs aren’t your speed yet, 21 Day Fix will absolutely do the job. If you’re feeling beat one day and don’t think you can handle a full hour of weight lifting, sub in a 21 Day Fix workout to give yourself a break, but keep your momentum going. A big part of this program is the nutrition portion created by Autumn Calabrese called, you guessed it, Portion Fix, which limits the size of each meal or snack you eat. Super intense exercise isn’t the only way to get in shape.
Powerlifter and personal trainer Ben Williamson founded Crush Fit back in 2014 and started it as a one-guide workout program. It has now evolved into Crush60, a comprehensive workout program designed to enhance your performance in the gym. Despite that particular aim, you by no means need to be in a gym to use this program to your liking. As long as you have the proper equipment (you only need basic stuff) you’ll be just fine. Crush60 includes videos, but only to help explain the various exercises in as much specificity as possible. You aren’t working out along with anyone which means that you can move at whatever pace you like. You could even workout somewhere outside the home if you want to bring your equipment along. Also keep in mind that, despite containing a variety of exercises, Crush60 works best if you’re trying to get swole. So if you’re goal is to become a muscle mountain, this is the program for you.
RELAX & RECOVER
Most of the programs mentioned previously feature a complete slew of exercises from cardio to resistance, to recovery, and more so you don’t really need other workouts beyond it. That being said, home workouts are great when used in a hybrid capacity. Maybe you enjoy going to the gym but don’t feel the need to go if you aren’t using lots of equipment, or if you’re only doing a short basic exercise. Home workouts are a great way to complement gym workouts, especially on less intense, recovery-focused days.
You’ll find thousands of different workout options here for people of every level of fitness and experience (classes are sorted by fitness level, as well by length and style). Despite Alomoves having a huge variety of workouts, the program was originally named Aloyoga and it’s there that they really shine. They have a huge variety of yoga classes from Ashtanga to Vinyasa, and even classes based on specific yoga skills like how to perfect your handstand or how to boost flexibility so you can finally reach that full split. Plus, you can take your workout with you (say, maybe your backyard or an open park), since you can download the routines for on-the-go use.
Glo bills itself as a fitness streaming service featuring more than 4,000 yoga, meditation, and Pilates classes on its platform. Most of the classes are part of a longer course ranging from one to eight weeks. While you can certainly do single classes, the courses aren’t super strict and so fit pretty easily into the schedule of other workout programs you might be doing. Though Glo certainly cares about fitness, they are focused primarily on general health in both body and mind. Their exercises usually aren’t all that physically straining and make perfect recovery workouts to do once a week, or to cool down from a more intense workout.
Brought to you by one of Sydney's premium fitness and yoga studios, Flow Athletic.TV is more than just funny accents. As you can probably tell by the URL, Flow Athletic features tons of live workouts you can do along with others, but also includes tons of pre-recorded workout programs. Their site features everything from HIIT, strength, running, and spin, but their yoga, Pilates, and mindfulness classes are particularly popular, and for good reason. They have lots of single classes, but if you're looking for ongoing motivation, they offer a few different series including a 21-day meditation and two Yoga series focused on one part of the body each (hamstrings and hips if you were curious).
The average American is certainly not at the healthiest point in their history, but that’s not due to a lack of workout options. There’s a workout with your name on it someone. Find it and stick to it.
