So, let’s say, hypothetically, you’re cooped up indoors, sitting in bed all day and unable to leave your home.
Maybe, if this were the case you would be stiff, bored and feeling rather sluggish. You fantasize about organizing a closet, but rewatching Gilmore Girls for the fourth time since you were 12 is much more attractive.
Maybe you are in need of some exercise, or as I like to call it, joyful movement. However, in this totally make believe situation, everything’s closed! Including your gym.
All that’s left is that dreaded, outdated workout tape that sits in the living room drawer next to the cable box, tucked away behind your Blu-Ray copy of “Aladdin,” untouched since 2004. Resentment rises in your body at the thought of an overly-lean woman screaming at you through a screen.
Perhaps you could take another walk or run outside. But you’re one more jog around the neighborhood away from total insanity.
There are online workout subscriptions, but you can’t afford that. Let’s build on our unlikely scenario and say you are out of a job. Heck, in this fantasy world, maybe everybody’s jobs have shut down. You don’t have money to throw away on a subscription to a virtual class you’ll try once.
Luckily for hypothetical you, hypothetical me has scoped out these three free workout channels on YouTube. These channels will give you access to enough free workout videos to last you through a pandemic … hypothetically speaking, of course.
Oh, and they’re all body positive. We don’t workout because we hate or want to change our bodies, okay? We work out because we love our bodies and they deserve to move like they were designed to.
Barre3 Bedford MA — YouTube
Maybe you’ve never set foot in a ballet studio. Maybe you’ve never even seen a ballet. But why shouldn’t you feel like a badass ballerina while in quarantine? Reinvent yourself, sweetheart. Barre3 is a franchise with workout studios all over the United States. As the owner of a Barre3 location in Bedford, MA, Natasha Groblewski has a series of three free Barre3 workouts on YouTube.
Barre3 uses bodyweight exercises derived from ballet, yoga and pilates assisted by a ballet barre for a refreshing full body workout designed to “lift and tone.” At-home Barre3 workouts actually ditch the actual barre, so think squats with your heels touching, graceful lunges and beautiful side planks. Point those toes!
305 Fitness — YouTube
Dance like nobody’s watching, ‘cause no one is! We’re social distancing! 305 Fitness, another fitness franchise with locations all over the world, is a cardio dance workout. The 305 Fitness YouTube channel live streams class everyday at noon and 6 p.m. Not your workout time? No problem! They save the classes to the YouTube page. Most classes have some kind of theme. I tried the “Disney Reigns” and the “‘80s, ‘90s 2000s Throwback” classes. Both were extremely fun to the point where I forgot it was a workout … until I felt it in my thighs and calves the next day!
Yoga With Adriene — YouTube
If you aren’t in the mood to feel the burn or work up a sweat but you’re still craving some movement, yoga is going to be the way to go. “Yoga with Adriene” is a YouTube channel created by Adriene Mishler that has been providing free, complete yoga flows since long before COVID-19. Adriene has yoga sequences targeting every mood or aching body part that you can imagine. And if you are in the mood to get a little sweaty but love the yoga style, she has some faster paced videos as well.
