The Best Free Online Fitness Classes of 2020
- Avery Moon
- Jul 21, 2020
- 6 min read
At-Home Replacements for Your Workouts
One of the worst things about the coronavirus outbreak is that my weekly fitness classes have been cancelled.
I was feeling healthier, happier, and more productive. But I definitely need the group classes to keep me motivated and hold me accountable for my progress towards my fitness goals.
How can we replace in-person classes, outside accountability, and personal motivation in the middle of a pandemic?
I did some research and tried and tested dozens of free, at-home workouts online, with many of them being led by personal trainers and workout gurus! But which ones are the best?
Some of the best free at-home workouts for all levels include:
Pamela Rief's 20-Minute Full Body Workout for Beginners
POPSUGAR Fitness Class FitSugar 15-Minute Beginner's Cardio Workout
HASfit 35-Minute Intermediate Strength Training Workout
20-Minute Intermediate Full Body Vinyasa Yoga
Tracy Steen's 60-Minute Advanced Cardio Workout
But there are great workouts for individual levels, too, so let's dive in!
Disclaimer: some of the free at-home work outs listed below require fitness equipment. However, because of product shortages, finding the fitness equipment you need may be challenging. This article offers several at-home alternatives for work out equipment, with most of the solutions requiring no additional investment on your part!
Beginner-Level Classes
If you're trying to burn off that quarantine weight gain (which they call Coronaspeck in Germany) and haven't worked out in a while, it might be best to start off with a beginner-level workout class. There are several great beginner workouts online that requires little to no exercise equipment and use uncomplicated, basic movements to build your strength.
POPSUGAR Fitness has 4.95 million subscribers on YouTube and their beginner workout doesn't require any exercise equipment! It's a full body work out that relies entirely on your body weight to tone your muscles and burn fat.
Pamela Reif is a YouTube fitness guru with 4.09 million subscribers. This workout video alone has 16.75 million views due to its warm-up and cool-down sessions, its use of basic and repetitive movements, and its emphasis on short breaks!
POPSUGAR Fitness' Class FitSugar is a series of workouts designed to improve your muscle strength while maximizing calorie burning. This beginner's cardio workout is great in particular because it targets all of your muscle groups and offers modifications for anyone who can't or isn't comfortable jumping!
Yoga With Adriene is a YouTube channel offering free yoga classes for all levels, run by none other than, you guessed it, Adriene! Her channel has nearly 8 million subscribers and her beginner-level yoga workout has been viewed more than 32 million times! This yoga workout focuses on building proper form, stretching, and strengthening your muscles.
HASfit is a fitness program complete with its own app, but they offer free workout videos on YouTube as well! They have 1.45 million subscribers, and this video has about 1.6 million views. Their 17-Minute Strength Training Workout for Beginners is a great option for anyone looking to tone and strengthen their muscles. This workout in particular is also suited for both women and men, but be sure to use weights that are comfortable for you and your capabilities!
Don't be afraid to mix and match these workouts throughout the week at a pace that's comfortable for you!
Intermediate-Level Classes
If you have managed to keep up with your exercising and fitness during quarantine but are looking to either 1) up your game, or 2) maintain your intermediate fitness level, then this list of the best free intermediate-level at-home fitness classes is for you!
If you know anything about fitness, then you likely have at least some vague idea of who Kayla Itsines is. Kayla is an Australian personal trainer whose fitness app and infamous BBG program generates some of the most revenue in the business. In a partnership with Women's Health UK, Itsines hosted an intermediate 30-minute full body at-home workout that's meant to be done once per week!
This workout is a little bit less intense than Kayla Itsines, but it still packs a good punch for those at the beginner-to-intermediate levels. Team Body Project specializes in short but impactful workouts if you keep up with them every day, and this workout has been viewed over 1.5 million times!
Team Body Project also offers low-impact but high-intensity workouts for people who don't want the stress on their joints but want to reap the benefits of cardio! This workout is 30 minutes and falls in line with the typical physical activity recommendations per day, so you can do this workout several times per week if it works well for you.
HASfit, in line with their other free online workout videos, offers a 35-Minute intermediate strength training workout that burns up to 300 calories. You'll need some type of weights or dumbbells for this one, but you only need to use weights that are comfortable for you, even if it's less than the amount they're using in the video!
SaraBethYoga is a popular YouTube yoga channel with 987,000 subscribers. This full body intermediate workout is only 20 minutes long and the yoga moves will definitely get you moving, stretching, and strengthening your muscles! Plus, there are modifications for all levels if you're resuming your yoga regime after a while or if you're simply moving up from the beginner's level!
Advanced-Level Classes
Advanced-level at-home workouts are hardcore. However, for those of you who are ready and fit enough to rise up to the challenge, then this list of the best free advanced-level at-home workouts is right up your alley! Just be sure to drink a lot of water and take breaks as needed while you're doing them.
Obi Vincent is a fitness guru with 368,000 subscribers on YouTube. This workout was specially designed for people to use at-home during the COVID-19 pandemic, so it relies heavily on body weight and at-home items such as backpacks and books. This workout is also suitable for men and women both indoors and outdoors, so there is nothing stopping you from making the progress you want to even during quarantine!
The Body Coach, with 2.51 million subscribers on YouTube, posts a lot of workouts that are suitable for people staying at home. This 20-minute advanced home workout is packed full of challenging yet effective exercises in a small window of time to work out your whole body in one go!
Tracy Steen is an up-and-coming YouTube fitness guru with just under 30,000 subscribers. However, her workouts are appealing and highly effective, with this one workout having the potential to burn more than 700 calories in one session! Steen's 60-minute advanced cardio workout doesn't require any equipment, but it sure does require a lot of water to get through!
Joanna Soh is a popular personal trainer and nutrition coach with more than 2 million subscribers. However, this video is a little known secret in the online community of strength training! In just 20 minutes, Soh takes you through an entire full-body strength training workout that leaves you breathless and exhilarated at the same time. This is a great one to try if you're looking to build or maintain muscle mass!
YogiApproved is a YouTube channel dedicated to yoga fitness routines and it currently has 180,000 subscribers. However, this free 35-minute advanced Vinyasa yoga class has almost 450,000 views due to its ability to strengthen muscles, improve your balance, and challenge the way your body moves through everybody's favourite: a Sun Salutation flow! It is suitable for all levels but the routine is aimed towards yogis who are at an intermediate to advanced level!
Hopefully these alternatives can replace the gym for your adapted at-home workouts!
Disclaimers
Please consult your physician or other health care professional before starting any fitness program to determine if it's right for you. This is especially important if you or any member of your family have a history of high blood pressure or heart disease and/or if you have ever experienced chest pain in the past month or when exercising. You should also check with your doctor before starting any of these fitness programs if you smoke, have high cholesterol, are obese, or have a bone or joint problem that could be made worse by a change in physical activity. Don't start any fitness programs if your physician or health care provider advises against it. If you experience faintness, dizziness, pain or shortness of breath at any time while exercising, you should stop immediately!
Notice: This article, the author, and Good Goes Viral is not affiliated, associated, endorsed by, or in any way officially connected with any of these fitness programs and/or personal trainers, any of their subsidiaries, or their affiliates.
Our current project investigates food and product shortages across the United States as a result of panic-buying during the first and second waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. This publication is one of a series offering at-home alternatives for fitness-related goals.
Avery Moon, United States.
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