If you love group exercise classes but you’re stuck at home with the kids, social distancing or too lazy to go to the gym, many of us look for alternative ways to stay in shape and fit.
Here are 13 fun beginner home workouts that mimic the motivation of an instructor-led gym class; no gym or group classes are needed!
Sound familiar? I love the idea of working out at home, but…
I love staying fit, so exercising and working out are both an essential part of my weekly routine; however, I get bored easily.
- I don’t jog because jogging for 10 minutes feels like agonizing hours or torture to me.
- I find swimming laps in a pool painfully dull.
- I can never stick to a self-led home workout routine of squats and pushups. Plus, I cheat.
To stay motivated, I take instructor-led classes at the gym.
You name it, I’ve probably done it: Kickboxing, CrossFit, Thai kickboxing, yoga, step classes, Zumba, Pilates and more throughout the years. When my husband and I moved to France, we trained for our first obstacle course, called the Spartan Race. The following year, I flew to Montreal to see my family and participated in the Prison Break race in Quebec.
I panicked when we went into confinement.
When the world went into confinement, I needed to find a home workout that could keep me motivated and mimic the motivation I received from instructor-led group classes. Even though I swore up and down I could never stay motivated by working out at home, I discovered a whole new world of online workouts that are sometimes better than going to the gym.
Fun beginner home workouts you can do at home.
1) Online home workout classes in another language.
Kill two birds with one stone and improve your foreign language skills by watching fitness videos in another language.&
Here are a few examples of French Fitness YouTubers.&
- Fitness master class (series of home workouts. You can do a different one every day with the same instructor)
- 20min cardio home workout at home, no equipment
- 15-minute Intensive abs and butt home workout to burn fat
Here are some French terms which you can use to search for exercise videos on YouTube.
Home workout = Séance à la maison
Fitness Workout = Séance de fitness
Cardio workout = Séance de cardio
Abs at home = Abdo à la maison
Thigh abs butt (this is a popular class at many gyms in France) = Cuisses Abdos Fessiers
Burn fat = Brule grasse
If you’re a French language learner and Yoga enthusiast, you might be interested in reading Yoga In French: 39 Yoga Poses In French and English: Printable PDF
2) Latin Dance home workout for beginners
I know Latin music lovers will love burning off calories while dancing to some fast-paced Latin music.
3) Learn to belly dance for FREE
This may sound strange, but I’ve always wanted to learn to belly dance. I found this amazing site by Coco, who teaches people of all levels how to belly dance with confidence, and it’s free.
4) Learn to street dance
There are over 600 dance classes on the Steezy website, with new releases every week where you can master a variety of street dance styles, including urban, dance popping, housebreaking, dance hall, jazz-funk, and more.
I wasn’t going to mention Steezy because it’s not free, but the features blew me away.
As you watch the videos, you can do various things, such as switch views of the dancers from front to back. If you can’t get a specific movement right, you can loop the video to replay and slow the video’s speed until you get the moves down right. The most interesting and unique feature is the ability to see yourself dancing on a split screen (if you have a camera on your computer).
Unlimited monthly membership costs roughly 8 USD if you pay annually.
5) Dance exercise routine to your favourite song
Don’t judge, but I really like the song Dance Monkey, and the girls over at Shine Dance have a really good dance routine set to the song.
6) Hip Hop Tabata Dance home workout
If you like Hip Hop, then you’re going to love this 30-minute Tabata dance workout. Tabata training is a popular form of high-intensity interval training (HIIT), consisting of eight rounds of ultra-high-intensity exercises in 20-seconds-on, 10-seconds-off intervals.
7) 50 Min. Barre Workout You Can Do at Home
I tried the Barre workout, an energizing full-body workout, for a few months, and it was tougher than it looked. Although the main focus is not weight loss, you’ll definitely feel slimmer, improve your posture and feel toned.
8) 30-day Glutes home workout for beginners
Blogilates is a popular fitness channel on YouTube that has a 30-day, 1000 glutes challenge and hundreds of Beginner Home Workouts.
9) Zumba classes online
Most Zumba classes typically use four different types of dance: cumbia, merengue, reggaeton and salsa.
This non-stop 30-minute Zumba compilation is a fun home workout with a little bit of everything.
10) 20-minute jump rope workout
If you’ve ever jump-roped for more than 10 minutes straight, you know what a great overall workout it is, whether you’re trying to lose weight, build strength, or get fit. It’s also a very portable exercise you can do while travelling or on the go because all you need is a
Unfortunately, jump roping can get boring or repetitive, so I always play music on Spotify while I workout. I recently discovered an audio home workout app called “Crossrope. It’s been a game-changer for me. The app has a built-in workout timer and guides you through each short but intense workout with intuitive audio. I use weighted jump ropes by cross rope.
Weighted jump ropes that help you get a full-body workout in half the time. Great for quick workouts on the go and while travelling because they fit in your bags. Download the app and follow the HIIT workouts. 60 day returns and lifetime gurarantee.
Alternatively, there are countless
11) Home workout for beginners on Amazon Prime
If you have an
12) Yoga workouts online you can do at home with your kids
Do Yoga With Me is a fabulous yoga workout website. They have hundreds of yoga classes for just about anyone from beginner to advanced. In addition to the yoga class for kids aged 3 to 8 and size yoga, they offer a variety of free classes in different yoga styles, including Hatha, Vinyasa, Ashtanga, Power, Kundalini, Yin Yoga, restorative yoga and more.
They also offer a membership for US $99 Annually, which gives you access to premium content.
You might be interested in reading:
how you can actually improve your French by watching yoga videos in French.
Fitness video games: Beginner Home Workouts for you, your kids and the whole family
If you have a
I originally bought the Switch for my daughter as a birthday gift. I honestly thought I would never use it since I’m not into video games (anymore). I was wrong.
Fitness video games gamify your home workout routine and reward you for performing different moves correctly. Many fitness video games track your daily efforts and progress, give you an estimated amount of calories burned and keep track of the time you spend working out. Some even let you track your weight.
You won’t get ripped from fitness video games, but:
You won’t get ripped or build huge biceps, and it won’t replace your main workout routine; however, fitness video games will keep you moving, make you sweat, and keep you toned if you do it regularly. It’s also a great way to get the kids moving indoors. I play with my daughter, so I know firsthand that it’s a fun activity to do together as a family when you’re stuck indoors.
Here are my favourites for the Nintendo Switch. They may be available on other video game systems too.
Nintendo Switch
The very first fitness video game we bought was
Depending on how much you weigh (the heavier you are, the more calories you’ll lose), you’ll burn between 200 to 400 calories per half hour of continuous dancing. So if you play
With
How Just Dance Works :
Just choose your song, grab a game controller, and follow the dancer(s) on the screen. The controllers track your movements and let you know how well you’re doing.
One of my favourite things about the game is creating a playlist of songs to play in succession. This is very handy because you don’t have to stop after each dance to choose the next song. You just keep on dancing. I usually dance anywhere from 30 minutes to 45 minutes, and I’m always out of breath and sweating by the end.
and so you can attach the switch controllers to your wrists rather than holding them.
You can order
14- Fitness Boxing – Nintendo Switch
I love kickboxing and kickboxing with bags, so the idea of a Fitness
So I caved and bought the game. It’s now my favourite alternative workout for days I can’t get to the gym.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDV5YJ5NwF8
You can pick up a digital version of the Fitness
How fitness boxing works:
When you first start fitness
There is a “daily workout” calendar that tracks the amount of time you box, number of punches and fitness achievements in graphs. It will also give you an estimated or approximate BMI and keep track of how many calories you burn so you can keep an eye on your goals. You can even fight your friends in the ring.
The training starts slowly with a few punches and short combos, but as you progress and learn the new moves, the combos’ length and complexity steadily increase. As you progress, you can earn more songs and more challenging training circuits. If you prefer to work out with a buddy, you can use two sets of Joy-Con Controllers.
You perform all the punches and movements to the beat of instrumental versions of hit songs with a digital instructor.
I have only three complaints about the game.
- The music isn’t great, but some people like it.
- My hands get sweaty from holding the controllers. I think I might invest in some joy-con wristbands to keep them on my wrist or use my MMA
boxing gloves. - The voice of the instructor is loud and repetitive. I recommend going into the settings and lowering the voice or muting the voice. Don’t worry; it doesn’t affect the music level.
15- Zumba: Burn It Up! – Nintendo Switch
If you love Zumba and dancing to world music, you’ll love burning off the calories with Zumba Burn it up. Depending on the level of intensity you exert while dancing, you can burn anywhere from 400 to 500 calories per hour of Zumba dancing.
As with all
16- Ring Fit Adventure – Nintendo Switch
The newest gamified exercise video game by
Play it correctly, and you’ll definitely feel achy the next morning.
The game comes with two physical accessories that each hold a game controller:1) a leg strap (to hold one joy-con on your thigh) and 2) a flexible ring (Ring-Con), which is essentially one of those resistance rings you use in Pilates or yoga.
You play as a
The experience is similar to Super Mario, adventure or role-playing games. As you travel from level to level and scene to scene, you try to accomplish various goals, gather ingredients to create magic smoothies and fight the bad guys.
I’ve grown to love home workouts:
Although I miss the social aspect of going to a physical gym, I love the convenience of and freedom of working out at home. Even for someone like me, who thought I could never succeed and maintain a home exercise routine.
Try it for 30 days straight, and while you’re at it, try to fit in some of these classic body-weight exercises: Crunches, Push-ups, Planks, Squats, Lunges, Wall sits, Burpees, and Jumping jacks.