When in lockdown, every day quickly started blurring into one. It was easy to fall into the bad habit of staying in bed until noon. For obvious reasons, this isn’t a great choice for your mental health. Lockdown also meant it became tough for many people to include any kind of physical activity into their day.

I’ve had gym memberships before, but they can be expensive and I lacked commitment. Often I felt self-conscious in gyms, they just weren’t for me! I had also never been the kind of person to necessarily enjoy exercise before. Regardless, in recent months, I somehow became one of those people who got up early to do a morning workout. It started with just doing some yoga every now and then to ease some neck pain I frequently get. It later morphed into a full on workout. It’s incredible how much my level of fitness has improved. I feel physically so much stronger, and mentally I am in a happier place. It turns out you don’t need an expensive gym membership to do this. You can workout entirely from the comfort of your own home!

My quarantine exercise journey has given me the chance to discover tons of fitness YouTubers who have videos catering for all needs. Have no equipment? No problem. Live in a flat and don’t want to disturb your neighbours below? Relax, they’ve covered that too. There are SO many videos out there to suit any and all requirements.

Below I have combined a list of my top 5 fitness youtubers for you to check out:

1. MadFit

Maddie Lymburner, AKA MadFit, is hands down one of the BEST fitness YouTubers out there. She has been endlessly spewing out videos during this quarantine period and has plenty of content to get busy with. Her workouts are fun, varied and Maddie herself has great energy that keeps you motivated throughout her videos. She also provides tips on how to keep good form and do the activities safely.

She has tons of workouts that target toning specific areas, as well as full body workouts. I really love that she never perpetuates this myth that you can spot reduce fat. Her videos can range from a quick 10 mins all the way up to full-on half an hour workouts. She also has a really fun collection of song workouts. If you’ve ever wanted to do some squats to Britney or some ab workouts to the Jonas Brothers – MadFit has got you covered!

2. Heather Robertson

With Heather’s workouts, you will definitely break a sweat! They are super challenging, but very rewarding. She has a handful of shorter 10 minute videos, but many of her workouts are 30-60 minutes long. And they can be killers!

In the longer videos she tends to include a warm up period and a cool down session, which is brilliant if you want the whole shebang in one place. In particular, she has a 7-day home workout challenge with a different video each day that will really make you get your sweat on. 

3. Pamela Reif

Her workouts vary from videos for beginners, to more intense workouts. There’s something for everyone on her channel. The structure of her workouts are a nice switch up from the others on this list in terms of where she takes her breaks. Her videos typically range between 10 to 20 minutes long, but that is definitely enough time for Pamela to make you feel the burn!

She also has a really fun abs and HIIT workout with Jason Derulo. Definitely a random guest for a workout video, but it’s a great time. He suffers just as much as we do!

4. Holly Dolke

Whenever I don’t want to do a long workout, I turn to Holly. She has so many videos on that lean towards the shorter side, perfect for if you’re running low on time. Some of them are only 6 minutes long! She is really great for beginners and does a lot of simple, yet effective exercises.

Personally, I love combining her shorter videos with longer videos from other fitness YouTubers. She has a wide range of videos focusing on a variety of different aspects.

5. Emi Wong

The final position on my fitness YouTuber podium belongs to Emi. Sometimes it’s nice to have a programme put together for you instead of having to think about which videos to use. I had already tried a very popular ‘2-week shred challenge’ with another YouTuber before finding Emi. However, I found this to be repetitive and the intro music will forever haunt my nightmares.

Emi’s programmes, on the other hand, are well thought-out and mix up the videos every day to avoid constant repetition. Her ‘challenges’ are great if you’re just starting out and not sure which combination of videos to put together for your workout.

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Resources

Don’t forget to do these workouts at your own pace! It’s okay to not be able to do the exercises on your first go. Our bodies are all built differently and we all progress at different paces.

Usually I will combine multiple videos, sometimes across different YouTubers, in order to create my own workout for the day. I aim to do between 30-60 mins per workout. This can sometimes end up being 3 or 4 vidoes in total depending on their lengths.

It is also important to remember that rest days are essential! A rest day means doing lighter activites so that your muscles can recover and adapt. For me this will sometimes include doing some yoga or morning stretches. On other days I might go for a long walk in the park whilst listening to a podcast. Giving yourself a break from the workouts every few days is important.

A few playlists / videos I personally enjoy:

MadFit’s Song Workouts: https://bit.ly/2AO3guO

Heather Robertson’s 7-Day Challenge: https://bit.ly/326L4HX

Pamela Reif & Jason Derulo Workout: https://bit.ly/3eoirZo

Holly Dolke’s Summer Challenge: https://bit.ly/300gJIv

Emi Wong’s 15-Day Abs Challenge: https://bit.ly/2ZhcNny