The best home workouts – free or paid – to keep fit on any budget
From the apps to download to the IGTV videos to stream, we round up the best home workouts to help you keep fit without leaving the house
LEADING GYMS...
Barry’s Bootcamp
Barry’s Bootcamp is streaming 30-minute versions of its workouts on IGTV. The studio is offering three workouts a day – pre or post typical nine-to-five working hours – which are announced the day before via Instagram stories. Each day typically focuses on either upper or lower muscle groups. Follow the studio on the ’gram and sweat along for free.
Frame
Its seven studios may be closed (and all memberships frozen), but we’ll still be able to move our frames thanks to Frame Online. Accessible via the Frame website, the new scheme features all your favourite signature classes and is available to Framers (those with a membership) free, while newcomers can sign up for £10.99 a month. The gym group is also posting shorter tutorials and inspo via Facebook and Instagram Live, and will continue to send its motivational emails.
Digme Fitness
Equinox gym has launched an app: Variis
Equinox
Variis, the new fitness app from New York City’s Equinox gym, offers everything from spin sessions with boutique studio Soulcycle (if you have an at-home bike) to HIIT, yoga and guided running. Download the app to unlock a treasure trove of some of the best boujie fitness classes going.
Third Space
Luxury gym group Third Space is offering free daily classes which can be streamed via Instagram Live. The gym is currently offering two or three classes each day – from yoga to kettlebells – the schedule for which is announced via Instagram Stories the day before. Members, meanwhile, can access full workouts led by Third Space Elite PTs plus guided meditations and nutritional advice via the Third Space app.
Psycle
Psycle, the gym group with four London studios and as many distinct workouts – Ride (spin), Barre, Strength and Yoga – is offering free daily workouts to stream via the gym’s IGTV page. If you like what you stream, you can donate to fund the online workouts and help keep the gym running while its studios are closed. And if you miss the sense of community? Join in on one of Psycle’s virtual supper clubs.
Barrecore
Missing your regular barre class? Not any more. Boutique studio Barrecorre is offering a daily schedule of virtual barre classes, which mirror regular classes in that they’re limited to a certain number of students and you can interact with the tutor (and fellow students), who will be able to observe your technique via the webcam on your device. The first live class is free, then it’s £6 for a drop-in class or £15 for unlimited access for the week. Sign-up is open until three hours before the class begins and once you’re paid up, you’ll be sent a link to access the class.
DIGITAL FIRST…
Zwift
Peloton
Peloton might have made its name selling stationary bikes, but the exercise company has also offered an app brimming with exercise classes in cycling, running, yoga and meditation – since long before the coronavirus outbreak. Members pay £12.99 a month, which gives access to the full schedule.
Zwift
Are you a gaming nerd and a spin fanatic? Zwift is the app for you. Blending the fun of video games with the intensity of serious training, Zwift allows you to tune into a virtual world as you exercise. The app transports you from your stationary bike or treadmill to stunning vistas (cycling through a mountainous landscape, anyone?) and allows you to take part in virtual races or ride freestyle, depending on what you fancy. ‘Players’ choose the length of workout and can track their stats and progress via in-built functions in the app. Membership costs £12 a month.
Yoga with Adriene
Yoga with Adriene
Yogi or not, you’ve no doubt heard of Yoga With Adriene. Available on YouTube, the channel features hundreds of free yoga videos, which are guided by the friendly Adriene Mishler and spilt up into themes and lengths, making it easy to navigate. It’s an easy introduction to the world of yoga – one that’s been known to coax even the most inflexible of us into practising regularly.
Tone It Up
Tone It Up has something of a cult following in the US but is less known here. Run by glamorous trainers Karena and Katrina, the channel is aimed at women and features at-home workout routines (led by Karena and Katrina, and filmed on California’s sunny beaches) as well as recipes and nutritional advice. The workouts are available free on YouTube, Instagram Live and via the Tone It Up app.
ATHLETES AND CELEBS…
Jennis by Jessica Ennis-Hill
Train alongside Olympic Champion Jessica Ennis-Hill via her new fitness app, Jennis. The HIIT-style workouts are short and snappy – five to 29 minutes each – and are designed to help you tone those muscles. There’s also separate routines suitable for pregnancy and postnatal fitness. Membership via the app costs £9.99 a month.
Centr by Chris Hemsworth
While he’s best known for playing Thor, Australian actor Chris Hemsworth is also a fitness fanatic keen to share his tips and help others on their strength-building journey. His app Centr, £15.49 a month, features daily workouts covering everything from yoga to boxing, plus recipes and meditation sessions.
LESSER-KNOWN GEMS
Benk & Bo
Scandi-inspired wellness studio Benk + Bo is offering classes via its website – viewable over Zoom – with a 30% discount. Classes either focus on slowing down the mind or toning up the body, with yoga, meditation, Pilates and barre all featuring on the schedule. And with the price tag comes the assurance your class won’t be overbooked.
Fly LDN
Immersive fitness studio Fly LDN is hosting three daily fitness classes via Instagram Live, largely of the yoga, barre and low impact workout variety. The classes are free to watch and take place at 8am, 12:30pm and 6pm. The studio is also posting further workouts via its YouTube channel. Tune in to work out to projected vistas of mountain tops, crashing waves and burning candles. Namaste.
Re:Mind
If you’re after healing practices to thoroughly calm the mind, look to boutique wellness hub Re:Mind in Hammersmith. The studio is live-streaming a full, daily timetable of classes in practices such as Reiki healing meditation, crystal bowls and gong therapy. There are also tea ceremonies for those craving some connection beyond the four walls of their home-cum-workplace. All classes are 45-60 minutes, while prices come in at the more expensive end of the scale: £12 for early-bird bookings and £22 for standard sessions – but with this price comes the promise that classes won’t be overbooked, allowing a deeper connection between teacher and pupil.
WORKOUTS FOR KIDS…
P.E. With Joe
Keep the kids active (and burning off that excess energy) by encouraging them to take part in a daily virtual PE lesson led by Joe Wicks aka The Body Coach. The classes are live-streamed via Joe’s YouTube channel at 9am Monday to Friday, and are free for all the family to watch and enjoy. Each lesson lasts 30 minutes and no equipment is required. Here's to keeping the whole family fighting fit.
