Brian Jeffrey
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAl-4OIU9vE]
Boutique fitness studios are my happy place. There is nothing I love more than popping into a 7 a.m. Pilates sesh, taught by my favorite trainer, sweating it out with a community of people, and getting a high-five for a job well done at the end of class. Because of this, I’ve never quite been able to get on board with at-home workouts. I’d always assumed that they’d be easier and more isolating than the studio classes that I love. One better: I guessed that there was no chance in hell I’d be able to motivate myself to wake up at the crack of dawn without the risk of a $35 missed class penalty.
But when social distancing orders forced all of my favorite brick and mortars to close their doors last month, I (along with everyone else in the United States) was left with no other option than to turn my living room into a makeshift Pilates studio. And—as much as I hate to admit it—I was completely wrong about at-home fitness.
For the latest episode of Zoë Tries It All, I spent an entire week cycling through four of the best of the best at-home Pilates workouts that the Internet has to offer. Not only were they a lot harder than I expected them to be, but having the autonomy to be able to do them wherever and whenever I wanted was even more motivating than the threat of losing money for missing a class. If I had a 15-minute break between meetings, I could pop on one of Well+Good’s YouTube videos to light up my abs and arms. If I wanted to sweat, I could take a full 50-minute Zoom class with Solidcore. And the best part? I didn’t need anything more than a mat and a few feet of space to get the job done (bonus points because those few feet of space could be located outside).
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Even though the workouts were all technically Pilates-based, each one had its own flavor. I could pick and choose exactly what my body needed on a given day, whether that was something that would help me feel stretchy-strong (ahem: Body By Simone app) or something that would leave me dripping in sweat (those Aaptiv audio classes are no joke). As someone who loves mixing things up, it was really cool to be able to master one modality without ever having to worry about getting bored. To see which at-home Pilates workouts reigned supreme—and which I will be keeping in my rotation even after studios re-open—check out the video above.
Written by: WellGood
