Online exercise

This is our month’s edition on where to find a great variety of classes with excellent instructors… there is probably enough here to keep you going for the rest of the year and more!

If you enjoy any of these links… or not, then let us know so we can pass it on!

Contents:

• Pilates
• Yoga
• Fitness sites that offer an extensive range of activities
• Dance style fitness

Pilates:

Pilates Anytime:

Pilates is absolutely the ideal partner for walking as it focuses on posture, balance, flexibility and strengthening the core, all important aspects of walking and movement through daily life.

Pilates Anytime is a fantastic site offering over 3,000 mat and equipment classes with world class instructors for all levels, from absolute beginner to advanced. New videos are published weekly, including various tutorials on different aspects of Pilates. There is also Pilates for different needs such as pregnancy, injuries etc.

If you are an absolute beginner, we recommend starting with Monica Wilson on her 10 session training. Each class is very thorough and can be completed as many times as you need before moving on to the next. By the end, she is confident that you will be able to take part in any of the classes on Pilates Anytime and have a sound grasp of technique. 

Cost of online classes:

• Free 15-day trial period that can be cancelled at any time.
• £14.00 per month unlimited use

https://www.pilatesanytime.com

Yoga:

Yoga can also be found at Les Mills, NHS Fitness Studio and Instructor Live (links below)

Yoga Anytime

The same company as Pilates Anytime which we can highly recommend, Yoga Anytime has over 100 yoga teachers covering all styles and levels of yoga with over 2,600 classes. From absolute beginners to those that want to fine tune their headstand, everyone is welcome.

Classes run for different duration's of time but all integrating the body, mind and heart.

Cost of online classes:

• 15 days’ free trial that can be cancelled at any time
• £14.00 per month unlimited use

https://www.yogaanytime.com

Down Dog Yoga App

Select your time, level, focus, voice, and music, Down Dog creates a unique, personalised yoga practice every time. Yoga for Beginners is an entirely free app created to introduce absolute beginners to the practice of yoga. Turn up the intensity with High Intensity Interval Training. Use your own body weight to get your heart rate up.

Unlike following pre-recorded videos, Down Dog won’t make you do the same workout over and over again. With over 60,000 different configurations, Down Dog gives you the power to build a yoga practice you love! BEGINNER FRIENDLY

https://www.downdogapp.com/       

Fitness sites that offer an extensive range of activities:

Les Mills:

Over 800 online workouts with top class instructors, include everything you could wish for from Yoga, HIIT, Dance, Cardio and even Meditations. Certainly enough to keep you going for the next few months and a great opportunity to try different types of classes.

Definitely worth a trial!

Cost of online classes:

• Free trial classes available
• Free 14-day trial that can be cancelled at any time
• £11.95 per month unlimited classes
• £28.70 3 monthly saving 20%
• £95.60 annual membership saving 33%

https://watch.lesmillsondemand.com/

NHS Live Well

The NHS fitness website is a good starting point if you know you want to improve your fitness but you really don’t know how… aside from walking that is!

By visiting https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/exercise/free-fitness-ideas/

You can have access to a range of activities and ideas to get you going.

NHS Fitness Studio

Visit https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/nhs-fitness-studio/wake-up-workout/

Again the NHS is the starting point, but here you will find free classes in a variety of activities that come under the headings of Aerobic Exercise, Strength and Resistance, Pilates and Yoga and Others. It is worth saying that each group has a variety of activities, within Pilates particularly, there is a multitude of classes to suit every condition from knee problems, arthritis, scoliosis, osteoporosis and more.

These fitness videos are recorded sessions of previously live webcasts that have been created by Instructor Live. They range from 10 to 45 minutes but if you find something you like, you can then get connected to the instructor at Instructor Live where you have more access including live classes.

Instructor Live:

Over 800 workouts, a top class site for on demand classes that include HIIT, HIIT Dance, Aerobics, Weights, Circuit Training, Pilates, Yoga, Ballet, Belly Dancing and more.

https://www.instructorlive.com/

Cost of online classes:

• £9.00 per month 65 programmes / 800 workouts
• £4.00 per month 1 programme

Joe Wicks

Known as "The Body Coach", and is one of the most followed fitness coaches on youtube. He particularly workouts using short intense interval training for all abilities. Since covid-19 He gained worldwide support by running a children’s PE class every morning, although many parents enjoyed it as well.

He has also just developed a series of videos 10 – 15 minutes long specifically for seniors, and those with reduced mobility. These are calmer and low impact, so less intense, and there is even a workout based from being seated on a chair.

Seniors workouts are worth checking out https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyCLoPd4VxBvH1ZqD6Vp6vD2C2No1cloe

For the full Joe Wicks playlist which covers a wide variety of classes of different duration's and ability take a look here: https://www.youtube.com/user/thebodycoach1/playlists

Cost of classes:

• All classes are free

Dance style fitness:

DDMIX or Diverse Dance Mix with Darcey Bussell

A full body work out aimed at getting people moving without being intimidated or put off by the word dance, you can even take an online class with Darcey herself!

Suitable for all ages from children to adults each class includes great workouts using a vast number of different dance styles such as Bollywood, Charleston, Rock n Roll, Tango, 1940’s Ritz and lots more… it’s all fun and in the privacy of your own home, you really can dance as if no one is looking!

Cost of online classes:

• £4.00 for a 48-hour rental
• Average class length 30 minutes
• You can play your selection as many times as you want.

https://diversedancemix.com/

Instructor Live – Dance La Bomba with Chloe Redmond

Features a great combination of dance moves set to Latin American dance music, hip hop, Afrobeats and R&B. This 45-minute class is great fun and suitable for all fitness levels and anyone that loves Latin music.

As a beginner you can modify the steps if you need to, anyone with any pre-existing knee injuries, you may want to check it out first.

A free class can be found on the NHS website link above which is a recorded session of a previously live webcasts

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/nhs-fitness-studio/dance-la-bomba/

https://www.instructorlive.com/#!/nhs-choices/364

Enjoy!