When you’re racing from one cheeseball house to the next during the holiday season and barely have time to unbutton your pants, let alone fit in a trip to the gym or studio, the stress can pile up with the pounds. Now you can relax and go grab a sugar cookie (or four)! We’ve pulled together a comprehensive list of (FREE!) exercise videos you can do from the comfort of your home. Ranging from the more intense Jillian Michaels workouts that will leave you sweating out the alcohol from the last holiday season to the more target-zone approach of Denise Austin, there’s something for everyone. All you have to do is use one of your existing streaming services or stream it from your computer to your TV and voila! You are shredding pounds from your living room and giving your children endless amounts of entertainment in the process. ‘Tis the season.
Before you start any of the videos, you’ll likely need a mat, one or two 5-10 pound weights and a large open space. And water. Don’t forget the water.
As streaming services go, Amazon Prime offers the broadest selection of free workout videos, with a good cross-section of yoga, core strength, aerobic, dance and even tai chi. The best part is that it offers ratings, so you get an idea of the quality of the workout before you even break a sweat. The worst part is that they don’t offer a lot of cardio selections.
Here are a few highlights of free workout videos available through Amazon Prime:
- Yoga For Beginners: Poses for Strength, Flexibility and Relaxation (1 hour, 5 minutes)
- Yoga Therapy for Back Pain and Stress Relief with Kanta Barrios (1 hour)
- Fitness Kickboxing Workout (55 minutes)
- Shazzy Fitness: A Time to Dance (28 minutes)
- Belly Dance Percussive Moves & Footwork Crash Course with Neon (1 hour, 10 minutes)
*Note that Amazon does offer a great selection of other workout videos, such as Tracy Anderson, Jillian Michaels and Billy Blanks Jr., but sweating with these personalities will cost you.
Hulu seems to offer the next best offering, with more videos available when you access it through your computer.
Denise Austin
- 3-Week Boot Camp (49 minutes)
- Hit the Spot Target Toners (1 hour, 2 minutes)
- Body Makeover Mix (46 minutes)
- Get Fit Daily Dozen (1 hour, 2 minutes)
Pop Sugar with Anna Renderer (note that these are only available online through a partnership with ULIVE and not through the Hulu app on your TV)
- 20-minute fat blasting workout (20 minutes)
- 300-calorie burning video workout (30 minutes)
- Ultimate Flat Belly (30 minutes)
- Calorie Torching with a Hot-Hits Playlist (20 minutes)
- Torch Calories and Build Lean Muscle with a Power Workout (30 minutes)
Several others with titles that burn calories from laughing, like “A 30-Minute Fat-Frying Bikini-Body Workout That Will Have Your Body Sizzling”
Pop Sugar with Astrid Swan McGuire
- Burn Major Calories in Little Time With This HIIT Workout (20 minutes)
Netflix
After spending countless minutes searching various combinations of workout-related terms on Netflix (to no avail), I finally figured out what “Watch Netflix and Chill” means.
YouTube
When it comes to the best selection for your money, YouTube has an endless library of workout videos for no subscription fee. While the quality may vary between workouts, you can find just about anything you want. I have included a few examples below, but would suggest you take a look to find what will work best for you.
- Jillian Michaels: Banish Fat Boost Metabolism Complete Workout
- Jillian Michaels: No More Trouble Zones: Complete Workout
- Jillian Michaels: 6 Week Six-Pack Abs Workout- Level 1
- Natalie Jill: Several great workouts targeting all areas, under 10 minutes. Natalie also has a mobile app worth checking out, but it does cost money to unlock different workouts.
- Core Crusher Ab Workout (9:41 minutes)
- How To Tone Inner Thighs and Triceps (5:20 minutes)
Additional workouts available on YouTube include:
- Zumba (6:47)
- Dance Workout For Beginners: Fun Fat Burning For Tone Tummy (38:56)
- Pump It Up (2004) Worth it if you like listening to people with different accents (almost 1:20)
- Latin Dance Fitness: Cardio Salsa. Not a great recording, but if you can make it through the whole workout without tangling your feet, you win extra points.
- Barre: This is a good 40-minute barre workout you can do in home.
- And this Barre workout offers a little “I’m working out with you in your living room” feel.
So if you’re feeling a little guilty after last night’s holiday party, just turn on your television sweat out that egg nog (or whatever else you were drinking at midnight).
Do you have any other favorite workouts you would recommend? Let us know and we’ll add it to the list!
