Since the start of the pandemic, I officially switched over to at-home workouts. Having spent years working out of a gym, I started to find it draining. I hated the commute to the gym (either from work or from home), and I hated how packed it was during peak hours after work that I sometimes couldn’t find an open spot or my equipment would be in use, forcing me to change my plans on the spot. Not to mention, the need to plan out my workout ahead of time. 

I trialled many on-demand platforms but ultimately found YouTube to be the best for workout videos because of the variety without the costly membership. Equipped with dumbbells, wrists/ankle weights, and bands, I can choose a workout video based on my mood and what I want to focus on. In fact, my cardio improved with home workouts than it did when I was at the gym! 

However, sifting through the millions of YouTube channels can be difficult so I’m here to share my top 5 favourite workout channels to get started on your at-home workouts!

In no particular order. 

Grow with Jo

I originally found Jo when I was looking for an indoor walking workout to hit my steps. I instantly loved her energy and started to explore her channel. Jo’s workouts are heavily cardio-based but she has some sculpt and light strength training. Many of her workouts are standing and bodyweight only so I like to level up with ankle weights or light dumbbells. Jo has a growing community on Facebook where you can see hundreds of transformations and has a subscription-based platform where she offers exclusive workout videos. I recently chose to cancel my subscription to her platform because of the price increase and I felt there isn’t much content yet. Jo’s videos are how I increased my cardio. 

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BurpeeGirl Liss

Don’t let the username scare you away! BurpeeGirl videos are all standing aerobatics workouts. She has a mixture of aerobatics, dance, barre, and strength workouts (her strength workouts may be short but they burn!). One thing I enjoy about Liss’ workouts is that her workouts are actually 20/30/45/etc minutes of physical activity with a few extra minutes for cooldown – this is why many of her videos are ~5 minutes longer than advertised. Many other workout videos tend to include the warm-up and cool down into the video length which means you’re working out for only 20 minutes on a 30-minute video. BurpeeGirl also has another channel dedicated to short but impactful workouts over here – many are about 15 minutes, and she also has a big Facebook community with many success stories.

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Get Fit with Rick

Rick is another YT channel when I was looking for an indoor steps workout. Similar to Jo, Rick’s energy and enthusiasm for fitness is contagious. His videos are a mix of steps/cardio and I enjoy his kickboxing classes – all standing and bodyweight. Rick does talk in his videos to guide you on the next steps and offer motivation and wisdom. 

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Barre with Gina Chanis 

Gina’s barre videos are the only barre videos I follow. I discovered her on IG and loved her barre classes as I felt it’s most similar to Pure Barre and had no crazy wild movements like some barre instructors do. She’s currently looking to re-launch her subscription-based platform.

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Kaleigh Cohen Strength

I discovered Kaleigh when I wanted more strength-based workouts with heavy dumbbells. Kaleigh has a wide range of video lengths, perfect when you want something quick or a longer workout. All her strength videos leave me sore for a few days and they’re all movements you can do at home with a dumbbell. I find her workouts to be simple but efficient and impactful. 

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I love finding new workouts to keep things moving so let me know if you have a favourite workout channel on YouTube!