It is winter which means we have little to no desire to leave the house.  Who wants to suffer the cold when you don't have to.  It's the perfect time for at home workouts.  But what if you have exhausted your DVD collection and are bored with the same old workouts? This happens to me every so often.  While I love my favorite trainers (read: Jillian Michaels and Chalene Johnson) sometimes I need to switch it up.  It is at these times that I look to free online workouts to give some variety o my workouts and change things up.  The following are my top 5 resources for free online workouts.

#1 Fitness Blender

The people behind this site are a husband and wife team, Daniel and Kelli. They have a huge collection of full length workouts with everything from HIIT, cardio, weight training, Yoga, and more.  The best part of this site is the search ability. You can search using key words, length of workout, type of workout, equipment needed, level of difficulty, and what part of the body you want to focus on.  This makes it super easy to find a workout to fit your exact needs.  They also give you an estimated calorie burn on each workout if that is something that you are tracking.

#2 Do Yoga With Me

As the name indicates, this site is pretty much all about Yoga.  You might think that is limiting, but it is not.  There are tons of different styles of Yoga and different uses.  You can do Yoga for weight loss, relaxation, stretching, pain relief and so much more.  This site is again great at allowing users to search for their perfect workout.  You can search by difficulty, class length, style and teacher.  No matter what you are trying to get out of working out, there is a yoga practice that will help you reach your goals.  These videos are super well made and the outdoor scenery will help you take your mind off the bleakness of winter!

#3 Jessica Smith TV

Jessica Smith TV has an awesome collection of videos of workouts with lengths varying between 7 minute, 10 minute and 30 minute workouts. She offers a really great variety of workout styles including fat burning, cardio conditioning, workouts for beginners, kickboxing workouts and more. My favorites are the barre workouts and the quick fit workouts.   Another fun one is the post natal workout.  Any workout that involves me playing with baby girl is a good one!! Jessica is a super energetic and fun instructor who motivates you to get through the workouts.

#4 Livestrong Woman

This is a YouTube channel featuring fitness experts Natalie Jill, Tara Stiles, Cassey Ho, and Holly Del Rosso.  These trainers provide a wide variety of workout videos to help you lose weight, relax and tone.  In addition, there are videos on meditation, motivation, and nutrition.  I prefer the full length workouts to stringing together the individual exercises, so you can find me doing the stronger workouts at the top of the home page or the  Pilates boot camp a little further down.  These can be played on your TV using whatever device you have that connects your TV to YouTube which is super convenient. We had our computer hooked up to the TV and we just got a Roku through which you can access YouTube.

#5 Be Fit

This is another YouTube Channel which contains excellent workouts from your favorite trainers.  These include Jillian Michaels, Jane Fonda, Billy Blanks Jr., Tara Stiles and many more.  There even some meditations from Deepak Chopra which are great for relaxation after your workout.  I especially love that they have baby wearing workouts! While I try to get my workout in early morning when everyone is asleep sometimes baby girl has other ideas.  This channel has a whole series of baby wearing workouts where you can put baby in their carrier and get your workout in.  As the baby grows they increase the weight naturally and gradually adding difficulty to your workout as you progress.  How awesome is that! 

#6 Jen Reviews

If you want to create your own workout routine check out this site. This article has a free guide to creating your own workout routine with guidance from a 2 time olympian!  With easy to follow instructions plus awesome videos, you can create a routine that is specific to your own fitness needs. How awesome is that?!

I hope you check out these sources of free workouts to change up your workout routine without having to leave the house.  I am a huge proponent of working out at home.  It saves time (no need to travel, or wait on machines), money (no gym memberships), and hassle (no need for baby sitters).  If you have the ability to hold yourself accountable, it's a great option for staying fit!

How do you stay fit during the winter?  Let me know in the comments.

Cheers,

Emily