The Lazy Girl’s Guide to Fitness: Cult Summer Workouts You Can Do at Home

It’s not often that laziness leads to increased fitness, but in my case, that’s how it started. This winter, going to the gym after work came to feel like an unbearable chore. Bringing my exercise clothes to work in a bag? Running listlessly on a treadmill? Returning home from a post-work gym session at 9:00 p.m.? For busy ladies and gents, I thought, there must be a better answer. During a visit to Ballet Beautiful’s airy new studio on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, I found a solution: workout DVDs.

It turns out that exercising in the comfort of your home is the absolute height of efficiency. Roll up your carpet, roll out your mat, pull on whatever, and get to work. While the real high-impact regimens are slightly more challenging to re-create chez vous—especially if you live in a tiny apartment like mine—most toning and stretching moves and yoga poses fit snugly inside your living room. And they travel well: When pressed for time, I did outer thigh–burning leg lifts on the floor of a New Orleans Airbnb, and ab work in a hotel in London. I’ve even done a butt-lifting bridge series on the deck of a friend’s lake house. And with summer in full swing, I expect to be taking my mobile gym with me to the pool and the beach—basically anywhere that shirts are optional and bathing suits required.

The real kicker is that the best trainers—the Tracy Andersons and Mary Helen Bowers of the world, those with the truly great, cult-following studios—have embraced the medium, which means that the workouts you dream of joining are just a click away. And their at-home sessions can be just as challenging—and just as rewarding—as their in-studio counterparts. Bonus points: They’re also a great deal easier on your wallet.

Here, five living room test-driven workouts that will have you in fighting form this summer, no gym membership required.

 

Ballet Beautiful
Mary Helen Bowers’s ballet-inspired barre and floor workouts are hard enough that I’ve seen real results, but low-impact enough that my downstairs neighbors have yet to call in a noise complaint. All you need is a cushy mat and a willingness to feel a bit silly in comparison to Bowers and her elegant execution of the moves. The videos are downloadable on iTunes, DVDs are available for purchase on the website and Amazon, and the site has streaming videos.

Tracy Anderson
Gwyneth Paltrow’s trainer does not fool around when it comes to DVDs: These workouts are hard. The Metamorphosis program includes a full set of disks (both dance cardio and toning) as well as a multiweek food plan and workout schedule. It’s a lot for a fitness dilettante, as it more or less requires you to stick to the arranged schedule. But while the dance cardio requires more space than you’ll find in many New York apartments and the choreography is on the challenging side, it was clear after one hour that if I stuck with it I might start my own Goop-like website dedicated just to Tracy.

ConBody
If you enjoy a grueling, punishing workout but reside in an itty-bitty apartment, ConBody at-home fitness videos are for you. The workout, which was created by Coss Marte while he served time in prison, activates your muscles by utilizing your own body weight—and is specifically designed to work within a small, constrained space. The workouts are difficult and involve a lot of the usual suspects—push-ups, lunges, and so on—and fall into the boot-camp category of fitness. If the outsize popularity of ConBody’s NYC studio means you can’t get a space in the class, try the daily subscription videos on its website instead.

Strala Yoga
Most at-home yoga fails to hit that sweet spot between workout and meditative relaxation found in a dimly lit studio. But Tara Stiles, creator of Strala Yoga, is popular for a reason: Even in videos, her calm voice and athletic approach come through clear as a bell. Strala’s downloadable sessions come in various lengths and themes (for example, 20 minutes for bedtime yoga, 30 minutes for core) and are all led by the charismatic and fun-to-follow Stiles.

Pop Physique
Pop Physique is a Los Angeles–based barre studio (it has a space in New York’s Flatiron District as well) with a modern-Jane Fonda flair. The DVDs are led by colorfully (and scantily) clad women who offer living proof that this toning workout will lift your bum to new heights. Prop use is limited and convenient—chairs substitute for a ballet barre—and the instructors’ upbeat, giggling demeanor is infectious. You’ll be repeating “down an inch, up an inch, down an inch, up an inch” for hours.

 

The post The Lazy Girl’s Guide to Fitness: Cult Summer Workouts You Can Do at Home appeared first on Vogue.