As we’re all well aware of, we are currently in quarantine. I don’t want to put any extra pressure on anyone to exercise during a difficult and anxiety-inducing time, that is not AT ALL the purpose of this post. BUT, for me personally, if I find even just 30 minutes to move my body daily, I live life in a much clearer and happier headspace. Also, since I am postpartum, I’ve been working on slowly rebuilding my strength and endurance, and therefore have been welcoming this slow time to focus on my fitness. That being said, I do not like to spend any additional money on top of a gym membership to workout, so I try to skip out on any apps that require a monthly fee. There’s so many options out there for exercise without spending much money, so I wanted to create a post listing all of the services that I use, and also the equipment that we have in our home!
My Home Equipment:
Before we bought our current home around 2.5 years ago, we lived in a building that had a gym. I felt like it made a huge difference in how often I exercised, and in staying in-shape during my pregnancy with Hudson, so before I got pregnant with Charlie, I asked Matt for an elliptical as a 32nd birthday gift.
Elliptical: We purchased this one for $799, which we considered a reasonable price for an elliptical that was fairly small and had good reviews. We also paid $89 for the install, which was DEFINITELY worth it. We have it on the second floor landing in our home, a sort-of dead space with no natural light, and the installer carried it upstairs and installed it in a matter of minutes. We’ve had 0 issues with it since then, and we’ve had it for over a year. It has different workout profiles, and different courses you can workout on. We love that it’s a bit smaller, and the workout itself feels challenging (we think even more-so than the ellipticals at the gym). Matt and I both use this machine at least 2-3 times per week each, and it was well well worth the money in our opinion.
Treadmill: Once the pandemic hit, I started to be super sad that I wouldn’t be able to get back to running at the gym, so I found an extremely affordable folding treadmill. It currently says it is out of stock, and it has not arrived to me yet, but I wanted to include it on here, because it should be arriving this week. I picked this treadmill because it was $282, folds up, and has great reviews for something so compact. I’ll report back!
5lb and 8lb dumbbells: I keep these in my closet, so that I remember to do some free-weights for my arms at least every other day. Proximity makes a huge difference for me!
Yoga mat: I use this mat for abs, or home workout videos.
Workouts I Use:
POPSUGAR Fitness: I absolutely love these workouts – the main thing I love is that they show a modified version of every workout. They also have soo many options for lower body, abs, upper body, 30 minute workouts, 10 minute workouts, etc. You can basically find whatever you want!
Fitness Blender: This is another completely free option, with tons of different kinds of workout videos. I find these to be a bit more challenging than POPSUGAR, but I love the HIIT workouts on a day that I want a great challenge!
@Diaryofafitmommyofficial: Another option that I’ll use on a day that I want a less structured workout to go along with some cardio is this amazing instagrammer Sia’s page. She has bite-sized and save worthy content that you can refer back to from everywhere… home, a hotel room, literally anywhere and you could do as many sets as you want. Some days I’ll just do some just to get SOME kind of exercise in.
My favorite workout sets:
My two favorite places to pickup workout sets are Beyond Yoga and Girlfriend Collective. I prefer to workout in high-waisted sets with a tighter and more supportive top. I also like to have fun with the colors of my workout sets, since I feel so not myself in workout clothing! Lately I’ve been living in it though! I’ve linked some of my favorite sets below!
