A daily 20-minute workout could substantially lower your risk of heart disease, cancer, and diabetes.
Home workouts have evolved from a small trend into mainstream fitness over the last several years. The best YouTube workout videos now feature everything from complete body routines to targeted sessions for specific muscle groups. YouTube has become an amazing free resource for effective workouts you can do anywhere, regardless of your fitness level.
Building muscle mass at home doesn’t require expensive equipment or gym memberships. Fitness channels like Chloe Ting have attracted over 25.5 million subscribers by posting various fitness challenges. These range from two-week shred programs to specialized classes targeting abs, arms, and glutes. PS Fit (formerly Popsugar Fitness) caters to everyone from newcomers to seasoned athletes.
Equipment-free home workouts are both accessible and powerful. The right technique helps build muscle, burn fat and boost overall fitness. These videos are surprisingly quick too—some MadFit routines target specific muscle groups in just 10-15 minutes.
This piece explores the best follow-along workout videos for fitness of all types. You’ll find everything from beginner-friendly routines to intense HIIT sessions, strength training, yoga, and dance workouts that match your fitness goals and priorities.
Best Follow-Along Workouts for Beginners
The first steps in fitness can feel daunting, especially when you have doubts about exercise selection and proper form. YouTube workout videos are a great way to get structure and guidance if you’re just starting out.
Why beginners benefit from guided videos
Guided workout videos give newcomers to fitness expert instruction without the pressure of in-person classes. Short, regular workouts can work just as well as longer ones. This makes video workouts ideal for beginners who might not have enough stamina for long sessions.
You can exercise at your own pace right from home with follow-along videos. The gym environment often creates pressure to match others’ pace or hide your inexperience. At home, you can pause, rewind, and practice movements until you get the form right.
These videos act like personal training sessions. Instructors show each movement and explain proper technique. This visual approach helps prevent common injuries that happen when beginners try exercises without proper guidance.
Top YouTube channels for beginners
Some fitness YouTube channels cater specifically to people starting their fitness experience:
- GrowWithJo: Her beginner-friendly workouts “each exercise is only done once” so you can follow easily, and you can “slow it down if you need to”. Beginners “feel like a pro” even during their first workout thanks to her supportive style.
- MadFit: Quick 20-minute full-body workouts “designed for TOTAL BEGINNERS” without equipment or jumping movements. These workouts suit people new to fitness or those returning after a break.
- Team Body Project: This channel has over 2.3 million subscribers and focuses on low-impact workouts for various fitness levels. Their “Real Start” series helps fitness newcomers begin gently.
- PS Fit (formerly Popsugar Fitness): Hundreds of workouts at different difficulty levels make this channel perfect for “beginners, pros and everyone in between”. The variety keeps things interesting as your fitness improves.
- NHS Workout Videos: These official 10-minute home workouts help beginners reach the recommended 150 minutes of weekly activity. They provide a reliable starting point.
Tips for staying consistent early on
The biggest problem for fitness beginners is consistency. These proven strategies will help you build a lasting routine:
- Schedule workouts like appointments: Mark exercise sessions in your calendar as non-negotiable meetings. Dr. James Italiano suggests “scheduling it close to the same time each day” improves consistency.
- Choose exercises you actually enjoy: Fitness experts say many people force themselves to do exercises they hate because they think they should. This approach doesn’t last. Try different video styles until you find what appeals to you.
- Break exercise into mini-sessions: Studies show that “splitting your exercise into shorter bursts, like three 10-minute sessions a day, can work just as well as a 30-minute workout”. Busy beginners find this approach particularly helpful.
- Track your progress: Fitness trackers and apps build accountability and achievement. “Seeing progress boosts your confidence and helps you stay on track”.
- Find a workout buddy: A partner makes workouts fun and harder to skip. You could follow the same YouTube channel as a friend and check in regularly.
- Mix up your routine: Different workouts prevent boredom and keep you interested. YouTube channels offer plenty of variety for this reason.
- Balance and rest matter: Listen to your body’s need for breaks. “Pushing too hard without rest can backfire” and cause burnout or injury. Most beginner-friendly channels include recovery videos too.
These guidelines and beginner-friendly YouTube fitness channels will help you build strong fitness foundations that grow with your abilities.
Strength Training Videos You Can Do at Home or Gym
Strength training benefits go way beyond bodybuilders and gym enthusiasts—it’s a crucial part of overall fitness that brings many health benefits. Your health will see positive effects from muscle tone improvements to a better quality of life when you add strength exercises to your routine. The best part? Building strength doesn’t require a fully-equipped gym.
Bodyweight strength routines
You can do bodyweight exercises with little to no equipment, which makes them perfect for home workouts. These exercises let you use your body’s weight as resistance to build strength and improve mobility and balance.
Sven Kohl and Alex Lorenz run Calisthenic Movement, a popular YouTube channel that shows “your body is the best gym you’ll ever have”. Their channel shines at progressive training and guides viewers from simple push-ups to advanced gymnastic moves with detailed instruction on proper technique.
BullyJuice presents another great option for equipment-free workouts. His military experience shapes the quickest routines that usually take under 30 minutes. His method makes bodyweight training available whatever your space or time limits.
Thenx delivers targeted workouts as short as 5 minutes, giving you “no excuse to back out of trying”. Their videos show creative ways to use furniture and floors for full body workouts.
Dumbbell and resistance band workouts
Adding dumbbells and resistance bands brings variety and progressive challenge to home strength training. These budget-friendly tools help target specific muscle groups more effectively.
Resistance bands work differently than free weights. They increase “time under tension” or how long a muscle works against resistance, which makes them great for building strength. These adaptable tools target large muscle groups (legs, glutes, upper body) and smaller stabilizing muscles (core, pelvic floor) that weights can’t reach as well.
Sydney Cummings Houdyshell’s channel features detailed dumbbell routines. She has created over 2,000 videos showing innovative ways to use dumbbells in different exercise patterns. Juice and Toya serve as another valuable resource by organizing their dumbbell workouts by muscle group and equipment type, making it simple to find sessions matching your weights.
MadFit creates 20-minute full-body toning and strengthening workouts with dumbbells that target “legs, booty, shoulders, arms, and back”. Their workouts pair exercises to streamline processes.
Best fitness YouTube channels for strength
These YouTube creators stand out with exceptional strength training content:
- Athlean-X: Jeff Cavaliere, former head physical therapist for the New York Mets, founded this channel to explain the biomechanics behind exercises beyond just showing movements. His evidence-based approach helps you train smarter and lower injury risk.
- Sydney Cummings: Fresh content appears daily with well-laid-out programs for different goals. Most workouts need minimal equipment, perfect for home exercisers.
- Juice and Toya: Quick workouts range from 10-30 minutes with clear instructions and modifications for different fitness levels.
- Pamela Reif: Short, high-intensity workouts with minimal talking and upbeat music have drawn over 10 million subscribers. Her weekly workout plans help you stay consistent.
- Strength Project: Elite athletes showcase their skills while providing education on major barbell lifts, proper form, and simple nutrition.
You should work all major muscle groups at least twice weekly to get the best results. Note that muscles grow during rest periods, not during exercise, so give 48 hours between training the same muscle groups.
These YouTube strength training resources can help you build serious strength. It doesn’t matter if you’re working out at home with basic equipment or at a fully-equipped gym—results will follow.
Low-Impact and Joint-Friendly Video Workouts
Low-impact exercise can give you great results. These gentler workouts put less stress on your joints but still offer substantial health benefits. If you have joint pain or just prefer less jarring movements, low-impact video workouts are great alternatives to high-impact routines.
Who should choose low-impact routines
Low-impact exercise means any activity that doesn’t put too much strain or weight on your joints. These workouts work really well for several groups:
If you have joint conditions: People with arthritis, fibromyalgia, or those recovering from injuries don’t deal very well with high-impact activities. A 12-week study showed that low-impact exercises helped reduce joint pain and stiffness in people with osteoarthritis. Participants who swam or cycled for 45 minutes three times weekly saw major improvements.
Beginners: People just starting their fitness routine find low-impact exercises easier to handle and less scary. These workouts build a solid foundation before you move to higher-impact activities.
Older adults: Balance and flexibility naturally decrease as we age. Low-impact routines help with these issues and lower the risk of falls.
Athletes on recovery days: Low-impact cardio helps athletes cross-train while reducing the risk of overuse injuries.
Anyone wanting joint protection: The benefits go beyond people with existing joint problems. Low-impact exercises build stronger muscles around joints and improve range of motion, mobility, and flexibility. This could prevent future problems.
Best YouTube exercise videos for low-impact training
Some YouTube channels stand out in offering effective, joint-friendly workout options:
Team Body Project: This channel has over 2.3 million subscribers and offers various low-impact workouts for different fitness levels. Daniel and Alexandra Bartlett founded it with a focus on sustainable exercise instead of promising quick fixes. Their “Real Start” series helps fitness newcomers or those coming back after a break.
Body Project: Their 25-30 minute workouts make you sweat without stressing your joints. You’ll burn fat while protecting your joints and muscles from too much strain.
PS Fit (formerly PopSugar Fitness): This channel has many low-impact options from 10-30 minutes. They even have routines for apartment dwellers worried about noise. Just because it’s low-impact doesn’t mean it’s easy – you’ll still get your heart racing.
Fitness Blender: Their “Low-Impact Round 2” program gets great reviews for mixing things up while staying easy on joints. You’ll find lots of low-impact options with different training styles.
Arthritis Foundation’s YouTube Channel: The YES (Your Exercise Solution) program offers joint-specific changes developed and approved by physical therapists. They’ve created a six-week walking program to help reduce arthritis pain and symptoms.
Note that low-impact doesn’t mean easy. These workouts will challenge both your heart and muscles. Cleveland Clinic exercise physiologist Katie Lawton explains, “It’s not about effort. You’re still going to be able to push your body. The difference is that low-impact activities are not going to put as much stress on your joints in the process”.
Try different channels to find instructors who strike a chord with you. Regular exercise matters more than intensity, and finding workouts you enjoy makes it easier to stick to your routine.
Follow-Along Cardio and HIIT Sessions
HIIT (High-intensity interval training) has been the go-to fitness trend for over a decade. It’s a quick way to boost heart health, speed up metabolism, and burn fat. This workout style switches between intense exercise and recovery periods, making it perfect if you’re busy or working out at home.
Short vs. long HIIT formats
HIIT workouts come in different time formats, each with its own benefits. Short-interval HIIT uses 20-30 second bursts of intense activity followed by quick rest periods. Workouts like Tabata (20 seconds on, 10 seconds off) and 40/20s (40 seconds work, 20 seconds rest) have become popular because they work so well.
Studies show shorter HIIT intervals can work just as well as longer ones. Research found that people doing short intervals ran faster (3.5±0.18 vs. 2.95±0.07 m/s) and felt less tired. These short bursts also created a 26% longer “afterburn effect” (EPOC) than longer intervals, which could help with weight loss.
Longer HIIT formats use 4-5 minute work periods at 90-95% of peak heart rate and come with their own perks. These longer intervals help build stamina and endurance, which is great if you’re training for specific sports.
Best channels for cardio workouts
YouTube has some amazing creators who make great cardio and HIIT sessions:
- Heather Robertson creates no-equipment workouts that fit any schedule. You’ll find everything from quick 10-minute sessions to a complete 12-week workout plan.
- The Fitness Marshall brings dance-based cardio set to popular music. These fun sessions get your heart pumping while working your whole body. The videos are short, so you can mix and match them for longer workouts.
- Body Project focuses on low-impact cardio that’s easier on your joints but still gets results. Their 25-30 minute sessions work for everyone, no matter their fitness level.
- Natacha Oceane creates HIIT workouts backed by science that help you get the most from your training.
- Mr. and Mrs. Muscle deliver quick, powerful HIIT routines using little or no equipment. As certified trainers, they show you the right way to do each move.
How to modify intensity at home
Follow-along videos are great because you can adjust how hard you work based on your fitness level and energy:
Start by changing your work-to-rest ratio. If you’re new to HIIT, try a 1:2 or 1:3 ratio (work:rest). You can move to 1:1 as you get stronger. Let your heart rate drop to 60-65% of its max before starting the next set.
You can also adapt movements to match your level. Good HIIT videos show easier versions of exercises. You might swap jumping jacks for step-jacks or use walk-outs instead of burpees. The Body Project team says it best: “high intensity doesn’t have to mean high-impact”.
Your pace and movement range matter too. Fitness expert David Jack puts it simply: “You manage your energy”. Moving slower with smaller movements makes things easier, while faster, bigger movements add challenge.
A good weekly plan might include one upper body HIIT, one lower body HIIT, one full body HIIT, and one straight cardio session. Give yourself 48 hours between tough workouts to avoid getting hurt or burned out.
Pick the right HIIT format, follow quality instructors, and make smart changes to get the best results – whatever your fitness level or home setup might be.
Yoga, Pilates, and Stretching Video Routines
Flexibility training perfectly complements any fitness routine. The benefits go way beyond just touching your toes. Your range of motion improves and injury risks decrease with regular stretching. Activities like yoga combine stretching with relaxation to boost balance.
Benefits of flexibility-focused workouts
Muscles that are well-stretched can achieve their full range of motion easily. This improves athletic performance and everyday activities like reaching and bending. The benefits aren’t just physical – many people find flexibility workouts are a great way to kick-start their morning or wind down after a long day.
Better flexibility helps you move more smoothly by letting your joints move freely. This natural movement gives you more resistance to muscle injury. Anyone who needs more than normal range of motion will find flexibility training essential.
Best fitness YouTube channels for yoga and pilates
Several YouTube channels stand out right now with their expert-led yoga and pilates content:
Yoga with Kassandra focuses on yin yoga, a slow-paced style that emphasizes deep stretching and relaxation. Her soothing voice makes classes available to everyone.
Five Parks Yoga, with Erin Sampson at the helm, shows classes in beautiful outdoor locations. Her well-laid-out sequences work for practitioners of all levels.
Move With Nicole teaches calming, easy-to-follow pilates that builds core strength, flexibility, and better posture. She demonstrates proper form throughout each session.
Yoga with Adriene has grown to over 12 million subscribers. She blends traditional yoga philosophy with developmental movement, making her channel perfect for different experience levels.
Morning vs. evening stretch routines
Morning routines focus on energizing your body. A quick 10-minute session helps you “wake up, energize and simply feel good”. These workouts mix yoga-inspired movements with mobility exercises and mindful breathing.
Evening routines put more emphasis on relaxation and stress relief. Stretching before bed works as “a wonderful way to change your mindset to rest and relaxation after a busy day”. You’ll find evening yoga flows usually include seated and lying positions that release the day’s tension.
Evening sessions often use breathing techniques like the 4-4-4 method (inhale for four counts, hold for four, exhale for four) to help you relax. A longer exhale helps improve sleep quality.
Without doubt, both morning and evening sessions have their perks—pick what fits your schedule and goals best. The key is to stretch regularly, at least two to three times weekly, to get the most benefits.
Dance and Music-Based Workout Videos
Dance fitness has become hugely popular as people realize workouts don’t need to feel like punishment. Music and movement create an exercise experience that feels more like a party than a workout. The results are impressive too.
Why dance workouts are fun and effective
Dance workouts blend cardio training with full-body movement to burn calories and build strength. Your heart, lungs, muscles, coordination, and balance all get better with dancing. Dance releases more endorphins than other aerobic exercises. This leads to better brain function, improved sleep, and a more positive outlook.
Dance fitness might be fun, but it gets real results. A single hour-long class can burn over 500 calories while making you more agile and stronger. The psychological benefits keep people coming back for more. Many say they only started enjoying exercise after they found dance videos.
Top follow-along dance fitness creators
Some amazing dance fitness channels work for all styles and fitness levels:
The Fitness Marshall creates high-energy dance workouts to popular music. His bright personality makes fitness available to everyone, no matter their skill level.
Kukuwa Fitness takes you on an “exotic African Expedition.” Their traditional African dance moves work muscles you never knew existed.
PopSugar Fitness releases new dance workouts every week. They have 10-30 minute options covering everything from hip-hop to Latin dance.
567Broadway features Broadway song routines. Move with Color focuses on ’80s/’90s music workouts. For classic styles, Tahiti Dance Fitness teaches Polynesian dance moves that really work your legs.
Apartment-friendly options
Your apartment shouldn’t stop you from enjoying dance workouts. Many channels create routines that won’t bother your neighbors. Disney-themed dance workouts are perfect for apartments. They use moves that avoid jumping and heavy footsteps.
STEEZY Studio’s 15-minute dance cardio routines focus on smooth moves instead of high-impact jumps. Class Fitsugar also offers beginner-friendly ’90s-throwback dance workouts that work great in small spaces.
Conclusion
Follow-along workout videos have altered the map of fitness. They make exercise available to everyone, whatever their experience, equipment, or location. You can pick from high-intensity cardio sessions, strength training with basic equipment, gentle yoga flows, or dance routines that feel more like fun than exercise. All these options are right there at your fingertips.
Digital workouts shine because of their flexibility. You can start with beginner-friendly channels and work your way up to tougher content as you get stronger. It also helps that many creators include modifications for different fitness levels in their videos. This lets you adjust the intensity based on your energy and abilities.
These videos take away the usual roadblocks to regular exercise. There’s no gym commute, no need for expensive equipment, and no fixed class schedules to juggle. You can work out at any time and place that suits you best.
The secret to lasting fitness success is to find workouts you truly love. Try different styles and instructors until you find what strikes a chord with you. Some days might need an energizing HIIT session, while a calming yoga flow or fun dance routine might work better on others.
Note that consistency beats perfection for fitness results. Even quick, regular sessions build up to major health benefits over time. Just roll out your mat, make some space, and hit play – your next great workout is a click away.
