My self-care list! Part 1: Exercise
Friendssssssssssss. Ugh. The world is wild and there’s a fucking pandemic going on and it’s exacerbating the many inequalities that already exist in the world and it’s just all a whole lot.
While I have thoughts and feels on all of this (no solutions, though), this post is actually going to be focused on less important things. I’m in the immensely lucky and privileged group of people who still have a job, works from home now, and lives at home with parents / has secure roof over her head, and just generally many good things (CATS! 8ish of them, to be semi-exact).
So, I’ve had time to compile some of the things that are keeping me going. To be honest, this is probably only going to help others in similarly pretty privileged positions…….. but since all of us are struggling in some way hopefully my compilation of things below will help someone have a slightly better week!
So, I thought I’d compile my list of favorite online exercise videos, recipes, dried food stores (mostly bougie, that sell online), music getting me through bouts of unproductivity, face masks, and more!
This first post compiles the thing that’s definitely HARDEST for me to actually act upon… exercise!
FAVE YOGA VIDEOS
I’m notoriously not good at exercising in the best of times, and now that I’m stuck at home I decided I needed to do SOMETHING.
Thankfully, I started searching for some yoga videos shortly before shit really started to hit the fan (I get really stressed and anxious when I’m working so my upper back and shoulders and emotions are a whole mess). I decided to try Yoga with Adriene, and to my surprise I actually liked it! She has a variety of videos and for differing levels so it’s not all super hard poses or anything like that lol. My favorites are below (🌟 marks my particular faves):
- 5-min Morning Yoga
- 7-min Bedtime Yoga
- 20-min Yoga for Bedtime
- 14-min Office Yoga (great between meetings!)
- 15-min Yoga for Anxiety 🌟
- 20-min Yoga Upper Back Love 🌟
- 25-min Yoga for Anxiety & Stress
- Yoga for Couch Potatoes (I haven’t tried this one yet….but this title applies to me so lol)
FAVE ZUMBA VIDEOS
For those of you who know me even semi-well, I LOVE ZUMBA. Goshdarnit, I don’t care if it’s a thing that’s super popular among retirees and senior centers because 1) those peeps (mostly older ladies, but all genders) fricken kick butt at zumba and look much more fashionable looking than me while doing it (imagine neon headbands, cool leggings and like a cool cut shirt), and 2) my tastes have always been more in line with the grandma generation than my peer generation 😂
Here’s a list of some of the better Zumba-type videos I’ve found on Youtube (YAY FREE VIDEOSSSSSS). Full disclosure: though I’ve done most of these, some are on my to-do list!
- First you should see if any of your local zumba instructors are hosting paid or free zoom/online sessions! Support your zumba instructors if you can! Some are also doing free classes and taking donations to contribute to non profits and other fundraising efforts!
- Fitness Marshall
- Dance Fitness w Jessica
- POPSugar (Haven’t tried these but I’ve scanned them and they look good, and I’ve heard good things! One thing I’ll probably do is put these videos on mute and find a random playlist to put on, even if it doesn’t sync to the movements… I’ll just modify the repetitions according to the tempo lol bc I don’t like the background music situation in these vids…)
- YAHSUH fitness
- Boom Boom Black Eyed Peas (fun fact this is probbly one of the first zumba youtube videos I did lol)
FAVE DANCE FITNESS VIDEOS
I’m not a real dancer, but I do love dance! In high school, I had the option to do dance class instead of P.E. While at first I was mortified that we were supposed to wear fricken tights and leotard every effing day, I soon found that I actually enjoyed dancing! I will be forever thankful to Ms. James for teaching us classical ballet and Jazz technique so that even though I can’t really dance, I have the core basics that help me even to this day, nearly 15 years after her first class!
While I’ve watched a variety of YouTube videos for dance fitness (and lol, “watched” is accurate – I’ve definitely watched more videos than I’ve actually done 😂), and the best one I can find is from Sleek Technique, founded by two former professional dancers (one = ballet, one = west end). It’s like actual ballet/classical technique but also accessible! My free favorites below:
- ~13 minutes Classic barre work out (you don’t need an actual barre)
- Quick 12-min ballet fix 🌟
- 7-min Abs and Cardio Express
- ~20-min work out
- If you need a primer on the basics of feet and arm positions, you can check this out!
They also have a 7-day free trial of their PAID online subscription at sleekballetfitness.com (it’s about $20/month for monthly, or $199/year). I recently caved and got it because it’s actually exactly what I was looking for!
ALSO — I haven’t done this in like 10 years, but it’s a really good work out. (The reason I haven’t done it in 10 years is because I remember that each session I felt almost like I was dying 😂 and I can’t bring myself to do it lolol)