Stuck in an exercise rut? Or, know you should do more than run, but are not sure what? These two Favorite Friday Finds will help you mix and match workouts. They’ll teach you new things and shake things up, all with minimal effort on your part. You can put the mental and physical work INTO the workout and not around the workout.

You can use these websites to develop new workout routines in just minutes. You could do upper body twice a week, run, and do a couple of stretch-out videos on the weekend, all planned with minimal effort. And then switch things up when you feel like it! It’s not just good for your brain, it’s good for your body. And both of these companies make fitness accessible and affordable, which is good for everyone.

Mix and Match Workouts

Fitness Blender

Fitness Blender has tons of high-quality workout videos. They are searchable by time, calorie burn, difficulty, body focus (core, upper, lower, total body), training type (HIIT, strength training, low impact, yoga, etc) and equipment needed (none, dumbbell, mat, etc). Sounds like a lot, right?

Sign up for a free account and you can search through the videos and save your favorites, toss them into the calendar, and let your journey begin. If you’d rather be more guided, they have 16 programs between 2 and 8 weeks long at low price points ($1-3/week).

Each video gets its own page with a breakdown of the above searchable information and a detailed description including reasoning behind different aspects in the workout and the exact names of the exercises within the video. I have not experienced their forum-community, but if it reflects the helpful user comments below each video it’s probably a good place.

-Thank you Monica for sharing this great resource.-

DAREBEE 

DAREBEE is a fun place. Their goal is to make fitness accessible, easy and fun to start and keep up, all on a budget. All of their resources are free. All of them. And the exercises require minimum equipment. The core team has experience in body weight and circuit training, running, and competitive martial arts and they design and test all the workouts.

Each workout is a poster viewable online and printable. Check out their manual to learn how to read their simple-design posters. Increasing the number of sets and decreasing rest allows for different levels of difficulty. A video library supplements the instructions for exercises you don’t quite understand.

You can pick individual workouts that you like, or try a 30-90 day program with workouts already chosen. Additionally, there is a Workout of the Day that is thoughtfully designed so that if someone is only using that feature, they are getting a good general fitness program with variety and rest. Monthly challenges, weekly challenges, and daily dares round out the rest of your choices.

-Thank you Andrea for sharing this fun resource.-

How do you find new exercises to your routine?

What are you most looking forward to this Friday?