Get fit the virtual workout way

MANILA, Philippines - When I was in first year college, my afternoons would be spent running around the oval road in my village. But as the years passed by, I stopped stepping out for my pre-sunset ritual. There were a number of reasons why. One reason was that it started to become monotonous. I kept running around the same circuit over and over again. Another was that new houses kept sprouting around our area and running around while people watched, broke my concentration. Reason two slowly grew into the last reason why I shunned eventually outdoor recreation: I became self-conscious. God bless the girls who are confident in every form, but being observed by curious eyes, while wearing a thick sweater during summer as sweat poured down my face, made me really self-conscious. I’m not maarte about a lot of things, but this is one of the very few things that irk me. I gradually became an exercise recluse. After that, I mainly relied on a really worn-out yoga DVD that eventually started to skip. I could’ve signed up for an actual class like a normal person, but I was too cheap to sign up for a one. So, I decided to try my luck on YouTube, and voila! The fitness lord giveth. Before I knew it, the video-sharing website became my workout mecca; streaming 24/7 and all for free. The best thing about it is whenever I got sick of one routine, I could easily change it up. Totally customizable and all done in the comfort of my home; public sweat show no more. So, here are five workout videos on YouTube that I highly recommend. I pass on the YouTube fitness torch to anyone who is willing to try it out.

Pop pilates

If you’re a fan of someone constantly throwing motivational quips for you to “keep going” while your back agonises, Pop Pilates is a good place to start. California-based instructor Cassie Ho, has been generously sharing her workout regiment via YouTube since 2009. Some of her videos target a specific part of the body for toning — say, perhaps, the runner’s calves or arms. She also has a couple of videos called Cardio Pilates where she goes out of her house and films herself doing cardio under the sun. She might look totally random exercising outside by herself while talking to a video camera, but hey, her confidence is totally beneficial for everyone else.

YouTube search keywords: Pop Pilates

Yoga today

Yoga promises relaxation, balance and fat loss through concentration and steady breathing. In layman’s terms, yoga is really just a test of how long you can hold a pose. It’s like putting your legs in a really awkward position and staying still for a minute or so. On YouTube, channel YogaToday offers short yoga sessions, about 30 minutes or less. They also have a main website where they sell hour long workout videos, but their free videos are good enough for beginners. Plus, if those snow-tipped mountains peaking behind the yoga instructor don’t relax you or make you feel one with the earth, then I don’t know what else will.

YouTube Search Keywords: Yoga Today

Hawaiian Hula

I started doing Hawaiian hula when my mom’s friend, Marichu, performed a hula dance for my other tita’s homecoming party. Familial confusion aside, it was a really nice performance, and it seemed really easy to do to. That’s when I found Island Girl Workouts on YouTube, a one-hour hula exercise that teaches a choreographed dance segment by segment. At first, I thought it was all about the hips, but 10 minutes into the video, it was obvious that the focus was thigh squats. Island Girl Workout isn’t as body part-isolated as Pop Pilates. It’s more cardio than anything else, but expect your legs to take shape. If you’re itching to have sculpted legs that scream, “Oh yeah, I work out,” then set aside 50 minutes of your time and give these island girls a go.

YouTube search keywords: Island Girl Workout (Each workout is split into five. Load each in a different window for an easier exercise session.)

10-Minute Anything

The thing about exercise is, the more I space each grueling workout apart from the other, the more I start to put it off. If I exercise an hour on Monday, I won’t exercise anymore on Tuesday or Wednesday and so on. I get lazy. So on days where I feel that I should exercise but I don’t have the energy for a full-blown session, I turn to the trusty 10-minute workout. These short bursts of heart-pumping sessions aren’t limited to a specific routine. Sometimes, it can be an area-specific workout like a muffin top blaster or it can just be the run-of-the-mill cardio. It caters to everyone’s time-pressed needs. For example, after I’ve eaten a really big meal and I feel the need to destroy the fat I feel is lingering in my stomach, I search “10 minute ab workout” on YouTube for an instant fitness gratification.

YouTube search keywords: 10 minute workout

Honorable mention:

Korean Dance Videos

Korean what? No, seriously, these videos are fitness gold. And when I say “Korean dance videos,” I mean the choreographed videos of K-Pop group, Girls Generation. If you’re an avid viewer of Jay Leno, you probably would’ve seen these nine girls smushed to fit your TV screens while they, for a lack of a better term, drop it like it’s hot. Their dance seems like a flurry of steps that seem complicated sewn together, but are actually simpler when broken down. The only problem with this workout is that it’s not instructional. The key is to closely watch and mimic the girls onscreen. I really don’t recommend this for everyone. I do, however, recommend this for people who’ve had dance training in the past, and, well, are avid K-Pop followers. I also recommend this for people who don’t mind squatting to keep pausing and rewinding the video; That’s a real workout in itself.

YouTube search keywords: Girls Generation practice video