The world of online workouts��can be a strange place—some YouTube accounts inexplicably become virtual diaries for trainers (“”) or can��feel more harmful than helpful (think:��jumping into a heavy weight training video without any instruction).

But there’s a simple��reason many channels and influencers have follower counts in the millions: it’s a lot easier to work out when you don’t have to come up with the moves and routine yourself. And in the midst of a pandemic��that has nearly the entire country on lockdown, working out with the help of a digital trainer��is the closest most of us��can get to our regular fitness routines.

There is a seemingly endless array of free online videos and apps��promising to get you in the best��possible��shape, and it can be tricky to determine��which ones are worth your time. So, over the course of seven weeks, I down-dogged through yoga classes, sweated through HIIT workouts, and grunted through bare-bones weight training sequences to test 24 of the most popular programs and bring you a verdict. These five��programs came out��on top, thanks to knowledgeable instructors, easy-to-follow and well-produced videos, and a variety of workout types.��My journey began before the pandemic hit, so I did plenty of experimentation at my local gym. But with some basic equipment, you can do most of them at home: some call for weights, bands, and mats, and others only require a little space.

Bring the Barre and Pilates Studio Home

You may have to scroll past some non-workout content on the�� YouTube channel (unless you are genuinely interested in a video of the trainer explaining��how cheap bikinis compare to expensive ones), but these low-impact workouts are good for strength and mobility��and don’t require any equipment. Certified Pilates and group fitness instruct�ǰ�����leads��classes similar to what you’d encounter in a barre or Pilates studio. There are����for those who want continuity, like�� �ǰ���, and there’s a wide selection of à��la carte��full-body and area-specific routines, which run��from five to 30 minutes long. I tried��, which included 100 donkey kicks on each leg, and I almost had to be forklifted out of the gym.��Ho does a good job of describing each workout ahead of time��and offers recommendations for household items you can use in place of equipment, like a stack of books instead of weights for an ab workout. If you are braver than I am, you’ll love the workouts that are set to��popular songs.��I tried to do a part-ab workout, part-dance routine to�� “Senorita”��at a crowded gym. I��ultimately decided if I busted out Ho’s “sexy legs” move, I would scar everyone around me for life.

For a Simple, Bare-Bones Workout

is the opposite of a Shawn Mendes–inspired dance workout. The channel is run by personal trainers��Daniel and Kelli Segars��and is ideal f�ǰ���anyone who wants a no-frills, in-and-out workout. Some HIIT and full-body routines are around an hour and meant��to be done on their own,��while others are around ten��minutes and target spots like your abs or arms. The trainers don’t outline the exercises beforehand, which could be disorienting for beginners, though they do provide modifications for difficult moves. A timer in the upper right corner counts down each video, and there’s no music or aesthetically pleasing background to offer a distraction. I did three workouts in my studio apartment—,�� ��ܲ�����.��Each video was to the point and efficient, which I appreciated, although I did end up streaming music on my phone to drown out the sound of my wheezing.

Find a Yoga Practice for Every Mood

Certified yoga teacher Adriene Mishler has been streaming yoga videos on her YouTube platform�� since 2012��and has more than 7 million followers—more than almost any��other fitness channel on the site. Her videos have more than 500 million views��and range from short ten-minute flows to��40-minute classes targeting specific areas like your arms or core. Mishler also has��classes that address certain needs, like and .��I liked Mishler’s channel because of her clear instruction, high-quality presentation, and personable nature. Also��because her dog, Benji, makes an appearance in most videos. In addition to regular yoga flows, I��streamed a few of her��, which were a nice way to wind down at the end of the day. Note that��the channel can get kind of kooky—in “,” Mishler wears antennae and a turquoise bodysuit. Namaste, earthlings.

If You Want More Variety

is a good option if you��prefer to��work out with a variety of instructors. The YouTube platform often has guest hosts, like celebrity trainer ,���ǰ���. You can experiment with��tabata, dance, barre, yoga, kickboxing, Pilates, and workouts that are muscle-group specific.��(There’s even a��,��if you’re feeling bold.)��The videos��range from one-minute challenges to 45-minute dance routines. Most videos have three trainers, with two providing modifications to the moves.��I did two�� and�� in my studio apartment and didn’t have any issues with space,��though you may want more room if you decide to stream a kickboxing or dance class. The group is also providing free access��to��, an app-based program sans commercials, during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Elevate Your Strength Training

If you have workout equipment at home, try the����YouTube channel—many of its workouts use dumbbells, kettlebells, or resistance bands,��although there are some that just use bodyweight.��Like many other platforms, HasFit offers a multitude of workout options like HIIT or tabata, but I chose it for the strength training exercises. Workouts run from around five to 45 minutes, so you can combine a series of�� or just do one long video. Certified personal trainer Joshua Kozak and his wife, Claudia, demonstrate all the moves beforehand. Claudia uses a lighter set of weights to showcase the modified versions, which I found helpful. One warning, though: There are some dorky moments. Joshua refers to his followers as members of the “HasFit tribe,” and the workout videos are broken up with motivational poster–ready quotes. (“You only succeed as much as you try.” Deep, HasFit.) But ultimately, the workout is worth the cheese factor.

Honorable Mentions

Annie Clarke

While I found the Yoga with Adriene channel to have a wider variety of options, I did like the�� and guided����offered on��the����YouTube channel. The London-based yoga teacher’s presentation feels authentic, though Adriene was more engaging.

Sarah Grace Fitness

This�� features lots of kettlebell and dumbbell workouts that involve moves like snatches and presses. I liked��—once I caught up to what was happening. Grace��offers just a quick outline and then dives into a fast-paced workout, which can be hard to follow. But her workout kicked my ass.

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I became alarmed around the third time I saw someone almost get nailed in the boob. On a recent Thursday evening, I stood on the sidelines in a community-center gym in Washington, D.C., watching a group of millennials duck and run while covering their heads and muttering expletives. Around them��a cloudburst of rubber balls streamed through the air, like unfed birds sweeping in toward death. I was there to observe a dodgeball game organized by , an��adult recreational league that organizes teams for after-work games like Skee-Ball, kickball, or ultimate Frisbee.

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Adult sports leagues have been popular��for decades, centered around��competitive activities��like squash and soccer. But in recent years, a newer brand of grown-up recreation has begun��to materialize across��the country that emphasizes��fun over competition, with a carefree name to match—adult recess. Last month, in Chicago hosted an adult field day, where folks ran relay races and bounced through inflatable obstacle courses. In Kokomo, Indiana, United Way hosts ��up��to ten times a year��filled with grown-ups��playing giant Jenga or four square. Other adult recesses feature scavenger hunts, tug-of-war, or capture the flag, all activities that require a little less blood, sweat, and tears than signing up for a softball league. They allow adults to focus on the real benefit of these after-hour meetups: playing.

When contract manager Oliver Chang first moved to San Francisco ten��years ago��when he was��27, his options for after-work activities were limited to either joining a supercompetitive��rec team��or partaking in something more laissez-faire,��like kickball. So��he decided to create the , which combines the ethos of each. “We wanted to bring that kickball attitude, that playfulness and lightheartedness, and apply it to all different sports,” Chang says. The group switches activities weekly��to keep things interesting and easygoing; one week it could be ultimate Frisbee, the next a scavenger hunt. Play Recess started out with just one seasonal league, and it’s now up to five annually, with about 1,000 yearly participants, most of whom, perhaps unsurprisingly, are young professionals in their twenties��and early thirties, says Chang.

DC Fray has a similar backstory. Its CEO, Robert Kinsler, started the group as a Skee-Ball league a decade ago, thinking it was “a super silly, fun thing to do at a bar” with friends. Now��the company manages over 15 activity leagues in four different cities, where participants can enjoy everything from flag football to bingo to��cornhole. It also hosts onetime events, like a Halloween scavenger hunt or an adult field day with potato-sack races and a watermelon-eating competition (plus drinking games like flip cup). Kinsler estimates that��the Fray organization, which also includes NOLA��Fray, PHX Fray, and JAX Fray,��sees around 55,000 participants a year.

Kinsler thinks that��Fray has been successful in part because it offers a forced break from the tiny computers everyone carries around all day. Instead of scrolling through Bumble or Instagram or stalking your ex’s Venmo account (no judgment), you’re interacting with people in real life, which is an added bonus if you’re new to a city and looking to make friends, as many millennials, a notoriously , are. You just need to sign up for a group. Someone else will organize the teams, matches, and postgame bar hangouts. “Fundamentally, you can’t do these things by yourself,” says Kinsler of the activities. “People are craving connection with others. They need a way of breaking out of the digital world that we’re all getting wrapped up into every single day.”

It also doesn’t hurt that playing has been��proven��to be��good for you. The definition of adult “play” can be more nebulous than when��it’s applied to children, but experts��generally define it as an act without any sort of utilitarian purpose; engaging in play is more about the experience. “Play is pretty much in your head. So if I think, I’m��playing,��then I am,” says Garry Chick, a Penn State professor emeritus who focuses on play theory. “If it feels like play to us, then why not? It is play.” That means anything from a tennis match to a crossword puzzle qualifies—all that matters is that it’s pleasurable��and not a necessary function of your day, says Chick.

Play is so important to��human well-being that Dr.��Stuart Brown, founder of the , classifies present-day society’s tendency to overlook it as a public-health issue. “Severe play deprivation is associated with smoldering depression, ideological rigidity, a lack of optimism, and often a quick response to confrontations that could otherwise be settled without violence or hostility,” says Brown, who has examined��the play histories of thousands of subjects throughout his career as a clinical researcher. Engaging in play can help increase optimism, self-motivation, trust, and empathy for others, he says.

The allure of these recess events is that they make it easier for��people��who may not be as, ahem,��athletically inclined to get in on the playing. While baby boomers may have met up for activities like golf or squash, sports that��required expertise, time, and financial commitments, a tetherball face-off or hula-hoop contest doesn’t call f�ǰ���that much equipment or skill (a welcome notion for the kids who sat in the outfield eating grass during��PE, like I did). They also force players to commit to a time when all they’re doing is playing—and for a demographic that has been labeled the ��it may be more manageable to dedicate an hour to something fun if it’s tied to a reminder on your phone. “We need to make sure it’s on our calendar, where we know, OK, that’s the time I’m going to have fun with my friends,” says Kinsler of designating a night a week to bingo or flag football. “We’ve all gotten so busy that we have to be even more intentional about how we play.”

Still, some older generations may see recess participants as kickball-playing Peter Pan millennials who can’t handle adulting. “The cultural rules of the not actually too distant past were that these kinds of playful activities were not something that adults did, because adults don’t behave that way,” says Chick. But��that assumption is simply incorrect, says Chang. “These are incredibly hardworking, very successful people,” he says of the folks signing up for Play Recess,��who include lawyers, consultants, and nurses.��“They, I think smartly, strive to find that work-life balance, and I think that’s part of what makes them so successful.”

Beyond these benefits, getting out and playing a game for an hour or two simply feels good. It’s just fun.��“There’s a happiness associated with recess and getting outside and doing these things,”��says Chang.

As I watched��the players end their dodgeball game in the fluorescent-lit gym in Washington, I recognized—and I was envious of—that happiness Chang describes. There are few things that get me that excited in my adulthood. For a moment, I got it. Why do you come out on a Thursday night when there’s still laundry to be done and email��to be sent and a lump on the cat that could be cancerous?��You come to play, to forget, to listen to the sound of plastic on wooden floors. To��disappear,��just for a little bit, as another sweaty someone running through a crowded room, the world waiting behind the closed double doors.

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