As we enter the new year, January is usually the time where many of us hit the gym to help lose any of that Christmas weight. However, as all indoor and outdoor gyms, as well as dance studios and fitness centres still remain closed in the UK, adapting to exercising at home should hopefully come easy to us now. Whilst we won’t be graced with warm weather and sunshine, there's nothing more motivating than the whole 'New Year, New Me' motto to help inspire us to work out indoors rather than in the park (unless you don’t mind running in the rain!).

Unless you’re an avid outdoor runner or cyclist, discovering the right online personal trainers and apps to do home workouts can be pretty overwhelming. From the iconic “PE with Joe Wicks”, to crazy HIIT workouts with Instagram trainer Courtney Black, we’ve put together some of our favourite online trainers and apps that cater to anyone and everyone. Whether you’re looking to lose that Christmas weight, gain muscle, or try something completely new, we highly recommend trying some of these out. We’ve tried them all, and we love them!

FIIT

Bring the gym to your home with one of the highest-rated fitness apps. Founded in 2017 by three friends with a vision to make great fitness classes available to everyone at all times, FIIT is the perfect app for everyone. Whether you’re a complete athlete, or you’re looking to find somewhere to help encourage you to start your fitness journey, FIIT will help push and challenge your boundaries, as well as help keep track of your progression.

Cardio, strength and rebalance – the three online “studios” you can choose to join within the app give you access to a huge variety of different workouts. From HIIT and resistance, to yoga and meditation, access all these real-time workouts from your fingertips and allow the experienced trainers to help plan your weekly workout routines.

Downloading an app and dedicating yourself to a monthly fee can be a bit intense, so FIIT are offering a 14-day free trial for all fitness enthusiasts to try before signing up. Be prepared to sweat, build strength and indulge in a positive mindset. Not to mention, they offer a FIIT Device Lite, allowing you to track your heart rate and calorie burn!

For more information about FIIT, please visit their website here.

Joe Wicks, The Body Coach (@thebodycoach)

The nation's PE teacher and fitness guru iconically helped adults and children throughout the country keep fit during the first Covid-19 lockdown back in March 2020. Joe Wicks (also known as The Body Coach) is one of our favourite personal trainers for home workouts.

Leading morning live-streamed PE lessons Monday-Friday throughout lockdown, Wicks has been awarded a Guinness World Record for "most viewers for a fitness workout live stream on YouTube", after achieving over 950,000 viewers on Tuesday 24 March 2020 for his second live stream – we couldn’t recommend this Surrey born trainer more. Joe Wicks has done everything from writing a book with 15 minute meals and workouts called ‘Lean in 15’, and an affordable 90-day plan, to PE for kids, and now even a new podcast with the BBC. As stated on his website, he is “a man on a mission to rescue people from the awful dieting industry”.

Avoiding all those low calorie diet fads, meal replacement shakes and any other unhealthy and unsustainable methods of getting fit and healthy, Wicks aims to educate people of all abilities how to lose weight, maintain a healthy weight and keep a strong body with a good diet.

For more information about The Body Coach, please visit their website here.

Alo Moves

This one’s for all yoga and pilates lovers out there!

Whether you’re a beginner or you’re looking to start your fitness journey through focussing on the mind, body and spirit, discover your perfect at-home fitness experience with Alo Moves – an app with a full studio experience giving you access to thousands of different types of classes. Take a deep breath, challenge your strength, stretch your body and allow the Alo Moves team of instructors to help empower you to achieve your wellness goals.

The series are split into four sections: Yoga, Fitness, Mindfulness and Skills. Here, you can explore anything from Hatha & Vinyasa yoga, Barre classes and HIIT sessions, to healing sound baths and how-to classes. Not to mention, you can filter your search with the difficulty and intensity that suits you best. Wherever you are in the world, discover these downloadable classes (handy if you don’t have any WiFi!)

From virtual yoga practice with friends, to waking up with a sunrise meditation, sweat it out with lunchtime HIIT, or unwind with an evening flow. You’ll find movement for every mood, with classes sorted by time, style, and skill level.

For more information about Alo Moves, please visit their website here.

Courtney Black (@courtneyblack)

Do the Courtney knees!

If there’s one person to get you up in the morning and make you laugh and sweat throughout your entire workout, it’s Courtney Black – a 24-year-old girl from east London who’s nothing other than real, honest and extremely energetic. Having begun writing fitness ebooks including an 8 week and 12 week guide, a home guide and a 12 week fat loss guide, Courtney took Instagram by storm as lockdown hit in March 2020 with her daily live workouts and IGTV home recipes.

From boxing and muay thai, to 20 minute HIIT sessions and crazy Warrior Wednesdays, Courtney Black’s home workouts are the perfect way to keep fit and stay active from the comfort of your own home. Not to mention, she offers a low impact alternative to each exercise, making them suitable for all. But in the words of Courtney Black, “low impact doesn’t mean low intensity”. We highly recommend downloading her incredible fitness app, the Courtney Black App. Here you can input everything from your weight, height, dietary requirements and goals, curating a personalised plan to help guide you throughout your fitness journey. You can find everything from her live workouts, gym and home workouts, specific body group exercises and fantastically delicious recipes.

Since March 2020, Courtney has undergone several 28-day home challenges, touched on eating disorders and diet fads, released her own CB resistance bands and has now curated her own fitness wear line with In The Style. Therefore, if you’re looking for fun and efficient workouts to do at home that are always different and varied, all whilst constantly being empowered by Courtney with her inspirational words and humorous comments and feeling like a “warrior”, then join the #trainedbycb team and stay active this lockdown with the incredible Courtney Black (and not just on Wednesdays!).

For more information about the Courtney Black App, please visit her website here.

Peloton

Known for its popular stationary bike, Peloton is an incredible company who use technology to connect the world through fitness. Looking to empower people to become the best version of themselves from the comfort of their home, they host a huge variety of home equipment and live and on-demand workout videos available through their Peloton Digital Membership streaming app. Filled with motivating fitness trainers of all kinds, this is a great way to stay active during lockdown.

From bootcamp workouts and dance classes, to yoga sessions and audio-led cycling classes, their meditation sessions are great to help your mind keep calm and positive during these uncertain times. Peloton is a great place to help you challenge yourself and build healthy habits. Though it isn’t essential to use the app, you must become a member to access all live-streamed workouts and classes, even if you don’t have their stationary bike or treadmill.

Unlike a lot of fitness apps, Peloton also includes a variety of outdoor workouts that you can follow. Due to them being audio-only, they’re perfect to plug into your headphones, put your phone in your pocket and get active. There’s a 30-day free trial available as well, so be sure to take advantage of that before you fully commit.

For more information about Peloton, please visit their website here.

FitOn

On top of emotional and physical barriers, many people find it difficult to exercise due to the cost, as gym memberships, workout classes and some fitness apps can be pretty expensive. This is where FitOn comes in to save the day. An app filled with hundreds of personalised workouts, this incredible fitness service is completely free! After a quick and simple sign up, input your body information, dietary requirements, goals you’re looking to achieve, and then you can begin your journey to become as fit as you can be.

There is everything you need here that caters to all. From HIIT training to get you burning those calories, and strength training to help you burn fat and build lean muscle, to dance/Barre classes to keep your body moving, and yoga/pilates sessions to challenge your core and stability whilst relaxing the mind – there’s also a ton of pre/postnatal workouts for new mums wishing to keeping moving pre-baby and post-baby!

With the guidance from a selection of celebrity trainers, you can do all of these classes from the comfort of your own home with no equipment needed. Not to mention, you can exercise with your friends and loved ones safely by sharing the workouts and programmes to each other. If you haven’t already downloaded the FitOn app, be sure to give it a try. Again, it’s all completely free!

For more information about FitOn, please visit their website here.