Equipment: none Get moving on your fitness journey with these core exercises for beginners, put together by certified Pilates instructor Helen Phelan. She also includes modifications and progressions for each exercise, depending on your level. Equipment: yoga block If you’re looking for a soothing yoga sequence that also targets your core muscles, try these yoga for abs movements. Move through one pose to the next for a complete abs-focused yoga flow. Equipment: resistance band Resistance bands are a great tool for elevating your abs exercises. Try this five-move resistance-band abs workout you can do at home from trainer Katie Dunlop. This workout is easy to follow but will certainly give your core a challenge. If the resistance band is too challenging, just use your body weight. Equipment: Pilates ball (or pillow) The lower abdominals are notoriously troublesome to tone, but these four Pilates-based lower-ab moves get to the core of the issue. With the support of a Plower bodilates ball (or pillow), alternating between marching variations helps tone, lengthen, and strengthen while keeping impact low. Equipment: none While the physical benefits of exercise are obvious, the emotional benefits are just as real and valuable. Whether you’ve had a stressful day or have been bottling your emotions for a while now, this 15-minute full-body workout from The Class will help release those pent-up feelings in a healthy way. Each of the moves has a song associated to set both the mood and the timing of the workout. As soon as one song ends, switch to the next to keep the energy flowing. Equipment: none These tension-relieving exercises target the pelvic floor muscles and the full body. Starting with necessary (but oft-neglected) breathwork sets the tone for the remaining movements. Moving on to an inner-thigh roll and a figure-four stretch helps unlock tightness in the inner thighs, pelvic floor, and back—common sources of stored-up tension. Equipment: none Starting your day with a few light, easy stretches is a great way to get energized. Yoga instructor Margeaux House put together this at-home morning yoga sequence you can do first thing in the a.m. Equipment: none For apartment dwellers, one of the trickiest parts of at-home cardio workouts is keeping them quiet. Enter: this 20-minute jump-free HIIT routine that allows you to sweat, without disturbing the neighbors. Perform each of the four moves (squat pulses, lunge pulses, bridge pulses, and mountain climbers) as many times as possible for 1 minute, rest for 1 minute in between, then switch to the next move. Equipment: none This 8-minute, three-move lower-body blast from fitness instructor CJ Frogozo is designed to inspire movement on those days when work or life in general is keeping you glued to one seat. Though the glutes and legs are the primary targets, Frogozo gets the arms involved and keeps the heart rate up with short cardio bursts. Equipment: mat This Pilates series for the legs and deep core helps promote stability and tone the muscles. All you need to reap the benefits is 10 minutes, your own bodyweight, and a mat. With hundreds, teasers, and rollups (to name a few), the moves are easy to follow yet still challenging. Equipment: mat Inner thighs are often viewed as another hard-to-reach muscle group. However, this 20-minute inner-thigh circuit is sure to fire up the area (with bonus lower-ab attention). Complete the five moves for 1 minute each, and when you’re done with the first set, do it all over again. Get ready to feel the burn. Equipment: small weights Complete these four barre- and ballet-inspired arm movements with or without small hand weights (1 to 3 pounds). While the biceps and triceps are the main focus here, these tiny movements will also strengthen the upper back and shoulders. Equipment: none The back may not get as much attention as the core, but it’s equally valuable. Engaging in these five bodyweight-only back exercises can improve posture and provide support for long days sitting at a desk—which is where many of us are spending the majority of our days lately. Equipment: none OK, so this is targeting the upper, upper body—but face yoga (which flexes the facial muscles, of course) is a legitimate workout. The movement helps promote youthful, glowing skin by toning the neck, jawline, and cheeks. More than that? Face yoga is an act of self-love and self-care, according to Face Yoga Method creator Fumiko Takatsu.
