5 Fitness YouTubers to add to Your Routine

Growing up, I was never athletic.

For short while I wanted to be a WNBA player, but my career ended quickly once I realized that I am not as aggressive as basketball requires. In middle and high school, I dreaded gym class.

Outside of gym class, working out was always hit-or-miss. It took a lot of experimenting with various programs and styles to find what I like and what keeps me motivated. Today I'm sharing five of my favorite workout YouTube channels. These channels keep me inspired and challenged!

Blogilates

Funny story -- I don't remember the first time I did a Blogilates video, but I remembered saying to myself, "This lady is wayyyy too perky for this." Fast-forward some time later, I rediscovered Cassey's channel and loved her cheeriness and her combination of HIIT and pilates. Now, Blogilates it my Number 1 Go-To for workouts.

Cassey makes it so easy! Every month she releases a calendar with the videos for the day. She occasionally hosts challenges and workout series as well. This month she's hosting a "21 Days to Toned" challenge. Cassey also has a paid program called PIIT28. I did levels 1 and 2 this summer and almost completed level 3 before NaNoWriMo took over my life. It's a challenging program, but it was exactly what I needed.

What I love most about Cassey is her workout philosophy. She encourages you to not work out for vanity's sake but to become the stronger and better version of you by doing workouts that make you enjoy. The majority of her workouts are also equipment-free!

It was super hard to pick just one of my favorite routines but I loved her TikTok songs series!

Yoga with Adriene

(Disclaimer: whether you believe Christians should do yoga is a personal choice. I am picky about my yoga practice. I try my best to avoid videos that focus heavily on the spirituality of yoga, such as chakras, etc.)

I've been following Yoga with Adriene for a long time. Her gentle and goofy tone of voice and "find what feels good" philosophy makes her one of my favorite yoga instructors.

This routine is 6 years old but it's one of my favorites!

Kyra Pro

I have to confess I've only done one of Kyra's videos, but it was so good I have to recommend her. I got my sweat on to her Hamilton cardio routine, and boy, was it fun! Dancing to your favorite songs makes working out so much easier. It almost makes me forget I'm doing cardio. Almost.

Kyra's channel is full of dance workouts backed by popular tracks, including Disney, High School Musical, Christmas, and your favorite pop artists.

POPSUGAR Fitness

POPSUGAR Fitness has everything you could ever want in a fitness channel. They have all types of workouts, from HIIT to kickboxing, from yoga to pilates. I go to this channel when I want to switch up my routine and find something new.

I recently did this video and it made my triceps so sore!

Sarah Beth Yoga

I enjoy Sarah Beth Yoga's practice because they are often quick and tightly focused. There's no extra chit-chat -- just straight to the workout. I also like how she encourages you to count breaths over reps.

This arm workout is one of my to-gos of hers!

What's your favorite workout style?

Friday Favorites 004

Welcome to another installment of Friday Favorites, where I -- a person on the internet -- recommend my favorite things, new and old. Let's get to it!

Favorite Show

Lately I have become obsessed with Korean dramas. Like thinking-about-it-all-day, up-til-5am-binge-watching obsessed. I could blame those who recommended them (namely, What the Force and my friend Lacey), but I am the one pressing Next Episode at ungodly hours of the night.

The k-drama in question is called Crash Landing on You. It follows the star-crossed romance of Yoon Seri and Captain Ri Jeong-hyuk. Seri is a South Korean heiress and fashion entrepreneur, who lands in the DMZ after a freak paragliding accident. Jeong-hyuk, an elite member of North Korean society and a captain in the Special Police Force, finds her and offers her shelter. The first half of the show focuses their attempts to get Seri back home and all the dramatic events that prevent it. The second half... is complicated.

Giiiiirl, let me tell you how good this show is. If you love period dramas and romances in general, you'll love this. Yet another fictional character has raised the bar for men (to my future husband... I'm sorry). Captain Ri Jeong-hyuk is just so 😍😍😍. I'm confident you will instantly fall in love with both Jeong-hyuk and Seri, and their relationship, as I did. The minor characters also hold a special place in my heart, from Jeong-hyuk's band of soldiers to the village women, from Seo Dan and Gu Seung-jun to even Seri's scheming siblings.

Other things I love are the fashion and its soundtrack. Seri, her sister-in-laws, Seo Dan, and Dan's mom's have impeccable taste. I had major winter coat envy throughout the whole show. And after finishing the series, I listened to the soundtrack on repeat to cope. It didn't really help, but it's soooooo good. I'm also considering learning Korean now! It's a beautiful language.

Crash Landing on You has also received praise for putting a human face on life in North Korea. One of its writers defected from North Korea, which I think makes it even better. The village women and Captain Ri's men add comic relief, heartbreak, and nuance. You could argue that it paints a slightly romanticized version of life there, but k-dramas aren't gunning for complete realism anyways.

I don't want to spoil anything, but this show will break your heart in the best way. Asian dramas are typically created with a feminine lens and it contrasts greatly with American/Western storytelling, which tend to be more masculine. I'm just beginning to learn and recognize the difference, so I don't think I will be able to explain it without rambling or spoilers. But I promise you will understand when you watch it! You will feel the difference.

Favorite Podcast

The Restorationist is one of the first podcasts I started listening to. The host, Adam Shaw, is a Canadian pastor whose mission is to bring the theology, values, and heart of first-century church to the twenty-first. He teaches and discusses leadership, Christian living, and today's culture. While Adam gears his subject matter towards fellow pastors and preachers, I have found it incredibly beneficial.

I might have mentioned it before, but 2020's word of year -- increase -- came from this podcast. It was inspired by an episode called How to Increase Capacity. Increasing your capacity, whether for leadership, ministry, vision, clarity, productivity, or miracles is a central theme of The Restorationist.

I honestly recommend listening through all the episodes from the beginning. The first several episodes build off one another and lay the foundation of the podcast. If that seems daunting, check out a few of my favorite episodes: Who Has the Final Say Part One and Two, Pain, Better Together: A Straight Talk on Racism, and A Leader In-Waiting. Adam's wife Stephanie has been joining the podcast lately, and I've enjoyed her insight as well.

Favorite Movie

I didn't know if I wanted to include both a TV show and a movie in this installment, but I think this movie deserves it.

The Lady Vanishes (2013) is a mystery thriller about a young English socialite, Iris Carr, who is befriended by Miss Froy, an English governess, while traveling by train. When Iris' companion disappears, the other passengers deny Miss Froy's existence, leaving Iris to solve the mystery herself.

I wasn't completely hooked by the opening of the movie, but once the mystery began I was on the edge of my seat. It's is quite baffling and intriguing. I didn't know what to believe! I also enjoyed it for the era, as it's set in 1930s Europe. The fashion is great! Additionally, Tom Hughes (Prince Albert from the show Victoria) is in this movie and I love him.

Favorite Recipe

Chocolate and mint is my favorite dessert combination. I made these double chocolate peppermint cookies over the holidays, and I loved them. This recipe is definitely going into my yearly holiday rotation! (Said rotation only consists of this recipe.) These cookies are excellent with a cup of hot chocolate.

I omitted the peppermint extract, as the candy canes gave them enough minty flavor. I also used dark chocolate chips instead of semi-sweet. Another thing to note is that the recipe instructs you to make tablespoon-sized balls to form the cookie, but mine expanded quite a bit in the oven. I loved the large cookies, so I didn't mind.

Favorite TikToker

I told my comm professor that I would never get a TikTok in the fall of 2019. All the best ones were on Twitter and Facebook, anyways. In June 2020, I was made a liar. I caved into the peer pressure from a friend who argued it would be easier for her to send me TikToks if I just had the app. Was she correct? Yes. Has it stolen hours from me that I will never get back? Yes. Did it convince me to buy a heavy-dueling lightsaber? Also yes. Do I regret any of it? No.

AudityDraws is one of the first accounts I started following. She, as her name would suggest, draws! Her fun, cartoony art style and hilarious voiceovers are what make her videos shine. I always laugh out loud what her videos! Her husband Rich (@richdoesnotdraw) usually makes an appearance, and he's just as funny.

Favorite Quote

I love this quote because it's a reminder that most change in life is incremental. The decisions we make, the choices we pick (or don't pick) all add up over time. And we often don't see that until we look in the rearview mirror. Hindsight is 2020, after all.

Sometimes life throws major curveballs, like last year for all of us, that will dramatically shift our lives and our future. However, if you want to make any lifestyle change, develop a new skill or what have you, it's essential to remember that the most sustainable way to do so it through incremental change.

Favorite YouTuber

I discovered The Bliss Bean back in March, and Beatrice (pronounced buh-tree-chay) quickly became one of my favorite YouTubers. She focuses on productivity, lifestyle design, and self-improvement. She's also a fellow Wisconsinite, which I think is neat!

Here is her most recent video on 10 ways to fill up empty notebooks!

Favorite Song

Willow Stephens is a singer-songwriter I don't listen to enough. I first heard her delicate and jazzy voice on Andy Mineo's song Strange Motions, and then again on Social Club Misfits' Usual Suspects. I know that if I ever write a fantasy novel that gets turned into a movie, I'm calling Willow Stephens to write a song for it.

Her newest single is Already Mine and it's a such a jam. It's an anthem for when you find yourself comparing yourself with everyone and need a reminder that "everything I really need is already mine."

Got any good recommendations I should know about? Let me know in the comments below!