At Home Fitness Plan: My Honest Opinion

Everywhere you turn, you’re hearing about the importance of strengthening your core muscles but well, you’re not interested in a gym membership and many of the private fitness studios are expensive and won’t fit in your budget.

What can you do at home so you don’t have to mingle with all the peoples or be exposed to all the germs or well, in all honesty, fit into your already super busy schedule? Who’s even got time for the gym these days?

I discovered The Balanced Life Pilates with Robin Long while scrolling through Facebook and after a trusted friend told me she was part of the community, I jumped in and joined.

Disclosure: The Balanced Life Pilates has a referral program for all first-time customers.  If you make a purchase via a link on this blog post, you’ll receive a discount on your initial membership and I will receive a credit on my next purchase. Cool beans! Once you buy, you can grab your own referral code.

Note: This is not a sponsored post.

What is Pilates?

First we should probably cover what pilates is before I tell you why you should start doing it.

Pilates is a low-impact form of exercise that will strengthen your muscles as well as improve your posture, alignment and focus. The moves target your core muscles but also help strengthen many other muscles.

These are slow, focused movements which will have your muscles burning and you’ll definitely feel it the next day.

Pilates from Many Years Ago

Eons ago I had a pilates DVD that I tried to do several times a week. If I remember correctly, it had 30, 60, and maybe even a 90 minute video but that was it.

This was before I had kids so I had more time but it got super boring super fast.

Thank goodness for streaming and YouTube and all the fancy options we have these days.

What is The Balanced Life Pilates

Simply put, they are short, targeted pilates videos that you can easily fit into your daily schedule.

You can find beginner videos on Robin Long’s YouTube channel along with a few prenatal pilates videos and some other short videos to get a feel for how she teaches.

The best part, you can do them at home, at a time that’s convenient for you.

If you’re interested in a healthy lifestyle, you may also enjoy this information about superfoods and these healthy living books.

What is The Balanced Life Sisterhood

The Balanced Life Sisterhood is Robin’s paid online membership community. There is a Facebook group and let’s be honest, we’re all hanging out there already so it’s a natural fit, along with her website where you have access to things like:

• Challenges
• Monthly Calendar
• Recipes
• Searchable Library of Videos
• App you can access on a mobile device
• Local meet up groups

The Workouts

The Sisterhood is a paid membership but I definitely feel like it’s worth the money each month.

Every month Robin has a calendar that targets specific body parts. Each day (Monday through Friday) she assigns a video that varies in length from about 10 minutes to 35 minutes.

Monday, Wednesday and Fridays are shorter videos, Tuesday and Thursdays are longer and you can use the weekends to catch up or try out some of the other videos in the Sisterhood Library.

My favorites are the barre routines, the pilates with weights routines and the routines that focus on calming your mind and relaxing.

I like to print the monthly calendar out and cross off the workouts as I do them and/or there’s a little checkbox under the video that you can mark.

There’s just something about crossing off the calendar or ticking the box that helps me stay on track. My friend and I also check in with each other to make sure we’re staying on track.

The Balanced Life Sisterhood also has an app that I haven’t quite started using yet. You can track your progress there as well.

If you need an accountability partner (shoots hand straight up in the air), you can easily find one in the Sisterhood. All the ladies there are so encouraging and helpful.

7 Things I Like About The Balanced Life Pilates

When I was younger, I did enjoy going to the gym and taking classes with others but as I’ve gotten older, it’s harder to find classes I want to take at a time that’s convenient for me.

If you’re looking for 20 minutes of pilates without equipment at home, these videos are for you. You can find shorter and longer routines but 20 minutes always seems to be a sweet spot.

All of the routines are:

• Easily accessible – the videos are on YouTube so I can either watch via the website or via the app
• Soothing – the majority of the videos are done on the beach so you can listen to the waves as you workout
• Variety of lengths – there are videos as short as 10 minutes all the way up to an hour so you can easily fit something in when you have a short amount of free time
• Encouraging – Robin is super encouraging, she reminds you in every video to listen to your body and do what’s right for you
• Adaptable – many of the videos include modifications to meet you at your fitness level
• No equipment needed – if she uses anything other than a mat (you can also just use a towel), she suggests items you may have at home to use instead , like soup cans or water bottles
• Results – you can see and feel results without having to sweat through 30 or 60 minutes of face paced cardio

In stressful times, the Sisterhood is one group I can count on for positivity and encouragement.

Use my referral code to get $20 off your initial membership and join me inside the Balanced Life Sisterhood.

What do you do to de-stress and keep your body strong?