This list is constantly being updated, so check back for new additions.

Hi All!

During this unprecedented time I’ve put together a list of movement, exercise, and well-being resources to help my friends and family and anyone in need. I’ve spent my entire life in various athletic pursuits so I’m picky and biased when it comes to good content - all of these resources are A. ones I do use or have used in the past or B. come highly recommended.

I hope these help your fitness journey! If you have questions or have a contribution (music playlists, great workouts you’ve done or are about to) you’d like to see on here don’t hesitate to reach out to clairejencks@gmail.com or via any of the social links below.

Yours,

Claire Montana Jencks

 
 

MOVEMENT RESOURCES

Workouts 101:

There are three ways to approach this.

#1. Pick random workouts every day that you enjoy. If you do them with enough intensity you will sweat and feel good. This page has a ton of resource for you to choose from. Do 3-4 of them a week and you’re good to go.

  • ex. M/T/TH - Crossfit Workout of the day, and FR Yoga with Adriene

  • Make sure to add in a warm up and mobility routine before the more intense workouts.

#2. Pick a resource with a 3+ week workout program. Having a set thing to do each week can make a huge difference in your workout completion rate. Pick a program with a matching goal in mind.

#3. Build your own workouts. For this option, scroll down to the bottom for a basic tutorial on exercise programming.

Preferred Equipment:

If you only buy 4 things:

  1. A medium kettlebell - 16k+ (one you can swing 10 times with hands together)

  2. A set of bands (small, medium and heavy)

  3. A foam roller

  4. A pull up bar or set of rings

Quality Equipment:

  • Perform Better - Best for Bands, Stability Accessories

  • Rogue Fitness - Best for Kettlebells, Plyo Boxes

  • Rage Fitness - Slam Balls, also good kettlebells, just different design than Rogue.

  • Revolution Balance Boards - If you want to improv balance, this is the most fun/effective tool.

Best for Experienced Athletes:

  • *Strongfirst is the go-to Kettlebell community. Download their 8 Week Strength PDF and get to work.

  • *Samsara Mountain Athlete - Level 2 is free with code c19free.

  • Tactical Mountain Institute - Out of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, these guys specialize in tactical athletes (law enforcement, military, etc), but also have plans for general fitness. You won’t get videos, but you will get a proven long-term plan.

Best for Just Getting A Workout in Already / Following Along:

  • *Les Milles - free access to 100+ workouts. Something for everyone from kids to dancers to lifters and beyond.

  • *Fitness Blender - Web-based fitness videos for all levels. Very well-produced.

  • Barry’s Bootcamp - Live on Instagram TV. Class schedule is here.

  • Chris Hemsworth + Centr - Watching beautiful people workout is almost better than getting swole yourself, right? Currently a 6 Week free trial.

Best for All-Ages Circus:

  • Commonwealth Circus Center is out of Boston and has just converted to live-streaming all of their classes. Specializing in all-ages recreational circus skills, you’ll find everything your kids need to stay active while you also get buff.

  • Cirque De Soleil - Follow along with CirqueFit, a youtube series led by Cirque performers.

  • Circocan - Do you speak portuguese and love circus? Even if you don’t have a second language it’s fairly easy to follow along with this series of circus QuaranTraining circus videos. Check their facebook for periodic free livestream workouts.

  • Aerial Edge - Glasglow circus classes live via zoom. Free for the next week or so, and then likely a small donation after.

  • SANCA - Seattle’s largest circus school is going online. Donation based.

  • Aerial Arts - Seattle’s aerial studio is now online with mainly cirque focused fitness classes in the $15/class range.

  • Kungfu - Yep, get to master status in no time flat.

  • Nei Gong - Strands of tai chi and chi gong.

Best for Cycling:

  • *Peloton - The app now has an free extended 90-day trial.

  • Zwift - Follow the best virtually.

  • *GCN - Global Cycling Network spinning workouts on youtube

  • Fit4Racing - Subscription functional fitness program geared towards MTB.

Best for Animal Movement:

  • GMB - These guys have always been online and have a great series of tutorials to help you move with more fluidity and strength. Though they’re not free GMB does have quite a *lot of free content on their blog including handstands, mobility and more.

  • Gymnastic Bodies - Online training for gymnastic movement.

  • Movenat - ever wondered if you could bear crawl for better fitness? This is a very different flavor of fitness, but could be interesting to explore with your kids since all of the movements are weight free. Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced.

  • Ido Portal - A divisive character in the fitness world, Ido is nonetheless is a fantastic mover and has *some great older free content. This Youtube playlist is also great.

Best for Kids:

Best for Handstands:

Best for Crossfitters + Functional Fitness: 

Best For Dipping into Youtube:

  • *Here’s a grab-bag youtube playlist of resources I’ve collected throughout the past few years. I revisit these when I need fresh workouts or inspiration.

  • My fave athlete ever

  • Madbarz - Bodyweight, abs, easy on the eyes.

  • GMB - Bodyweight, gymnastic/animal movement.

Best for Community + Strength:

  • Chicago Primal Gym - I can’t recommend these guys enough. Based out of Chicago, they specialize in Kettlebells and accountability. They’ve moved their programming online and live. It’s amazing.

  • @shifthumanperformance - Jen Kates runs a virtual tight ship for performance athletes and those who just want to perform. She. Is. Amazing. Check her website out here.

Best for Yoga:

  • *Yoga with Adriene - extensive, well-producted yoga series.

  • Corepower - Currently free during the outbreak.

  • Do Yoga with Me - Two free months of premium, bc…covid.

  • Asana Rebel -(mobile app) the free version has access to a few great short and sweet flow routines. The paid version has fantastic content.

Best for Dance Fitness: 

Best for Ultimate Frisbee Players:

Best Apps - Full Disclosure I’ve never used an app but these come highly recommended:

  • *Nike Training Club - tons and tons of free workouts, very easy to get started

  • *Fitbod - ai enabled customizable workouts

  • *MadBarz - more on the bro side of things, this app does have great body-weight workouts. Great youtube channel as well.

  • Peloton - Free 90-day trial for strength, yoga, outdoor run and biking. Once the trial expires it’s expensive AF but if has a rabid following.

  • Freeletics - ai enabled fitness journeys

  • Zwift - Great for getting the bike miles in. Grab your bike and connect any trainer (with mods) or use a smart trainer and gamify your ride.

  • 24 Hour Fitness App - not known for their stellar personal training, 24 hour seems to have stepped it up with over a thousand free workouts.

Non-Movement Resources to Check out:

Adventure Inspiration:

Best for Learning about Bodies:

Meditation Apps:

  • Oak - Current favorite. Small, simple, beautiful.

  • Balance - A free year of this ai based tool.

  • 10% Better - Highly recommended, haven’t used.

  • Insight Timer - The largest free meditation library ever. I love certain meditations on here but don’t use this daily.

  • Headspace - Not my fave anymore but extensive library and they just introduced meditative movements.

  • Simple Habit - 5 min. No more, no less.

Mobility/Pain:

Odds and Ends:

How To Build Your Own Workout Schedule

  1. Pick a goal. “Fitness” is subjective. Do you want to run a race when this is over? Be able to do 10 pull-ups? Pick a goal and tailor your workouts to it.

  2. Make it safe. The fastest way to get better is to not get injured. If it hurts, or seems likely to, stop immediately.

  3. Do what you can. Only have 5 min, or 2 square feet? Something is better than nothing.

  4. To make it harder, add weight, add reps, or slow it down (yep slower is usually harder).

  5. To make it easier, decrease weight, do less reps, or only do part of the movement. (ie. can’t do a push up yet? just lower yourself to the ground and repeat).

  6. Make it fun. Chances are, if you’re like the rest of us, you’re more likely to do things that you enjoy. So make this time fun. Put on some pump up music, google a dance class, practice your animal flow, just switch it up and have some fun.

  7. Get Consistent. Choosing a set time each day can really help ground you.

  8. Share/Find an accountability Buddy. Zoom or Facetime your friends so you can workout together. Or grab a family member and have them join in.

Helpful but not required equipment:

  1. Yoga mat

  2. Stability ball

  3. A set of dumbbells (anywhere from 10-50lbs depending on your strength)

  4. A bench/long raised surface

  5. A chin-up bar/rings

  6. A set of bands

  7. A bike trainer

Ideas for DIY Equipment:

  1. Kitchen Table

  2. Loaded Backpacks

  3. Water jugs

  4. Sandbags

  5. Other people (squats, etc)

An MSR piece I wrote about how to plan a workout series

Workout Programming 101

  1. Planning workouts really depends on you. Do you want to get better at a skill, have fun, lose weight, or compete in some type of competition? Whatever its is, it helps to pick a goal.

  2. There a few essential building blocks of “Fitness” and chances are your goals are comprised of some combination of them.

    • Strength

    • Flexibility

    • Mobility

    • Endurance

    • Movement Quality

  3. Once you have a goal in mind, look at what you’ve got available to you. Make a inventory of any weights, surfaces, sandbags, people or resources you have to help your body get better at fitness.

  4. Now for the actual exercises.There are 5 basic categories that all human movements fit into. PUSH, PULL, HINGE, SQUAT and ROTATION/ANTI-ROTATION.

  5. The 5 movement categories:

    • Push: ex. Push-ups, incline press, single-arm kettlebell or dumbbell press, push press

    • Pull: ex. Dumbbell rows, cable rows, pull-ups, lat pull downs

    • Hip-Hinge: ex. Kettlebell swing, Romanian dead lift, dead lift, glute bridges

    • Squat: ex. Body weight squats, dumbbell goblet squats, weighted front/back squats, lunges, split squats

    • Anti-Rotation: ex. Plank variations, side planks, heavy carries (farmer and suitcase)

  6. The easiest way to get started is to pick a favorite movement in each of the 5 categories and lump them together 3 exercises at a time. Start at 3 sets of the group (aka a “Superset”) and begin with 8 reps at low or no weight.

    • ex. Push-ups, Pull-ups, Squats, and Plank. Do 8 reps of each, 3 times.

    • Do this 3 times a week and every 2-3 weeks increase the weight.

  7. Add Mobility at the beginning, then a warmup and follow the workout with a cool-down.

  8. Variables to play with:

    • Duration/Weight/Speed/Dynamics/Single Leg vs Both Legs

  9. Do this 3 times a week and every 2-3 weeks increase the weight.

Workout Jargon Deconstructed

DB=Dumbbell

KB=Kettlebell

BW=Bodyweight

SL = Single Leg

Movement Ideas

Pushing Motions:

  • Pushups (variations here)

  • Press (bench, dumb-bell, kettlebell)

    • Upright/lying on back

      • Military

      • Side

      • Bent

  • Dips

Pulling Motions:

  • Pull-ups

  • Row variations

Hip-Hinge:

  • Kettlebell swing

  • Cleans

  • Dead lift (Romanian/Traditional)dead lift

  • Glute bridges

Squat:

  • Squats (body weight, weighted front/back)

  • Lunges

  • Split squats (unweighted, weighted, bulgarian)

Core Exercises

Rotation

  • Sit-Ups

  • Crunches

  • Side Bends

  • Russian Twists

Anti-Rotation

  • Plank

  • Bird dogs

  • Side planks

  • Pallof Press

  • Turkish Get-up

Carries

  • Farmers

  • Suitcase

General Dynamic Movements (cross-reference): Kettlebell/Olympic

  • Swings

  • Snatches

  • Get-ups

  • Cleans

  • Deadlift

I hope these resources help your fitness journey! If you have questions, comments or have a contribution (music playlists, great workouts you’ve done or are about do) you’d like to see on here don’t hesitate to reach out via any of the social links below.