6 for the six pack: Get strong with these online fitness trainers during the lockdown

In these days of lockdown, it seems amazing just how much we normally move about as we go through our everyday life. Since we’re all confined to our homes and to largely sedentary lives, it’s become even more necessary to stay fit and healthy. If you depend on gym workouts for your fitness, well, they aren't going to open anytime soon. And if you’re a new to personal fitness, then now is as good a time to start as any. Whatever your fitness level, we’ve made a list of six great fitness trainers to follow online. Not only are they a great resource for stay-at-home workouts, some also offer fully personalised fitness plans as well as tailored meal ideas to get you fighting fit.

Joe Wicks

Joe Wicks is all about positivity. A global fitness phenomenon, he is better known as The Body Coach. Wicks’s High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) workouts are perfectly suited to get you moving and improving your strength. You can sign on for his 90-day plan, which is individually tailored (along with meals), or, like me, you can just do his workouts. Right now, Wicks is hosting a daily P.E. With Joe, which is great if you want to raise your functional fitness levels. If you have weights at home, you should also try out Wicks’s free-weight HIIT routines.

Instagram: @thebodycoach

YouTube: The Body Coach TV

Valentina Lequeux

A fitness model and personal trainer, Valentina Lequeux began posting fitness videos on Instagram in 2016, and soon became a online phenomenon. Since covid-19 hit and her gym and outdoor workouts ceased, Lequeux has started posting home fitness videos. Her daily workouts focus on specific muscle groups, and are great fun to do. If you’d like to follow her fitness plan in a focused way, you can check out the 6 weeks at home fat loss programme that she’s just started. If you already have a fitness regimen, you can, like me, add some of her reps to your daily workouts and keep things interesting.

Instagram: @valentinalequeux

Website: fitbyvalen.com

Senada Greca

Fitness instructor Senada Greca’s fitness mantra is what she calls the Mind-Muscle Connection. If you’re looking to go beyond short term fitness to what she calls a ‘transformation’. Then you could do much worse than to enrol for one of her CRUSH IT programmes. If on the other hand, you would like to get some workout tips, follow her daily Insta posts for focussed muscle group workouts. They’re absolutely great (one particularly amazing workout involves exercising with a cushion) and a fun way to add variety to your daily exercises.

Instagram: @senada.greca

Website: senadagreca.com

Yasmin Karachiwala

There are many Indian celebrity trainers to choose from. But one trainer to follow for simple but effective fitness is Yasmin Karachiwala. A trainer to Bollywood stars, Karachiwala is an expert in pilates as well as a certified instructor. Her Yasmin Karachiwala’s Body Image studios are spread out across the country (the main one is in Mumbai) as well as in Dhaka and Dubai. With all gyms shut right now, you can follow Karachiwala’s daily Instagram posts for basic workouts to maintain your functional fitness. If you’re a little daunted by the idea of exercising, fear not, because Karachiwala has exercises that you can do without leaving your bed, or your couch!

Instagram: @yasminkarachiwala

Minash Gabriel

The Hyderabad-based Minash Gabriel was a state-level cricketer when injury forced him to retire from the game in his early twenties. Using his own rehabilitation as a motivation, he became a fitness instructor, a rehab trainer and an osteopathic manual therapist. When the Indian lockdown began, he started the 21 Day Quarantine Challenge. Although the challenge has ended, you’ll find his detailed day-by-day workouts for beginners, as well as for those with intermediate and advanced fitness levels on his Insta account. A mix of functional fitness, HIIT and movement, these workouts are perfect to increase your fitness and strength in a steady, graded way. Especially check out the Animal Flow moves!

Instagram: @minash.gabriel

Training with Nam

The Mumbai-based Nam is a Bollywood fitness instructor as well as a Taekwondo black belt and a certified trainer. Like Gabriel, Nam too puts a lot of focus on movement and his Training With Nam videos on Facebook and Instagram are a great resource for some great body-weight workouts (you might need some towels and bedsheets as props!). A brand ambassador with Under Armour, Nam too has started a daily lockdown training session. His workouts are great for flexibility, stamina and strength and are recommended if you’re prepared to sweat. Some of his Animal Flow moves are wicked!

Instagram: @trainingwithnam