FitnessWorkouts

Free Online Spin Classes That Bring the Energy of the Studio Into Your Home

These online spin classes bring the energy of the studio to your living room. There's something for everyone, no matter your skill level.

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Photo: Stocksy / Jovo Jovanovic
Updated Aug 8, 2022

Written by 

Tehrene Firman

At the beginning of the pandemic, stationary bike sales grew by 270 percent, and the at-home fitness market is still booming today. To meet demand, there are now hundreds of spin bikes to choose from, no matter your budget. But what to actually do with those bikes? There are actually a wide range of online spin classes you can do at home that will make you feel like you’re riding it out in the studio.

Experts in This Article

Cat Kom

ACE-certified personal trainer and founder and CEO of Studio SWEAT

Peloton and Variis offer spin class apps at a cost, but you’ll find an unlimited number of spin classes on YouTube for free. It’s never been easier (or less expensive) to get sweaty with the energy of the studio right in the comfort of your living room.

And that’s a good thing, because the benefits of spinning extend from giving you a great cardio workout to boosting those endorphins and beyond. Here, we’ve got all the beginner spinning tips you need to know. And to make sure you don’t miss a beat in your spin class, here’s a guide to spin class cues that will keep you cruising.

Online Spinning and Fitness FAQs

We spoke with Cat Kom, CEO and founder of Studio SWEAT onDemand, to answer all of your burning at-home spinning spinning questions.

Is an online Spinning class good for beginners?

Absolutely! At Studio SWEAT onDemand, we want everyone to be able to get a calorie-crushing Spin workout, no matter your fitness level. Because you get to choose your resistance levels you’re in control of your own intensity. We’re just there to be your guides. And we offer a huge variety of virtual workouts that are designed for everyone from absolute beginners to cycling pros. We also offer classes with durations as short as 10 minutes; longer classes around 20, 30, and 45 minutes; and even all-out-assaults up to an hour-plus.

What equipment will I need for online Spinning classes?

For a beginner Spinning class, all you will need is your indoor cycling bike (any will do), comfortable, breathable clothes; a hand towel and plenty of water. Cycling shoes are optional, but a great add once you get addicted.

Is Spinning a good way to do strength training?

Spinning delivers intense muscle building for your lower body, and even supports the core and parts of the upper back. To get that full-body activation, at Studio SWEAT onDemand we offer a whole collection of Spin-Fusion classes, which combine the intense cardio of cycling, with Pilates, yoga, barre, strength training and more.

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What is the best home-workout for getting in shape?

The best home workout is any one that you will stick to! Motivation, drive and commitment is key. That said, in my opinion a solid Spin & Sculpt Fusion class tops the charts. That’s a workout where you’re doing fat-frying cycling for part of the class and then body-sculpting floor exercises peppered in throughout the workout. It’s the best of both worlds, all in one amazing workout.

What’s the best way to find a beginners workout plan?

Working with a personal trainer is always a great option, but not one that everyone can afford or has time for. Another great option is a fitness app where you get guidance. For instance, through our Studio SWEAT onDemand app we have a program called “My Weekly Workout” that literally gives suggested workout recommendations based on a simple profile you set up. If you’re going at it alone, I suggest you just try to mix up your workouts to include a good variety of strength training, cardio, and mobility/flexibility classes, because variety is so important. That’s why we offer dozens of options in the Studio SWEAT onDemand app, and you can also filter our class menu by fitness level, mood, duration, and more.

Is it worth it to buy a workout program or get it free online?

I’d say, as with anything, you get what you pay for. So look for a free trial with any online option, but it’s usually a nightmare to depend on free content because it takes forever to find the right workout in the endless ocean that is the Internet (and time is money after all) and you often have no idea if the workouts are even led by true fitness professionals, so they may not be safe or effective. We do offer a 7-Day Free Trial to introduce you to what we’re all about, for example. It features over 100 onDemand workouts you can try today, with no credit card (or commitment) required. It’s a great way to kickstart your fitness journey. Whatever you choose — try before you buy, but also be willing to budget for you, because you’re worth it.

The best online spin classes you can take at home

1. A 20-minute beginner’s ride

There are plenty of different spinning classes on Studio SWEAT onDemand’s YouTube channel, and this one for beginners is a great place to start if you want to get to know your new stationary bike.

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Check out all of Studio SWEAT onDemand’s spin workouts here.

2. 20-minute ’90s pop ride

There’s nothing that will fuel you through an intense 20-minute workout better than your favorite ’90s jams. Gabriella Guevara‘s energy is infectious in all her workouts, and this is one you’ll want to do over and over again.

Check out all of Gabriella’s spin workouts here.

3. 20-minute cycling workout for beginners

Here’s another great workout for beginners. Instructor Kaleigh Cohen is a great motivator, and she’ll teach you the ins and outs throughout this ride. Don’t worry—she has rides for more advanced riders, too.

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Check out all of Kaleigh’s spin workouts here.

4. 60-minute rhythm ride

You’ll feel like you’re riding in Kristina Girod‘s spin studio throughout this intense—but oh-so-fun—workout that will have you dancing in your seat. With that being said, it’s anything but easy, so get ready to feel the burn.

Check out all of Kristina’s spin workouts here.

5. 30-minute max burn spin class

Another one from Studio SWEAT onDemand, this Tabata-style class led by instructor Cat Kom will definitely make you sweat.

Check out all of Studio SWEAT onDemand’s spin workouts here.

6. 2000s party ride spin class

You’ll feel like you’re at a party while riding it out to these upbeat (and super nostalgic!) songs led by instructor Brett Gordon of Get Fit Done. There’s also plenty of other theme rides to choose from, too, including a Latin Artists ride, Queens of Pop ride, and even a TikTok ride featuring songs you’ve heard all over the app.

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Check out all of Get Fit Done’s spin workouts here.

7. 20-minute quick HIIT spin class

Instructor Holly Miller of The Spin Junkie has so many different classes you can choose from. This quick 20-minute HIIT ride is a great option for days you don’t have time for anything longer.

Check out all of The Spin Junkie’s spin workouts here.

8. 45-minute rollercoaster HIIT class

You’ll never get bored of Kirsten Allen‘s spin workouts. There’s a ride for everyone, and this rollercoaster HIIT ride—where the intervals are super up and down—will burn so good. “It’s going to be a bumpy ride—be sure to buckle up,” she says.

Check out all of Kirsten’s spin workouts here.

9. 15-minute cardio endurance workout

No bike needed for this cardio endurance workout from Holly Rilinger. It’s programmed so that you can use your favorite modality, whether that’s a jump rope, a spin bike, or a rowing machine.

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10. A 45-minute hip hop-themed ride

If you want your ride to come with a beat and some smoothness, this hip hop and r&b themed ride from PPGYT will have you groovin’ in your seat.

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FitnessWorkouts

6 Lateral Exercises You Need to be Doing ASAP for Longevity

Time to train smarter.

Cropped image of woman doing lunge yoga pose
Stocksy / Photo Credit By Studio Firma
Published Feb 21, 2025

Written by 

Jaime Osnato

Want to stay strong, steady, and mobile for life? It’s time to stop thinking only about forward and backward movements and start training side to side. 

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Lateral exercises boost your ability to move and stabilize in the frontal plane—a genuine game-changer for longevity. Developing this kind of strength helps prevent falls, improves balance, and keeps your joints healthy as you age (more on this later). 

Whether you’re climbing stairs, getting in and out of a car, or just want to feel more confident in your body, adding lateral exercises to your routine can keep you moving with ease for years to come. Here’s your bulletproof guide.

How lateral exercises boost strength

Lateral strength is your ability to move side to side—think stepping sideways, lifting your arms, side-bending at the waist, or balancing on one leg, says certified strength coach Maggie Fazeli Fard. 

These movements, known as frontal-plane motions, rely on small but crucial muscles like the gluteus medius (outer hip), adductors (inner thighs), and quadratus lumborum (a lower-back muscle that helps lift your hips).

Neglecting these muscles can lead to poor balance, lower-back pain, and even knee issues, says Fard.

Why does lateral strength matter for longevity?

Incorporating more lateral exercises into your routine isn’t just about moving better—it’s about aging better. Stronger lateral muscles improve balance, coordination, and lower-body stability, helping you stay active and independent as you age, says Fard.

Want to carry groceries, chase grandkids, or swing a golf club with ease? Here’s why lateral strength matters:

  • Balance: Falls are the leading cause of injury and death in seniors, with 1 in 4 older adults taking a spill every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Strong lateral muscles help keep you steady.
  • Lower-body mobility: Weak lateral muscles lead to stiff joints and poor mobility. Since most workouts focus on forward-backward movement (like running and lunging), skipping lateral work can leave you prone to injuries, says Fard.
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6 Best Lateral Exercises

Lateral strength is essential for balance, mobility, and injury prevention. But Fard says it’s best to think of these lateral exercises as accessory moves—not the core of your routine. 

Sprinkle these moves into your workouts a few times a week (they’re great for warm-ups, pairing with bigger lifts, or conditioning workouts), and you’ll move stronger, smoother, and pain-free in no time.

1. Figure Eights

This low-impact move improves balance, coordination, and control—a perfect warm-up or daily brain-body booster, Fard says.

How to do it:

  1. 1.
    Stand on your right foot, lifting your left knee to hip height.
  2. 2.
    Extend your right arm forward.
  3. 3.
    Gently move your left foot and right hand in small figure eight patterns (think: a sideways “8”) concurrently. 
  4. 4.
    Do 20 reps, then switch sides.

2. Side-Traveling Ape

This primal “animal flow” exercise engages “your lateral system from head to toe,” says Fard. Do it in warm-ups or pair it with heavy lower-body lifts.

How to do it:

  1. 1.
    Stand with your feet hip-width apart, knees bent.
  2. 2.
    Keeping your back flat, lean forward to place your hands on the floor shoulder-width apart, with your left hand directly in front of your right foot.
  3. 3.
    Press your hands into the floor and hop your feet to the right, landing softly with feet hip-width apart.
  4. 4.
    Bring your hands to the starting position and repeat for six steps, then switch directions.
  5. 5.
    Perform three sets.

3. Side Plank March

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This move strengthens your hips, inner thighs, lower back, and shoulders while improving overall balance and full-body lateral stability, says Fard.

How to do it:

  1. 1.
    Lie on your left side with your feet right foot directly in front of your left and your left elbow under your left shoulder, forearm along the floor.
  2. 2.
    Press through your left forearm and lift your body so that you're balancing on your left forearm.
  3. 3.
    Keeping your hips lifted, bend your right knee toward your chest, then return to start. Bend your left knee toward your chest; return to start.
  4. 4.
    Continue “marching” for 8 total reps, then switch sides and repeat.

4. Banded Lateral Walks

This exercise strengthens the small stabilizing muscles around the hips (which are key for lateral strength), says Fard. Control is key here—no bouncing. 

How to do it:

  1. 1.
    Place a resistance band around your ankles.
  2. 2.
    Stand with your feet hip-width apart and clasp your hands in front of your chest.
  3. 3.
    Bend your knees slightly, and step to the left. 
  4. 4.
    Bring your right foot back to hip-width slowly, resisting the band's pull.
  5. 5.
    Repeat on the right side (returning to start); continue alternating for 10 reps per side.

5. Lateral Lunge

Stronger hips, knees, back? This move can help you achieve all three, targeting the outer hips and inner thighs for improved hip stability and lower-body control, says Fard. (Make it harder by holding a pair of dumbbells.) 

How to do it:

  1. 1.
    Stand with your feet at hip-width distance, toes facing forward. Clasp your hands in front of your chest. 
  2. 2.
    Shift your weight to the right and step to your right with your right foot.
  3. 3.
    With a flat back, bend your right knee and shift your hips back, keeping your left leg straight.
  4. 4.
    Keep your toes pointed forward on both feet.
  5. 5.
    Press into your right heel to return to standing.
  6. 6.
    Complete 8–10 reps, then switch sides and repeat. Do 2–3 total sets.

6. Lateral Step-up

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This lateral step-up variation strengthens the outer hips, inner thighs, and lower back, making it a great prehab move for injury prevention, says Fard.

How to do it:

  1. 1.
    You’ll need a bench or box to complete this exercise.
  2. 2.
    Stand next to your bench and place your left foot on the bench, so that your left knee is bent round 90 degrees.
  3. 3.
    Keeping your torso upright, press your weight into your left foot and push through your quads and glutes to straighten your left leg and stand on top of the bench. 
  4. 4.
    Reverse the move, lowering your right foot to the floor with control. Step your left foot down to the floor next to your right. 
  5. 5.
    Complete 8–10 reps, then switch sides and repeat. Do 2–3 total sets.

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FitnessWorkouts

Doing This Type of Breathing as Part of Your Pilates Practice Can Help Strengthen Your Pelvic Floor

Here's how hypopressive breathing, a deep breathing exercise, can help you with your Pilates practice and other forms of movement.

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Photo: Stocksy/Atolas
Published Jan 29, 2025

Written by 

Kelsey Kloss

If you’re obsessed with all things Pilates, you already know about the best athleisure, accessories, and self-care moments to incorporate into your practice. However, you may be less familiar with a type of breathwork that can improve your practice — and help you feel more grounded.

Experts in This Article

Anouska Shenn

certified Pilates instructor and founder of The Office Yoga Company

Blair Mauri

a pelvic floor therapist and owner of Blair Mauri Pelvic Health

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Enter hypopressive breathing, a deep breathing exercise that involves emptying your lungs completely. It’s similar to the uddiyana bandha in yoga (or an “abdominal lock”).

“It involves breathing in a way that creates a vacuum-like effect in your thoracic, abdominal, and pelvic cavities by decreasing the pressure, causing a lift and toning of the pelvic floor,” says Anouska Shenn, a certified Pilates instructor and founder of The Office Yoga Company.

But before we get into how to do it, let us clear up one thing: Don’t try any breath-holding exercises during your practice, since Pilates focuses on breathing through movements.

That said, practicing hypopressive breathing before, after, or separate from your Pilates workouts can help support your practice in a number of ways.

What is hypopressive breathing?

Hypopressive breathing is a technique that involves completely emptying your lungs and holding that breath to create a vacuum. It serves as a core exercise that can benefit your pelvic floor health.

Think of it this way: Your abdomen is a closed pressure system. That means that when the pressure changes—like with a cough, deep breath, or force like a lift—your abdominal structures need to be able to manage that pressure properly. That’s where pelvic floor exercises, like hypopressive breathing, come in.

“When we’re not managing that pressure properly, gravity takes it and sends it down into the pelvic floor,” says Blair Mauri, MS, OTR/L, a pelvic floor therapist and owner of Blair Mauri Pelvic Health. “Repeated downward pressure not only weakens the pelvic floor, but can also cause it to become extremely tense.”

That tension may lead to symptoms such as incontinence, pelvic organ prolapse, painful sex, low back pain, or chronic constipation. “Hypopressive breathing is an excellent way to optimize pelvic floor function, as it provides a natural lift to these tissues without increasing the tension,” says Mauri.

Improving your pelvic floor function can relieve pelvic pain or low back pain, improve your oxygen and energy levels, promote digestion, and support your movement throughout your Pilates practice.

In fact, an eight-week program of hypopressive exercises improved pelvic floor muscle strength and urinary incontinence symptoms in women ages 18 to 60 with pelvic floor dysfunction and urinary incontinence symptoms, per a 2022 study1 in Neurourology and Urodynamics.

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Plus, hypopressive breathing can work your lungs in a way that benefits your Pilates practice. “Optimizing your rib mobility is also important for diaphragm function and getting the most out of your breaths,” adds Mauri.

How do you do it?

First, take a few deep breaths and see where you notice that pressure (in this case, your breath):

  • Is it focused in your chest or belly?
  • Are your ribs moving apart as you breathe in?

You should feel some mobility in all of these areas, not just one. “Rib mobility is especially important for proper hypopressive technique, so you may need to start here,” says Mauri. “Take some time to retrain your breathing so that everything expands on the inhale and comes back together on the exhale.”

Once you’ve honed in on that, you can move on to your hypopressive breathing exercises, following Mauri’s instructions:

  1. 1.
    Gently exhale as if you are fogging a window. Don’t send any pressure or force down into your lower belly or pelvic floor.
  2. 2.
    After you exhale, hold your nose and close your mouth and “pretend” to inhale without actually taking in any air. Think about widening those ribs, which will make your stomach begin to look concave.
  3. 3.
    Hold this for 3-5 seconds and then inhale.

How does it benefit your Pilates practice?

This breathing technique shines as an add-on to your Pilates practice. You don’t want to hold your breath during Pilates moves (after all, Pilates is all about coordinating movement with breath), but hypopressive breathing exercises can serve as bumpers for an effective workout.

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“Hypopressive breathing is designed to stand alone, but you can use it as part of your warm-up or to close your Pilates practice,” Shenn says.

Pelvic floor strengthening is already often a key element of Pilates. In fact, a 12-week Pilates program focused on pelvic floor strengthening significantly improved stress urinary incontinence symptoms in women ages 45 to 70, with the results lasting even six months after the program, per a small 2020 study2 in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine.

“Hypopressive breathing complements a Pilates routine, as it also retrains and strengthens the deep core along with your pelvic floor,” says Mauri.

A strong and coordinated deep core and pelvic floor gives you more stability as you move your body throughout your Pilates practice—and throughout the rest of your day.

“Our pelvic floor muscles work together with our deep core muscles to stabilize the spine—supporting our posture and providing a solid foundation for all of our movements,” says Shenn.

Tips to get started

As you integrate hypopressive breathing into your Pilates routine, Shenn recommends keeping these tips in mind:

  • Start with 1-3 sets of 3 repetitions, resting between sets.
  • If you’re a beginner, practice your breathing lying down or seated, before progressing to more challenging positions like side-lying or quadruped (a four-point kneeling position).
  • Do your hypopressive breathwork on an empty stomach (it’s recommended to not eat at least two hours beforehand, since this type of breathing involves suctioning the abdomen inward and upward).
  • Avoid wearing clothes that are too tight—including collars, waistbands, and belts—as they can impede your breath.

Very little research has been done on the effect of breathwork on babies in the womb, so avoid hypopressive breathing if you’re pregnant.

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One more thing to note: Certain preexisting health conditions like high blood pressure can also be contraindications for breathwork, so always check with your doctor first and consider working with a trained provider to make sure your form is correct.

  1. Molina-Torres G, Moreno-Muñoz M, Rebullido TR, Castellote-Caballero Y, Bergamin M, Gobbo S, Hita-Contreras F, Cruz-Diaz D. The effects of an 8-week hypopressive exercise training program on urinary incontinence and pelvic floor muscle activation: A randomized controlled trial. Neurourol Urodyn. 2023 Feb;42(2):500-509. doi: 10.1002/nau.25110. Epub 2022 Dec 8. PMID: 36482844; PMCID: PMC10107869.

    ↩︎

  2. Hein JT, Rieck TM, Dunfee HA, Johnson DP, Ferguson JA, Rhodes DJ. Effect of a 12-Week Pilates Pelvic Floor-Strengthening Program on Short-Term Measures of Stress Urinary Incontinence in Women: A Pilot Study. J Altern Complement Med. 2020 Feb;26(2):158-161. doi: 10.1089/acm.2019.0330. Epub 2020 Jan 9. PMID: 31916840; PMCID: PMC7044776.

    ↩︎

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