YouTube Rotation

I received a request to create a YouTube workout rotation and even though I thought it was a great idea, I also hesitated. I have done a lot of YouTube workouts. Even so, what I’ve done is a tiny fraction of what is out there. Plus, I regularly get suggestions from people to try trainers that I still have not gotten around to trying and I honestly do not know when I will get around to trying them. So I am concerned that many people will find any YouTube rotation I create lacking.

But I decided to do it anyway. Who knows? Maybe this rotation will introduce you to a trainer that you haven’t tried. I also decided to make it a sort of “mix and match” rotation. Each week will focus on a single trainer. I will let you know the level of the trainers workouts so you can structure your 7 week rotation however works best for you. For instance, if you are a beginner or intermediate exerciser, you may want to start with the easier trainer weeks and work your way up to the more advanced trainer weeks. If you are already high intermediate or advanced then maybe you want to mix it up–alternate easier weeks with more advanced weeks. I am using 6 different trainers and they each have their own week. I am also including a 7th recovery week that combines workouts from 2 different trainers. You can stick that recovery week where ever you want it in the rotation. Use it halfway through, or between the two most advanced weeks or use it at the very end to recover from the previous 6 weeks. It’s all up to you. Finally, every trainer does not do all fitness modalities and some, even if they do, do not do them all as full length workouts. So for some trainers, you will get a workout by a different trainer on the recovery day. And the most advanced trainer I am using (Fit Body by Julia) gets two recovery days in which I will be using workouts by other trainers.

Since I workout for an hour every morning, and I’d like to do this rotation myself some day, I usually make sure that most days give you approximately an hour of work, which means sometimes combining more than one workout into a single session. I also feel flexibility/mobility is very important so when a workout is 30-40 minutes I will add an extended stretch to the end. Finally, the two most advanced trainers in this rotation do long workouts–longer than an hour. If you can not manage a workout longer than an hour then make you sure you read my reviews thoroughly. I frequently give suggestions on what to leave out of the workout to make it shorter.

Here is how I schedule my workouts in YouTube. I have created a private playlist on YouTube for each day of the week. Every Saturday I get out my rotation for the week and plug in my workouts on the days I plan to do them in the order I plan to do them. Then in the morning I just go to the YouTube app on my AppleTV, click on the playlist I created for that day, choose the first workout, hit play and it will play through all of the workouts in the playlist from beginning to end. You can use this rotation post to do the same thing. Click on the workout review and the link to the YouTube workout is in each review, so you can create your playlists from this review.

So here we go! I will list each week by trainer, tell you a little bit about the trainer, as well as the level of their workouts. Their name is hyperlinked to the list of all of their YouTube workouts that I have reviewed on this blog. I am also doing them in order of easiest to hardest. So know that the first trainer listed has the easiest workouts and the last trainer has the hardest. At the very end will be the recovery week. Again, use that week where ever you want and mix up the trainers weeks in whatever order works best for you. The workouts themselves are linked to my reviews so you know what to expect from each workout and what equipment is needed. Within each review is the link for the YouTube video.

AngieFitnessTV: Angie creates workouts that range from beginner level to intermediate. Plus, in her workouts she often shows how to modify things to make them easier as well as how to make things more advanced. She usually has really good music to accompany her workouts, too. She has been a fitness trainer for over 20 years and she has produced over 300 workout videos. Outside of YouTube she is also a physical therapist, a personal trainer, a bee keeper and a massage therapist.

Day 1: Kick Fit Box & Sculpt + 15 Minutes to Fit: Barbell Push Pull

Day 2: Kick Fit Cardio Kickboxing Zone + 15 Minutes to Fit: Quick Kickboxing

Day 3: Strong & Sweaty Step

Day 4: Low Impact Kickbox LIIT Training + Move Healthy Mobility Flexibility

Day 5: Leg Day Mega Burn + 15 Minutes to Fit: Resistance Band Upper Body

Day 6: 3 Mile Power Walk Body Shaping Party

Day 7: Jessica Smith: Pilates Yoga Fusion Flow

Jessica Smith: Jessica is one of my favorite trainers. In addition to doing lots of her YouTube workouts, I own (and have done) almost all of her DVD workouts. She does workouts at all levels–beginner, intermediate and even some advanced workouts, though on YouTube her workouts do not generally get any higher than high intermediate. But as with all workouts, you can increase the level by using heavier dumbbells for the strength workouts. During the cardio workouts Jessica frequently shows low impact versions of the exercises as well as higher impact versions to increase the intensity. In Jessica’s YouTube workouts we also frequently get to see her pet French Bulldog, Peanut, who is such a cutie and always makes me smile. Jessica’s music is pretty good, too.

Day 1: HIIT Mash Up

Day 2: High Intensity Interval Cardio & Abs + 10 Minute Total Body Stretch

Day 3: Super Set Sculpt + 13 Minute Quick Stretch

Day 4: Kickboxing Cardio Abs + S.O.S. (Stretch Out Stress)

Day 5: Leg Day + Upper Body Strength

Day 6: A.B.S. Workout + Cardio Barefoot Flow

Day 7: HIIT Strength Pilates Yoga Mash Up

Heather Robertson: Heather is an amazing YouTube trainer who puts together very professional looking workouts. These workouts are free yet they all appear to have a high production value. She is a fitness model and personal trainer. The majority of her workouts are done interval fashion and are also set to awesome music–no talking, just great music. Heather’s workouts are in the intermediate to advanced level. She has a few easier workouts but the majority of them will challenge you. Use the appropriate weights for your strength level and you will get awesome workouts.

Day 1: Leg Day Warm Up Routine + HIIT Booty Bootcamp + Brutal HIIT Workout for Legs, Glutes + Thighs

Day 2: Full Upper Body Workout // Toning + Strength + Upper Body Strength Workout // with Dumbbells

Day 3: Low Impact HIIT Cardio + Legs + 10 Minute Full Body Mobility and Flexibility Routine

Day 4: Full Body HIIT Workout // Strength + Cardio

Day 5: 30 Minute HIIT Cardio Workout // At Home (No Equipment) + Full Body Stretch // Recovery Day Workout

Day 6: 12 Minute Upper Body Kettlebell Workout + Kettlebell HIIT // Full Body HIIT

Day 7: 10 Minute Standing Abs Workout // No Equipment + Jessica Smith: Flow-Yo

Barlates: Barlates is a brand of workouts created by Linda Stejskal. She lives in Australia. Linda does everything–from beginner to very advanced; barre, pilates, body weight strength, strength using dumbbells, kettlebells, resistance bands. Workouts with rebounders, bosu balls, steps and stability balls. She is extremely versatile. For the Barlates week I am using her more intermediate/advanced workouts but she is also featured in the recovery week and for that I am using her beginner/intermediate workouts. Linda’s music is generally generic and unimpressive, and sometimes barely audible. But the workouts are worth it. Add your own music if hers really bothers you.

Day 1: Metabolic Training: Cardio Sculpt

Day 2: Torch & Tone: Box + Warm & Stretch: Mat

Day 3: Metabolic Training: Circuit

Day 4: Quick Fix Ballet Box + 100 Rep Cardio Core Box

Day 5: Stretch Sculpt Lower + 100 Rep Squat & Kick

Day 6: Pyramid Upper Body + Warm & Stretch: Upper

Day 7: Hotel Room Cardio Core +  Weekend Recovery Stretch

Yvette Bachman: Yvette is a gym owner who posts workouts that she teaches in her gym on YouTube for free. Her workouts are intermediate to advanced level. What tends to push them into the advanced level is how long they are. They are frequently at least an hour and sometimes longer and they are all intense metabolic workouts. She also uses a lot of different equipment–kettlebells, medicine balls, bosu balls–but usually she just uses a step and dumbbells. She almost always plays great music. If Yvette does total body workouts, I am not aware of them. So it took some work to put together workouts from Yvette that will work your entire body in a week. Yvette’s workouts that I used are also frequently more than an hour long so make sure you prepare for each workout time-wise. If they are too long for you, make sure you read the review. There might be a 10-15 minute end section that is different from the rest of the workout that you can skip. Just make sure you do not skip cooling down and stretching! For the recovery day I use a different yoga trainer–Yoga Ranger. You will need a bolster and your own music for her practice.

Day 1: HIIT, Cardio Step/Circuit Heavy Weights

Day 2: Kickboxing/High Calorie Cardio Blast

Day 3: HIIT Training & Muscle Building

Day 4: All Out Cardio Step/Kickboxing

Day 5: HIIT, Step, Heavy Leg (& Bicep) Work

Day 6: Cardio/Kettlebell Mash Up

Day 7: Yoga Ranger: Sunrise Yin Yoga

Fit Body by Julia: Most of Julia’s workouts are very advanced. They contain lots of push ups and lots of plyometrics. They are not for the faint of heart. For the strength workouts in this rotation I did choose her easier (but still excellent, challenging and advanced) workouts. It has been a while since I have done one of Julia’s workouts. I am no longer at the fitness level of most of her workouts (not counting the strength workouts listed below) so I really don’t know if she has any yoga workouts, I haven’t really looked at her YouTube workouts since 2017. When I was doing her workouts I do not remember her having yoga or flexibility workouts. Anyway, even if she does have workouts like that, I never did/reviewed any of them so I used a Barlates workouts for one recovery day and I used Jessica Smith for the yoga day. As far as the workouts of Julia’s I have done–none of them are recovery level and I think you need something to break up a brutal week of her workouts. Julia has no music to accompany her workouts. So you have to add your own background music. Julia does not have warm ups or stretches and you need to do both for these workouts. Do not blow it off. You need to warm up before doing her workouts and you need to cool down and stretch afterward. If you need something structured, Fitness Blender has a lot of warm ups and a lot of cool down/stretches of various lengths (4-12 minutes). Choose 1 of each to frame each of Julia’s workouts when creating your YouTube play list for that day. Finally, like Yvette Bachman’s workouts, some of Julia’s workouts are more than an hour long so make sure you prepare for each workout time-wise. If they are too long for you, read the review. There might be a 10-15 minute end section that is different from the rest of the workout that you can skip.

Day 1: PHAT Workout

Day 2: Cardio Madness

Day 3: Barlates: Gentle Home Workouts: Combinations

Day 4: Deadweight Legs

Day 5: Cardio Madness #2

Day 6: Heavy Volume Glute Lift w/ Squat Jumps

Day 7: Jessica Smith: Strong Stretch

Recovery Week: Insert this week where ever you feel you need it. For this week, I am alternating workouts by Jessica Smith and Barlates. These workouts are all beginner/intermediate level and both trainers show modifications if you want to make the workouts even easier. Think of this as a feel good week. These workouts will still work your body well but they will not tear it down.

Day 1: Barlates: Fusion Flow: Easy Cardio + Warm & Stretch: Standing

Day 2: Jessica Smith: Barefoot Fusion Sculpt Workout + Stretch, Rest & Relax

Day 3: Barlates: Fusion Flow: Dynamic + Warm & Stretch with Ball

Day 4: Jessica Smith: Cardio Mat Fusion #1 + Recovery Day Routine

Day 5: Barlates: Fusion Flow: Band + Warm & Stretch: Upper

Day 6: Jessica Smith: Ballet Burn

Day 7: Barlates: Fusion Flow: Mat + Warm & Stretch: Mat