8 Online Fitness Classes That Make It Easy to Get a Workout in From Anywhere

Nothing defeats your best intentions when it comes to working out faster than a busy schedule. With so many different things vying for your attention throughout the day—whether it be work responsibilities, friends and family, social media, or a lucrative side-hustle—it's tough to squeeze in time for yourself every day. 

While exercise videos certainly aren't a new concept, the recent boom in on-demand fitness classes makes it even easier to get a good sweat in, no matter how packed your schedule is. Whether you want to try a stress-relieving yoga flow, target muscle growth, or avoid cardio at all costs, there's a class out there to fit your preferences. 

We've rounded up some of the best online fitness classes available to make creating a workout routine easier for people of all experience levels and exercise goals. Keep scrolling for the digital sweat sessions that are worth trading your gym membership for.

RELATED: How to Save Money on Your Workouts—Online & IRL

• Best Overall: Obé Fitness
• Best Yoga Class: YogaDownload
• Best Pilates Class: Alo Moves
• Best At-Home Workouts: Openfit
• Best Running Workouts: Aaptiv
• Best Jump Rope Workouts: Crossrope
• Best HIIT Workout: ClassPass
• Best Walking Workout: Apple Fitness+

If you grew up watching classic '80s workout videos in your living room, you'll probably love Obé Fitness. This online fitness community combines challenging workouts with '80s-inspired neon backdrops and energetic music to make exercising more enjoyable. With more than six thousand workouts in its digital library, a robust schedule of live classes, and themed fitness programs, it's tough to get bored or unmotivated. You can choose between 15 different exercise categories including cardio boxing, yoga, HIIT, pilates, and more. Plus, you can filter results based on the difficulty level and length of time, and opt for equipment or bodyweight-only classes. On top of it all a subscription to Obé Fitness costs less than $20 a month, making it way cheaper than a typical gym membership. 

To buy: Obé Fitness, from $27/month; obefitness.com

Improve your balance, strength, and flexibility from anywhere with on-demand yoga classes. YogaDownload is a virtual yoga studio that offers online classes, fitness programs, and multi-day challenges for beginning yogis and experts alike. Whether you're looking for a class that helps to relieve stress or start your day off with a quick morning flow, YogaDownload has tons of options to choose from. You can even take classes that target core strength and relieve back pain or try modified pregnancy and postpartum classes. YogaDownload has two payment options: a monthly subscription, which gives you access to its entire library of classes, or you can pay and download one class at a time. 

To buy: YogaDownload, from $10/month; yogadownload.com

Build muscle while improving your coordination, concentration, and posture with online pilates classes from Alo Moves. As the sister company to the celeb-loved fitness apparel brand Alo Yoga, Alo Moves offers online fitness classes including yoga, Pilates, barre, HIIT, and even mindfulness. Whether you have 10 minutes to squeeze in a workout or half an hour, there are a ton of pilates classes to help meet your fitness goals, such as building whole-body strength, improving posture, or targeting certain muscle groups. You can choose between beginner, intermediate, and advanced Pilates classes to grow with you as you improve, and you can filter class results to quickly find a workout that suits your mood. Some classes require a few props like dumbbells, a towel, or a resistance band to enhance the workout, and you can increase the weight or resistance as you get stronger.  

To buy: Alo Moves, from $20/month; alomoves.com

Kickstarting your fitness journey for the first time can be a daunting task, but one of the best ways to begin is by signing up for a fitness class. Openfit's live classes and on-demand workouts are led by top personal trainers who teach you the moves as you go. For beginners, this makes it much easier to follow along and avoid an injury. You can pick from a wide selection of classes to find the workouts you enjoy most and even receive immediate feedback from trainers during live classes. The service also includes personalized nutrition plans, recommended workout classes, and access to Openfit's online community, which provides workout accountability and encouragement as you work toward your fitness goals. 

To buy: Openfit, from $8/month; openfit.com

Whether you're a newbie runner or you're accustomed to logging several miles a day, Aaptiv is a great place to find workouts tailored to your experience level and preferences. This fitness subscription service offers training plans, guided workouts, and strength training exercises that you can access online or through the app whenever you want. Right after you sign up for an Aaptiv account, you'll be asked a series of questions about your fitness goals, preferred workout length, and music tastes to begin curating workouts that challenge you. Use Aaptiv's trainer-led audio workouts that motivate you as you run, and track your progress across classes with in-app statistics after you finish. The service even has training plans to help you prepare and stay on track for an upcoming race. If you prefer getting your miles in on a treadmill, no sweat—Aaptiv's running workouts can be done indoors or outdoors. 

To buy: Aaptiv, from $15/month; Aaptiv.com

If you're looking for an effective cardio workout but running just isn't your thing, jumping rope might be more your style. Great for burning calories and building muscle in your legs, abs, and shoulders, jump rope workouts on Crossrope's app make it easy to stay motivated and see results. The app features hundreds of on-demand jump rope workouts, tutorials, and HIIT or tabata classes that combine cardio with bodyweight moves. You can track your workouts over time and sync the Crossrope app with your fitness tracker to log metrics like heart rate. While Crossrope sells weighted jump ropes to enhance your workouts, you can also follow along with a regular set of jump ropes. Sign up for a free account to receive access to 10 of the most recent workouts, or upgrade your subscription for full access to Crossrope's library of fitness programs and challenges. 

To buy: Crossrope, from $50/year; crossrope.com

Want to burn more calories in less time? For people with a hectic schedule, short but effective bursts of activity are often the only way to squeeze in a quality workout every day. ClassPass's on-demand HIIT classes make it easy to find a short, high-energy workout to fit in before work, during your lunch hour, or between checking off tasks on your to-do list. HIIT (which stands for high-energy interval training) classes have been shown to burn more calories and keep your metabolic rate elevated for a longer period of time compared to other workout styles. And since a subscription to ClassPass lets you book in-person and online classes in addition to access to its full library of workout videos, you can plan a few visits to your favorite studio or salon. 

To buy: ClassPass, from $15/month; classpass.com

Walking is often overlooked as a form of exercise, but in reality, taking a daily stroll through your neighborhood actually offers a ton of health benefits, including weight loss, reduced stress, and even cutting your risk of heart disease and depression. Apple Fitness+ has a fairly new feature called Time to Walk, which allows you to listen to meaningful stories and music from prominent A-list audio guests as you exercise. Rather than coaching you through an intense workout, Time to Walk lets you pick your own walking pace as celebrities like Shawn Mendes and Dolly Parton share their stories, including photos that will appear on your phone or apple watch. In addition to the Time to Walk feature, Apple Fitness+ has cardio workouts, yoga, cycling, and more that you can stream on your phone, Apple watch, or Apple TV. The only catch? To use Time to Walk or any of the Apple Fitness+ workouts, you need an Apple Watch—and if you don't have one, check out the Apple Watch Series 3, Apple Watch SE, or Apple Watch Series 6—airpods or other Bluetooth headphones, and a Fitness+ subscription.

To buy: Apple Fitness+, from $10/month; apple.com