35 Charlotte gyms and studios that will work you out in your living room during COVID

Editor’s note: If you own a local gym and you’ve started offering streaming services during the coronavirus pandemic, email charlottefive@charlottefive.com to get added to our list. This article is was originally published on March 16 but is constantly developing and updated periodically.

Mecklenburg County’s public health director has ordered gyms and health clubs to close — but just because you can’t go to your favorite fitness class for a few weeks doesn’t mean that you have to miss out on meeting your goals.

Staying active is actually one of the best things that you can do to boost your immune system and stay healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Exercise helps flush the stress from our system and puts your body in a stronger position to fight off illness,” said Dr. Russell Greenfield of Novant Health Integrative Medicine.

Choosing a streaming service from a local studio is also a great way to support small businesses during this time without worrying about whether you should avoid the crowded parks. On March 31, all of the county’s sports courts were closed — such as basketball, tennis and volleyball. That’s ok, our local gyms know how to make us sweat without ever leaving the living room.

Whether you prefer a big gym or a boutique workout, we’ve rounded up a list of studios and other resources for you to stay on top of your exercise schedule from the comfort of your own home.

Many of these fitness classes are free of charge or have a free-trial period, so you can find the one that works best for you before you put out money — and maybe even discover a new favorite workout.

Pro tip: If you can afford it, don’t put your membership on hold. These local businesses need our financial support during this time.

(1) Arrichion

Free streaming with membership. Membership costs vary.

Arrichion is taking its full schedule of yoga and circuit strength-training classes online through Zoom Video Conferences for current members. Information for joining the Zoom Videoconferences is sent out to members via email. For more information, send a direct message to the Arrichion Charlotte Instagram account.

Non-members can get a 1 month unlimited option for $115, which offers access to the virtual studio and physical studio for any time left on your month-in-full if gyms are able to reopen by then. To purchase, head to arrichion.com/stayhome and use the promo code STAYHOME to reduce the price from $165 to $115.

(2) The Barre Code

The Barre Code Charlotte is offering on demand access to its streaming service, Barre Code on Demand, for 50% off the standard rate of $19.95/month for the first 30 days. The Barre Code on Demand membership includes over 80 digital workouts, classes of the day, a 30-day “TBC and Chill” challenge to keep you motivated and uplifted, access to a private Facebook group to connect with a fitness community and exclusive content.

(3) Barry’s

Barry’s Charlotte has gone virtual. Join some of your favorite Charlotte instructors including Chelsea Cox, Cole Goddard, Erica Rossi, James Gulley, and Shane Lucas as part of the series of streaming Barry’s At-Home group classes. The team is offering four types of classes: bodyweight, bands (grab a Band Together Fit Kit), weights, and a few traditional Barry’s treadmill and weights classes. Once you sign-up, they will e-mail you a unique link 20 minutes before class starts.

(3) Be Yoga

Be Yoga on East Boulevard is hosting Zoom classes for now. Book your next power flow, slow flow, yin or deep stretch here.

(4) Burn Boot Camp

$99-180/month, 14-day free trial

Burn Boot Camp offers live streaming 45-minute HIIT-based boot camp workouts each weekday at 9 a.m. to members. Workouts will also be recorded so you can watch at any time.

(5) Charlotte Cirque and Dance Center

Join the Charlotte Cirque & Dance Center for virtual circus and dance classes via Zoom in disciplines like juggling, dance fitness, Pilates, yoga, hip-hop and more, listed as “family classes” on the center’s schedule. Classes are $8-$15 per class each. Click here to sign up.

(6) Charlotte Family Yoga

This Concord-based yoga studio is offering $5 and $10 virtual classes. Sign up for power flow to get your heart rate up or deep stretch to bring anxiety down. Gentle yoga and slow flow are also offered.

(7) Charlotte Yoga

Charlotte Yoga is offering livestream yoga classes for $20. Sign up via its app or website and then you’ll receive a link to join class one hour prior to its start. On-demand will start later this week.

(8) Club Pilates

7 day free trial

Club Pilates locations Matthews, South Providence and Strawberry Hill are offering 30-minute live classes for members. Classes include mat pilates, a modified barre class, seated pilates, and Center + Balance. Non-members can get a 7 days free trial to Club Pilates On Demand. The Club Pilates GO Facebook Page is also hosting free classes Monday through Friday that range from 10-40 minutes.

(9) Core704

Free

NoDa and South End’s Core704 isn’t going to stop giving us all the tools we need for rock-hard abs by summer. Check out the website for free pre-recorded and livestream classes.

(10) Corepower Yoga

$19.99/month, $199.99/year, 7-day free trial

Corepower Yoga streams classes lasting anywhere from 5-60 minutes. Its class library consists of yoga classes of different difficulty levels that focus on strengthening different areas of the body. If you are new to yoga or trying to level up your practice, take advantage of Corepower’s series of drills that help you build strength and practice correct form in different yoga poses. While it primarily is focused on yoga classes, Corepower also includes some Core Restore stretching classes and meditation among its streaming options.

(11) Crunch Live

$9.99/month, $90/year, 10-day free trial

Big box gym Crunch has a library of over 85 workout videos so that you can bring your favorite classes to your living room. Class options include bootcamp, HIIT, barre, yoga, dance cardio and more. You can also sign up for a customizable workout plan to help you meet your fitness goals.

(12) Daily Burn

$ 19.95/month, 30-day free trial

Daily Burn is an online program that creates a personalized fitness program that you can complete remotely. When you sign up, you will create a Daily Burn profile and Daily Burn will pick workouts for you each day to help you improve your fitness. If you don’t like the workouts selected for you, you can opt out of them for the day and choose your own. Daily Burn workouts include cardio, strength training, pilates, barre and more.

(13) D.R. Fitness

Charlotte-based Determined Results Fitness is offering 50 percent off of its home-based workout program.

(14) Essential Thrive

If you’ve never tried Chakti Yoga, you’ll want to read about it first. It’s like no other yoga class you’ve ever attended. The music is loud (and raunchy, so send those kids to the backyard). You’ll dance, you’ll move your body. Yoga is a foundation for this class but it’s just the start. Prepare to be drenched in sweat and zen AF at the end. Sign up by following the instructions on Essential Thrive’s Instagram page.

(15) Fit Atelier

$14.99/month or $159.99/year, 14-day free trial

Fit Atelier makes every workout feel like a party. Get your cardio in by dancing your heart to choreography taught by NFL cheerleaders and ballerinas. In addition to dance cardio, each of the different classes includes toning and stretching sections for a full body workout.

(16) Fitness Blender

Free

Fitness Blender is an online resource created by two personal trainers with hundreds of free workout videos ranging from 10-85 minutes long. These videos include apartment-friendly cardio, strength training, pilates, stretching and more at levels appropriate for everyone from beginners to elite athletes.

(17) Harmony Yoga

$13/class

New yoga videos lasting 1.5 hours will be released from the Ballantyne-based studio on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings, with a link sent out that will be good for 36 hours. The online classes — each having a different theme — will include education about the facets of yoga, ayurveda, breathwork, functional asana and meditation.

Payments can be made via Venmo, Zelle, PayPal and check. Email HarmonyYogaNC@gmail.com or call 704-277-3887 to get on the RSVP list.

(18) Hilliard Studio Method

$19/month, 7-day free trial

Charlotte-based Hilliard Studio Method has a streaming service that allows you to take the studio’s high energy and low impact pilates-based classes anywhere. Take a live 60-minute HSM class or mix and match shorter videos that are as short as 5 minutes for a customized workout experience. The HSM streaming services also includes modifications to help expectant and postpartum mothers, and those dealing with injuries work out effectively and safely. On Monday, March 30, HSM also launched its own podcast, so break out those earbuds.

(19) Hive Fitness

Free

Hive is offering live workouts for everyone, not just members. Workouts are streamed through the company’s Facebook Live and Instagram Live pages. Add these to your calendar:

Barre Classes: Monday/Friday: 3:00 p.m.

Spin Classes: Tuesday/Thursday: 6:30 a.m.

Ignite+ Classes: (Bootcamp-style workout) Monday/Wednesday/Friday: 11:00 a.m., Saturday: 9:30 a.m.

(20) Hustle House

Hustle House Fitness is offering $5 livestreaming classes at 7 a.m. and 10 a.m. weekdays, or a $50 unlimited membership to gain access to all live workouts and videos. Free workouts are also posted on its Instagram @hustlehouse, and its coffee and smoothie bar remains open Monday through Saturday 8 a.m.-2 p.m. and Sunday 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

(21) THE JAM: CLT

THE JAM: CLT has been holding free Facebook live classes, as well as posting free dance choreography on its YouTube channel. There’s even a Kids Jam for tiny dancers that can be found on theYouTube channel. Its schedule includes theme classes on Monday, Thursday and Saturday at 7 p.m.

(22) Khali Yoga

Khali Yoga is offering donation-based online classes available on demand. Additionally, it has added some live virtual classes to its schedule. Classes are $10 for drop-ins; sign up using the Khali app or website and you’ll receive an email 30 minutes prior to class beginning.

(23) MADabolic

Charlotte-based MADabolic launched virtual training on Vimeo on March 21. It also made its strength-training equipment from its Elizabeth and South End locations available for rent, The Charlotte Observer reported on March 28. Members and others were invited to the locations during 2-hour periods on three days to rent out items, Finley Funsten, general manager and co-owner of the two Charlotte locations, told the Observer.

(24) Meditation Club

Donation-based

Carianna Hebert is hosting 30-minute live guided meditations twice daily during the week (7 a.m. and 8 p.m.). The classes are donation-based. “Grab blankets, pillows, candles, crystals, oils etc. ,” Hebert stated in an email. “This is an opportunity to create a ritual that authentically works for you. And it can of course be simple. You may be seated or lie down.”

(25) Melting Point Hot Yoga

Melting Point is holding 60-minute virtual classes over Zoom, with donations accepted via PayPal or Venmo. Sign up on its website to get access to its schedule and monthly emails.

(26) NoDa Yoga

$10 streaming classes, pay-what-you-can options

Register in advance using the Mindbody app and you’ll get a Zoom link via email 30 minutes before class begins. If you have a membership or a class packet, you can use that, too.

(27) Orangetheory Fitness

Free

Orangetherory is offering workouts for free via YouTube, essentially thwarting all of those excuses in your head to just stay on the couch and do nothing. New workouts are posted daily.

(28) Pure Barre on Demand

$29.99/month, $289/year, 7-day free trial

Take Pure Barre’s ballet-inspired body weight workouts at home with the Pure Barre on Demand streaming service. Workouts range from 5-60 minutes with new videos coming out each week. If, like most of us, you do not have a ballet barre in your home, you can simply use a chair or table to create your living room into an in-home barre studio and get all the toning benefits of a barre workout without leaving the house.

(29) Sydney Cummings-Physical Trainer

Free

Charlotte-based personal trainer, fitness nutrition specialist and former Division 1 Track & Field athlete Sydney Cummings uploads a different workout video free of charge every day at 5 a.m. Choose from the library of over 825 20-60 minute fitness videos to mix up your workout. The videos provide modifications and are appropriate for all fitness levels. Workouts require no equipment or dumbells, depending on the video.

(30) Sweat Method

Sweat Method is holding two free livestreams per day — at 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. weekdays and 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. on weekends — via its @sweatmethod Instagram. The classes alternate between Fusion, a mix of yoga and HIIT, and Flow, an upbeat twist on traditional yoga. The studio is also offering a package special via its website and app for a 10 pack of future classes for $140 (normally $160), with $20 of that purchase going toward its staff.

It’s also sponsoring a #SWEATTOGETHER challenge on Instagram. To particpate, take two of its live Instagram classes per week plus one outdoor workout, post to your social media and tag @sweatmethod with #SWEATTOGETHER to win prizes to local shops such Green Brothers Juice and Hoppin’.

(31) Sweatnet

Sweatnet is offering more than 70 virtual classes on its website. To try it out, use the code “STREAMFREE” to get the next month for free. “Many people have asked how they can support us,” co-owner Erin Garber said in an email to members this week. “The best way is to keep our studios strong. Buy class packs from your faves. We are nothing without them. If you want to buy a t-shirt from our shop, that goes a long way for us.”

(32) YMCA

Through the YMCA of Greater Charlotte, you can access a variety of Virtual Y classes. Some workouts are free, such as yoga, bootcamp or weightlifting. If you want more personalized training, set up a virtual one-on-one session. Find out more details here.

(33) Yoga One

$9.99/month, 14-day free trial

Check out Yoga One’s free class vault. Additionally, for the $9.99 a month, the studio allows you to stream more classes filmed in the studio, as well as meditations and inspirational talks from instructors, to give you a more complete Yoga One experience. Take advantage of the pose library and instructional courses that will help you practice correctly and advance your practice at your own pace. If you have a favorite instructor, check below to see when they are offering classes:

Grace Millsap https://linktr.ee/gracemillsapyoga

Lauren Alexander https://linktr.ee/lba1122

Rebby Kern https://linktr.ee/rebbykernyoga

Niche Faulkner https://linktr.ee/nicheculturedflow

Heather Collins https://linktr.ee/heatherjoycollins

All of these teachers are offering a variety of class options and meditations: power flow, power express, slow flow, power fusion.

(34) West Kept Secret

$49.99/month

This woman-owned boutique studio focusing on cardio, strength and pilates just launched WKS: STREAMING. You can get 10% off your purchase with either of its coupon codes: HEIDI10 or MARISSA10.

This story was originally published March 16, 2020 at 7:44 PM with the headline "35 Charlotte gyms and studios that will work you out in your living room during COVID."