6 Ways to Sweat This Week (Whether You Love HIIT or Just Want to Lie Down) | Goop

The workout: digital personal training with Future

Here’s how this digital personal training service works: When you sign up, Future matches you with a coach based on your lifestyle and goals. That person might be a personal trainer who’s worked with Olympic swimming hopefuls, a former New York Yankees strength and conditioning coach, or a specialist in barre, Pilates, and yoga. For however long you stay with the program, your trainer is your partner. You can count on them set up your personalized workouts, text back and forth with you over the Future app, and tinker with your routine so it’s exactly as challenging as you want it to be. They’ll drop little voice notes into your workout, too, with reminders on proper form and words of encouragement. They send you an Apple Watch to track your heart rate and other wellness metrics—you get to keep it for as long as you stick with the Future program.

The workout: cycle with AARMY’s Angela Manuel-Davis

If you’ve ever reached enlightenment on a stationary bike, you might already know the magic of trainer Angela Manuel-Davis. For the uninitiated, Manuel-Davis is a legend in the cycling world—her classes have been described as “church” more than a few times. These days, you can train with her through AARMY, the cycle and boot camp studio she cofounded with trainer Akin Akman. The (joyful, electric) energy in the room is potent, whether you’re joining on demand, tuning in live over Zoom, or practicing in person at AARMY studios in New York and LA. As in: You might cry in the best, most cathartic way.

The workout: yin and vinyasa yoga with Erin Sanders

Joining Erin Sanders for twice-weekly yoga feels like a workout date with your coolest friend. Sanders streams classes from her cozy LA living room, setting her flows to the kind of rhythm-driven electronic music that will have you seeking out her playlist. She leads with generous instruction—where to direct tension in a half or full bind, how to squeeze the pelvic floor to create alignment in crescent, when to release all effort and sink into savasana—and finishes off with snippets of yogic wisdom. It’s all in the spirit of curiosity and play: What can you discover about yourself in a deep twist or in the transition from upward facing dog to down?

What you need:

In yin and vinyasa both, the name of the game is support. Blocks are great to have on hand—Sanders prefers these cork ones from Manduka—as are blankets, bolsters, and pillows.

The workout: Pilates with A La Ligne’s Katie McKenzie and Taren Grewall

Pilates with A La Ligne’s Katie McKenzie and Taren Grewall
In online and in-person sessions, Vancouver-based studio A La Ligne combines classic Pilates movements with the wisdom and breathwork of Qigong. The method is energetically powerful. As you move through and between movements, cofounders Katie McKenzie and Taren Grewall help guide your breath in order shift mind, body, and spirit into a state of alignment.

What you need:

Just yourself, some clothes you can move and sweat in, and a stable, grippy mat. You can add light hand weights or ankle weights to help build strength, if you’d like.

The workout: fascia flossing with Bonnie Crotzer

Professional dancer, yoga instructor, and fascia flossing coach Bonnie Crotzer teaches a specialized form of stretching meant to target the dense connective tissue that wraps around your muscles and bones. It involves resisting a stretch while you elongate the muscles involved. And it feels really good. The goal is to leave a session feeling mobile, loose, and energized. You can join Crotzer’s livestreamed flossing classes from wherever you are; expect plenty of instruction (she knows many of us are new to this) and spiels on anatomy and energy meridians. If you’re in NYC, you can also work with Crotzer one-on-one for assisted stretching sessions.

The workout: infrared sauna

This isn’t really a workout. But we included it here because an infrared sauna will get your heart rate up and certainly make you sweat. Some sauna devotees opt to visit a spa or specialized studio near them. That’s a great option, and it often comes with luxe accoutrements, like towel service, color therapy, and post-sweat plunge pools. But the easiest and cheapest way to get consistent access to an infrared sauna is to get your hands on an infrared sauna blanket, which is simple to use and compact enough to keep at home. Just dress accordingly (more on that below), preheat the blanket to a level that’s comfortable for you, and wrap yourself up to sweat it out for up to fifty minutes at a time.