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Hey there, reader.

It seems like everywhere I look right now, the world is telling me I need to work out.

Fitness apps are waiving subscription fees. Activewear brands are hosting sales. The internet is bench-pressing dogs.

It’s a sound premise. As homes turn into prisons and parks turn into morgues (literally), our bodies are one of the few things we can still control.

That said, it’s understandable if these days feel better suited for cheesecake in bed over hill sprints and lat pull-downs. Gyms are closed indefinitely, and the breadth of fitness content online can actually be a bit daunting: With so many home workouts to choose from, where should you begin?

At the risk of hubris, we think you should start right here.

Three weeks ago, we launched a new column called The Workout From Home Diaries. It’s a near-daily series documenting accessible, functional exercises that don’t require any fancy equipment, like how to get a legitimate endurance workout out of a jump rope or how to curl a backpack with a dish towel.

We’ve also done some deeper dives on memorable fitness routines throughout the ages, from the old (how Eisenhower and Kennedy shaped gym class forever) to the new (the meteoric rise of a YouTube yogi) to the ‘90s (a sexed-up VHS ab workout that still gets the job done).

The quarantine has presented us all with a rare moment of honesty. Beach vacations and wedding dates are in jeopardy, and Zoom, god help us, isn’t a full body affair. This is the time, then, to shelve aesthetic-minded “countdown fitness” in favor of exercises that cheer us up, help us sleep, boost our immune systems or simply get us out of the house.

We promise to be there every step of the way. Let’s plan on a lot of them.

Tanner Garrity
Health and Fitness Editor, InsideHook