Are you looking for Body Positive Fitness Resources? Do you want to stay up-to-date on Body Positive Workouts? You are in the right place! We have compiled a list of Body Positive fitness resources, social media accounts, and bloggers that will keep your body healthy and happy. This blog post is also full of Body positive workout ideas.
Let’s start with what body-positive fitness is and how it is different from the fitness experiences that you might be more familiar with.
What is Body Positive Fitness?
Body positive fitness is the idea that all bodies are good bodies and no one should be treated differently because of their appearance. Body positivity encourages everyone to get active, regardless of size or shape. It’s not about being skinny or fat, it’s about encouraging people to do what they love without worrying about if their body looks like the person guiding the workout.
How is it different from “traditional exercise?” Often the focus on exercise is about weight loss, “burning those calories” and holding a smaller body as the ideal to be sweated towards.
Body-positive fitness focuses on health behaviors as the benefits of doing the fitness activity, from improved sleep, stronger muscles, better quality sleep, and less stress.
As dietitians, many of our clients are overweight or obese. If we recommend fitness resources that do not feel welcoming or accessible to our clients, we are not helping to promote their wellness or to improve their health behaviors. Body-positive fitness providers focus on health behaviors, not fat-phobic shaming comments or goals.
Is it really body positive?
A note of caution about faux-body positive fitness: you can find people calling themselves body-positive who are not actually practicing fitness in a body-positive way.
If the person that you’re checking out calls themselves body positive but also talks about their weight loss goals or diet plan or are modeling before and after photos, they’re not a true body-positive practitioner. Keep on looking – we have many good options for you here in this post.
A few clues that your program is truly body positive:
- No talk of weight loss or body shame
- No promotions of an ideal body shape or size
- No diet talk
- Promotion of joyful movement
- Benefits of exercise are stress management, building strength, better sleep, and cardiovascular health
- Queer, trans, and genderfluid members are welcome
- Teachers, students, and promotional materials all include diverse bodies
A few clues that your class is faux body positive:
- Before and after photos are included
- Weight loss is promoted
- Body measurements are taken
- Exercise is a means to burn off meals or calories
- Exercise is used to “burn” foods that you regret eating
- Teachers, students, and promotional materials are focused on those in a smaller body
With the above checklist, you have criteria to evaluate if a program or teacher is truly body positive. But before you start your search, check out our curated list of body-positive teachers and programs that you can invite to your living room for a virtual fitness class that celebrates all bodies.
Body Positive Workouts You Can Do at Home
The good news is that there are a TON of options for body-positive fitness activities that can be done at home – some are even free to use!
From dancing to strength training, yoga to kickboxing, this is a round-up of body-positive workouts that you can do in the privacy and comfort of your home (in your very favorite workout gear!).
Joyn
What to expect:
The Joyn YouTube channel offers a wide variety of body-neutral movement. Classes include strength, HIIT, cardio, pilates, and even Tai Chi classes. They even have classes designed for your stationary bike.
While the Joyn.co website and social platform’s are no longer active (as of late 2022), a library of content on YouTube remains available. Be sure to check out curated playlists organized by instructor and workout type.
Best for:
Those who want a variety of options available and have access to YouTube.
Cost: Free!
Fat Girls Dance Movement
What to expect:
If you’re ready to kick off your morning with a gratitude dance party, you’re going to want to follow the Fat Girls Dance Movement on Instagram ASAP! They’re free, they’re fun and they take place at 9:45 am EST.
Cathleen Meredith is the curator of bold and beautiful dance moves and shares her joy of dancing around the world.
Best for:
Anyone ready to shake that thing!
Cost: Free
The Yoga Room
What to expect:
The Yoga Room was founded by Zelinda Yañez and is based in Round Rock, TX. This yoga studio offers an active online community in addition to its in-person offerings.
If you’ve never tried yoga before, check out their 7-day beginner yoga challenge!
Best for:
Anyone wanting to try yoga from an accessible and welcoming studio.
Cost:
Single Class – $17, 5 Class Pack – $70, 10 Class Pack – $120
Note: The Yoga Room offers a discount to teachers, first responders, and military personnel.
Yoga with Jessamyn Stanely
What to expect:
As a leader in holistic health and wellness, Jessamyn founded “The Underbelly” – an on-demand center for streaming yoga classes. As she says on her site, “If you have ever thought that people who look like you or think like you or live like you don’t do yoga, this is your place to give it a go.”
Jessamyn emphasizes that yoga is about authenticity and curiosity. It’s not about getting all the poses exactly right, but rather about learning more about seeing the light inside yourself and pairing that with movement.
Best for:
Anyone interested in yoga (especially if you’ve ever felt hesitant to try it, or uncomfortable in another class).
Cost:
Free two-week trial, then $9.99/month.
Roz the Diva
What to expect:
Roz the Diva is known around the world and has trained more than 5,000 clients in more than 8 countries. While based in New York, Roz offers personal training in-person and online. Roz is also well known for her pole dancing skills and classes. Roz’s certifications include the NASM Personal Trainer certification.
Best for:
Those who would like to give pole dancing a try!
Cost:
Varies by the program. Roz offers training virtually and in-person priced per hour as well as virtual classes via Patreon.
No BS Active
What to expect:
Includes strength workouts, stretch sessions, and meditations. These at-home workouts require little to no equipment with many modifications to make the programming accessible to bodies large and small, old and young, athletic and beginner. Join Whitney and Jessica as “you move your body in joyful and challenging ways.” 25 new workouts are added each month. Fitness is not one-size-fits-all.
Best for:
Anyone interested in a program that offers different kinds of exercise all included in one program.
Cost:
Free seven-day trial, then $19.99 per month.
Fat Positive Fitness
What to expect:
Fat Positive Fitness is a Canadian company that was co-founded by Jenna Doak and Kat Horzempa. The company is fat-positive and queer-centered. They offer a wide range of opportunities, including 100+ monthly live-streamed classes, one-on-one and team training, personal coaching, run club, workshops and monthly community social events.
Best for:
Anyone who would feel more comfortable in smaller online class sizes (registration is limited to 20).
Cost:
$14 per single virtual class; class passes and memberships available for bundle pricing.
Decolonizing Fitness with Ilya Parker
What to expect:
Decolonizing Fitness “is creating resources on nontoxic fitness, body liberation & gender justice.” This fat-positive fitness company is owned and operated by Ilya Parker, a black, non-binary physical therapist assistant & certified medical exercise coach based in North Carolina.
“Decolonizing Fitness is not a gym, but an incredible educational resource for coaches, trainers, studio owners, and anyone who is interested in unlearning toxic fitness culture.”
Best for:
Podcast lovers! Ilya offers regular podcasts for their Patreon subscribers.
Cost:
Rates are sliding scale with online or in-person coaching options.
Lauren Leavell Fitness
What to expect:
Lauren Leavell Fitness is a body-positive fitness company founded by Lauren Leavell, a NASM Certified Personal Trainer, a Corrective Exercise Specialist, and a group fitness instructor. Classes include Barre, HIIT, and Bootcamp. On the membership page, you can look for members near you. All bodies are welcome; no memberships or contracts.
Best for:
Those who would love access to their virtual community, in addition to live and recorded classes.
Cost:
Sliding scale group fitness programs are $39-59/month.
Dianne Bondy Yoga
What to expect:
Dianne Bondy founded Yoga for all after her own experiences with discrimination in yoga classes and training as a black woman in a larger body. Her work celebrates the joy and good that yoga can offer to every kind of body.
Not only does she offer inclusive body-positive classes, but she also teaches yoga training courses for yoga instructors ready to confront their own biases to make their classes more inclusive.
Best for:
Anyone interested in taking or teaching yoga.
Cost:
Varies by program.
HoopCubed Virtual Studio
What to expect:
Fun! HoopCubed’s mission is to bring fun and playfulness back to movement. Classes include yoga, but also burlesque, and HoopYogini. HoopCubed is founded by Heather, whose number one goal “is to make women feel positive about their bodies and their minds. Life is too short for anything else.”
Best for:
Anyone wanting their body-positive fitness to feel playful and fun.
Cost:
$12 per class.
The Fitness Marshall
What to expect:
If you want to join the Booty Army, you are going to want to get to know The Fitness Marshall. Caleb Marshall has been a YouTube favorite since 2014 with his sassy, fun dance workout videos that have earned him more than 3 million followers and counting. His videos feature body diversity and upbeat energy (not to mention, killer dance moves).
Best for:
Those who love to dance, dance, dance!
Cost:
YouTube videos are available on-demand for free.
Paid memberships range from $4.99 to $14.99 per month and are also available for additional content.
Big Fit Girl
What to expect:
Big Fit Girl is founded by Louise Green, and yes, there is an app for that! Big Fit Girl is accessible, weight neutral, body-positive, and all-inclusive.
“There is no other fitness app on the global market that offers body weight, weight training, cardio, and core workouts in a chair with a range of intensity and equipment. Progress from chair-assisted to beginner to intermediate and advanced workouts.”
Louise is also the author of Fitness for Everyone: 50 Exercises for Every Type of Body.
Best for:
All bodies, including those with mobility differences.
Cost:
The app membership costs $11.99 a month or $130.99 a year after a 7-day free trial.
Louise also offers a self-paced 5k training program for a one-time payment of $49.99.
Trans Yoga Teacher:
What to expect:
Join Alle for gender-affirming, body-positive classes, both live and on-demand. Trans Yoga offers classes as a drop-in as well as via membership.
Best for:
Anyone who doesn’t “feel welcome in traditional yoga spaces, particularly Queer, Trans and Fat people (or those in larger bodies).”
Cost:
$5-10 per recorded, on-demand class.
Live Zoom yoga classes are available to Patreon members.
Sliding scale and scholarships are offered for classes and events.
Weight Inclusive Resources
Do you feel inspired by the opportunities now available for body positive fitness? We sure were after creating this list!
As a dietitian, it is important to include tools and resources in your practice that are inclusive. If all of your resources focus on clients that are in smaller bodies, your potential clients who are in larger bodies will not feel welcome or included.
One great place to start is the Slide Deck: The Basics of Weight-Inclusive Practices for Dietitians, which guides dietitians on the latest research in favor of a weight-neutral approach to healthcare. Not only will you learn more, you’ll be able to use this slide deck as you do community outreach.
For even more tools and resources, visit our Weight Inclusive curated collection.
How to Find Body Positive Exercise Classes Locally
Maybe home workouts aren’t the best option for you. Or maybe you have a client that really loves the social aspect of group fitness. You may be on the hunt for a local body-positive class, program, or trainer.
Your local, in-person options – to not have to be in a classroom setting or in a gym – could be a walking or hiking group where you meet up with other fitness enthusiasts.
- Meetup: use the search function and type in “body positive” and see what pops up! You might find a fitness class, book club, or yoga class to check out.
- Health At Every Size Community Page: Use the search function and choose “Fitness Professional/Personal Trainer” and search in your area.
Body Positive Fitness Training Courses
Are you currently a fitness trainer, yoga instructor, or personal trainer? Broaden your own depth of knowledge with body-positive training so that you are able to create a more positive and welcoming environment for your clients.
- Accessible Yoga Training
- The Size-Inclusive Training Academy by Louise Green offers the Size-Inclusive Fitness Specialist training program
- Diversity Training for Yoga Teachers by Dianne Bondy
- The Body Positive Fitness Alliance
In addition, if you’re interested in furthering your sports nutrition knowledge, you won’t want to miss our round-up of certification options: The Best Sports Nutrition Certifications (And a Few to Skip).
Key takeaways: Body Positive Workout
With many millions of people feeling unwelcome, underrepresented, or intimidated by the gym setting, virtual and body-positive fitness empowers people in all bodies to discover the joy of movement.
Everyone deserves to be able to move their body in a way that promotes their mental and physical wellness, in a space that feels safe and inviting.
It is encouraging that there are so many opportunities to empower people in all bodies to connect with body-positive fitness professionals around the globe, from the comfort of their living rooms.
Are there any opportunities that we missed? Comment below!
