I Struggled to Find an At-Home Workout I Actually Liked — Until I Discovered This Celeb-Loved Program

I stopped working out two months into the pandemic. It turns out workout apps and IG live classes can only keep a girl motivated for so long, especially when that girl thrives on IRL group classes. Sick of cringing at the thought of another HIIT circuit in my cramped living room, I decided to take a mini-break from home workouts — and the next thing I knew, a couple of months had passed.

As someone who measures their progress in planks and squats, I felt guilty about my lack of exercise, but I knew it was important to find a routine that brought me joy rather than dread. Eager to get back into the groove, I decided to Marie Kondo my workouts, cutting out moves that didn't bring me joy (sorry, burpees) and keeping only the exercises I liked doing.

The cleanse showed that while I loved high-intensity studio classes, I preferred low-impact options at home — which eventually led me to P.volve. Adored by celebs including Kate Bosworth and Madelaine Petsch, the P.volve method combines resistance-band training with low-impact moves for a full-body workout you can do in as little as 15 minutes.

My first P.volve experience was in the New York studio pre-pandemic. The instructor led the class through the foundational P.volve moves including the P.sit, a modified squat that targets your glutes and lower abs, and the Step Back and Stagger, an activation movement that's kind of like walking in place. Some of the exercises were a bit unconventional, at least to my workout history, so the methodology felt a little foreign and even a bit awkward to my body at first, but I was intrigued.

I left that class a sweaty skeptic but was sold a few days later when a familiar soreness settled into my muscles. It was apparent from my tender abs and glutes that the 45-minute session was effective, although I never felt the total exhaustion of a boot camp or kickboxing class. I made plans to return... then the pandemic hit. (

Discovering my need for low-impact exercise brought P.volve back to mind. It was well-timed with an offer to test out a 30-day digital membership to the streaming platform along with a media sample of the Signature Kit (Buy It, $160, pvolve.com), which includes three pieces of patented equipment — the p.ball, p.band, and p.3 trainer.

I completed a quick review of the foundational movements and started taking the workout video classes. My body quickly fell into the routine of rotations, leg lifts, and step-backs as I tested out different workouts, such as cardio burn and strength-training. Rather than opt into a pre-set program, such as the 7-Day Cardio Burn or the 3-Week Total-Body Madness Challenge, I filtered by equipment type, length, and instructor to find my daily dose of endorphins.

Buy It: P.volve 30-day Digital Membership, $16 monthly (was $20), pvolve.com

It gave me back the variety of Classpass I craved with the control of creating a fitness routine that worked specifically for me. I loved how the P.volve classes felt super easy to integrate into my daily routine — a quick 20-minute workout at lunch or a late-night ab circuit before bed — and never felt like a chore. Plus, the weekly activity chart and accumulating stats, both of which are visible on the dashboard of your membership platform, made it easy to track my progress over time.

Within a week, I purchased more equipment — the ankle weights and slant board, for example — eager to make my sweat sessions even more intense. Some items, such as the hand weights, I'll admit I could have bought elsewhere for less, but others are a worthy investment: The Precision mat is a great alternative to a private instructor because it helps perfect your form at home. (FWIW, you can also skip equipment altogether by streaming P.volve's no-equipment workouts.)

Now a few months into taking P.volve classes from home, and I can honestly say it's the best online workout program I've found during the pandemic. I love that I can conquer workouts on YouTube with friends or simply use the equipment to make up my own circuits. Most importantly, it's been easy to stick to in a time where consistency is hard to come by.

Buy It: P.volve Signature Kit, $160, pvolve.com