If you haven't met me yet: Hi, I'm Emma.
I'm 20-years old (an Aquarius!), I live in Sydney, and about this time last year, I first wrote the article: 'After 6 months of lockdown, I tried dorky dance workouts. It's now the only exercise I'll do.'
Watch: The Horoscopes working out. Post continues below.
At the time, I shared that I'd never been a particularly fit person - which was true.
My exercise wholly consisted of nights out on the town and long walks to work.
Post-Sydney lockdown 1.0 though, inspired by my newfound love of exercise. I even signed up to a gym (and you can read all about that experience over here).
I clung to that gym like a lifeline. A sign of better times.
Exercising was made fun again with group workouts, and I was reaping the mental health benefits.
But oh how quickly things changed...
About eight weeks ago, as seems to be customary for the 2020s, my routine was flipped on its head and I was, yet again, plunged into minimal human contact and absolutely no shared sweating experiences (A.K.A. lockdown).
Just as quickly as I got into an exercise routine, I found my usual gym sessions substituted with a fairly generous sleep in.
Because the trouble is: I'm very picky about my exercise.
Walks? Too slow. Running? Much too fast.
Pilates? How on earth am I meant to stay focused long enough to get anything done?
Enter Canadian YouTuber, Emily Thorne. Or Emkfit, as the cool kids know her.
The personal trainer creates HIIT-style dance workouts that are set to music, and I was very quickly hooked back in, just as I was a year ago.
As she says it best herself: "[They're] HIIT-style classes but there's no burpees, there's no planks, there's none of that crap. We do insanely fun dance moves and it's approximately 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off."
And that sounds extremely reasonable to me.
Emkfit's two big rules are:
1. Fake it till you make it; and
2. Wrong and strong.
Fair warning: These. Are. Exhausting.
And isn't that exactly what we need?
I have never laughed at myself so much in a workout - and, believe it or not, laughing during a workout is fairly common for me.
She's genuinely created a workout for everyone, no matter your taste in music, with Hamilton soundtrack, 80s aerobic tunes and bad b**ch energy selections included.
One of my personal favourites is the Shrek soundtrack workout, where Emily is dressed in all green and enacts some bad-ass air-drum solos.
Aside from the music — which is a huge bonus on its own — what I really love about Emily's videos is that there's no judgement.
She has made these workouts as tricky as you choose to make them. They're modifiable to suit anyone and everyone's fitness level.
Dance workouts are nothing new (hello, Zumba), but being able to dance to my favourite songs with a certified personal trainer in the comfort of my own room is new to me.
So maybe, like me, you've struggled with exercising in lockdown. And maybe, like me, it's because you struggle to get excited about traditional exercise in your home, alone.
But if you take one thing from this, let it be that dance workouts are the future, and EmKFit very well may be a life-changer for you as she has been for me.
To keep up with Emma, you can follow her on Instagram: @emma.gillman.
Have you been loving any YouTube workouts? Let us know in the comments below.
This post was originally posted on September 5, 2020 and was updated on August 18th, 2021.
Feature Image: Supplied / Youtube.
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