THE HEALTH DIARIES

YouTube Pilates Star Cassey Ho on Burnout and the Internet

‘I’m doing the best I can to teach people that fitness is not about how you look. It’s about becoming stronger than who you were yesterday.’

There are many ways to live a healthy life. The Health Diaries is a weekly series about the habits that keep notable people living well.

Cassey Ho had just graduated from college when she got her first taste of internet fame. During school she taught a Pilates class at the local 24 Hour Fitness, and her students were sad she was moving away after graduation. She promised to post a video of a 10-minute class for them on YouTube before she departed.

Two weeks later, Ho logged back into the website and found that thousands of people had watched her class. A decade later, Ho’s YouTube channel, Blogilates, has more than 4.5 million subscribers. As a woman of color, Ho has been outspoken on the issues of body positivity and diversity in the online wellness space. She chatted with Elemental about her daily routine and why being “healthy” is about more than just working out.

Right now I wake up around 6 a.m. I have several alarms that go off in the morning; I can trust that at least one of them will catch me. Then the first thing I do is I drink water and head to the gym. Right now my routine is that I weight lift in the morning, although sometimes my workout varies depending on what I’m feeling. I could do a HIIT [High Intensity Interval Training] or circuit training class, too.

I’ve been through a lot of diets. Low-carb, high-protein, vegan, keto, vegetarian. I might see a big difference during the first month or so because my body is shocked, but then I always normalize and I don’t enjoy it anymore. What’s the point of not enjoying your food? What’s the point of trying to live life to look a certain way? It’s not fun. So I say find a diet that works for you, and I believe that has a lot to do with your culture, your genes, your specific food allergies. No one diet can fit every single person. I get so annoyed when people tell you what to eat but they’re not your doctor. They don’t know what’s going to work for you.