App: SWORKIT
Chosen Challenge: My own design
Day: 20
Week: 1 of 2
SWORKIT without the premium subscription doesn’t include the butt workout so I substituted the lower body workout option it does offer with exercises on machines in my gym...
I ended up putting my phone away and just making up my own routine in the gym, without the use of the SWORKIT app. I alternated between a variety of lunges and squats with different equipment including a bosu. If you don’t know what a boss is, it’s the half yoga ball attached to a solid flat base.
The boss is a wonderfully versatile piece of equipment for anyone trying to improve their balance and hence their core. I try to include the boss in at least one gym workout routine because I find the results to show quickly, almost as quickly as they disappear if you don’t keep at it.
Start by squatting normally, feet hip distance apart and holding your hands where they feel comfortable either on your hips, hands pressed together in front of your chest or stretched out infant of you. Look down towards you feet, can you see your feet? GOOD! Your knees should not creep over your toes. Squatting normally on a boss proves a difficult balancing task at first and you fall off a few times. Challenge yourself to do 10 squats consecutively and increase the number until squatting on a boss is easy peasy lemon squeezy.
To increase the difficulty, add weights and start light, slowly working your way up. REMAIN IN CONTROL. You must be the master of your muscles, they may not choose the tempo, you have to control the movement down, keep good form and control the movement upwards too.
BUTT Back to the app, being able to chose the length of your workout but not the level of difficulty proves irritating. What if you want to power through a tough 30 minute session? Well, SWORKIT non-premium can’t help you.
You can’t change the duration of each exercise, e.g. increasing the amount of time you plank from the pre-programmed 30 seconds. That means you are changing exercise and positions every 30 seconds - you can’t get into a good routine to tire the muscle enough.
Today, I was very disheartened by the limited scope the non-premium version of the app offers and wouldn’t want to upgrade to premium based on my experience with the lower body workout session.