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Take Five: Sworkit


For those of you who know me personally, you know how much I love my gadgets and how I enjoy discovering new apps. I do spend a lot of time with my gadgets - from my Macbook air to my Ipad, Iphone 6s plus and now Apple watch. You get the picture; I am hooked. But what I love the most about it is how it can simplify your life, so you can enjoy more.

So, when I read an interview of a model saying she swear by SWORKIT  App for her workout, I was intrigued and immediately downloaded and added it to my apps to try folder. And now that I have a little time away with my family, I've tried it and it is making the cut on page five. 

NO GYM NO EXCUSES

So what is SWORKIT app? I would say it’s your personal trainer in your pocket anytime you want wherever you want and for how long you want and all of that for free. SWORKIT app does offer a membership at 4.99 $ a month but so far I am happy with the free version. This app helps you customise the kind of workout that you need with the time that you have in front of you and more importantly you can pick the type of workout you want to do according to your mood. You can pick from working on your strength, cardio, yoga or simply do some stretching. Once you've picked the type of workout, you are then brought to a page that offers a more in-depth choice.

So, let’s say you chose to work on your strength today. You will then be asked to choose between focusing on the full body, the upper body, the core strength or the lower body. If you pick full body now the app will prompt you to determine how long you want your workout to be - with a minimum of 5 minutes, and up to 60 minutes. Choose according to the time you have in front of you and now the workout can begin. 

First, you are shown the exercise you are about to do via a video with voiceover. Your virtual coach will then tell you when to begin, when to change side and you also have a timer that shows you for how long you have been doing it.


Easy and pretty straightforward to me. 

Once you have tried most of the exercise there is (and there are lots of them), you can upgrade the app and customise your own workout. This is useful if you want to mix cardio with strength workout and finish with some stretching, for instance. The possibilities are endless here. 

You see I never enjoyed gyms, as I never know what to do when I enter one and it just feels awkward to be in one. I did have the chance to workout with a personal trainer for a while and loved it. Then, when I moved to Shanghai, I managed to motivate myself to go to the gym everyday with a cut-out from Shape magazine in hand. Luckily for me the gym I was going to was often empty so I did not have to deal with people watching me trying to figure out the exercise I needed to do. 

FINALLY A CONNECTED GYM ON THE GO

Often you fall out of the wagon on your workout because of a last minute change in schedule or when you're traveling. With SWORKIT app, the chance to get slimmer whether you have five minutes in front of you or 30 minutes is possible. You can always incorporate a workout.
 
At the end of your session, the SWORKIT app will show you how many calories you have burnt and minutes you have spent to do so and it will save and store these data for you.
But what I enjoyed the most with my gadgets and programs that I use is the integration possibilities. If you give access to SWORKIT app to the Health app on your phone and Apple watch, then you are going to be able to have a great sense of accomplishment. Now you have a full arsenal of healthy apps at your disposal, don’t you think? 

SWORKIT app is free hence no excuse not to give it a try …. definitely cheaper than any gym membership.

Are you using SWORKIT app? If you are or going to leave me a comment always happy to discuss my new discoveries.