West Coast Wives

Idle time makes for gut pooch and thigh rubbing. Thus no days go unaccounted for in my search for a workout. I'm a bit of a spaz when it comes to planning my week's workouts. Yoga one day, sculpt another, then running another day, but make sure I'm not doing the same workout back to back. It's exhausting just thinking about it. Sometimes things like day light savings, and unexpected late meetings, and my nanny calling out sick will get in the way of my carefully scheduled workout plans. No workout means I'm a cranky beyotch who then tries to starve herself thinking I can make up the difference. This means a hangry and irritable wifey who inevitably will be raiding the cupboards and eating 3 bowls of cereal in a fury at 11 at night. UNTIL NOW!

I am not quite sure how i found this app. Might have been when I fell into a google search worm hole searching Justin Gelband (the VS Angels trainer) workouts and found myself clicking away on ads like "Fit abs in 15 Minutes!" and "Get your Beach Bod here!" Nonetheless, the SworkIt app fell into my lap and has been a godsend since.

SworkIt is uber convenient and it's 'lite' version is FREE. I have yet to upgrade for the measly $3.99 (I'm saving up for my Cartier Roadster Watch), but i'm currently very content with the SworkIt Lite offerings. It brings you choices of video-led workouts that you can do anywhere for as long as you want with just the touch of your smartphone. The workouts are organized under strength, cardio, yoga and stretching and can be customized on your focuses. Here are the key reasons SworkIt has been working it for me:

The convenience factor takes the cake... I truly don't stress as much knowing that if my day takes a turn where I won't make it to my Yoga Sculpt class I have a Plan B. I've used SworkIt on vacation, on business trips, and at home late night in front of the TV. Along with the convenience factor it's nice to minimize laundry by working out in your underwear and sports bra in the privacy of your own home or hotel room.
The workout database is awesome and if you're too lazy to create one yourself you have access to pre-made workouts customized by other users. I once did a workout called "Bring the Pain" that had me dying in my backyard. Each workout breaks it down to intervals including 5 exercises that are done for 30 seconds with a ten second transition in between. There's a 30 second rest after every interval and all the exercises are at random for the duration of your workout.
The videos are guided and has a person showing you the correct form for the exercise. This is great because if you don't know what a spiderman push-up is, no worries! There's a video of a person showing you how to do one and doing it with you! You can also sync the workouts with your Spotify or Iphone playlist to keep you motivated.
A lot of the SworkIt's workouts rely on using your own body weight or endurance. They do have workouts that can incorporate weights but I personally like going weightless with the cardio or strength full body workouts. You can workout for as long or as short as you want, but the app's workout's intensity at 35 minutes are deemed sufficient for a proper session. The exercises go from burpees, to high jumps, to lunges, to mountain climbers, etc. all at random keeping your muscle groups guessing. So lets say you had a fried chicken and Doritoes sodium binge one night and need to sweat out the bloat aftermath. Try the "Suns out Guns out" workout for 35 minutes and watch those Cool Ranch snackers drip off you.
SworkIt has also offered me great entertainment. I once coerced my husband to do a 5 minute yoga exercise at the foot of our bed. Watching him trying to get into "Eagle Pose" is always a good laugh.

This is the next pose I'm working on getting him into.

Give SworkIt a shot and let us know how it goes! Or if you have any other convenient workouts to share, share away!

-Tuyen