I’m a Sworkit Ambassador

Now that you know how I went from hating exercise to loving exercise (see this post) I want to tell you more about the superb at-home exercising app I use: Sworkit.

What is Sworkit?

This video explains it all.

I use Sworkit on my laptop, but it’s an app for your phone as well. For $14.99 per month it offers:

• Variety: More than 300 unique workouts and over 400 exercises including strength training, stretching, cardio, yoga, rehabilitation and sport specific workouts. I don’t sail or rock climb but I’ve done workouts aimed at improving performance in these sports. I did it because it’s fun to think that if I should one day find myself on a sailboat I would possibly have enough upper body and core strength to get out of the way of a swinging mast. Same for rock climbing – did a workout aimed at rock climbers, would like to think I can rock climb.
• Personalized: You choose how long you want to work out for. From 1 minute to 90 minutes. I average 20 minutes on week days and on weekends I do two workouts back to back plus stretching which takes me up to 45 minutes.
• Easy: Recommended workout plans based on your goals. When I signed up in June 2019  I did the 3 week Leaner programme. It was a great introduction to Sworkit and got me into the habit of exercising regularly. Now I pick and choose my workouts so that there’s a mix of yoga/stretching, lower body, upper body and full body strength training with or without dumb bells and resistance loop.
• Customizable: Create and save your own custom workouts. This is a nice feature. I modified the sailing workout to include dumb bells, and I’ve also created a Pilates workout that is very similar to one I did at a Pilates studio. You can also change the length of the exercises in the routine, the length of the transition between exercises, choose to include or exclude warm-ups, whether you take rest breaks and if so, how long the rest breaks should be.
• Spotify: One of the best features for me is that I can play my own Spotify playlist in the background whilst the instructor’s voice comes on over my music. I used to get so frustrated with exercise DVDs or Youtube videos that had a great routine, but the background music made me want to tear out my hair in annoyance – and you can’t mute the DVD or Youtube video because you won’t hear the instructor. Even worse is when the instructor talks non-stop in an annoyingly chirpy hey-guys-do-you-love-my-new-leggings?! shrill voice, or does super long intros and then drones on and on leaving me feeling anything but energised. The Sworkit instructor voice is very easy to listen to, and when I add my own music in the background to get, and keep, me motivated it’s a brilliant workout. Sworkit also have their own Spotify playlists that you can listen to.
• Support: Certified trainers to answer your fitness and nutrition questions. I used this feature once to ask if any of the core exercises would specifically target your waist. I got a response very quickly and it wasn’t what I wanted to hear: to get a thinner waist you need to watch your calories. Uh-huh. (So it wasn’t my imagination that my stomach muscle were hidden behind a layer of fat no matter how many crunches I did !) No magic exercise will shrink my waist – for that I need to step away from sugary snacks between meals. Thanks Sworkit personal trainer. Point taken.

As I said in yesterday’s post about how I went from hating exercise to loving it, I was approached by Sworkit to be a Sworkit Ambassador. I immediately said yes. I love Sworkit and was singing its praises anyway – only difference is now I’m part of a select few fellow worldwide ambassadors. Love it!

What does being a Sworkit Ambassador mean to me?

I want to show people that anyone, even someone who less than a year ago absolutely hated exercise, can get into a habit of regular exercise and that it doesn’t have to become a Big Stressful Thing that takes over your life and hours out of your day. You can be relaxed about exercising and still get great results.

No gym, no worries

I used to think that in order to be healthy and fit you have to join a gym and spend at least a hour there. But if you are a bit shy or an introvert (which I am) a gym is hell on earth: a big open space, with lots of people (most of which seem to only be there to take selfies or to throw down weights after having done only 5 reps), forced to listen to loud thumping music you would never in a million years have chosen, and public showers.  Oh the showers!!! And worst of all, I have to pay good money for the privilege to go to hell? Nope. Not for me.

Sworkit has proven that all you really need to do, is 5 – 20 minutes a day. That’s it. It was a revelation when I realised I’m getting toned legs and tight abs right there on my living room floor from 15 minutes of exercise a day. I can pick my own music, I don’t need to drive to a gym, I don’t have to engage with others (for that I have my yoga and pilates in funky places)  and I get the same results. And it only costs me $14.99 per month.

I really do love Sworkit.  And it works!

(If you’d like to sign up to Sworkit, use this link and you’ll get 20% off!)