A great little exercise app

I’m pretty sure that as soon as you start running, you’ll hear “you have to cross train to avoid getting injured” more than once a day. The advice givers are other runners, websites you read, running blogs your read, etc.

I used to totally ignore any cross training sermons for at least a year – it’s hard enough to fit in two long runs into each week, I couldn’t get my head around how I was supposed to fit in a Pilates or a weight lifting session (or two :|) as well.

That was until my lower back started to ache after each of my runs. I realised that it’s time to start doing some of that cross training that everyone had been preaching about.

But when? And what? And how much?

I decided that anything was better than nothing, so after trying a few exercise videos and apps, I have found my favourite: Daily Workout Apps

It costs a measly £2.49 and lets you do 5-10 minute sessions of exercises for a particular area of your body.

I try to do a little in the evenings on the days that I haven’t run i.e. one night I’ll do 10 minutes of abs and 10 minutes of arms, another night I’ll do 10 minutes of core and 10 minutes of glutes, etc.

I usually start out with thinking “I’ll just do 10 minutes”, but once that is done, I’m always in the mood for another 10.

A lot of other apps or videos that I’ve tried have the minimum workout length of 30 minutes. That can seem like a long time after a day in the office followed by parenting duties until the kids are in bed. If you then take out a video that’s 30 minutes, you’re very likely to just plop it back on the shelf and settle down to watch some TV instead.

10 minutes, however, does not put me off – it always feels doable, no matter how knackered I am.

And I have noticed that if I do 10 or 20 minutes of weights, I no longer feel like snacking (something I often do once the kids are in bed). I am quite happy to watch some Revenge or Once Upon a Time just sipping on some lukewarm water with a squeeze of lemon.

Do I sound like a total health twat or what? :)

Try doing some exercise after your kids are in bed and tell me if it doesn’t have the same effect on your snacking needs. I’d be amazed if it doesn’t.

I have to say that following this app will probably not give you speedy weight loss or big muscles, but it has taken care of my back pain and I know that even if I cannot see any muscles happening, I know that weight training is very important as we get older ;)

For the core/abs workout you don’t need any equipment, for arms, legs & bum you need some free weights. I haven’t done the cardio one so I cannot say what it needed with that one.

Here are a few screenshots of the app to give you an idea how it looks like. It’s very simple, by the way – there is no music, there is no annoying shouting of “you can do it!”, there are only announcements of when the next exercise is starting and what it’s called. For the first few seconds the timer stands still so you can have a look at the movement and join in when the timer kicks off. At the end of your workout there is a little “cheer” but it’s not too annoying.

This is what the icon looks like

Select body part(s)

Select length of session

And get to it!

I have another favorite and FREE exercise ‘program’ that I follow but I’ll write about that some other time.