Looking for a personal-training app or email

April 19, 2017 1:27 PM

My routine at the gym has been stagnating. I went to an intro bootcamp class this morning and it was ridiculously fun, mainly because I didn't have to think about it or plan it; I don't, however, want to spend the $150/mo they charge to continue with that. I've been happy in the past to do internet searches to put together routines of my own, but I don't have the time now. Is there an app or email system that would give me a 20- to 30-minute routine with the following?

* I want to work out at the gym, not at home, so something that's either on paper or on my phone.
* If it's on my phone, I don't want it to be super-fiddly while I'm at the gym. I want a routine pretty much in place that I don't have to think about once I start.
* It doesn't have to change every day, but every week or so is fine.
* I prefer HIIT, with bodyweight or light dumbbell exercises mixed with cardio.
* If there's any sort of narration, I would like it focused on strength and not weight-loss.

In my ideal world, I attach earphones to my phone, hit "Play," and someone tells me what to do for the next 30 minutes, and it's not the same thing every week.

posted by lazuli to Health & Fitness (9 answers total)

Response by poster: Oh, I have an iPhone, if it matters.
posted by lazuli at 1:28 PM on April 19, 2017

The seven minute workout app has routines from 7 minutes up to about half an hour, it narrates each exercise and times you (you can listen to music at the same time through other apps). They're not super high intensity, but they're short intervals of a pretty good variety of body weight exercises and cardio (mostly jumping jacks).
posted by snaw at 2:45 PM on April 19, 2017 [1 favorite]

I recently started using darebee.com as I need exercise guidance. There's no narration, I just open the program up on my phone and use that as a guide.
posted by disaster77 at 2:52 PM on April 19, 2017

Sworkit. It gives verbal cues, has videos in case you don't know how to do a particular exercise, and you can create your own workouts (one, in the free version, and an unlimited number in the paid).
posted by rtha at 3:19 PM on April 19, 2017 [2 favorites]

If you don't mind the "bikini body" branding, the Kayla Itsines app is basically exactly what you're describing. It's not free but it's pretty cheap.
posted by telegraph at 3:39 PM on April 19, 2017 [1 favorite]

Try Virtuagym.
posted by foxjacket at 7:03 PM on April 19, 2017

The Nike Training Club app provides a ton of guided workouts - strength, endurance, cure, etc. It tells you the equipment you need and then tells you what to do for however long the workout is, which ranges from 5 minutes upwards.
posted by hepta at 7:20 PM on April 19, 2017

Response by poster: I have downloaded the apps and bookmarked the website and I will be playing with all of these over the next couple of weeks. Yay!
posted by lazuli at 8:49 PM on April 19, 2017

I don't know if you have a FitBit, but if you do, you can download the related FitStar app. They have a series of intense exercise routines which helped me stay active during the snowy days here in Canada. (Obv, you can pay for subscription, but I just kept tabs of the free ones and rotated them throughout the week.)
posted by Kitteh at 7:00 AM on April 20, 2017