You Are You Own Gym

My friend Maggi introduced me to the "You Are Your Own Gym" app. It's based on the book of the same name by Mark Lauren. The concept is exercise using your own body weight instead of equipment. Right away I was intrigued. Maggi gave me a quick demo of the app on her phone one night after speed workouts.

I went home and took a closer look at the program via the website. For $1.99 what did I have to lose? Nothing actually because I still had $5 left on an I-tunes gift card I received for my birthday! :) It's on my Ipad now. (There is also an Iphone app)

Besides the simplicity of no equipment I love that the workouts have the timers and repetition counters built in. One less thing to think about makes it easier to focus on form and not obsess about how much is left. The pre-fab workouts - each ten weeks long/4 days per week - have four levels from beginner to elite. Within each workout you can also modify the exercise easier or harder. Oh and it saves your workouts so you can see your progress. 

For now I've been exploring the different exercises, trying some of them and getting familiar with the various types of workouts - ladder, interval etc. I'm going to start the basic 10 week program when I return from vacation. (Aug 22)

Maybe you'd like to join me.

I'd recommend giving yourself the chance to look the program over first. it's pretty easy to figure out but I wouldn't want to be trying to do that and starting the program at the same time. 

Check it out and let me know what you think.  The beauty of this challenge - I'll call it that since I know some of you can't resist a challenge - is that you are on your own and on your honor. Take on the workout in the privacy of your own home and get or give support to others through this blog or this blog's Facebook page. 

Meanwhile, I'm officially on vacation now and it's just two days until we head to Florida. I have a 10 mile run with Phillyfit tomorrow and then I've left my days unscheduled through vacation. I'll bring running stuff but I've decided not to expect any miles.

While at first glance that may sound like the easy way out, for me it's the opposite. I've spent too much time in previous years obsessing about getting in some miles on vacation and then being disappointed to the point of letting it affect my miles after I got home. I've been having some good runs (this past Tuesday aside) and I feel like I'm in a good place with my training for Philly RNR (9/16) and OC Half (9/30). Vacation is going to rock! 

I'll update the blog if I can while away. Depends on time and wifi availability. :)