My Sworkit Journey

In an earlier episode of The Fandesals Podcast (currently on Google, Apple and Spotify and also on YouTube), we discussed the topic of our favorite workouts. I decided to recycle an old post from an earlier version of my blog related to this. Wow, I have come a long way since this was first posted in 2021! The episode on Spotify is embedded at the end of this post. Enjoy!

I read online that one of the things that can help a person prevent the infection of serious cases of COVID is regular exercise. During the start of this pandemic, I started exercising more regularly, something that my doctor would probably be happy to hear. I used to exercise a lot in the past, but after my thyroid surgery things just went downhill for me and workouts became sporadic to nothing at all. I was so frustrated that I would work out daily and not lose weight at all, so I stopped. It was only when the pandemic started that I found myself wanting to work out daily again.

Image by StockSnap from Pixabay

It was difficult to work out after a while. I wasn’t doing it to lose weight so that was not the issue, but it became boring to do the same thing all the time. I needed something to shake things up and to motivate me to work out more, to work out harder than I used to. I found myself going back to an old favorite, the app called Sworkit. 

As I mentioned before, I was only using the free version of the app. Thankfully, when I logged in again, I discovered that Sworkit had given me the paid version – for free! I don’t know why, but I am truly grateful because now I get to try the workout routines from the app and benefit from the features that come with a paid account. 

But I digress, I am writing this post to share my Sworkit Journey, not to make a review. So let me just share with everyone the key points of my workout journey:

Workout Collections

The app currently has collections that depend on the kind of workout you like. When I restarted my Sworkit Journey, I decided to start with the Couch to Fit: 6 Week Plan. I had not worked out as regularly as I would have wanted in a while and I thought that it was the best fit for me. I went from three workouts a week that increased to four in week three and five in week six. I thought that helped me slowly get into the flow of regular workouts again. 

Currently, I am doing the Fit Future 8 Week Challenge and I am about to start Week 6 of it. I love that the workouts are challenging enough that sometimes I groan and complain about it, but I find that it is still something I can do without wanting to give up on it. I love checking off workouts each day of the week, it helps me to look forward to the next ones and to complete the whole collection. The Lose Weight Challenge, another 8-week collection, is next on my list. I cannot wait to get to it!

Audio Visual Motivation

I love that the moves are shown before each workout to give you time to figure out how to copy them. The fact that a trainer's voice also explains the routine and motivates you throughout the workout is also a big help. I used to listen to the female voice (with a British accent), but I found myself motivated more by the male voice (with an American accent). 

Another thing I enjoy about Sworkit is that I can play music from my own Spotify playlist while I do the workouts. I have made two playlists so far: one for the hard workouts and another for the yoga and Pilates ones. I used to work out without the music in the beginning, but I found myself looking at the clock the entire time wanting it to end. With the music, I tend to forget the time and just get focused on the workouts, which is great.

Social Media

While I do not want to put myself out there as much when it comes to my workout journey, I felt that it was good that the app allows me to celebrate milestones with my workouts through social media. I love being able to share my achievements because my friends then encourage me to keep on doing them.

Sweet Spot

With the workouts, you can choose your time or rounds (for yoga/Pilates). At first, I pushed myself to 30 minutes, but now I found my sweet spot at 20 minutes. Given the breaks in between exercises, the whole thing ends up amounting to 30 minutes anyway. I love that instead of feeling too exhausted, that sweet spot helps me to feel energized – which means me getting on the elliptical and doing 30 more minutes on it!

And the most important part…not taking myself too seriously.

That is not to say that I do not take the workouts seriously, but that I will not psych myself out when it comes to this journey. Some exercises can be difficult for me to do because my uterine fibroids (that made my tummy look like a 4-month pregnant woman – and that is according to my doctor) get in the way. I found that modifying the workouts helps me to not be discouraged about not getting things exactly right. I end up modifying exercises not just because of my condition, but also because my room is on the second floor and my mother, whose room is right below mine, can hear me every time I work out. I tend to replace the high-impact, jumping workouts with modified ones to avoid announcing my workout to my mom every day. Either that or I do one of the exercises in the collection that does not involve anything high impact or does not cause discomfort because of my fibroids. The important part for me when it comes to modifying things is that I keep moving, keep my heart rate up and work out the body parts that the exercise is calling for.

I also decided not to weigh myself. I figured that I would be discouraged and stop if I checked my weight. I would rather let my body do the talking about my progress. I feel stronger than I have ever been in years. I feel parts of my body that have come alive from working out that I have not recognized before. I feel muscles forming and I just feel better about myself. At this point, that is what counts.

I am incredibly grateful for Sworkit. If regular exercise really does help prevent being infected by or having a serious type of COVID, I think that Sworkit is the one that will do that for me. 

I am taking a COVID test tomorrow because my boss tested positive, and I was a close contact. I am hoping that my regular workouts made me strong enough to resist the virus or at the very least, become asymptomatic. 

Keeping my fingers crossed on the negative though. Wish me luck!