At the beginning of 2017 I went to David’s Bridal. I was in search of a dress to wear as Maid of Honor in my sorority sister’s wedding. Another mutual college friend joined me to take photos and send them real time to the bride. As I was scrolling through the pictures later, one in particular caught my eye. It had been taken from the back and was a strapless dress. My skin was quite literally spilling out the sides of the top of the dress. I immediately weighed myself (Yes, I had been avoiding the scale) and sure enough I was up 10 pounds. No, I was, and am not fat, but I was definitely sloppy. An additional 10 pounds is a lot on my short girl frame. I had not been consistent with my workouts stemming from the busy season at work, six weeks of bronchitis and of course, delicious holiday food over-eating. (We’re all human!) I decided right then and there something had to change and FAST!

I had always tracked my runs with the Nike+ Run Club app and had downloaded the Nike+ Training Club app thanks to a friend’s recommendation. However, I had never used the training club app. I opened it to see if this could be the app to help get me back on track. It definitely was.

You start by choosing a plan based on your goals – Start Up, Lean Fit, Bodyweight Only and Gym Strong. I started with an 8 week Gym Strong plan. The only downside to this plan was you need full gym equipment – dumbbell, medicine ball, jump rope, kettlebell, pull-up bar, rowing machine, suspension trainer and plyo box. If you are comfortable you can adjust. Then the app asks what equipment you have (on the Start Up and Lean Fit plans), how many days you can work out, if the plan should include running, how many hours you are currently working out, height, weight and start date. You typically start with a bench mark work out of some sort and go from there. You can move, add and delete workouts as you need to.

There are so many things I love about this app. First and foremost – it’s totally free! Secondly, it walks you through all the moves to ensure you are doing them correctly and third, I am seeing results. So I hope you will consider downloading the app and trying it out.

Full disclosure…I am not a personal trainer or fitness expert. I love to look good and feel good.