You like my muscle? Gee thanks, just got it
I love me some fitness influencers. Their crazy strong bods, cool workout videos, and visible arm muscles mesmerize me. So last summer, which happened to be a year before my wedding, I decided I would get myself tickets to the gun show.
But I wasn’t sure how to do that without hiring a fancy personal trainer. After a little investigation, I found SWEAT, the app co-created by fitfluencer Kayla Itsines.
To kick it off, I started with the four-week intro program, which entails three weight-training sessions plus three cardio workouts per week (after that, it's four strength and two cardio seshes a week). It’s meant to ease you into strength training if you’re new to dumbbells and weirdly-intimidating weight machines.
Each session focuses on a different muscle group, like your back and biceps or hamstrings and glutes, and lasts 35 minutes to an hour (depending on whether you take the entire break between sets and sections).
The workouts are divided into three sections that kept my easily distracted brain very entertained. The first, and IMO the hardest, is Activation. It’s meant to get your heart rate up and engage the muscles you’ll be working during that day. You’ll spend four minutes alternating between moves like burpees and lunges without a break. Then, you do it again with two different exercises. Kelsey, why you gotta do me like that? JK, but it is hard.
