Fitting in strength and core work can often be difficult around day to day life. However, making life easier for myself I use an app take the hassle out of getting started. I’m always looking to reduce the ‘barrier to entry’ when establishing habits.
In this example, it makes strength and core training easy to get started and once it’s set up you can use it again and again 😎. See my post on recommended strength and core exercises specific to running here.
I’ve found HITT training apps provide an excellent solution. There are many apps that suit, they mostly all provide a big visual timer, with easy to set up timings so you can put your phone on the side. The app I use also vibrates and makes sounds throughout so works well in your pocket with headphones!
What is HITT I hear you ask?
High-intensity interval training, also called high-intensity intermittent exercise or sprint interval training, is a form of interval training, a cardiovascular exercise strategy alternating short periods of intense anaerobic exercise with less-intense recovery periods, until too exhausted to continue.
My favourite strength and core app
Over the years I’ve tried a few of them but have settled on the Tabata Timer which is available via the Android play store here.
Don’t fret 😀 It’s free, there is a premium version but I’ve never had any issue with setting up simple routines.
Once installed you can look at setting up a routine. There’s is plenty of functionality I’ve not used so I’ll cover the basics here.
Here’s my set-up for a simple strength and core plan.
- 10 seconds to get started
- 30 seconds per exercise
- 5 seconds to switch
- Repeat 10 times (cycles) until starting again, 2 more times (3 sets total)
This goes quickly as you would imagine 😎 if you need any equipment have it on standby. You could also extend the rest if you ahve difficulty quickly switching. This all depends on the exercises you’re doing.
Tip. Try to plan the next exercise which is easy to switch into from the previous. i.e. Press-ups into Sit-ups.
When you’re ready, press start and the programme will begin!
As you can nice, it’s big and visual so you can leave your phone on the side. If you need to skip back/forward you can press on the corresponding row.
The total remaining time is at the top, with the current set and cycle at the bottom. Again you can use the arrows to go forward or back, so very intuitive.
Bonus. This app works on your phones lock screen so you can use it for other purposes like interval training.
Wrap-up!
That’s it really! It’s straight forward, you’ll just need to spend a few moments setting the app up. Next up, establish a habit and commit to a routine that works for you 😎
I wanted to write a post to knock down some of the barriers of jumping into strength and core exercises. Afterall, the hardest part is getting started, the session then takes care of itself.
I’ve also written a post on recommended strength and core exercises specific to running, which can be found here.
