experiencepage

My freshmen year, I was excited to have access to a gym that I could go to whenever I wanted. One day I decided to go with my friends but upon arriving I realized I did not know how to use any of the machinery there. It was all so confusing and even the labels on the sides of the machine that outline which parts of the body are being worked on weren’t helpful. I ended up doing the elliptical for an hour while my friends seamlessly moved through the gym, comfortable and confident. As time went on, I was able to ask my friends to help me out and explain what some of the machines did. This was a little helpful but in the end, I still did not have the confidence to go to the gym by myself and work out on my own.

Whenever I was at the gym, I would see people referring to their phones while they worked out - my friends included. I asked them what they were doing and they told me they had a fitness app that helped them keep track of what they did in the gym and also gave them suggestions for what to do during each gym session. I decided to download the application they had so that I could be on their same page. Unfortunately the application was a little confusing and not very interactive. I had so many questions but felt that I was the only one so I did not want to reach out to anyone.

Frustrated by the application I had, I decided to search “lifting app for women” into the Applications store on my iPhone. A few good ones came out but the application that really caught my attention was SPITFIRE ATHLETE “a strength training app that empowers you to achieve greatness.” The logo is a woman’s face with a headband that makes her look like a superhero - instantly empowering. While scrolling through what the application offers, I was amazed at how easy it was to navigate and understand. Pick a plan, select the week number it is, select the day and then proceed to do the exercises listed in that day. Each exercise comes with instructional pictures of women showing you how to do them and if any doubts remain, there is a video available of the exercise being done - also by a woman. In addition to being easy to use, I love the philosophy of women helping other women achieve their fitness goals.