After a few weeks of living in New Orleans, I have quickly realized that this isn’t exactly the best city to prepare for fitting into a wedding dress!! Our wedding day is exactly 5 months away today and suddenly I found myself in a city where the food is deliciously heavy, the warm beignets call my name, and the fresh margaritas are everywhere – so I’m thankful I found this Nike Training Club app to keep my waistline in check! Have you heard about these workouts?? This app is the perfect solution if you are looking for a workout that will kick your butt – whether you have 15, 30, or 45 minutes, whether you are at the gym, traveling, or in your living room, whether you want some cardio or strength training, and whether you are feeling motivated or not! All you need is your iPhone, this FREE app, and potentially some equipment depending on which workout you choose. One of the things I love is that I can mix up my routine and do a new workout every day – I’ve already done over 20 of them.First, download the Nike Training Club app from the iTunes store for free. Then, you can filter for the perfect workout. You can pick a workout to get lean, toned, strong, or focused. Get Lean workouts have a lot of tough cardio drills to keep your heart pumping.  Get Strong workouts still have cardio, but also great muscle building exercises. The Get Focused workouts have 15 minute workouts that let you work towards targeted areas, such as “Leaner Legs” or “Alpha Abs”. Next, choose Beginner, Intermediate, or Advanced depending on your fitness level.Once you’ve selected your preferences above, there will be a list of workouts to choose from in that category. Search through the list based on the workout length and name. You can click into a workout and it will display the description, any equipment needed, and approximate calories burned. A lot of the workouts use dumbbells, so if you have access to a gym with free weights, great! I ordered these dumbbells on amazon for when I want to workout in our apartment. I have found that medicine balls can mostly be subbed with weights and jump ropes can be imagined!If you click “Review workout” in the screen above, a list of the exercises will preview the workout to help you decide which one to pick. You can even click into the exercise and it will give you a step by step description. When you’ve found the workout you want to try, click “Download” and you should be ready to go in under a minute. Once you’ve downloaded a workout, it will save for future use.

The actual workout will look like the screen below on the left. In big black numbers at the top, you will have the timer of minutes left in the workout – which I love! In the bottom half in white, you can see the amount of time left for the current exercise you are doing. If you don’t know how to do a particular, you can click play button in the center and a video will pop up to demonstrate the proper form. The workouts are narrated with someone reminding you proper technique or encouraging you to stay strong – it’s like you’re in a live class with an instructor!

One of my favorite exercises is “Agostina Laneri’s Extreme Full Body Workout” because it is non-stop for 30 minutes and will leave you with your legs shaking and dripping sweat! (find in Get Toned > Advanced) Of, if you have a little more room for walking lunges and jumping around, try ” The Heartthrob” for 30 minutes and no equipment required. (find in Get Lean > Advanced) If I only have 15 minutes to get a quick workout in or if I want to combine with something else, I will try a Get Focused workout, like “Cardio Killer” or “Cardio Burst”. You’ll be surprised at how effective these are for such a short workout! Another great 15 minute workout to combine with a little cardio is “Better Butt”. I have not yet been able to complete this full workout without having to take a breather, it’s a real butt-burner!

While doing these workouts, I like to listen to “Today’s Hits” on Pandora, lookout the window at this palm tree, and think about summer and swimsuits, or fitting in my wedding dress, or margaritas – all motivators to push harder!! Try one of these workouts and let me know what you think!

Nike Training Club workout