Staying Fit with Gixo

I hope everyone’s been doing well! I’m currently on vacation of sorts and visiting friends from West Virginia/Kentucky! Since I don’t have a gym with me, it was the perfect time to try out a new fitness app!

Spoiler alert: Gixo is awesome. :] I like that it keeps you accountable and the friendly encouragement and/or competition definitely doesn’t hurt!

Staying Fit with GIXO

You can take your workout outside or inside! :]

I would have absolutely loved to have had this back during my last year of medical school when I was moving all across the country and often without a gym! Better late than never though! The GPS feature is a little wonky in that it thought I was in Cedar Knoll Trailer Park when I was in fact staying at Please Save A Cat, but…that’s really not that important, haha. I’d rather stay incognito anyway. :P

Pros:

• Individual attention/check-ins from coaches (if you don’t want to share your camera/accept messages from others, you don’t have to!)
• Modifications to exercises to make them more/less challenging
• Lots of classes available!
  • 12:30am + 5am – 11:30 pm EST Monday-Thursday (last class on Friday = 8:45pm) and 8am – 8:45pm EST Saturday-Sunday!
  • No workout is exactly the same! :]
• Can call/send messages to your coach or other people in the class + also take photos during workout
• Video shows you how to do the exercise and how much longer if the exercise you have left
• Hooks up to any bluetooth device (I’ve been using my Aftershokz headphones for most of my workouts!)
• Super convenient–you only need your smartphone and a pair of headphones + either cellular data or wifi connection
• I actually warm up and cool down now! (I’m notorious for never doing this ._.)
• Gives you a summary of each workout as well as the playlist(!!)

You can see your class schedule + your total exercise for the week!

Cons:

• I already have multiple gyms that I go to (I’m only paying for one of them, but still).
• I like powerlifting (and dancing + BJJ + climbing).
• I’d want some more strength training classes because I’m not all that cardio-oriented. (This past week is the most cardio I’ve done since my first and last race/half-marathon back in 2010!)
• Can’t check your form* so you won’t necessarily know if you’re doing the exercise correctly if you’re new to [the] exercise
• If you need to use your phone a lot throughout the day, you’ll need to make sure you have a charger on hand because this does eat away some of it!

*They’ll be rolling out with a new feature soon where you have the option of turning on your camera during the workout so your coach can check your form and, if needed, let you know how you can improve it.

You’ll get a summary both on the app and in your email of each of your workouts!

I think it’d be cool to be able to access our overall workout summaries by week/month (it might already be somewhere on the app, but I haven’t yet discovered how to access it), but otherwise, I really like that we get the after-class summaries!

Thus far, I’ve taken classes withhhh Coaches Henry, Emily, Holly, Sarah, Mary Beth, Liann, and Medwin. (Quote from Coach Henry when I mentioned that my cat was hanging around me while I was doing hip presses: “Pretend your cat is underneath your bum and if you drop it, you’ll squish her.”)

Classes Offered (I italicized the ones I’ve tried!):

• Booty Work
• Circuit Training (+ Reps)
• Strength Tabatas
• Indoor Cardio
• Total Core
• Cardio Quickie
• Super Quickie
• Cardio & Legs
• Cardio & Core
• Endurance Walk or Run
• Walk & Stretch
• Music/Cardio Classes: Essentials, Alternative Rock, The Justins (Bieber vs. Timberlake), Katy Perry vs. Taylor Swift, Boy Band Mania, Country, Tom Petty Tribute, Disco Essentials.

Here’s a screenshot of one of the videos!

My gym does free quarterly evals (weight, BP, body measurements and body fat analysis), so I went 2 weeks ago and was pretty sad but not surprised that I’d lost weight…in the form of muscle mass, and that my body fat percentage had gone up from 20 to 22. (Sigh.) However, I’m happy to report that I’m only ~1 week into Gixo-ing my abs have already decided to start to reappear! :D!

I’m sorry for neglecting you guys. Please stay with me, kthx.

The first month is free–otherwise, it’s $24.99/month (or $18.75/month if you pay for 1 year up front)! They’re super receptive to feedback and I’ve really enjoyed my sessions so far (I think I’ve taken like…27 classes so far?). The smaller classes or pretty much almost like one-on-one personal training sessions, which I definitely enjoy! :]

I know it’s harder to stay on track with healthy eating + regular exercise during the holiday season, so now’s a great time to check em’ out! :] They have a Turkey Trot (4 different ones, I think) next week for Thanksgiving that I’m going to try to join in on!

Find out more about Gixo on their website and follow em’ on social media!

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

• Have you heard of/tried Gixo? Add me on there (I’m pretty sure I’m the only Farrah so far! :P )