If you are a regular visitor to my blog, you know that I travel quite often for work. And so today’s blog is about how I use my new tracker: Moov Now during trips. I certainly use Moov during my runs, but when I travel I don’t always have time to take an hour out of my schedule to go for a run. So on those days, Moov offers me Circuit Training.
Circuit Training has 2 types of workouts: heart rate based and motion based. Heart rate based workouts last 30 minutes and are HIIT Foundation, HIIT Cardio Blast, HIIT Athletic Conditioning and HIIT Explosive Power. These workouts are only available if you have a Moov HR monitor, which I don’t. You’ll run through 3 circuits and a number of rounds, consisting of well-known reps like jumping jacks, squats, burpees and such. Like with the Boxing Workouts, you can’t chose your level. Moov lets you start at the beginning. You wear Move HR with a chest or headband for these exercises.
The motion based Workout is a 7 Minute+ (higher levels take longer) set of, once again, 3 circuits. You’ll do planks, lunges, crunches, squats and jumping jacks. Because you don’t need a lot of room or time, this is a great workout for a hotel room. Just grab a towel, press Moov Now and you’re good to go. (It’s also a good workout when you’re at home, vegging out in front of the tv).
With the 7 Minute+ Workout, you’ll need to do the basic level first time. That is a good protection for beginners, but boring for a more experienced athlete. Fortunately the App will unlock multiple levels after the first one, so can choose a more strenuous level next time.
The coaching voice will guide you through the exercises – you will see a circle that tracks your progress. You’ll get 30 seconds of rest in between sets.
When you are done, you’ll see the overview of the 3 sets, broken down in the exercises and against your performance. As with the other exercises, the coach will occasionally comment on your form. Not sure how they do that, but I found that most of the time the comment was accurate. During crunches I was told to “not swing my arms” and with lunches to “keep my knees above my toes”. Good catch, both of them.
You’ll need to keep the pace of the guided program: if you go too fast, the program will not count your reps accurately and your completion will not be calculated as 100%.
7 Minutes does not seem like a lot, but I can assure you that the workouts are strenuous enough to make you feel like you’ve done something. And once you’ve completed one set, you’ll surely want to continue with another.
The Moov promotional video shows the App being used on a television. So far, I’ve not unlocked that “special feature” so I have to assume that is advertising. Too bad as it would be easier to follow the exercise on a large screen. Hopefully Moov releases a Mac app shortly?
Happy Exercising! (And Running!)
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