BetterMe: Health Coaching

Because of health problems after Covid, I have been sedentary for years. I was actually supposed to have weight loss surgery but because of complications I ended up losing enough weight that I did not need that. However, my body was out of shape with no tone or definition, and definitely no strength. This has been very hard for an ex army gal who was a serious runner and weight lifter to live with. In January, I decided to do a free 28 day Pilates challenge and saw so many results so quickly that I decided to sign up with BetterMe I now see definition in my arms, my legs, my calves I’ve lost 11 inches in my hips five in my waist and now remember how it felt to be so into my health the exercise wasn’t something I just do but something I crave. Not only do I highly recommend BetterMe, I’m a huge supporter of Pilates in the health benefits. It will do your body, especially if you’re no longer to do some of the things like heavy lifting or distance running I thought I had to be satisfied with my body the way it is now and I had no hope, now I have hope and love the body that I’m getting I tell my friends it’s body by Pilates and they say I’m a Pilates pusher because I’m trying to get everyone to try it Not only do the Pilates workouts work wonderfully, there are a ton of different workouts. You can also do and I will sometimes add them onto my daily workout to get some extra cardio or a little more Pilates or work a specific area. Try it yourself and have a body by Pilates too!!!!

My goal was to start a habit of working out. I have a sedentary lifestyle of desk work. This app got me to consistently work out 3-5 days a week, at first mostly because the beginning work outs are easy and short (11-15mins). I would feel sore the next day so that was good. AI instructor is a little strange but didn’t bother me. Music was annoying at first then I got used to it. I am cancelling after 2 months to try a different workout app. I might come back to this one- the trial and following discount month were worth it. I don’t like that you can’t skip a workout, you just have to get through the current one or it never advances you to the next one. Another thing I did not like is that some workouts 2 weeks in literally just have you repeat the same 2 moves the entire workout- like 100 squat walks for example or an ab workout would be just doing scissors for the whole 20 mins. At first I thought it was a glitch but then I noticed it kept doing it. It would be nice to switch up exercises for one muscle group instead of doing exact same move for 20 mins. That was boring and felt AI generated and not fun. Overall I do feel stronger and did build a habit of working out, if not every day than every other day (from zero). I am not athletic or into sports, but enjoy things like yoga. Dr said I needed to build muscle so that is what my workouts in the app were geared for and I appreciated the customization.

I decided to give this app a try, even though I don’t like paying for exercise apps, because I’m pretty athletic and know a lot, but I wanted some extra ideas and workouts to add into my days. So I am on day three of this app, and so far, I’m really enjoying, for the most part, doing the exercises. I love how there’s a variety of different exercises for fitness levels, age, mobility, etc. My only problem is this. I just did the HIIT Session work out for the first time. It’s the first workout in the HITT category. I liked the exercises, but there were a lot of glitches. A lot of the instruction was not matching up to what the athlete was doing in the video. Also, as time went on, the video was not advancing. So as I’m doing the advanced Burpee exercise, I found myself doing it for over five minutes, and I found that extremely odd. Then I thought well maybe they’re boosting the time, to add intensity. But, that definitely was not the case. When I hit the fast forward button, it went right into the exercise, and then switch to the next one. The next one is demonstrated, and then it stayed on, again, for an extended amount of time. Again I had to advance it manually to the next. This happened with numerous exercises and was very frustrating. A workout that was supposed to be 32 minutes long ended up being almost 50 minutes. So this definitely needs to be resolved. Other than that I have enjoyed the app, so far. I need to explore more of it to see what else it offers.

As someone who works in an office all day, and doesn’t have a ton of time to spend at a gym, I needed something that would put together well designed workouts for me, and that would give me a workout schedule aimed at achieving results. BetterMe nailed it! I have been using the app for about 5 months, and I have lost 20lbs and gained a ton of strength and definition. I was a college athlete, and at 52 yrs old, I now have almost the physique that I had in college. The workouts are clear and easy to follow, without a lot of extra “chatter” (which I don’t need or want). The app allows you to set your specific goals, and provides a lot o flexibility to do more or less on any given day, by supplementing the workout that the app selects with additional exercises of your choosing. In addition, I got a lot out of the intermittent fasting program, and the food tracker, which allowed me to “reset” my relationship with food. This was a surprise to me, as I did not expect to use these tools. Generally, I don’t need to use those functions anymore (other than very sporadically), but they were essential to getting me into good routines and habits. (I am a good cook and generally understand nutrition, so I did not use the meal plan function, but it could provide helpful direction to some). I cannot recommend this app more highly. It might not be for everyone, but if what you need is some structure, a schedule, and straightforward workout routines handed to you on a platter, this fits the bill. And it produces results!

I love the app, but it needs a few more features. I would love to have more choices when it comes to the exercises. They have to think about your physical health, age, and weight. Some exercises are just made for people who are fit, young or both. At the beginning the exercises are modified to a beginner, but then they get more challenging. The problem is that after months of exercising when you’re overweight and older, your knees start feeling the pain, so I do recommend they stay on a modified exercise when it comes to putting all the weight on your knees or giving you the option within the app. Also, it’s important to provide two feel good options because it helps you achieve that goal for that day, and also you have an option for those days when your life was crazy busy, active, and full of chaos. Lastly, I have had many problems of it crashing down in the middle of my workout many, many times! This also discourages all the effort we put into a healthier lifestyle. I have even tried it several times, but it constantly crashes down. Also, I can’t even delete and reinstall the app because it might delete all my data. No easy fix for this until now.

With gyms closed, I decided to look for alternate at home exercises. I am in my late 20s and looking to keep an active and healthy lifestyle. This app has great options. I subscribed and I really enjoy the daily 'do your exercises' that fit directly in what I am looking for. I also like the 'workouts' section if I am looking to work a little more on a specific muscle group. Yet, for me honestly I do feel that the food and dietary section is not useful to me. I am not looking for nutritional advice, im only looking for workout ideas so this to me is not useful. I would advice BetterMe to have a full seperate app just for nutrition and one just for workouts with the possibility of merging data from both apps together if the user wants to. Otherwise, a lot of the data on this is just not useful to some people. I do get the whole concept of being a full plan of food and exercise but thats my experience. Another think I want to point out is the 'do your workouts' section of the Plan page. Some days it recommends walking, other days it recommends a full 25 minute exercise routine -which is exactly what i love about this app and why I subscribed to it. Yet, skme days when i check the 'do your workout' section it says 'today walking' it doesn't make sense. I suggest modifying the Plan page to include under the 'do your workouts' section a 'walking' subsection and an 'exercises' subsection. That way you get to have both new options everyday.