Let me give you some background on my work out perspective. For many year, probably better than fifteen years, I worked with a personal trainer. I’ve gone through five in that time, and I appreciated them all for different reasons. Somewhere between two and three times a week, I would work with someone who I paid to kick my butt. My demands were simple.
- Switch it up – I cannot abide by doing the same thing every time. I get bored easily. Some days I am motivated by affirmation, other days I need to be challenged.
- Be okay with me complaining – It motivates me in some weird way.
- Respect the hierarchy – I don’t work for you, you work for me for that hour. I will take a lot of abuse but there is a limit and when I tell you STOP – you stop.
- No burpees – Ever. Burpees are the devil’s handiwork.
If we can just agree to those four simple points, we’ll do fine. I mention these because they are the basis for measuring my trainer:trainee relationships.
So how did I get to an online training program? Simple. Pandemic.
When the gyms closed and it felt too risky to continuing doing workouts last year, I decided I would just switch to online workouts. It sounds like a simple thing, but it wasn’t. Come to find out I’m not nearly as motivated as I could/should/want to be with pre-recorded workout. I had a huge accountability factor.
Add that to the list:
- Accountability – Make sure I show up and do the work.
- Fresh content – It’s not enough to have a library of pre-recorded workouts. I require a sense of immediacy and freshness.
I tried a lot of programs. I tried short 30 day challenges. Booty Challenge anyone? As soon as my brain figured out the repetition, I lost interest and motivation. I tried subscribing to large libraries of workouts. They were great, but they felt stale because they were always the same. I tried Beach Body subscriptions. I tried live streamed classes but they didn’t fit my schedule. Finally, I started saving Instagram workouts. In this I found my salvation.
Instagram hit a lot of the marks I needed. It was always fresh content since so many creators were constantly posting workouts with a wide variety. They didn’t know if I complained, they didn’t talk back, and I could ignore the burpees. But, they also couldn’t hold me accountable. Despite finding several favorite workouts, I knew I needed more.
And honestly, my latest and favorite trainer wouldn’t return my phone calls. Maybe I should take it personally, lol, but I chose to look for alternatives.
After narrowing down a handful of Instagram creators that I gravitated towards, I narrowed in on Alexia Clark.
Perhaps a bit shallow, but while I admired her and was inspired by her, she didn’t feel real to me. Alexia was almost TOO perfect. If someone told me she was computer generated, I could almost believe it.
That is, until she had emergency surgery in January 2021.
Suddenly this perfect human being was vulnerable, real, relatable. She talked about her recovery. She showed the immense scar she had from getting part of her intestine removed. She was real. And this humility and resilience inspired me to check out her workout program.
Note: This gushing is all me. My opinions are my own. I pay for my own subscription and have been gushing IRL to anyone who will listen.
So let me breakdown Alexia Clark’s workout program and why it’s my favorite! There’s so much I like, it’s hard to pick where to start.
- Variety (aka Switch it up) – Every day Alexia delivers a new work out on the app or the website. It consists of four circuits so you can pick your workout length. Some days I do a 30 minute workout (2 circuits), some days I do all of them (4 circuits) for an hour. There is a gym workout version (accessible by tapping an icon in the corner of the app) and a home version. Each exercise is accompanied by a mini workout video that shows you correct form. Each exercise has notes on how to perform it correctly. There are alternative workouts for each option to accommodate skill level, personal preferences, limitations. etc. These can be toggled simply by clicking a link under each exercise. A built in timer or set of reps helps keep you on track and sets the pace for the circuit. Each month Alexia picks a challenge (butt, arms, abs) and they show up in the 5th circuit. You get five workouts a week and a couple of days to fit in other things. You might get full body, challenges, lower body, upper body – it’s always changing. I’m doing only home workouts right now and while I don’t have tons of equipment, I really only need resistance bands, hand weights and body weight. It’s PLENTY challenging!!
- Complaining – While Alexia clearly can’t hear me moan as I’m pushing through the harder sets, the online community #queenteam supports one another both in victory and defeat!
- Value – Obviously there’s no one to push me to the brink, but Alexia is clearly focused on bring value to her clients. If you follower her Instagram page you get extra content that’s different than the app. It’s a bonus set of workouts and routines that differ from the app. Her monthly program is $29.99! It’s billed monthly and you can cancel at anytime. If you use my referral code it’s only $24.99 a month!! I used to spend $80+ a SESSION with my trainers – 2 to 3 times a week! Do I even need to do the math? The savings for me are immense!!
Trainers = ($640 – $960) monthly versus $24.99! - No Burpees Ever – Okay, so you know I’m being honest, burpees do sneak in now and again. However, she has so many challenging versions that “normal” burpees don’t seem so hard any more. That’s saying something. I CRAVE the days a normal burpee is all I need to do! Despite the fact that I’ve been a gym rat and workout junkie for 30+ years, she pulls out moves that I’ve never seen! I LOVE them!
- Accountability – Not only do I get daily emails prepping me for the next day’s workout AND weekly emails alerting me to the shopping list if I decide to follow the meal plan (Yum!) but if I don’t log a workout for a couple of days, I get a checkin email. I know…computers and algorithms…but it’s enough to make me feel like I have someone holding me accountable. Plus the #queenteam community is always willing to lend a hand and give you attagirls to keep you motivated!
- Fresh Content – As I mentioned, workout are delivered daily so I can’t ever psych myself out looking too far ahead (perfect for me!) and while over the course of time exercises repeat, there is little repetition within a week. I love that the focus can change, the exercises are different, and I’m always challenged. Some days I can fit in a full workout. Some days the best I can do it fit in a circuit at a time. And I can always mark workouts as favorites to go back and revisit them. Bonus: there’s also a travel section if you’re a road warrior so you don’t have to miss a beat!
Though I miss my IRL trainers, I find that the Alexia Clark workout program has so much variety and value for the cost, it’s going to stay in my workout stable for the forseeable future.
Are you interested in trying it out? Sign up today and check it out. If you use my referral code, you can get $5 off a month!
