I’m a huge fan of workouts at home. Over the years, I’ve been a member of gyms, pilates, barre, and yoga studios. I’d start strong but then eventually stop going.
If I have to get ready and drive to work out, that’s already a deterrent. Plus, I’m not a fan of exercising in front of people. Another obstacle is trying to squeeze in a workout on top of a busy day…work, school pickups and dropoffs, and sports. The list can go on and on!
Now that I’m in my forties, I realize it’s much harder to maintain my figure without regular exercise, so I squeeze in a workout at home when I can – before my son wakes up, between meetings at work, during my lunch break, or after work. It varies from day to day.
My go-to workout was a half hour on the elliptical in my room for a long time, but this got boring, and I needed a better full-body workout. Fast-forward, my husband found the Dribbleup program. He was initially interested because it’s great for helping kids train for sports like soccer, basketball, and baseball, but he also noticed that they had a fitness program for adults.
What is Dribbleup?
Dribbleup is a sports and fitness subscription-based app for kids and adults. The app tracks reps and movements using their smart fitness and sports products. They allow up to six people in the same household per subscription, currently $16.99 monthly. You can use as many smart products as you like in this plan.
The smart fitness products available are strength balls, weights, and boxing gloves. They also have accessories like a boxing bag, yoga mat, and stands for your phone or tablet.
Our son has a smart basketball and soccer ball. He also loves to use my boxing gloves.
They just released a smart baseball glove we haven’t yet purchased.
Dribbleup frequently has 50% off sales for all of their smart products, so if you’re interested, I’d sign up for the emails, monitor their website, or follow them on social media to receive updates on sales.
What to expect from the Dribbleup app
Dribbleup has thousands of on-demand workouts and also offers daily live workouts. I usually do on-demand, and the workout times for each class range from five to thirty-five minutes.
The workouts can be launched on phones, tablets, or TVs using Chromecast or Apple TV. Then you track your workouts using smart fitness products. You can easily do workouts at home or use it while you are traveling.
Choosing your workouts
You pick which product you want to use each time you work out. There are featured classes on the homepage, or you can search specific workouts by target areas or session types like core, arms, back, legs, cardio, strength, stretching, 10 minutes or less, etc. There are also beginner, intermediate, and expert-level options.
Before starting a workout, you can preview the exercises you will be doing. I like to do this so I know what I’m getting myself into!
Workout programs
The workout programs are my favorite. Each program has a sequence of classes to complete over a number of days or weeks. I like this option because I don’t have to search for classes daily.
I just started the Ultimate program, an eight-week training using the strength ball. It’s an intense five-day-a-week, thirty-minute workout, but you can complete it at your own pace. It’s kicking my booty, but I love it!
Stats and past sessions
When you finish your workout, you can head to your profile page to check your weekly and monthly stats, past sessions, and leaderboards.
Clicking on your recent sessions will show you all of your stats for a specific class, including duration, reps, drills, class rank, and points earned.
Workouts using smart fitness products
Rollin’ with the punches
I’ve never been interested in boxing, but since my husband bought me smart boxing gloves, I thought I’d try it.
To my surprise, I loved it! I was so sore the first few weeks I completed the workouts, especially in my obliques.
I use our boxing bag often for these workouts, but sometimes shadowbox if I don’t want the impact or when traveling.
The boxing bag is great, but it does take time to set up. My husband spent a couple of hours filling the base and bag with sand, but it was worth getting. It’s very sturdy and holds up well, even to his punches.
Some boxing workouts aren’t long, so sometimes I do two or three. Or I mix things up and do one boxing, one medicine ball, and then stretch. My longest boxing workout is Hard Core Punchin’ at 23 minutes, and it’s no joke. I don’t need a second workout after that one. Just a stretch class and I’m done.
Give me some medicine
The smart strength ball (medicine ball) might be my favorite, or maybe it’s a tie with the smart boxing gloves. It’s hard to pick! Both are awesome.
Dribbleup has six and ten-pound balls, and we have both.
We received the ten-pound ball first, so I did some workouts with it. It’s a beast! I successfully completed a few classes, but it was too heavy and overkill for my goal.
The six-pound ball, on the other hand, is just right! As I mentioned earlier, I’ve been working my way through the Ultimate Program, which has 30-minute strength ball classes, and this wouldn’t be as doable with the ten-pounder.
Divin’ into dumbells
The smart weights are colorful and come in 5, 10, 15, and 20 pounds. Some workouts use different weights throughout, so it’s nice to have all of them, but not necessary.
I like the weights but have only used them a handful of times. For some reason, I lean towards boxing and strength ball workouts, but that could change if I’m looking to switch things up.
Yoga and Stretch
I haven’t tried yoga, but I’ve completed some stretching classes incorporating yoga and enjoyed them. If I decide to try it, I’ll report back.
Their stretch classes are the best. I’ve always loved stretching but started falling out of the habit as I got older. Now, whenever I work out, I finish with a stretch class. There are lots to choose from, and it’s a terrific way to cool down.
Have I seen any results?
Yes!!! So, I wasn’t in bad shape to begin with, but now I have more definition in my arms, abs, and legs. Before I started, my thighs were getting a little dimply, and these workouts have helped diminish that.
I gained a little weight in the first couple of months, but only because I was building muscle. I’m now three weeks into the Ultimate Program and have lost four pounds.
I’ve been doing Dribbleup workouts for four months and have completed 261 classes. There’s also a motivation aspect with points and levels within the app, and they have a great Facebook community where people share their stories, progress, and stats.
How much space is needed?
Workouts at home
Not much space is needed, excluding the boxing bag – I’ll get to that in a second. The boxing glove, strength ball, weights, and yoga workouts can be done in any room in your house. You are good to go if you have four to six feet to move around.
The boxing bag is tall and heavy. Once you pick a spot, it’s not going to be easy to move, and it’s also something I wouldn’t want in the middle of my living or family room.
We were able to clear a large space in our garage, so that’s where we work out. We wouldn’t have the boxing bag if we worked out in the house. But it’s doable if you have a dedicated exercise room.
Traveling with Dribble up
This is something I’ve been experimenting with. Traveling with a six-pound ball, boxing gloves, or weights is not ideal, especially when you’re flying.
I packed my boxing gloves in my carry-on suitcase on our last trip. This wasn’t an easy task since I had to be even more strategic about what I packed than usual, but I was happy I brought them. They got a lot of use, and completing the boxing workouts in our hotel rooms was easy.
If you check your bags when flying somewhere, it’d be a lot easier to pack the boxing gloves and possibly the strength ball, as long as your suitcase doesn’t exceed the typical 50-pound weight limit.
Hopefully, Dribbleup will come out with a travel line of products in the future.
It’s a knockout!
Dribbleup knocks it out of the park for me! I look forward to my workouts, and it’s entertaining. There are days when I only have time to squeeze in a five-minute workout, and I’m happy I did something. On other days, I squeeze in two to three workouts for a total of 45-60 minutes. I love the flexibility! Also, don’t let those five-minute workouts fool you…I’ve gotten sore from some of those classes!
If you have any questions or comments, please contact me or email holly@howtoholly.com.
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