Baby No.3 came along last fall and along with her beautiful arrival came the post-baby body that results from carrying another human being for nine months. Let’s just say that hard body is not what I’d use to describe that state. I wanted to return to my morning exercise routine, but a major hurdle was finding the time.

Even though babies sleep a lot, it’s amazing how little time you have to get things done. On top of that, my two older kids require things like food and interaction, so any extra free time is further curtailed, leaving me a small window to work out. With a husband who frequently travels, a full-time job and three kids, I needed something that I could do at home, but that would also provide enough of a physical challenge to feel like I actually get a good workout.

And that’s when a friend turned me on to FitStar, an awesome workout app for iOS that simulates having a personal trainer in your living room. Tony Gonzalez, NFL All-Star, is the celebrity face of the app and narrator/trainer/motivator who takes you through a series of exercises, some of which are really challenging, considering you’re only using your own body weight. Having someone doing the exercises with you in HD glory made me feel much more committed, rather than other apps that just call out commands.

There’s a nice variety of free workouts to choose from – 7-minute quickies to longer, more challenging ones like “Mudder Mayhem,” “Boot Camp” or “Runtensity.” The exercise sequence varies from workout to workout, but you’ll find similar exercises across the board, like butt kicks, high knees, star crawl, pushups, planks, dips, etc. One of my favorite free workouts – Strava Core Challenge – is a speedy 20 minutes and features heart-pumping exercises like mountain climbers, tuck jumps, planks, jump lunges, each lasting anywhere from 30 to 45 seconds. And it’s all free.

For a more regimented program, you can upgrade to a Premium Membership ($4.99/month or $49.99/year – still way less than a gym membership) for formal programs like Get Strong or Get Lean that offer 2 to 3 specific workouts a week to achieve those programs’ goals. The exercises between the free and premium programs cross over quite a bit and I end up using a mix of the two to add variety because it can get repetitive. You get nutritional advice with the premium version too, which is a nice bonus, but I found there to be enough variety in the free programs to sustain exercise efforts for a while.

After each exercise you’re asked whether it’s too easy, just right or brutal. You don’t necessarily have to rate each one, but doing so will provide the app with more personalized information for your specific fitness level, adjusting the workout for the next time if, for example, you found the majority of exercises to be “brutal.” At the beginning, I thought it was a little tedious to have to manually advance the workout after every exercise, but it is nice to get a brief respite in between some of the more cardio-heavy sessions.

There’s a bit of comic relief too, when Tony chimes in with motivational phrases like, “It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a 6-pack,” and “Be the hypotenuse you were meant to be.” Not many people can pull that off.

It works for me because I don’t need any equipment, it requires very little space and I can do it at any time. To add even more workouts to the mix, I sometimes use the Sworkit app as well (iOS, Android, Kindle), which doesn’t offer the same level of visual appeal, but offers a good workout with a large variety of exercises. Similar to FitStar, you don’t need anything other than yourself and a little bit of floor space. Sworkit also has video instruction that plays while you work out.

According to recent research by Flurry Analytics, the fitness and health app category is the fastest-growing, 87% faster than the already flourishing mobile app market as a whole. What this means for the future is that these apps are going to become more sophisticated and in-tune with each individual’s fitness levels, creating totally customizable regimens to meet personal goals. What it means for me now is that I can get a great workout without any equipment, gym membership or huge time commitment. And if it helps the squishiness factor? Even better.

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