Unlock your fitness with the RushTushFit app. There are specialised workouts for pregnant women. Various subcategories exist, for losing weight, toning, getting fit or maintaining your fitness.

Gyms are still closed, and probably will be for a while. But there is a long list of apps and services available for home workouts — some of them free during the Covid-19 lockdown.

One app, in particular, caught our attention. RushTushFit, run by Rushda Moosajee, is available on iOS in a subscription-based model with a two-week free trial.

An Android version will be released in coming months.

RushTushFit is the first standalone, free-to-download app by an SA personal trainer, Moosajee says. In a prescient move, she shut her physical gym last year to go digital.

The app is just under 60MB in size, which includes the videos required for each session.

Upon sign-up you select a primary goal, aiming at a specific level of fitness. There are specialised workouts for pregnant women. Various subcategories exist, for losing weight, toning, getting fit or maintaining your fitness.

The “challenge yourself” options are great for lockdown, as they include stairs workouts and kettlebell flow, and target specific parts of your body.

I chose the beginner workout for toning that incorporates weights and cardio, and found it refreshing yet challenging. The workouts were varied when I compared them with those presented by a personal trainer.

The app has videos explaining how to do each workout; Moosajee runs you through it in a conversational style, doing about 10 repetitions from a set of 15 with you. The app is intended both for home workouts and as an aid in the gym. However, it does not clearly specify a suggested size of weights for each workout.

The cardio aspect of the workouts cannot be carried out as directed on the app during lockdown unless you have access to a rowing machine, elliptical or treadmill, for example.

The app is well designed and easy to navigate. It keeps you motivated, but requires you to stick to your chosen workout.

Subscription costs R299 a month for eight sessions or R2,999 a year for 96 sessions.

Cool factor 4/5
Usability 4/5
Value for money 3/5