Sports Pulse: Easy exercises for when you dont feel like working out USA TODAY

Editor's note: Part 12of USA TODAY'sWorking Out From Home(#WOFH) seriesfocuses on staying motivated while exercisingat home.Sign up forGood Sports, our weekly newsletterthat will bring you more home workout tips and the stories of goodthroughout the world of sports:

In a new environment where gyms are closed, outdoor activities are canceled and social distancing is the new normal, it isnt easy to stay in good physical shape.

Working out at home is possible, but many people find it difficult to stay motivated when there is no specific end date in sight. Thats one area where a fitness app can help.

With over a million active users each month, the FitOn app is one of the more popular ones offering a wide variety of workouts for all skill levels. For free. With no need for additional equipment.

Bree Koegel is one of the many trainers who are leading classes on the app. An aspiring dancer from as far back as she can remember, she achieved a lifelong dream of making it to Broadway. But while touring with a Broadway show, she badly injured her hip and needed surgery to repair a torn labrum.

My recovery wasnt great, she tells USA TODAY Sports, and I lost a lot of range of motion permanently.

What she didnt lose was her desire to perform, even though the injury sapped much of her strength and confidence. Thats when she turned to fitness training full-time, eventually joining up with FitOn for its 2019 launch.

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Bree Koegel works as a trainer for the FitOn app, which gives its users free personal workouts they can do at home.(Photo: FitOn)

Koegels upbeat personality instantly makes you want to join her for a workout on the app: Its everything I love about dance, performance, fitness, connection all wrapped up into one.

She says the app helps keep users engaged in a variety of ways, especially those who want to stay active, but dont quite know where to start.

If youre in the beginning parts of your workout journey, its actually a good thing to be stuck at home figuring it out, she says. Theres no outside pressure, no judgment. Its just what feels good, what doesnt feel good and why.

Finding the time to work out at home can be difficult, but Koegel suggests that everything doesnt have to be done all at once.

Theres a pressure of time often where we feel like if we dont work out for a whole hour it doesnt count. That couldnt be further from the truth, she says. You can break that up during the day. Ten minutes here, 15 minutes there. Thats just as effective too.

The FitOn app can be downloaded on a personal computer or from various mobile formats' app stores.(Photo: FitOn app)

The app has workouts some of them as short as five minutes that target different body parts, offer varying levels of intensity and even some that feature celebrity trainers such as Gabrielle Union (Bring it On) and Jonathan Van Ness (Queer Eye).

In the wake of many states enacting shutdown orders due to the coronavirus outbreak, FitOn says it has seen a 260% increase in workouts and over 200% growth in new users signing up for the app, which can be downloaded for free on a personal computer, from the App Store or on Google Play.(In addition, there'sa premium version, FitOn PRO, with customized meal plans, recipes and music options currently available for $19.99/year.)

The app also has a scheduling feature where friends can sign up for a class together. In Koegels case, its helped fill an unexpected role. Her husband has been in quarantine due to the outbreak, leaving her alone in her New York apartment at a time when shes seven months pregnant.

She says shell often Face Time her husband when its time to exercise. We get to bond in a way where quarantine was holding us back, she says.

For Koegel, the best part is the apps simplicity which can help turn working out at home from a negative into a positive.

What Ive found is by knowing all I have to do is just press play, I dont have to put on a great outfit, I dont have to do anything because Im in my home.

Follow Gardner on Twitter @SteveAGardner

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Struggling with motivation to exercise? Try using a fitness app to reach your workout goals - USA TODAY