Evlo, the Fitness Program That You’ll Actually Stay Consistent With

A look at my at-home gym set-up ^

Let’s talk fitness. Everyone should be moving their bodies, every day. We live in a time and a world where being sedentary is normal. But we still need to keep moving.

Finding My Perfect Fit: The Evlo Experience

I’ve tried everything under the sun: orange theory, barre, running, walking, lifting, peloton, etc. But one that has really resonated with me is called Evlo. It’s a gentle strength training program taught and found by doctors of physical therapy.

From Injury to Inspiration: My Journey to Evlo

I was never able to keep consistent or actually LOOK FORWARD to working out, I was always just mustering through it because I knew I had to. But the process of actually enjoying it before, during and after was never something that I thought was possible for me.

The Turning Point: Discovering Evlo

Finding Evlo wasn’t by accident. I had a fear of working out for the past few years because I was going through a personal injury lawsuit with orange theory (long story and may touch on later), but a treadmill malfunctioned on me and my ankle has never been the same. Two surgeries, you get where I’m coming from. But once my lawsuit came to a close about a year ago, I knew it was time to draw the curtains and get back out there. So I started with what I knew best, which was walking.

Evolving with Evlo: Building Muscle and Multiplying Joy

I’d walk every day for an hour, listen to podcasts, and move my body. Find joy in moving my body again. And I did. But walking an hour every day first thing in the morning in the Florida heat felt hot and tiring some days. I felt a bit inflamed.

My Evlo Essentials: Gear for Gentle Strength

I came across a podcast with the founder of Evlo: And I totally loved her story. I wanted to give weight lifting a try.

Building muscle is the key to longevity

After a trip to San Miguel Mexico with my fiancé’s family, I decided it was time to change up my routine.

All you need for Evlo is access to weights, a stool, a chair, a pilates ball, resistance bands and gliders (or socks) and obviously a yoga mat.

Curating My Compact Home Gym

Equipment that I use in my home gym include:

Bala “The Play Mat”: - invest in a good yoga mat. I also would love to get the Alo mat some day too. Linked here
Bala Pilates Ball: - I love the look and feel of this ball. But can also get the ball that Evlo recommends, here - this one is squishier and sometime I switch to this ball when it needs to be placed in-between the knees for donkey kicks (for example) because it has a better grip!
Bala Bangles in 1LB & 2LB - I use these for when I’m wanting to go up a little in weight with some movements. Having these bangles are staples and can also wear on walks!
Target “All in Motion” neoprene weights - I started collecting these during 2020 and have been one of the best investments I’ve ever made. You can find deals on them for 20% off from time to time. You also can’t go wrong with a set from amazon or even utilizing your apartment’s gym or you local gym’s weights!
Stool - this is the one Evlo recommends
Folding Chair - I live in a small apartment and only have a couch and bar height stool chairs. I’m able to fold this one up and put it in my utility closet when I’m not using. I only feel like I pull it out a few times a week, it’s honestly perfect for the job that it needs to do!
Resistance Bands - Evlo recommended!
Gliders - Evlo recommended!
Bala Balance Blocks - this is not needed, but something I wanted to have for the Evlo yoga workout classes Evflow!

Me working out in my home:

Finding Space for Fitness: My Tiny Gym in a 700 SF Apartment

You may be thinking this all takes up so much space, but ya’ll, I’m able to squeeze this all under cabinets, and in tiny spaces in a 700 SF apartment that I share with my fiancé. I make it nice and tidy, but yet accessible to pull out every morning for class.

The Evlo Routine: Customizable and Consistent

I follow the 5x week track that has 35 minute classes. These classes are honestly the perfect length. You can also do the 3x week track or the 4x week track with slightly longer classes. I think what I love most about Evlo is that I’m able to show up (with no sports bra needed) and we’re going to start up with a warm up. These warm ups are to gentle wake up your nervous system and prime your muscles to be worked on. It’s so therapeutic. I honestly feel like I am meditating through the movements now because my body is just so appreciative of the gentle flow.

Evlo's Secret Sauce: Variety and Precision in Training

Then strength training begins and no class is ever the same. The three ladies who run the classes are always changing up the flow of class. But what does stay consistent are the muscles that we’re working on and most of the days that we work on those muscle groups.

A Week in My Evlo Life

For instance a week may look like this:

Monday: upper body build - chest, shoulders, triceps
Tuesday: lower body build - glutes and quads
Wednesday: burn - abs, upper/lower back, biceps
Thursday: build+ OR barre - quads, shoulders, triceps
Friday: full body build & burn - glutes, hamstrings, abs, upper back

You hit every muscle group 1-2x week and you bring that muscle group to failure within a few different sets for each class. And I truly feel like I am bringing each muscle group to failure each time because you have to really tune into your body with the instructors cues, they are talking you through each set, fatiguing your muscles to the absolute maximum, and be aware of what muscle failure looks like.

Educate While You Elevate: The Evlo Difference

I highly recommend listening to the founder, Dr. Shannon Ritchey’s podcast “Fit Body, Happy Joints” where she talks in depth about the body and lifting for the body.

Cooling Down with Care: Ending on a High Note

Each workout ends with a cool down of the nervous system, with a similar way to how we primed the nervous system in the warm up. These cool downs are extremely rewarding and calming. The class ends in shavasana.

Ending with Evlo: A Platform Constantly Improving

The Evlo team is constantly working hard on improving their classes, their coaching techniques and their platform. In December they launched a beautiful new app that tracks your weights used, has music integrated, nutritional education, recipes, fitness education, and much more.

How to Get Started: A Special Offer for Evlo Newcomers

Here’s the 411 on how to get a free 6 weeks to try Evlo, which is what I did. The Skinny Confidential has code “Skinny” that you plug in at checkout to get a free month. Then Evlo gives you a free two week trail on top of that. One week in and I was absolutely hooked.

You don’t get bored
It’s easy to stay consistent
Classes are only 35 minutes, you can carve this time out for yourself, it’s super manageable
Instructors change
You rarely get sore
You feel the change
You see the change
The education component on building muscles and getting your nutrition right is an added bonus.
You never have to think about what workout you’re gonna do, everything is pre-programmed

Pricing is $55.99/month or $599/year.

It’s cheaper than a pilates/hiit gym membership and in my opinion is worlds better. You can’t beat this.

Their instagram is super educational as well. Highly recommend giving it a browse. It’ll pump you up and get you excited to build muscle in a gentle and consistent way.

A Fitness Journey Like No Other - My Evlo Transformation

The best part is, is I’m seven months in and seeing a tremendous change in my body. I’m working on body recomposition and it is so hard to gain muscle, eat enough protein, but keep burning fat and staying within a calorie deficit. If you’re on this journey too, let me know, would love to connect and swap recipes and hear how you’re staying on top of it too.

Something I highly recommend before starting your fitness journey, or if you already have and you’re just wanting to get a pulse on where you’re at is to get a scan done on your body. I got a Styku scan done because I have a personal trainer friend who owns one, but you can also find a place that does Dexa scans, Fit3D, InBody, etc. The purpose of getting these 3D scans done is so that you can get an idea of your full body measurements, find out any health risks you may have, get your body fat %, lean mass %, bone mass %, etc. Seeing and reading the results of a scan on your body will give you the added boost of encouragement that you need to take care of your body from the inside out. It’s also cool to have these measurements and get them done frequently to see even more progress that you’re making. I will be getting these done every month or every other for the time being.

Jumpstart Your Fitness Journey with Evlo

If you decide to give Evlo a try (for a free six weeks!) I’d love to connect with you and see how you like it. I want all my friends to be on this program because it makes me feel so great inside and out and want this for you too!

More of my at-home gym set-up ^