I am being accountable still – promise!

Hello lovely followers.

I’ve had such a manic week at school that I haven’t had a chance to log in here to update y’all on my fitness journey. I have still been keeping myself very busy though – promise!

Last Tuesday I returned to yoga. Again it was absolutely lovely to stretch out without pushing myself too much. I also find that because I have to concentrate on balancing and getting the sequencing right I can’t think about work, which is such a nice relief.

Wednesday saw the return of netball training! We have finished the Winter League (and have been promoted for next season…although sadly I’m leaving!) so we had April off. So I was psyched to come back! Netball is without a doubt my favourite sport. I do not care WHAT people say about how you don’t run with the ball, it’s HARD WORK. I played Basketball for my county for a year and I honestly think netball is much more exhausting and much harder work. You have THREE seconds to make a decision. You have to dodge around your opponent to get the ball. Or you have to read the game to try and make an interception – OR try to just keep your player out of the game if their team is in possession. It’s brilliant! We had a big focus on agility as we want to increase our fitness levels for next season when it gets a bit more serious.

Thursday we had a netball match in a friendly local league. Unfortunately we only had 6 players which meant we were one short. We were all exhausted after the game – I had to mark two players (I usually play C [covers the most ground] but I had to act as WD during the game as well to make up for player shortage). Despite this we managed to draw – and I even got Player of the Match! I then umpired a game straight after.

Finally, on Saturday I went to Body Attack at 9:20am. It was really hard after having such an exhausting week but it was worth it to know that I then had the rest of the day to myself.

Today (Sunday) I have been on a long coastal/cliff walk with some friends. I feel like a bit of a bum because I’ve only managed to get to the gym once this week but I’ve kept very active all the same. This week coming will probably be quite difficult because I’m at the other end of the country for a few days but excuses breed laziness and I’ll endeavour to get some exercise in!

Hope you’re all happy and well 🙂

Peace out.

Another day another dollar.

That’s what they say anyway – unfortunately ’tis not so.

I went to the gym after work. It was busy but it was negotiable, which makes a huge difference. I spent 5 minutes on the cross-trainer then did my usual bloodflow routine to warm up then got on with it!

5x

8x chest press at 31kg

8x leg press at 51kg

8x shoulder press at 17kg

8x seated row at 51kg

Between sets I did:

Squat jumps (15 after the first set, 12 after the second, 9 after the third etc, 6, 3)

Bounce press ups off a wall (15, 12, 9, 6, 3)

Burpees (15 [I nearly died], 12, 9, 6, 3)

30 second plank.

Suffice to say that I had quite a sweat on by the end of the session!

Now some of you may be wondering why I do the plyometric sets between my strength sets. There’s a few reasons for this:

1. I have been warned that strength training can be quite boring. This keeps me interested!
2. Netball gains. It helps build my explosive power for those jumps (I’m short) and helps to develop joint stability in my ankles and knees.
3. It keeps my muscles guessing about what’s coming next! Plus, it’s a good way of keeping my heart rate up if I’m waiting to use a machine.

Peace out/

Last week…and next!

Hi everyone!

Apologies for the delay in this post – I’ve been absolutely swept off my feet so blogging has not been top of my priorities.

Monday – I gymmed it and swam it. Both were absolutely heaving so it took a lot longer than usual to get through my weights programme (I took active rest by using a crosstrainer whilst waiting for machines) but I got there in the end. Swimming was a bit of a waste of time because there were a lot of recreational swimmers who decided that they should stand in the middle of the medium lane (I need a fast lane personally, but they only had a medium lane set up as there was a swimming lesson going on in the other lane). People can be so rude!

Tuesday – yoga! I did not fall over (there were a couple of close calls) and it was probably the best yoga session I’ve ever been to because it didn’t rely on me already being ridiculously flexible. I had a few clicks and cracks but felt very relaxed afterwards.

Wednesday – gym was much quieter so I sailed through my routine quite quickly. Swimming I got out a bit earlier than I intended because I was having severe lane frustration (a basic qualification for being in the fast lane should entail being able to put your head in the water. I’m not being harsh – I fully encourage ANYONE to swim, but if there’s a slow lane/recreational space and you can’t put your face in the water…make use of those facilities!).

Thursday – I INTENDED to go to kettlebells but the instructor was poorly and they had to cancel last minute. They were really nice though and offered for me to go to BodyAttack instead. I had NEVER heard of it, but figured seeing as I was there I might as well go. It was SUCH good fun – I felt like a bit of a loon at times but it was great – and my goodness didn’t I ever have a sweat on?! Definitely something I’ll try again – the plyometric nature of it will definitely help with my netball!

Friday I did nothing (which was nice). Saturday my better half and I took the dogs for a nice long country walk in the daytime and another stroll in the evening around some nearby fields. Today we took them for another quick run around but that’s my lot!

So this week netball starts up again for the summer league! This means that:

Tomorrow I’ll gym and maybe swim but I’m not going in if it’s that busy again.

Tuesday I’m going back to yoga.

Wednesday I have netball training.

Thursday I have a netball match.

Friday I’ll go to the gym and swim.

Saturday I’m getting up in the morning for a body attack class!

Sunday I have plans with friends to go walking along the coast so active recovery!

Peace out.

Saturday…check!

True to my word I walked down to the gym and back. I even managed to squeeze in a quick 1k swim before they put the big inflatable in before walking home. Success!

…Well kinda. I didn’t go in the morning morning. I got there about 11:30 but hey. Still counts.

Gym workout:

5x

8x chest press (32kg)

8x leg press (51kg)

8x shoulder presss (17kg)

8x seated row (52kg).

After each odd set I did a mini circuit that one of the girls I play netball with recommended for building explosive power and helping with ankle stability:

15x squat jumps (starting in squat position, then driving up with force)

10x jumping lunges (5x each leg)

10x walking lunges (5x each leg).

After each even set I did a modified version of the gym’s weekly challenge with an 8kg kettlebell:

10x goblet squat

15x kettlebell swing

10x clean and press on right side

10x clean press on left side.

After all that I then decided to go for a swim!

2x200m front crawl

200m backstroke

200m IM

200m front crawl.

I was going to swim further but like I said – they were putting in a massive inflatable so we had to move.

Nothing planned for tomorrow other than proofing my research (boo) and watching the MotoGP. Then from Monday it’s go go go!

Hope you’re all having lovely weekends 🙂

Being Accountable like I promised….

Tomorrow I will go to the gym in the morning. If the pool has lanes I will also swim. I think it will – but I can’t find my timetable. Lol oops.

Monday I will go to the gym after work. Depending on what time I get there and how much work I have I may or may not swim.

Tuesday I am booked in to yoga. Expect to be told how I fell over/couldn’t lick my elbow.

Wednesday: Gym (and a swim?) after work.

Thursday: Kettlebells.

Confession: I ate an entire Easter egg today and have no regrets. 

I did Pilates today.

I started pilates in mid October and did it until the end of the University term (early December). I really liked it. I was nervous at first that it would be like yoga and that I would really suck at it but no. It is not like yoga.

I liked pilates because whilst it increases flexibility – it doesn’t rely on you being ridiculously flexible before you get there (trust me – it is really embarrassing when you’re twenty-something and are proud of being able to touch your toes only to realise that the pensioner next to you has her forehead on her knees…).

Anyway I stopped for quite a while because netball was taking up a lot of evenings and I needed the other evenings to get my head around my new job. But I decided that I would give it another go tonight.

How other people look doing pilates:

How I look when doing pilates:

It was nice to get back into it. She had a very different approach to my previous instructor who had a lot more focus on building up to each move with flows within the session, but nothing I can’t get on board with. I definitely felt like I’d worked harder in this lady’s class.

It put me off how busy the class was though, it’s hard to concentrate properly when you have someone else’s foot or hand in your face. So I’m going to try the Sunday morning class at some point to see if that’s less busy.

Peace out.

Mega Day

Today was a bit mega, if I do say so myself.

To begin – I had a lovely long coastal walk with my best friend. No idea how far – but it was nice (and we made some friends with some cute dogs which is ALWAYS a bonus).

I then decided to go to the gym because I had my kit in my car and figured that seeing as I was already out I might as well. It was SO BUSY!

I therefore discovered a pet hate: people resting between sets on the machines.

 Now – don’t get me wrong. I do not think there is anything wrong with being on your phone at the gym. If you’re checking in on Facebook – cool. I’m not going to judge you for that (I mean seriously look what I’m doing here). But ESPECIALLY when it’s really busy, if you’re resting between sets then GET OFF the machine you’re using so that someone else can use it. Taking it in turns is fun!

Now, being British this obviously means that I’m both very polite and very awkward. It’s just what we do best. So rather than politely asking whether I could hop on to the machine while they weren’t using it (it’s a bit intimidating asking someone whose biceps are bigger than your whole body to essentially stop wasting my time) I would go on the machine right next to it/directly opposite it and stare fixedly at the machine until they were done. Possibly not the best tactic…

Anyway. So I warmed up then did:

5x

8x Chest Press (1st set 35kg, 2nd-5th set 32kg)

8x Leg Press 51kg

8x Shoulder Press 17.5kg

8x Seated Row (1st-4th set 49kg, 5th set 53kg)

n.b. I’m using weights machines at the moment because I want to build up my strength and form before I use free weights. I don’t want to rush into these things. Its been three weeks since I joined the gym (I’ve been going twice a week) and all but my shoulder press have improved – so I’m pretty happy (I am aware that this is quite typical of beginners…)!

After that I went for a 1.6km swim:

400m freestyle

200m IM (50m butterfly, 50m backstroke, 50m breaststroke, 50m freestyle)

200 backstroke

4×50 in IM order on 1 minute

100m backstroke

200m freestyle

100m backstroke

200m freestyle

I should point out here that I used to be a competitive swimmer – though I hadn’t swum in years before I joined the gym. It’s nice to do it without pressure!

So yes. A good day I think. I’ll certainly sleep well tonight anyway!

Peace out.

The Journey…Again

Hello world of blogging.

I don’t really know what to put here. I guess I should start by explaining why I set up this blog. It’s pretty simple and not very original: I need somewhere to track my journey from a little overweight to healthy. I need somewhere to be accountable – though I am awful at writing things down haha. Though I figured I spend a lot of time on my laptop so it would probably make sense to put it on a blog.

I am only a bit overweight. Not hugely – not enough to turn heads or to hang my head in shame. But I used to be very athletic and it’s not the LOOK that I miss so much, as how light I felt. I’m still able to beast it around a netball court but it wasn’t until the other day when someone took a picture of us on a night out that I realised that actually…I couldn’t deny it any more. I can’t hide behind the “real women have curves” line any more. I am too big for my size (I’m quite short and have a naturally petite frame so the extra weight really shows).

I don’t care about having abs so sculpted you could grate cheese off them. If that’s the look others are going for then I genuinely really admire that. I’ve just found that I’ve tried this journey so many times with the hope of looking great that actually I haven’t felt great – and not getting the visual results I wanted immediately put me into comfort eating habits.

Not very conducive…

Part of this is that I do have an emotional relationship with food. I like love food. A  lot. But when I was having some Anxiety&Depression issues – I was taking a lot of comfort in being given chocolate/my favourite snacks to cheer me up, it felt like the only thing that was safe and known. I’m definitely over that darkness but that habit remains. And I don’t think I can be truly over it until I break this habit. Hence this blog.

So instead I’m focusing on improving my fitness and turning down snacks and sweets – if I’m not hungry enough for an apple (my favourite fruit in case it wasn’t obvious) I’m definitely not hungry. I’ve joined a gym and have been doing weights and stuff already so this isn’t the ABSOLUTE beginning of my journey. But it’s pretty near the start.

I’ll be putting my training sessions/classes up as well as pictures of meals I’ve eaten (not all of them, I have no delusions). Occasionally I’ll probably just type out something that I think sounds really profound but really sounds very pretentious. OH WELL.

Peace out.