Fitness Friday: 5 Ways to Swap Fixed Weight Machines for Free Weights

Morning!

I'm really getting back into my routine so I thought I'd share some ways I'm trying to vary some exercises and make my time spent in the gym the most efficient.
Swapping out using your fixed weight machines for free weights is a great way to use more muscles and burn more fat. So here's my top ones to swap out!

1) Seated Leg Extension. This trains your quads, the huge leg muscle at the front of the thigh.
Now I think we all know that isolating your quads from other leg muscles isn't going to get the results that you want very quickly.
Squats will most definitely help your quads and glutes together, ranging from wide leg squats to one leg pistol squats.............ooh err!

2) Seated Chest Press. This trains your pectoral or chest muscles.

Using your upper body muscles is much better when you use them all at the same time, performing push ups will not only use your chest muscles but your core and shoulders too. Doing them on a box as an incline push up will maximise all of these muscles and help you build up to full push ups when you're strong enough.


3) Seated Leg Press. Another that targets the leg muscles, including quads, glutes and hamstrings.
As mentioned above, squats are the best exercises for these muscles groups. Starting with body weight squats get used to the movement and ensure your form is perfect before progressing to holding weights in each hand or even a barbell.


4) Bicep curl machine. Pretty self explanatory, but I have to admit I really don't get this one!
I'm not sure why you'd use this fixed weight machine when you can pick up a pair of dumbbells and perform a better bicep curl and engage more of your muscles therefore burning more calories and fat.

The same goes for the tricep version, you can do so much more with tricep dips!


5) Any Ab machine such as a Seat rotation or Cruncher. I used to use these all the time and I can honestly say that I never saw any results from using them.
I hate to stick with everyone else but planks are the signle best exercise you can do for your core, you see progress really quickly and just need to persevere. I try to alternate normal planks with side planks, with and without pulsing my hip up and down and curling my arm underneath and back out again. 

Using bodyweight exercises are so much better than fixed weight machines. Not only do you use more muscles because you engage your core and require more muscles to help balance your body during the exercise, but you can see faster results and that's something I can agree with having experienced it myself!

What's your favourite bodyweight exercise? Do you have any favourite routines?

L xxx

Fitness Friday: Current Workout

Hello there!

Fitness recently has been a topic that I just haven't been able to get my head around.

I absolutely love it and still enjoy going to the gym and trying out new exercises, however with my training in work being seemingly endless and the copious amount of paperwork and appointments involved in buying a house it has definitely taken a back seat in reality and in my head.


The last two weeks though I have been getting back into it with all of the muscle ache to go with it!

Here's my latest program:


5 minute warm up on the cross trainer - a lot of people have a bit of an obsession or a loathing of the cross trainer, I have neither. I think it's useful for my 5 minute warm up as it loosens my legs and arms and gets my heart rate going!

Image from Technogym

After this I've been getting on the Wave Machine - it simulates speed skating which means your legs move on pedals in a similar way to a cross trainer, but instead they go out to the sides. You can stand in 4 different positions, leaning on the hand rail or standing freely for the intensity to be in different muscle groups, but essentially it targets your glutes, hamstrings, quads, lower back and if you manage to balance and stand up for whole time then you'll target abs as well!
I've been building this up as my lower back has a weakness but 10 minute blocks at a high level of 12 is how I've been doing it. The higher the level the wider the pedals move apart, therefore making it more difficult.

Once my 10 minutes on that are up (and I'm dripping in sweat, it really gets me working hard!) I head to the mats.

Image from Lifehack.org

At this point I've been working on my Bulgarian Split Squats. If you don't know what they are you can view this video on youtube of Erin Stern.
I've been varying my weights whilst I get comfortable with the balance and the motion of squatting essentially on one leg, but I definitely need to work harder and squat lower, I am nowhere near Erin's level of almost hitting the ground with my lower knee where I've dropped so low, I need to work harder!

I've also been twinning this into a superset with tricep dips, and using the bench for those putting my feet as far out in front of me as I can. My shoulders are starting to look better for it but I can't say my triceps look any smaller! The arms always take such a long time to get smaller and show muscle.

Image from Women's Health Mag

After doing two sets of each of the squats and tricep dips I've been using 2 4kg dumbells and doing another super set of 15 x lateral raises followed by 15 x shoulder press. My shoulders need so much work and they burn after doing almost anything, I need to vastly improve on this area too!

Once I've completed this I get back on the Wave machine for another 10 minutes, as long as I've got some decent music plugged in this second set can go faster that the first set!

Needless to say I come off it a bit of a sweaty mess, last night it actually almost ran off my nose, then you know that you're working hard!

Then I get back to the mats. I've been loving doing some glute bridges recently as they were something I'd never tried before, here is a video for you to see. I've been trying to do them with a 5kg or 8kg weight to make it a bit more difficult, but you can feel the burn in these and the bonus is its a lying down exercise too!

Recently I've been getting as much ab and core exercises in as possible, planks are always the best but I can't say I'm good at them.
I actually prefer side planks with dips so I do a couple of them too,

My lower stomach area is definitely my worst feature, so I've been working double hard on doing leg drops but have to be careful with my lower back. I either hold a weight and alternate left leg, right leg and then both together, or I go crazy and do a many together as I can and I'm definitely improving.
I've been trying to push my hips up at the last minute to do a reverse crunch too and it's a killer ab combo!

So this is what I've been doing recently, trying to rev up my metabolism again and get back into fitness with some completely new exercises.

What have you been trying out recently? Have you mastered Bulgarian split squats? Do you have any tips?

Are you a fan of the Wave machine for burning calories and getting you sweaty?

I'm aiming to lose some pounds that I've gained recently, hoping to lose half a stone over the next few weeks by getting back into exercise and reigning in my diet.

What are you fitness goals?

L xxx

Fitness Friday: Tips from Personal Trainers

After my post last week where I shared my tips that I found help me to get back into my work out routine in the new year, I thought I'd share with you some tips I've found from personal trainers that might also work.

It's always the second and third weeks of January where motivation starts to disappear and you can easily fall back into your old ways before you've even realised it!

So here's some of the best tips to help you keep on going:

1) The image you have of yourself will define what you will work towards - get a mental image in your head of what you want and keep it there. This is why I love pinterest and instagram for providing inspiration all the time and giving me something to work towards. Find something that will work for your body type and work on it.

2) Eat MORE good food MORE often - love this one! Snack more on veggies, keep your protein intake regular throughout the day and don't let your blood sugar drop. I try and eat every few hours, this means I never get really hungry and get to the cravings stage so I don't ruin my hard work. It REALLY helps and although you might think its weird to eat more food more often, as long as its the right food it won't cause you to gain weight. Since January I've been so hungry I've barely stopped eating but as its all good food its OK!

3) Carbs are GOOD - Carbs are necessary and without them you won't really get very far. Make sure you have them for breakfast and lunch especially as it will carry you through the bulk of the day, and particularly before and after a workout to fuel yourself and your body. I'm talking brown rice, oats, wholewheat pasta, sweet potato and quinoa, good carbs to keep you going and on track!

4) Don't let your body adapt - We're all guilty of getting into habits, it's the easiest way to make sure you keep going. Initially making yourself go to the same classes to create a habit is great, but after a while your body gets used to it and it doesn't have the same effect. Keep changing it up, try and go to a different class on the same day at the same time to keep your habit, go for a run outside instead of the gym or go for a hike on an unpredictable route. Anything to vary exercise will make sure you get the best out of it. I'll be doing body pump tomorrow morning and I might go really heavy for a different track each week for the next few weeks to shock my muscles into working harder.

5) Don't go all or nothing though - Stay consistent in terms of efforts, don't run every day for 2 weeks and then give up because you've got blisters and shin splints. Allow your body time to build up and recover but keep pushing and don't give up just because you ache more than normal.

6) Prepare everything - Workouts and food in particular. Don't turn up to the gym and wander around deciding what you're going to do, write it down or plan it all in your head and just go for it whilst you're there. Same goes for food, prepare your meals and plan out when you're having what meal, it will help when you're tired after a workout just want to eat, and stop you from going for a takeaway or a ready meal! One of the easiest ways I've learnt to do this is to prep a load of meals on one day and portion them up. You can then freeze some for later on and keep others in the fridge. I also find having cooked chicken and a tupperware of ready cooked quinoa in the fridge helps as I snack on that instead of crisps!

7) Perfect your form - Before you start piling the weights onto the bar make sure you know what you're doing and your form is correct or you'll injure yourself before you start. Not only that but knowing your form and performing the full range of each movement for each rep will get you the most out of each exercise that you possibly can; i.e. squat lower, push up harder and stretch further, it will make you sweatier without a doubt!

8) Focus - This means ignoring your texts, calls and emails whilst you're in the gym. Focus on what you're doing for the 30 minutes or hour you are exercising, not only will this make your workout seem like it goes faster but it will also ensure you get the maximum out of it too. Blast your favourite music and concentrate.

9) Hydrate - The most important factor in weight loss and exercise. Don't forget to stay hydrated and keep a bottle of water near you, I carry one with me all the time and the benefits are endless!

10) Make a record - Take photos for a before and after. You don't need to put these on the internet (I certainly haven't!) But it can help to show you progress that the scale might not. I've also started to keep a journal of my dirt and exercise habits so that I can see progress. An increase in distance when I run, or a change in pace, an increase in weights or just about anything really. I'm hoping it will give me a boost when I see how far I've progressed or how my body has changed.

What do you think of the tips? Are there any that stand out to you that you think might help? 

I know I need to keep changing up my classes and exercise and definitely need to prepare my snacks better!

L xxx

Fitness Update

Afternoon folks!

I haven't written a fitness update in a little while nor any recipe posts, things have just been so busy with a new job that I haven't really had chance. My hours have changed (again!) with the new job so now I've had to change up my schedule again too. This isn't really a problem just more difficult to get into a new plan and make it a habit again.

I've been trying to get to at least one Body Pump class in the week as well as my normal Saturday morning class as it is definitely the most beneficial for me. My progress in it is slow but every week I push myself to go heavier in something different and squat lower, hold my plank longer and try not to have sneaky breaks in shoulder track! I hate working shoulders as it's such a weakness for me and the burn can sometimes end up being real pain. I'm working on it.......but it's hard.

That said I've been making up my own routines as well as using my latest program from my trainer.

My latest program uses a ladder formation with a 15 minute recovery period on the cross trainer in between. She's got me doing squat jumps and burpees all the way from one each to ten of each, then all the way back down to one. I'm not going to lie, it's a killer but really good for an all over work out. I've felt a difference since doing them but in all honesty I've only ever made it up to 10 of each and haven't ever got as far as doing back down to one......yet. I think it's mostly an issue with time as it would take me so long to do and my evenings are limited but i also get quite dizzy sometimes too.

After the recovery period I then have to do press ups followed by an oblique crunch (bringing round one knee to your elbow at a time whilst still in press up position). These have also been good but the same problem still exists and I'm yet to make it back down from 10!

Aside from that here's my routine that I've been doing by myself, taken from instagram videos and other programs I've had in the past:

It's an absolute killer and i repeat it twice with a bit of active recovery in between. It's a full body workout with almost everything I could think of thrown in to keep my body guessing and my abs and shoulders were definitely still feeling it a few days later. It was exactly what i needed and I'm going to do it a few more times and then switch it up and make a new one.

If you have any suggestions for things to add to my next workout leave them in the comments! If you try this workout let me know :)

Do you have a personal trainer? Do you follow any particular programs or get inspiration from any online sources? I'd love to know!

L xxx

Life Update

Hi there!

It has been a little while since I did a life update as things have been so busy. I recently started a new job and things have been crazy, but I've been up to lots! Here's my pictures:

Having seen lots of pictures on twitter of everyone's Harry Potter t shirts I couldn't resist picking up the same as they were all from Primark and perfect for mine and M's upcoming Harry Potter party!
I got the Gryffindor tshirt (above) and the Hogwarts pyjamas.

I've been having a bit of a chocolate fest recently; it's been a long time since I've eaten it but with my Amelia Rope goodies (see post from yesterday) I've been given the taste for it again. I've made a nutella and banana smoothie, and my aunty made a massive white chocolate cheesecake for a family meal, it was HUGE!

 

That said, I've also been back at the gym a lot. My new job is based on shifts so I've been on earlies this week, meaning 4.30am starts which hasn't been too fun! However I've finished at 2 so this meant I could go to the gym straight from work and avoid the rush hour or go home and go back later for classes. I've been really enjoying being able to go to body pump again and building my weights back up, and hopefully seeing some results!

Both me and M went to an event recently for Neal's Yard Remedies and were kindly given the Wild Rose Beauty Balm. I honestly cannot describe how amazing this multi functional product is and it's become my go to for every skin problem. Come back tomorrow for a full review, even the packaging is just so beautiful!

With all of the NATO summit going on in Cardiff it was hard not to get frustrated with public transport and laugh at the ridiculous 'ring of steel' you can just about see on the corner of the picture above.
Me and my parents went down to Cardiff Bay to see the warships there, this is HMS Duncan one of the billion pound ships commissioned by the UK government. It was quite impressive to see it considering it's not something I'm interested in and the whole place was packed.

It was good to see so many policemen (and women!) from so many areas and they even grouped together for their own selfies in front of the ships!

I've also been on a bit of a spending spree (slaps the back of my hand). I managed to buy the Benefit items and Rimmel brow product with my points, the new eye liner was free when you swapped an old liner, the Mac lipstick (Coral Bliss) was a Back to Mac purchase and I also had money to spend on my Debenhams Beauty Card which was the rest of the Urban Decay products.

I was super lucky to have all of this as I've been saving them up for a splurge for a while! I've still got Boots points so I'm looking for my next Benefit buy! Here's a picture with the Pulp Fiction palette, Perversion liquid liner, Perversion mascara, Coral Bliss lipstick and Coralista:

I also had my hair dyed back darker finally! I've been waiting to do it for ages but wanted to wait until the summer months were over. Here's how light my hair was to begin with and how dark it was after dying it:

I loved it but unfortunately it's going to take a few goes to cover it all permanently as some of the colour has washed off already. I think when I go back to see my hairdresser next I will ask her to do it darker again too, as my natural colour is almost black.

I was planning on being good and not buying any more products now that I'm working again and can do overtime and hopefully pay my parents back whilst working my way through my stash.

That idea was totally thrown out the window when Space NK had their deal where you spend £150 and get a fabulous goodie bag, this time with 28 products in. I thought I was going to miss out but then I luckily sold some textbooks on amazon which helped towards the cost! Here's what I bought and am super excited to start playing with:

Up until this week I didn't own a Nars product....oops! Hourglass is a brand I've recently been reading about and their blush was too good to refuse, and I'm already a fan of Laura Mercier.

Here's a quick snap of the goodies in the Beauty Anthology bag:

Some products are only sachets or 5ml which is a bit disappointing as it doesn't give you much chance to use them but others are 30 and 50ml and I can't wait to try out all of them.

Do you see any of your favourite products in the goodie bag?? Have you been eating and exercising to make up for it like me? What do you think of my purchases?

I need to reel in my spending that's for sure!


L xxx

Fitness Friday: New Training Program

Hey there! Happy Friday afternoon!

I've been anjoying posting a lot more fitness related posts every Friday afternoon in between my usual fashion, beauty and life posts. If you've enjoyed any of them in particular and want to see more of them let me know. So far I've reviewed some products such as coconut oil and protein pancakes; shared my latest training programs; listed some of my favourite motivational blogs and fitness gurus and lastly showed you some of the recipes I've been loving lately.

Today's post is dedicated to my latest training program. I've been working hard the last few months without much in the way of change in the scales. So I've changed my routine around a bit and have started to lose some fat! I was so pleased i cannot wait to continue and lose a few more pounds of it.

My latest weigh in showed that I'd lost 4lbs which I was happy with but 1lb was of muscle which is not the way to go. Nevertheless I'm trying to stay positive, eat lots of protein, consume more protein shakes as I have slacked off on them for a bit and keep working out.

So my new program! It's very similar to the last which I absolutely loved. The last one was a full body workout with moves that incorporated multiple muscle groups at a time and it was great. This one is similar in that way. It's full of supersets where I have box step ups, squats and lunges all with heavy weights followed by the rowing machine. I repeat this circuit 4 times before getting on the cross trainer for 10 minutes for some active recovery.

After this I then use the chest press and superset it with tricep extensions, followed by the low row superset with bicep curls. This is then followed by a further 10 minutes on the cross trainer before my core work. This involves the pilates 100 and then 5 roll downs which I repeat twice.


I've only done this a few times so far as its so new to me but I really enjoyed the feeling that I could increase my weights so much from what my trainer had written down. She'd been far too lenient with me and was laughing that I'd increased them so much on what she thought. 

It's such a great feeling to know that I've improved so much on what I used to be able to do. I just wish that my running was going as well as the strength is!

I read something the other day which has stuck with me so I'll leave you with it too:

'Don't concentrate on your weight going down; concentrate on your weights going up'

L xxx

Fitness Update

Hello!

I thought I'd start today's Fitness Friday off with my own personal fitness review. A few weeks ago i attended a session with my trainer and I'd been working so hard to get a few pounds off. 

If you've never read a fitness post of mine before then let me fill you in. I'm 5ft 9 so quite tall for a female and a few years ago I weighed a little more than I do now. A few years of uni binge drinking and late night take aways meant I'd piled on about 14-20 lbs (I'm unsure exactly as I've never been someone who weighed herself).

Due to stress i found myself feeling ill after every meal and kept getting stomach cramps so I ended up changing my diet completely cutting out crap food, dairy and bread, and citrus fruits as they were too acidic for me. I lost 17lbs and ever since have been OBSESSED with food in a good way and I absolutely love going to the gym, planning my meals, and generally eating as who doesn't love that?

Obviously i love a binge like everyone else but I've totally changed my lifestyle over time and now i don't crave bad food unless I'm hungover, I combat stress with exercise and I'm generally enthusiastic about the whole thing, reading and researching new foods, recipes and workout routines.

However as with all stories that go along this line, even with my relatively healthy diet and regular exercise, usually 4/5 times a week I've been finding it hard to shift some pounds. I'm not overweight by any means, my BMI is 22 and I regularly do weights so probably have more muscle than others but I'm really conscious of trying to get my fat % down. 

I actually can't remember my specific percentage as my trainer keeps it all recorded for me, but i was OVER THE MOON when I had lost 3lbs of fat the last time I was weighed. It was a huge confidence booster and I was so unbelievable happy.

I've got a long way to go to getting where I want to be as I'd like to lose a further 10lbs of fat before the summer but I'm clearly doing something right this time.

Moving on from that my trainer also gave me my new program which is AMAZING! I'm so into it at the moment that I could scrap all my classes and running just to do it, but I need to keep up my stamina in the others too.

This routine incorporates box step ups with weights, mountain climbers, lunges and lat raises with weights, and squat and press with weights.

In total I use the cross trainer, bike, rower and treadmill for short bursts of cardio and i also have a circuit of exercises to do using TRX which I repeat three times.

It's an all over body blast and although i love it it does take a considerable amount of time. Sometimes i have to cut out the third circuit of TRX exercises because there just isn't enough time during the week.

How have your fitness routines been going lately? Have you got any new programs you'd like to share?

Do you have any running tips for increasing distance to 10 miles plus?

I'd love to hear any of them!

L xxx

Fitness Update

Morning everyone!

Hope you're having a great week so far. I am spending today with my mum at Swindon's Shopping outlet as we need to get a load of birthday presents for family members.....and I can't guarantee I won't pick up a little something for myself too! I need to be good though and hopefully not pick up any more than 1 product....

Anyway, my main reason for posting today is to give you an update on my fitness plans and goals so i hope I don't bore you too much with my waffling on but it's as big a part of my life now as blogging is and I'm sure I'll be mentioning it a lot in future.

I would imagine we've all been on a bit of a health kick after the gluttonous Christmas period and kicking up the exercise a notch was my first priority. I've put together a plan for myself to kick my metabolism back into action, drop the few (!) extra pounds I put on over Christmas and get myself fit and ready for the challenges I've set myself this year.

Let's list these first:

1) 10km run on March 1st
2) Dirty Dozen on June 22nd
3) Tough Mudder August 16th
4) Cardiff Half Marathon October 5th (this is provisional...depends on how TM goes!)

These are the physical tasks I've set myself this year. I'm not a runner by any stretch of the imagination but I've started on the treadmill so that I can force myself to learn! I need to increase my distance so that i can reach 10km by March, and increase this slowly to 20km for TM in August.

If you don't know what Tough Mudder (TM) and Dirty Dozen races are then give them a quick google....basically they're both obstacle courses that require you to run a certain distance and then also tackle a number of obstacles. These range from climbing walls, swimming through ice, running through fire and getting electrocuted all before a free pint and a big party!
They sound very fun and a massive challenge for me as I'd never run further than 5km before let alone completed any obstacles like this.


My current plan is the following:

Monday - Body Combat. This will help with cardio as it burns around 750 calories per class and will help me strengthen my leg and core muscles without high impact like running does. Plus i really enjoy it!

Tuesday-Friday - Gym program. I have one at the moment which is great but I'm planning on meeting with my trainer to update my program and therefore get some new exercises related to TM training. I will need some serious upper body and core strength to get me through it! I plan on going to the gym to do this program with 20 minutes on the cross trainer or a run twice during the week.

Saturday - Body Pump. I love this class and it will hopefully help me increase the weights i can use and therefore get stronger, i just need to be committed enough to increase my weights each week!

Sunday - Run day! Sunday's will be dedicated to an outdoor run around the parks near my house. This means I will be running outside in daylight instead of on a treadmill as it's currently too dark to do this when I've finished work at the moment. As the nights get lighter again I'll be running outside in the evenings.


Having been doing this loose plan for 2 weeks I can say that it is hard but achievable to go 5 times a week if you plan your life and put the effort into it whilst you are there. It's hard to be motivated all the time especially when you don't see any results. I've been trying to eat more veg than fruit recently and have been having soup instead of fruit on my morning breaks to fill me up. That combined with increasing my water intake and I've been feeling like a beached whale!

Luckily my body has got used to it not and hopefully I'll start seeing some results soon.


Aside from these challenges I am hoping that it will help me lose about 1 stone (14lbs) and tone up my arms and core where I could do with being a bit less wobbly! I'd like to be comfortable in a bikini in case the situation where I need to wear one arises!

If any of you have some tips for my diet or exercise plans, or anything that will help me in my quest to survive TM then I'd be grateful. If you have any challenges you've set yourself this year please share them with me below, I'd love to know of any others and of your plans :)

L xxx

Tea Time!

Both me and M have been so busy the last few weeks and lots of things have happened, so I decided to do a catch up post instead of a product review today. So get yourself a brew and settle down.....

I am absolutely loving my new job and it's everything I've been hoping for....but helllllllllllllllllllll is it hard work!

There's so much to learn my brain feels like its about to explode every evening I come home, I've even got into bed at 7pm and completely crashed out til the next day.

I'm still training but now that I've got the basics I'm getting to do a lot more fun things (if you can call analysing drugs a fun thing?!) so fingers crossed my brain won't be so bombarded soon.

They've even offered for me to a PhD next year...eeeeek!

The biggest event this week was of course M's birthday! We had a lush day at the spa on Thursday, we started off in the gym knowing that we had a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge afternoon tea to follow:



Look at those sandwiches, warm scones and welsh cakes, pastries and even jelly and strawberries!

There must have been 1000s of calories on this tray so I was pretty glad I'd been to the gym before it.

 

Afterwards we got glammed up and went for a few cocktails before M met her family for food.

I wore out an animal print jump suit with nude court shoes, and M had on a dress she got for her birthday which was a gorgeous burgundy lace dress from Lydia Rose Brights collection.

 

We have the same plan of attack whenever we go for cocktails, first drink is a Cosmo followed by a Long Island Iced Tea. After that we tend to grab whatever else is on the deal (ha!) but we thought we'd try a different one called a Kentucky Jewel which we would 100% recommend ;)

We also went shopping last weekend and I picked up a few naughty pieces!
First up was an unplanned dress purchase....a beautiful red dress from Oasis in the sale for £35. I couldn't resist it as it was so beautiful on, a classic shape and colour......and in the sale!

The blazer was a cheeky Zara purchase. I did need a blazer for the weddings I have coming up, and although this beauty was £50 I know it will be worn a lot and will go with every dress that I have to wear to weddings and other summer events. Hopefully this will be worth the cash!

I've been working hard at the gym recently so I decided to pick myself up some new trainers. I know everyone loves the super bright coral Nikes and I would love to get some for myself but at £90 with crazy delivery I will have to wait for now!
I picked these up from the Nike Factory store for a bargainous £38 and cannot wait to rock up to the gym today with them on.

What have you been up to recently? What have you been spending on and looking forward to?

Me and M have a night out planned for next week.....I'm thinking of wearing the red dress! Do you like it?

Hope you're all having a gorgeous weekend in the sun!

L xxx

Spring Series: Fitness!

This is the second in our new Spring Series of getting your body ready for some sunshine!

Last week's post was dedicated to Body Care and we discussed our favourite products we use to scrub and moisturise our skin into silkiness.

This week is dedicated to fitness, as we both have our own ways to keep fit and healthy, which all helps when you have to lessen your layers after indulging over Christmas!

My personal favourite ways to stay fit involve going to the gym, taking a range of classes, walking the dog and swimming.

A few years ago I wouldn't have been seen dead in a gym.

Just over a year ago though I signed up to a gym which has everything, a new personal trainer program every 6 weeks, a swimming pool, and a massive range of classes to keep even me entertained.

I am the kind of person who needs variety to keep me going in my quest to tone up.

I have classes that I dislike - pilates isn't physical enough for me and I love to hate spin though it is a great feeling when you've completed a class.

But there are so many that not even I can be bored!

My favourites are Body Pump (great for fat burning) and Body Combat (amazing for stress relief!).

The gym program is great, I would never have tried half the things that my trainer has given me to do and this I think is priceless.

I've tried swiss ball, TRX and more importantly kettle bells.

These are my absolute favourite as you really do see results after using them, they burn so many calories and require multiple muscle groups to work together maximising your workout time.

So basically what I'm saying is, if you were thinking about joining a gym 100% go for it!

It has quite literally changed my life and although it is very expensive I most definitely think it is worth it, for my health and general fitness, as well as how my body has changed.

However I don't think that you HAVE to join an expensive gym to get the most out of your workout.

Walking my dog or wandering around local areas such as beaches are a great way to burn calories and tone up, particularly if there's some sort of elevation involved like hill walking or hiking.

This is not my dog but I have such a similar picture I had to put it up!

The zumba classes at my gym aren't particularly energetic, so I have been to others that have a younger instructor and found these were BRILLIANT.

Zumba workouts are great fun, dancing around with your friends to the latest music is fun and burns a substantial amount of calories.

Swimming is also a great way to burn calories but I'll leave that to M to talk about as she's the bigger fan!

If you're lacking in motivation I find that Pinterest is one of the best places to look at.

They have so many pictures of inspirational women doing all sorts of exercises with beautiful bodies to aspire to and hints and tops for anything you can imagine.

If you're still lacking in motivation I find a new gym outfit or trainers always helps too!

If all else fails, I think about what makes me angry. It's a weird thing to do I know, but i think of what really gets on my nerves, things that have happened etc that I need to physically work off my stress or anger.

It works for me and I always feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders after doing it.

What are your work out tips??

If you'd like to check out my pinterest board the link is here.

(all pictures in this post are from there!)

L xxx

L was right I do love swimming. I used to run and did a lot of it during summer last year. You can read about how I got on with Couch to 10k here. This program made running so enjoyable for me and it really is great if you've not run before as it makes it so easy to build up running. 

I ran until October but by then an old knee and hip injury had resurfaced. When new year came around I decided to start again as I enjoyed going out and it's a great way to burn calories quickly. After one run my knee was hurting again so I had to find a new way to lose weight and tone up.

Since moving I was now near a great pool and after looking on line I saw a great deal for just £23 a month for unlimited swimming. Swimming is always something I enjoy and it's a great all over body tone. I tend to do 45 mins swimming and that burns around 500 calories. I favour breast stroke at the moment but need to vary my swimming to get better toning.

I'm someone who favours at home work outs to save money. One of the best work out DVDs for me is 30 Day shred. This is a great program and only takes 20 minutes a day. Until you've tried it you won't believe how much you sweat in just 20 minutes. It's also great for when you are busy. I've written about it a bit more  here.

I also recently bought an indoor skipping rope. Most people thought I was crazy but you can remove the rope and it has weighted ends. Skipping is also a great cardio exercise.

Lastly when I had the Wii I loved Wii Zumba. It's such great exercise and fun too. I'm thinking of getting it for my others halfs play station.

I like to find ways to do exercise at home and vary the types of exercise I do so I don't get bored. L is right motivation is key. I sometimes get up super early and go before work. It's nice to finish work and know I don't have to leave the house again. Also it means you can't make up excuses all day not to go. I'm great at these.

For me at the moment my motivation is Weddings. I have two this summer to go too so really want to be toned.

What's your favourite exercise? Any tips for us?

Love M

xxx

Gym Training Program

I mentioned in last week's post that I had a new training program created for me by a trainer at my gym.

This is (luckily!) a free service as part of my membership which was a relief as I really don't have any more money to spend!

Anyway, I thought I'd share with you the exercises she has given me to do.

This routine isn't 'easy' but the exercises aren't complicated and can be done using weights that you have at home etc.

It's always hard having the discipline to actually get up and do the exercises but I always feel so much better once I've done them and after a week of doing this program I can already see a difference.

Image from 123RF.com

It's based on using your core muscles (as mine are pretty rubbish!) and just generally losing fat and toning up.

A lot of the exercises engage multiple muscle groups, and I'm all for multi-tasking!

For this you will need:

2 x 4kg kettle bell (or light weights)

8kg kettle bell (or heavier weight)

Optional:

Swiss ball

2kg weight

1) Warm up - I usually go on the X-trainer for 5 minutes to get my heart rate up and my body warm. You could cycle, run around the block, up and down the stairs etc to get your body ready for exercise.

2) Press ups - For my exercise I use a swiss ball, place my hands on either side and do 2 sets of 15 press ups. This is why the swiss ball is optional as it's the only exercise that you use it for.

You could do 2 sets of 15 normal press ups instead if you don't have the ball.

Image from Fitness Magazine

At the moment I lean the ball against the wall to help steady it, as the whole movement requires a lot of effort to complete the press up and keep the ball steady but you can move this away from the wall to make it harder, and also choose a smaller swiss ball to up the difficulty.

3) Kettle bell swing - This uses a 4kg kettle bell to engage the core muscles, particularly lower stomach and swing the kettle bell from between your legs so that it ends around 90 degrees in front of you.

You hold onto the top of the kettle bell with both hands and swing using your hips. You don't need to bend your knees much for this (as I started doing!) as this is not a squat movement.

Image from About.com

(Ignore the last image, you do not need to go that high! As long as the kettle bell swings out in front of you this is fine)

If you can feel this in your lower stomach muscles when your swinging then you know for sure that it's working! Do this constantly for 1 minute in between each exercise and it will help to strengthen and tone your core muscles and midriff, and at the end of the day who doesn't want that!

You could use a normal 4kg weight to do this and hold it at one end, just make sure you're holding it evenly.

4) Goblin squat - This is where the 8kg weight comes in! I use a kettle bell so that I can use the handle on it.

This exercise is pretty simple, all you need to do is hold the weight at your chest level with both hands, squat down making sure your heels are pressing into the ground and then after you've risen from the squat raise the weight above your head level to stretch your arms up.

Basically this is just a squat and press with a weight, it engages your legs, core and arms/shoulders so definitely a multi tasker!

Image from FitnessMad.com

Repeat 3)

5) Bike - Using a bike for this would be easiest as this is cardio number one of two in this program. The program set for me has you cycling at a low level for 2 minutes, then a high level for 2 minutes and repeating for a 12 minute exercise (normally levels 3 and 5).

The rpm's must also be kept above 80.

Instead at home you could do interval training as running for 2 minutes (high level) and then walking for 2 minutes for the low level.

Repeat 3)

6) Lat Pulldown - In my program I use the Lat Machine at 20kg and do 2 sets of 15 reps.

I have absolutely no idea how you're supposed to do this outside of the gym though so I'm going to suggest you leave it out if you're not at the gym!

Repeat 3)

7) Lunge and Curl - This is pretty straight forward and common exercise. Using a 4kg kettle bell/weight in each hand I lunge, raise back up and then curl up both arms.

This is repeated at 2 sets of 15 for each leg (so 60 altogether....killer on the arms!)

It helps when doing this if you breathe in on the lunge and out on the curl.

My arms BURN after doing this 60 times so that can only mean its working right?!

Repeat 3)

8) Side Plank - My biggest hate is my stomach, and so consequently it has no muscle tone and every exercise hurts! When I tried to do this initially it was a disaster and I was laughed at!

After doing it for a week however I can already complete the 2 sets on both sides without collapsing woo!

Basically for this one you need to lie on your side with your arm propping you up.

Then you need to raise your hips into the air so your body is in a straight line being held up by your elbow and feet.

Your other arm is then pointing at the ceiling and so your body is in a cross type shape.

If only this was the end!

You then need to move your arm that's in the air in a swinging motion (slowly! or you'll unbalance) towards your other armpit so that it sort of scoops underneath your body twisting as you go.

Image from 6packatSixty.blogspot

This is hard to get the hang of and needs practice to stop you wobbling all over the place.

I find watching my moving arm makes it easier and make sure that your fixed arm lines up directly below your shoulder, if it moves further away you could injure yourself.

Repeat this 10 times on each side, twice.

The first time you'll die, but the third time I did this today and I managed it, it just takes a little time.
Once you've got the hang of it you can also add in the 2kg optional weight and hold this in your moving hand....maybe one day!

Repeat 3)

9) Pilates 100 - This is a dream compare to the side plank!

Lie down on the floor with your legs bent like you would to do crunches etc.

Curl up and raise your shoulder blades off the floor by a good inch, and pulse your hands at your sides in groups of ten, counting to 100.

Image from VideoJug

I don't ever feel this but my stomach muscles shake! So I know I'm doing it right...

You could start off doing 2 sets of 10, 5 times to get to the hundred, aiming to do a full 100 in 1 go at the end.

Repeat 3)

10) X-trainer - This is my favourite exercise.

Using the interval training preset profile (i.e. the one that looks like a castle top, up down up down etc) you will need to put this on level 4 for 10 minutes, keeping you speed up to 120+ rpm's. 

You can again do whatever interval training you like, at home walking/running is the easiest.

Hope you enjoyed looking at my program!

I would love to know if any of you will be testing some of them out, they really are doable at home aside from the lat pull down.

As I've said, having done this 3 times I can already see a difference in my stomach which is great for me as I really want to get it toned up for my graduation.

I'm down to 7 weeks now, I'm hoping to lose 1lb per week but I'm not sure how possible this will be with eating so much protein!

As long as I'm burning fat I'm happy :)


I always use Pinterest for some exercise inspiration:

 

Would you try any of these exercises? Do you have your own fitness program?

I would honestly love to know so leave a comment!

L xxx