Loving my Weekends!

Weekends ARE your lifestyle!

How you choose to spend your downtime is a huge part of your life.. two full days of weekend.. that’s 48 hrs, minus 16 hrs for sleep, leaving 32 hrs for QUALITY TIME!

How did you spend your quality time this weekend?

In between housework, cuddling my children, and generally lazing in my bedroom, chilling with some computer games and doing a bit of study, I’ve been working out!

3pm Saturday.. Kickboxing with Doug.  Awesome fun although I think a week of skipping gym time really hit home – I had to take a five minute breather when I started with the hot flushes!

6pm Saturday.. Nat called for an impromptu visit to Ambitionz!  The new 24hr system is up and running and we decided to check it out together.  Well she caned me.. she wanted to box but holding the mitts – I swear that just means she wanted to tell me what to do and make me work my arse off!  About 10mins later and the hot flushes were back!

8am Sunday.. SSS JuJu Jelly Legs Program on the 12wbt.  This goes down as my all time favourite workout!  My legs are caned!

I had plans of coming home and heading off to Yeppoon for some bushwalking by the beach and then coming home for a run.. but my legs are just not co-operating so a hot bath tonight is on the cards!

But last weekend.. OMG!  My Sunday was awesome!

I did the JuJu Jelly Legs SSS in the morning, then went to climb up Mt Jim Crow – amazing stuff and a great time with the boys! And then, just because I am insane (and possibly spurred on my the motivation of a Roast dinner!) I did a ‘quick’ 6.5km run – 45mins thankyou!

I am slowly learning that I don’t need to ‘train’.  I just need to live a healthy life.  Going to the gym is fun and builds my fitness but it isn’t an end to itself – however knowing that it is preparing me for a full and fun life – that makes it worthwhile!

Adventures in… Cross-fit!

I’ve heard so much about Cross-fit in recent years, particularly since the appearance of Commando Steve on The Biggest Loser.  He has been a great ambassador for the program in that he epitomises the philosophies behind it.  Functional fitness and strength, a strong mental attitude, and well-rounded physique.
For anyone who has no idea of what Cross-fit is.. check out this u-tube video!

A new cross-fit group has started up in the Rockhampton Fitness Centre so I took the opportunity to go check it out and see what it is all about.
Costs:  First class is free, and after that it depends on if you are a member of the gym or not.  For each class, $7.50 for members, $20 for non-members, or for a 10 session pass it is $150.  There are also fortnightly and monthly unlimited passes for $75 and $170 respectively.  Remember to contact them directly for updated costs, discounts for emergency services personnel, or any specials that might be running!
When:  Classes run for an hour which include a walkthrough of the WOD and what progressions are available so you can work at your own level.  There are morning classes, Monday to Friday at 6am, and evenings at 5.45pm.  Also a Saturday class runs at 9.30am. 
Contact: I contacted them through their face-book page and they were prompt at returning my message.  You can also contact the Rockhampton Fitness Centre (aka Norm’s Gym) directly by phone.
I went along on a Friday night to be blessed with only one other person in the class.  Friday night generally has a low attendance due to it being.. well, Friday night!  I would recommend going along on a Friday for your first class if you want a more personal introduction! 
I was also assured that there is generally a good representation of women in the class.  The skill level is generally at a beginner to intermediate level as the program has only started recently in the area, so if you want to start, now is a great time to do it!
On a personal note, I am very impressed with my first workout. It was a 20min AMRAP of what looked like a fairly easy workout, once my progression modifications were made anyway!).
Warm-up: 3x (200m + 10 long jumps) then stretching

• 2 Muscle-ups (1 = 3 jumping chins, 3 tri-cep dips)
• 4 Headstand Push-ups (1 = 1 Pike Push-up with Feet Elevated)
• 8 Kettlebell swings (12kg)

And of course we ended with some stretching.
I managed 7 and a bit rounds.. my goal was 10 so I will be repeating this again to beat myself! 
And therein lies the attraction of Cross-fit.  You not only get to challenge yourself every single workout, but you also get to really see your progress by recording your personal bests for any workout that you do!
Even though I am not a member I am seriously considering buying that 10 session pass so I can do a couple of more classes and see how that fits in with my training.  I really enjoyed the session itself, I enjoyed the feeling of motivation that comes from trying to beat the clock and the encouragement from the instructor and other participants.

Gear up!

I love this task!

Okay, so I am already a gym member, have a punching bag out the back, and my iPhone with Runkeeper for keeping distance for runs, but I love to ‘gear up’ for each round!

So the picture to the right:

• Halo headbands
• Polar FT4 HRM
• Lorna Jane pants and slogan shirt
• Nike running shoes
• Adidas running belt

Not included in the pic but essential none the less:

• BPA-free water bottle
• Hat suitable for running or outdoor sports
• Sunscreen (good quality!)
• A good pair of sports socks
• gym towel (still need to get a good one of these!)

Other things I have bought for classes and just for fun:

• boxing gloves and bag
• gel seat cover for RPM
• Gym bag (I have the Lorna Jane rustic bag which I adore! – see below)
• and a running skirt.. just coz they are awesome!

 

Trying to get back into Gear!

 

I have a confession… I haven’t been on program since the end of Round 2.  The week after I was fine because I was busy and had finale to plan for.  But when I came back from finale I just didn’t get back into my routine.  I am floating in ‘No Man’s Land’: Pre-season.

I feel lost and bewildered.  Unable to grab onto anything solid – a routine is what I am searching for!  I went for a run today. It is not a routine but it is a step in the right direction.  Now I just have to keep making that same step, over and over and pretty soon I will be where I need to be.  So here is to first steps!

And to making that shirt fit me instead of being so tight I can see the fat rolls from here!

Working Out Pics!

From zero to sixty..

Smashing it up.. Burpee style!

Burpees that is!  That is right.  I ventured into the land of the burpee... Big Time!  I needed to recover from a bad day yesterday with a good challenge.  I not only exercised at home, but I completed 2 rounds of next weeks mini milestone SSS!.

You see, yesterday I decided to play on the slippery slide.  It started with a half a hash brown from Maccas (because I reward my kids with bad food.. go figure).  Then we went for KFC for lunch.. again feeding my kids crap as a way to reward them.  Instead of having the leftover chicken satay, I had a wicked wings snack pack- chips and all - 530 cals! A bad choice, but, thought I, a nice light dinner, work hard at the gym, I will be fine.

But then all hell broke loose!  I lost my days work on the computer.  Stupid me had opened my file from email and not saved it on my hard-drive - meaning all the autosaves and saves were in a temp file that disappears when Word closes.  And close it did!  I had decided to put in a table of contents before emailing it off to my lecturer and that is when Word pooped itself, restarted and I was back to the file I had opened 6 hours earlier.  A stupid mistake, and one I have made before so I should know better!

Now, this put me in stress mode.  Hubby had already come home saying he wanted fish and chips for dinner, I was heading to the gym at 6.30pm,   I was hungry from not having a snack, I wanted to see if I could recover the document, needed to catch up my work to send it off... result = one huge peice of battered fish and a couple of chips and an awful sick feeling all night, and all morning.  And, I missed my gym session.  
Add to that an awful night's sleep - a midnight 'cold tablet' due to a stuffed up nose, and I slept in until 11am this morning!  I still felt like poop but I got my shit together and went and did 2 rounds of next weeks mini milestone .. including 60 burpees!

Until Wednesday I had never done a burpee but this week I had a go at one and hurt my thumb in the process!  But today I did 60 of them!  My workout went like this:

5min warm up run
30 lunges (each side)
30 step ups (each side) - I only had a small step so did them really fast!
30 squats
30 push-ups
15 reverse pull-ups/ 30 back extensions on the mini coupe (the kids version!)
30 crunches
30 burpees
5min run and back to the lunges for one more round.

it took me an hour and killed 335 cals which is pretty high for me (anywhere between 300 and 400 is a hard session for me). 

Crunch, baby,Crunch!

But what made my day was that my middle child, JD, joined me.. he was doing his own boxing circuit - some punches, run around the trampoline, do some flips/rolls/push-ups on the tramp, back to the punching bag and smash it out some more.. etc.  So cute!  The little guy is 8 years old and sooo sweet!  He is the one to thank for these lovely pictures of me..

When Burpees Go Bad.... 

Doing the Burpee!

The last one.. I think my face says it all!

Week 5 begins on a High!

My muscles!

So a bit of good lighting and a whole of workout and.. Can you see it?  That nice little muscle poking up just a tiny bit?  It took a lot of flexing energy to get that photo - in the middle of my final set of push-ups and the end of a chest/arms day. But there it is.. I can see it, feel it, and kiss it! 

So yup, I am feeling nice and powerful today (And yes, the big muscly people can stop giggling in the back row).  My workout went well.  I did my rowing/push-up circuit okay - on toes, and went through the rest quite well.  the lat-pull downs at 23kg, the assisted chins at 43kg (12kg) with 3 sets of 6, reverse pull-ups on the treadmill bar (these felt off though), 6kg for the dumbbell chest press on fitball, dropset was the cable row which I did 8/8 reps at 30 and 23 kg, cable crossover I did at 36kg (it said it was equivelent to 1/4 the weight shown) but I am not sure if I am doing these right, and the chest press on incline I did with 15kg on the bar (I think the bar is 1-2kg).  My final set of pushups really were hard - not painful, just the muscles didn't even seem to be there (3x8reps).  The abs circuit was good... the planks I did on toes for the first circuit at 1min, then 3mins on knees with no problem for the other two.  The assisted cruch with medicine ball was great - I think I need more of these as that is where I am stuggling to move up the abs levels!

I walked away feeling fantastic.. 250cals easily burnt and my first 500ml of water down the hatch!

Climb that mountain!

My MiniMilestone was a big one this week and very nearly didn't happen.  I have struggled with my JFDI this week, struggled with decisions beyond my control, and am still in the recovery phase after a bout of illness.  I woke this morning with a massive headache (continuing from last night) which I think was due to using a little too much of my neck yesterday.. but more on that later!  I did it though, I ran/walked/shuffled up Mt Archer - 5km, and 474m up (last time it said 380m up though so who knows!).

So my weekend started yesterday with my fitness test first up!  I wasnt' feeling the best but I had commited to meeting Nat (Snowbear, aka Poptart Lady) for my first ever Body Pump class!  I had not done what I should have done on Thursday (because I had to work) and Friday (because I was a lazy ass), so I need to get my fitness test done that morning or it wasnt' going to happen.  So JFDI...

I did my 1km time trial in 4: 59 !  I almost cried!  That is an improvement on my original 5: 36 from 4 weeks ago.  I am well and truely in advanced for cardio fitness.
Push-Ups:  I did 34 in the 60 secs - I ran out of time rather then got too fatigued as I was on rough ground and was shifting around a bit.  I am sure I can improve on that again.
Wall Sit: I did worse in!  I only lasted 1:07 rather then the 1: 19 of last time.  I am thinking it was  form thing though - I remember last time I was thinking that the wall was a bit rough and holding me  up a bit!  This time I felt like I was doing it properly!
Ab Stage:  I am still at 0!  I thought I might get there but I can't get past a crunch.  It could be a form thing, or it could be that after 3 children I have a lot of core work to do!  I am working on it, but I may need to up the ante if I really want to get a sit up done! 
Flexibility:  I managed to hit the 0 mark with some effort on the third go, and a bit of a bounce to it as well... not sure if it really counts.  Still a huge improvement on 5cm short of 0!  Another intermediate for this one!
So all up, my fitness is 1x advanced, 3x intermediate, and 1x beginner! Good improvements all round, and a good indication on what I need to work on.

Now, next big thing was that I did my first Pump class, and followed it with an hours cardio to hit 500cals for the day!  A huge thankyou to Nat (Snowbear) for being my motivation and companion in pain!  I went low on weights, really could have done a lot more but will see how I go next week.  I like the idea of Body Attack plus Body Pump as my super Saturday, and then a nice slow Balance class on Sunday!  I will trial doing a FitBall class as my core workout this week as well, and I might even try a Zumba class for fun on Tuesday (though this conflicts with my 'reading' at school).  What is even more awesome though, is that this is now a pretty minor thing, to do a new class.  A few weeks back, it was a major thing - I would have worried before hand, stressed out about it, spent the class with my 'nerves' on high.. It would have big deal!  But now, it is normal to do this.  How awesome is that!

Okay, up to the big deal for today... 5km, 400+ elevation, 500+ calories later, and one mountain conquered!  That is right, I walked it two weeks ago with Ash and Kobie in about 1hr and 10mins, but this week I tackled it alone and with a time in mind.. under an hour!  I did it in under 55mins, and that was with a fair bit of stopping and walking towards the end!  I took a few photos along the way, I kept thinking.. this must be the last corner.. and taking a photo, only to find it was not the last corner, so I have 3 photos of the 'last corner' lol!  My wonderful family were waiting for me at the top and ran the last 50m with me!

From Runkeeper:  It was fairly accurate this time!  The pictures were taken were the photo snaps are indicated on the map!

The veiw from abotu 3/4 the way up.  Looking down at Rockhampton.

Is this the last bend?

Surely this must be the last bend?

Nope, it wasn't the last bend but the view was awesome!

Now this one was the last bend!  Up the top there is about another 50m round a steep corner to get to the carpark (or you can take the stairs! :o).

Yup I made it to the top and still had the energy to smile!  My heart sure loves me today!

Finding my way.

Breakthrough today at the gym!  No tears lower body and abs workout purely because I accepted where I am now.  I need to concentrate on form, learning how to do the exercises, learning where I am at now.  Pushing yourself is all well and good, but pushing too hard will mean you won't be working your target muscles effectively!  I also learnt a very important lesson in self-talk and how it affects our actions.

Today I learnt that I can do squats.. and do them well.  I can even do sumo squats!  I can do hamstring curls on a fitball, and I am learning to do lunges!
I can already see massive improvements in my abs.. I can do side crunches so easily now - I want to do the twisties though so I am doing a bit of research on how to build up the right muscles!  But omg!  I can do proper side planks!  I could only hold for 10secs but by golly I reckon I will be doing full minute ones in a couple of weeks!

Food wise I have been doing a lot better.. still getting caught out with midnight snacking but I am keeping it protein based (gotta love baked beans!).  I did eat some fantales and a freddo frog yesterday much to my disgust but I learnt something very important about how I talk.  I met up with a colleague as I was walking up to my office and she commented that I had lost weight.  Happy face!  I said yup, given up chocolate, I am such a chocolate addict I can eat a whole family block without thinking!  I went on to say that I was doing some strength training .. really sore (she is an instructor at the gym so I wasn't gabbling for no reason! lol) blah blah.  Anyways, a few hours I went to a library session and there was chocolate out ready for us.. so I grabbed one.. and another with my chocolate 'personality' coming out full force.  I went back to being that chocolate addict instead of the person who says no to chocolate.  I really think that if I hadn't of had that conversation earlier then I would not have indulged!

So today I have had my weightwise oats and cuppa tea with natvia sweetener, yogurt (forme) after my workout with a cuppa tea with half a sugar, and then made up the broccoli soup (took a lot longer then it said it would mind you!).  I accidently used twice the parmesan I should have .. weighed out 30g as a single serve without thinking that it is meant to be two serves but I reckon it's okay as I didn't have any bread to go with it!  Very filling I must say.. I will have to sit and rest while my stomach processes all those healthy vitamins and minerals!

Sooo tired!

Today has been a hard day.  Both with my exercise and life in general.  It began with a gain on the scales and just kept getting worse...

I don't know what happened with my scales.. it was the new ones that were evil and gave me a 0.55g gain on last week.  My other scales were a loss - a very small one, but still a loss!  I am thinking it was the pizza and garlic bread from the night before come to haunt me!  I am going to be a lot more careful with my food and have even done a bit of planning and shopping. 

I cooked up the chicken soup - how quick and easy was that!  But doubled the recipe and used more chicken as I didn't want to eat the dessert.  I've got two serves left - though I really don't know if they are proper serves or not - I just estimated what looked like a decent amount to eat (I got 7 meals all up out of it, with one being a double serve for hubby so it should be about right!).  I also bought the ingredients for dinner tomorrow night, and lunch and dinner the next night.  No excuses!

I did bum out for lunch today had steamed rice, stir-fry veg, and thai green chicken curry - but it was in a small 300mL?? serving bowl so hopefully that minimises the damage.  I didn't have my afternoon snack to make up for it!  and dinner was pretty light so lets hope I was at least near my 1200cal range.

So the gym.. I had to do it in the afternoon as I had a job interview at 10am, not to mention drama with kids in the morning as well!  Grr!  Anyways.. I got to the gym and did my 15mins on the rower - longest I have ever been on the damn thing - and made it 2.6km.  Then I started the abs workout - groan.  I couldn't do the Aeroplanes - it just hurt my shoulder, so I just did the lifts without the L/R thing - hold for 10secs and repeated that 5 times each set (assuming the 15x was a typo).  The planks were great, I did 20secs on toes, 10secs on knees.. repeat 4 times.  The side twists were okay... I'm not sure if it is doing anything though, crunches all good, side crunches fine (though my left side seems to have less flexibility),  reverse plank I couldn't even do one of... and I can't seem to get the picture up at the moment to see what I was doign wrong.  I would like to note that at this point I was in tears AGAIN! - two days in a row I have cried at the gym!  Reverse crunches were fine, but the leg extensions were horrid.  I tried the holding for 5 secs but could only make it to 3 secs and then could only do about 3reps each side.. I had to go back to 1sec for the whole 15 reps!  I was so upset, and still am.  I am so peeved at myself for not being able to do the exercises I need to.  I'm annoyed that there are typos in the program which mean I don't know if I am just being a whuss or not - I just feel so inadequate.  I'm not giving up though... I am more determined to keep going so I can see those improvements.  In Mish we Trust. 

Sigh.. anyways... it took me 1hr and 15mins for today.. so much for a 'quick' one!  And then I came home and cooked dinner, cleaned up after dinner and sat down and here I am.  Almost bed time so I will have to get up and chase the kids very soon!

I'm glad today is over.. but I will be checking the program for tomorrow to make sure I can follow it!

Lean and Strong Day One

The Mishelle Bridges 12 Week Body Transformation includes a Lean and Strong Program for those at, or near, goal weight and wanting to tone up.  This is the second round it has been running and my second attempt.  Last round I did the first four weeks and changed to Lean to Fit as I as a little overwelmed by the program itself - pyramid sets, super sets, whatthehell sets?

Today was my first day and first session.. 9am at the gym!

I was hoping to go into the general area but it was overrun with a group of women on the cardio equipment so I headed to the ladies only area thinking I would come back for the rest of the workout.

Alternating tready and rowing done.. about 2.30mins for each.  I started at 11km/hr on the tready but dropped to 10km/hr for the last two sets, and the last set on the rower was closer to 3mins!  Heartrate was right up there!  I had my HRM running but pretty much forgot about it after this point...
Ok, so lat pull-downs were down with the handles rather then the bar.  There is no lat pulldown  machine with a bar in the gym and that bar was hooked up to the freedom machine - about 2in out of my reach (I hate being short some days) and the only trainers around were busy.  Feeling a bit blah about that but I am sure I will get over it.  I will mention something to the gym folk and see what I can do.. I could have used the freedom machine in the girl area - at least I can set the arms wide.

The rest of the workout went exactly as Mish stated.. I used recommended weights all round.  Two exercises I struggled with though.. the tricep one - I used two hand weights (3kg) and did the same movement.  I just felt like I didnt' have control of the barbell and my shoulders were working rather then my triceps, and the sit-ups.  For the full sit up I hooked my feet up under the pilates machine (irony anyone?) for the first set and managed 12 but struggled, next circuit I only managed four and then switched to crunches for the rest.

Oh, I also had trouble with the shoulder press... my neck kept hurting so I think I need to build up my upper body strength before doing some of the exercises - no point over-reaching if I am not getting the benefit of the exercise!

Anyways.. I checked my HRM just as I went to do my abs circuit and it was over 340cals, and I stopped straight after I completed my circuit for a whopping 366cals!  I am totally blown away!  I wasn't even trying to push my cals up, was stuffing around changing equipment and setting up barbells as well!  I might see if I can pull a 400 cal session in the morning!

My Fitness Test

Today I went through the fitness test for the 12wbt... I was procrastinating a little as this has been my biggest obstacle in 'completing' the rounds - I do the first two tests and that's it!  But this time I am going to succeed.  I am going to improve in each test and it will be fantastic to see how much I am improving!

So first up I did the 1km time trial.  Now I know that my first 5mins running are my slowest - I need that time to 'warm up'  So that is exactly what I did.  I set up runkeeper with two 1km intervals, mapped the route and checked where the 1km trial will start and finish (to make sure runkeeper is accurate) and off I went.  The first 1km I walked and jogged and then I took off when the beep went - right in the middle of 'firework' by Katy Perry. Talk about motivation to move my tooshie!  Half way through is the hardest, you have to fight with your mind 'I can do anything for 5mins, It's only five minutes of pain, just keep going'.  And I did.  It felt so good to actually run!  Not jog or waddle, but to actually run!  Feel the wind against my cheeks, my hair blowing out, that nip of cold against sweaty skin.. can you tell I get a runner's high around this point?

It was over quickly though.. it felt like it was too quick but I checked.. the gps was working fine and it was 1km.  I had to wait till I got home to check my time.. I could see that I ran 10.77km per hour which translated to 5.34mins/km for my time trial!  I am soo happy!  Given I haven't been running much this last 2mths now, I was happy to see that I was on the borderline between intermediate and advanced.  I will smash it out of the water next fitness test!

So I come home with nice warm muscles and quickly moved through the rest..

Sit and Reach was -5cm - borderline between beginner and intermediate (it may have been -4cm as the ruler moved a bit)
Push ups.. 25 in 1 min.  I did the first 5 on my toes as well!  Intermediate for this one!
Wall sit.. 1min 19secs  Intermedate again
Abs level.. a big fat 0!  Dyllan stood on my toes and I could do a full sit up but I think that is cheating!

All up I average out at intermediate for strength, adv for cardio (I'm giving myself that 4secs!) and beginner for core and flexibility!  But to hell with that.. I'm doing advanced lean and strong!  Just try and stop me!

My first sessions for round 2!

As per my post last week, I have downloaded the week one program (L&S) from round one and have been doing it this week.  I blogged wednesday's core session and now I have completed the thursday and friday sessions (upper and lower body).

I was pretty stoked with myself.. I was able to complete them all and a lot easier then when I tried last round!  I need to record the weights and reps and any changes I needed to make as well!

Thurs:
1000m on rowing machine: 5mins 30
Assisted chin-ups (50kg  3x8)  At 56kg I think that this means I was only lifting 6kg.. I'm meant to be lifting the equivelant of 25kg!  Any help here would be great!
chest Press with Barbell... there was a 12.5kg barbell set up so I used that for 3x12, I think I need to increase it as it was quite easy.
Dumbbell Fly.. 5kg, 3x12 (I felt it, and it felt goooood!)
Machine Shoulder Press.. I used the 'overhead press' machine with 16kg.. 3x8
Tricep Dips (1 leg elevated).. I did the three sets left leg/right leg/both legs down.
Front Raises 2kg, 3x12 (ouchies)
Bicep curls with dumbbells  5kg 3x8.  These were weird as I am not used to started with my hand by my sides.  I might check the instructions again!
Abs circuit was easy as, though I used knees for the side planks as I have never done them before!

Fri:
Leg Press 84kg, 3x12 sets (I reckon I could increase it a bit too)
Squats.. I need to use a barbell next time as I just don't feel it!
Leg extensions.. my core is so soft but I managed the 3x12 easy
Step Ups, 3x12l/r 5kg - no problems
Seated Donkey Calf Raises.. no machine so I did straight calf raises, the last set I did toes in for 12 and toes out for 12.
Fitball Hamstring Curls - loved it.. I felt it this time, last time I tried these I just couldn't get it to work! 3x12
Clams.. my flexibility is limiting my success here.. I can do them but it pulls my right quad to a cramp.

Nice to not have abs in this one but the extra stretches were lovely!

The new program is going to be a bit different to this but I am enjoying getting into the gym and loving the muscle work!

Super Sunday Rocks it out!!

So today I totally hit it out of the ball park!! It has now been 24hrs since my last chocolate which is pretty impressive on it's own.

I also signed up for round two before heading to the gym. At the gym, I found out that step had been replaced with Body Combat. Omg! Pain!

I followed it up with Body Balance so around 450 cals (assuming only 100 cals for balance). I will be sore for weeks!!

But to top it all off - I ran!! Five kilometers, 35mins, 300 cals!!

Add it up - 750 cals!

I would just like to state for the record that I am Awesome!!!

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Planning my Exercise

60.7kg

Yes, I am creeping up again and mostly due to food - yesterday involved cookie and cake making in which I consumed far more then was required for taste testing!  Far far far more!

I need to set out my exercise schedule as a do or die activity list so here goes:

Monday
AM: Day 1 Bootcamp
PM: Running

Tuesday
AM: Day 2 Bootcamp
PM: Walking

Wednesday
AM : Day 3 Bootcamp
PM: Running

Thursday
AM: Day 4 Bootcamp
PM: Walking

Friday
AM: Day 5 Bootcamp
PM: Yoga and Running

Saturday
AM: Day 6 Bootcamp and Swimming
PM: Long Run

Sunday
AM: Day 7 Bootcamp
PM: REST


That looks like a pretty good weekly schedule for losing weight.  I'm not sure how the morning bootcamps will go but hey, it's worth a try!

Tonight I will do my run followed by a Yoga session and then tomorrow morning I have my swim lesson first thing and I will do my run in the afternoon - I will do the week 6 run for the first time... once I finish the ease into 10k program I will re-do my running schedule to a training one (depending on the 12wbt).

So far today..

One peice of wholemeal toast with butter
2x cuppa tea
one small peice of chocolate cake

Morning Exercise - Habits take work!

So far this isn't working!

Firstly, someone changed the time on my alarm waking me at midnight (well, four minutes too) with the shocking sounds of a saxophone booming out at top volume!  Not pleasant!  Of course my 6.30am alarms were deleted in the process.

The night before last, I crashed at 11pm after imbibing a lovely bottle of wine so exercise kinda went out the window!  Then last night I went to bed around 1am so waking up this morning at 7am was pretty impressive, exercise or not!  Maybe I was pushing for too much???

Breakfast is doing well though so I am pretty happy with that! 

Now, to solve my 'waking' issue I am taking on a new tact.. a star chart!  Well, kind of anyway!  In the Women's Health Magazine, there was a free calander care of John West Tuna Slices with a lovely 'well cut' man decorating each month!  This calander is my start chart for the year!  Each month I will chose a habit to focus on and change, something from a health perspective and something from a 'mum' perspective.

January will be spent reinforcing my morning exercise and getting the kids and myself to make our beds in the morning!

In case I don't get back in to blog today - Merry Christmas!

Morning Exercise!

So this is turning into more of a 'seven habits of healthy people'!

1. Breakfast
2. Morning Exercise!

I am so proud of myself.  I bought myself an alarm app last night and set it for 6.15am with a gentle reminder to 'Go running!'.  It even tells me the current weather at my location so I knew that it was raining but I woke up and used the 10min rule!  It took me a while to get ready (D wanted a coffee and his lappy in bed) which didn't work in my favour as it soon started pouring!  Umbrella in hand I decided to go for a walk for 10mins and see how it went.  The rain settled a bit so I set my runkeeper to my training program (5 intervals of 3/1mins), tucked my umbrella under my arm and did my 5km.

So what are the advantages of morning exercise...
1. gets it out of the way for the day!
2. in summer time it is a lot cooler!
3. you burn more fat as your sugar stores are low from 8hrs with no food!
4. kick starts the metabolism for the day (and your circadian rhythms!)
5. feels great!

It is great knowing that I have done my exercise for the day - no procrastinating!  And breakfast was yummy because I was so flippin hungry! lol  I think I will keep this up!  It is well worth the effort!  I can only hope I start going to bed a normal hour now!