awkward.

So it finally happened. I knew it would, eventually.

I stacked it on the treadmill. Not totally, but enough to completely ruin any street-cred I may have had. I was sprinting at 10mph, dutifully doing my intervals, when my discarded ear phones slipped off the ledge and threatened to pull my MP3 player off with them. With lightning fast reflexes (sure, now I learn speed and bloody agility...) I went to save them, and tried to jump to the side of the treadmill simultaneously. My right foot successfully made the leap, my left foot didn't. You can guess the rest.

Just to make myself feel better, I watched these 'treadmill fails'.
Treadmill fails

It happened to me many years ago and I literally flew into a wall. Instead of checking I wasn't hurt, some smarmy old loaf snorted and said 'it served me right for being nosey' (I was looking behind me at the time). I knew it would happen again as, to be fair, I've had fair too few embarrassing moments in the gym. This would be perhaps only my second, in fact. The first was when I was laying into a bag pretty hard, thinking how technical I was starting to become with my fighting. Until I hopped a little too enthusiastically on one foot to land a kick, lost my footing and fell. Fortunately, I was tucked away in the old Fitness First studio, so only two people saw me. This time I was not so fortunate. The entire gym saw it happen. By the time I'd finished cursing and looked around (which was probably around 5 minutes after the fact...), people's giggles were just starting to subside. I have a grazed foot and knee for my troubles, and, predictably, a very bruised ego. I'm sure these things are strategically planned to happen just when you're starting to feel good about yourself.

I suppose I'd better get used to feeling stupid - I've signed up for a white collar boxing event in the new year. I think we already know which way it's going to go, but maybe after receiving a good hiding I might be able to concentrate on being a good wife.

*ahem*

'Gateway Grizzlies Baseball's Best Burger!'

...egads I had no idea it had been so long since my last blog! I'm horrified!

But not to worry, blogging shall recommence now! As you may know, I got married on Saturday and have since mainly done three things in rotation with my new husband: eat, sleep and watch movies. I have eaten all the things I have denied myself for years - not because of the wedding, but because of my fear of getting fat. So this week I have had a full Chinese banquet, chips, KFC, pizza (with low fat cheese though), puddings, wedding cake, and now tonight, the final night of  my 'week off', Rich and I are embarking on a feast we saw on Man VS Food. Krispy Kreme burger. Oh yeah.

 

All I can say is thank God for Omeprazole and Gaviscon.

And tomorrow, let the Christmas detox begin!

 

sweaty person at the gym...

That's me. The sweaty thing dripping all over the treadmill.

I normally wear my sweat with pride. I earn my sweat and weirdly, I feel at my most confident when I'm soaked. I think it's probably the endorphins making me delusional, but I love that feeling, it's sort of raw and primal. Yesterday, however, and the day before, took it to a whole new level after a rather vigorous interval training session. My vest was literally fit to be wrung out - suddenly it occurred to me, I'm that grim overly sweaty person who sweats all over the machines so no one else wants to use them. For shame. I had a crop top underneath, but to be honest it would probably cause more offence to mince around exposing my pale tum than just keep the vest on.

Note to self, take a spare BLACK top for next interval training session.

Anyway, had a grand session this morning before work. Very much enjoying training before work, it feels as though getting out of bed has a purpose beyond getting up for work. Vinnie is trying to teach me to clean. It's not working out well. I think he may turn blue in the face before I get it right, I've got about as much explosive power as a duff party popper. I have strength and agility but speed and explosiveness I just can't get the hang of. Apparently I'm not bringing my elbows up high enough, which means I'm not generating enough power from my legs in the first part of the lift. I think I might be starting to understand where I'm going wrong, at least with 30kg - I started to sort of push up from my heels instead of my thighs where I had been starting. Then Vinnie bumped the weight to 35kg and my technique went to pot in the effort to even lift the weight in that way. The jerk was out of the question. I get so mad at myself when I can't do something properly, especially when I know that I'll probably never get it right. But. No wallowing, let's move on.

After work today I went home in the rain and thought I'd go for a run. I am delighted that summer is nearly becoming autumn. I know that sounds miserable, but my cardio just deteriorates in summer because I can't stand the humidity. Now the air feels fresher, which my lungs appreciate. It was really nice, apart from the inevitable nipple prominence - which never fails to attract the wrong sort of attention, especially when running. My MP3 player also crashed halfway round the route, and I don't run without music, ever. Normally I use my earring to reset it, but didn't have any in so I got really inventive and used a thorn. An actual thorn. I love nature.

I'm beginning to question the purpose of this post. Other than trying to learn to clean properly, I guess nothing has changed. I am going to try an MMA class in Moreton in the forthcoming weeks - I need some more controlled violence in my life, so I guess the blog might take a turn into an itinerary of my injuries, which are bound to be plentiful. Still, nothing ventured and all that.

Total Warrior training...

Tonight I have done a nice little upper body session. I was quietly pleased because I've been able to do isolated but unassisted wide grip pull ups. I only did 3, then into 20 push ups, 10 suspension pull ups, and then 10 suspension tuck-push ups. I switched to 10 bungee assisted wide grip pull ups for the next two sets. I went onto bench presses with 14kg dumbbells, 10 reps then straight on to 8kg dumbbells for 20 reps. I did that twice. I then did a little ab work out, 3 sets of 50 sit ups supersetted with 30 6kg dumbbell raises with my legs half raised, kind of like a reverse plank but without having your arms and legs to fall back on when your abs get tired. Then I half heartedly did 3 sets of 10 reps converging shoulder presses with 14kg. And finally, I finished it off with 15 minutes on the cross trainer.

Yesterday I ran around Delamere Forest for 60 minutes. Last week I did hill sprints in Delamere in just one spot, so it was quite nice to run around the forest. I did two rounds of the route, I've no idea how long it was but it was hard running and that's enough for me. Except that if it wasn't at least 4 miles I'm in big trouble for Total Warrior. Shameless plugging, but if you're reading this, maybe you might consider sponsoring me for this little slice of Hell I'm putting myself through....http://www.justgiving.com/Tilly-Mint

Anyway.

I have been monitoring my carbs a lot over the last few weeks. Vinnie wanted me to keep below 50g, but that wasn't ever going to happen - my All Bran is 25g! I've cut down my fruit though, and sweets are pretty much a no-go. So I've been consuming around 150g carbs, which includes rather a lot of veggies, salad and the best thing is, I've been able to eat nuts! I love nuts but I've deprived myself for years because I've always focussed on calorie counting and nuts are through the roof in terms of calories. I've been measuring my portions though, so I don't get carried away. Got a smart new digital scale - everyone who watches their weight should own one...for their food, not for them. Mine has a 5kg limit so that might not work. I have noticed a distinct difference, my weight has stabilised - I'm still around 11 stone, but I really don't think that's likely to change unless I took my diet to the next level, that is, down to sub 50g carbs, less calories, blah blah blah. But I have a day job which involves talking to the public so I can't afford to be like a bear with a sore arse. So an extreme diet is out of the question. I'm starting to feel more defined and feel more secure though, and my training is right on track.

Perhaps a happy medium has been achieved?

Protein for summer! And a bit of a rant.

I did a nice run in Royden Park today, felt proper good to just splash through the mud after yesterday's (and the day before, and the day before that...) rain. I did some hill sprints as well, found a nice incline in the woods. I'm desperately trying to add loads of inclines and intervals into my training for this Total Warrior 10k. I might not even be doing it because no one else is actually running it with me, and it has to be a team event. But, I'm looking into alternatives and am going to train as if I am actually going to do it.

I'm not losing weight yet, which is still driving me to distraction, in fact I'm still gaining, then losing, gaining, then losing. I can't figure out what more to do. I keep looking at old photos of myself, on holiday in the States last year and mourning the body I used to have. But when I was in the States last year, guess what I thought? 'FAT FAT FAT'. The mind is a hideous beast, it really is. So here I go, headlong into egg white omelettes and greens, cutting out all the crap. If I can do that and the scales still read that I've gained weight, I won't beat myself up too much because it must be muscle mass, as I mentioned in my previous post. There are some interesting thoughts on fitness sites (http://blog.shareitfitness.com/2012/why-scale-doesnt-matter/), whereby the reading on the scales doesn't actually matter at all. There are some good case studies of women who, according to the scales haven't lost any weight at all, but look three hundred times better than they did before they started. I'll be completely honest with you. Before I started training at all, I was over 13 stone. I can't remember the exact figure, but it wasn't 13 stone 1lb, for example. It was a definite 'over' 13 stone. Then I started to diet and train, but not very hard, so my weight went down and plateaued at between 11 stone and 11 stone 4. Then I hit the cardio hard and went down to 10 stone 10 (fully clothed - I'm not one to mince around the gym changing rooms wearing nothing but a smile). That weight didn't last long because then I started doing some pretty hardcore strength training for a powerlifting competition that I never actually entered. My weight went up to over 11 stone again, but then I stopped strength training (to a degree - I still lift weights, but not as heavy), and started looking slimmer because my muscles had chilled out a bit. However, now I'm in a weird phase where I've got some muscle tone, some curves, a fairly low fat percentage but a fluctuating weight on the scales, between 11 stone and 11.5! I'm just a bit lost. I don't want to be in denial about weight gain, because that's how I ended up being 13 stone. So where to go from there?
Measurements are:
waist - 30.5ins (and I do mean around my belly button, not further up where most people measure their waists)
hips - 37ins
thighs (thickest part) - 22ins
upper arms - 11.5ins
bust - 39ins
Anyway, I came on here to document a wonderful little concoction I just made and enjoyed. It's hardly anything Heston Blumenthal would do...but I thought I'd tell you anyway. I always get really jealous of people who can enjoy ice cream and frappucinos without guilt or weight gain, so I'm always looking for an alternative that I can have. I used a scoop of strawberry cream 90% protein powder, 200-300ml almond milk, 4 big spoons of natural yogurt, lots of ice cubes, whizzed up in a blender. Serious yum. That actually made 2 and a half large glasses worth, which is just under 300 calories for the whole lot, and 36g protein. Winning!

Fat Attack, episode 1

I'm back! I've had a few people ask me if I've stopped my blog, and the answer is absolutely not! My laptop caught a trojan horse virus and has been out of action for a little while. Hence, no blogs!

Anyway, where was I? I was musing over the program. It's gone. Done. Finished. I called it quits 3 weeks earlier than scheduled partly due to having a few bad weeks health wise, when I couldn't train as regularly as I needed to and partly because I just couldn't do it anymore. I wasn't feeling the benefits and it was taking up all my time, but boring me to death. So, I believe I mentioned I've recruited Vinnie at Klick, and am undergoing a few weeks of fat attack. I'm training with him in the morning when I can get in before work which is supposed to be good for fat burning, or the evening if not, two sessions a week. On top of that I'm doing my own workouts, lots of cardio and weights. I've been advised to stop eating as much fruit, which is a real bummer because I have a sweet tooth. Instead I'm crunching on celery with very low fat cheese spread and chugging protein shakes like they're going out of style. For my evening meal I'm having brocoli with some form of protein, be it fish or meat. I'm also drinking a large glass of water before each meal, and am experimenting with a lemon and mint infusion, which is surprisingly palatable! All in all, the diet's unexciting but I'm hoping the outcome might be the opposite.

So, my stats are pretty unaltered, except that my fat percentage did decrease by 1%, but apparently fat percentage on scales is very unreliable. You have to eat and drink exactly the same to have any real way of measuring it accurately. I've been told to go by my weight and how my clothes feel, which is really not ideal because I'm desperately unhappy with my weight, and the only thing that makes me feel better about it is the fact that my body fat percentage is so low. I'm sure you understand my situation! But, let's see how it goes. I will post progress photos if, in fact, I see any progress.

Oh, calories today 1829.

Week 1 of part 3

I dragged my backside to the gym a few times last week and played around with these workouts but the commitment wasn't quite there due to one thing or another. I did do a fantastic session on Wallasey beach on Sunday, which involved a hellish number of sprints up a sand dune, and jumps onto a picnic bench, supersetted with dips and squats.

I have hit it properly this week. Monday I did the following: (2100 calories in case you're interested)

• 3 x 8 Lat pulldowns (80kg)/3 x 12 burpees/45 second rest
• 4 x 10 reverse pushups/4 x 20 mountain climbers/30 second rest
• 3 x 8 barbell curls (15kg)/3 x 15 side squat jumps (squat, jump as far as you can to one side, repeat)/45 seconds rest
• 4 x 8 bentover barbell rows (20kg)/4 x 30 twist jumps (squat, jump and do a 180 degree twist, repeat)/45 second rest
• 3 x 10 close grip rows (20kg)/3 x 20 box jumps/30 second rest
• 3 x 25 crunches, 3 x 25 bicycle crunches, 3 x 25 dumbbell crunches (hold dumbbell over head with straight arms and crunch up). What a grueller that one is.

Tuesday (2250 calories)

• 3 x 10 bench press (14kg DBs)/3 x 30 flutter kicks/45 second rest
• 4 x 8 barbell skullcrushers (10kg)/4 x 50 jumping jacks/30 second rest
• 3 x 10 dumbbell military press (8kg)/3 x 30 med ball (7kg) woodchoppers (15 to each side)/45 second rest
• 4 x 15 bench dips/4 x 15 dumbbell bench step ups (15 each leg)/30 second rest
• 3 x 10 barbell clean and press (20kg - some turned into push presses though!)/3 x 10 burpees/60 seconds rest
• 4 x 10 incline bench press (8kg DBs)/4 x 30 mountain climbers/45 second rest

I've also put that pesky 4lb back on. I think it might be a 'cyclical' thing so I have no doubt they'll disappear again. Not that this means they're welcome. I intend to permanently lose at least 6lb before I get married in November so that I can be confident that any fluctuations won't affect my mindset. I want to feel the best I can and I can't do that with an extra 4lbs sitting around my waist line. With this in mind I've recruited Vinnie at Klick to help me out a bit, I'm going to do two sessions a week with him and see if I can get fat burned off. I don't expect miracles, but maybe a swift kick up the backside will do the trick.

Gina is a poorly Ribena berry...

This week's program has been much more stimulating than the last 4 weeks. I did a coastal run in Barrow on Saturday morning which was hideous. Just awful. The heat was great, don't get me wrong, and the sun beaming down, beautiful views to take in...but also quite a breeze which consequently caused quite a sand storm. I've had road rash, grass rash, rain rash and now I've had sand rash as well. I'd say sand rash was the worst, especially when it's combined with heat and sweat. My face was nearly purple by the time I'd finished. Not a good look.

I have only been able to complete Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday's workout this week though due to ill health, and I am trying to get back on track with it but have not had the energy. I am hoping to do Friday's workout tomorrow, which is Sunday, but if not then I may have to take a hiatus. I will continue the blog though, but will commence training for the Total Warrior instead of finishing the program. I'm hoping to ultimately finish the program, but we'll have to see if I can actually make the commitment - health dependent. My last post disclosed my weight gain, but for the record, those 4 pesky pounds have vanished again, as quick as they came. And hopefully they've taken the hint that they're not welcome on this busy body of mine!
So this week has gone down as so...

Monday

• 3 x 8 Lat pulldowns (36kg) /3 x 12 burpees/45 second rest
• 4 x 10 reverse pushups/4 x 20 mountain climbers/30 second rest
• 3 x 8 barbell curls (10kg then 15kg)/3 x 15 side squat jumps (squat, jump as far as you can to one side, repeat)/45 seconds rest

What a wonderful little workout this was! I really enjoyed the dynamic movements, and felt I was actually accomplishing something too.

• 4 x 8 bentover barbell rows (first two sets 20kg, then last two sets 25kg)/4 x 30 twist jumps (squat, jump and do a 180 degree twist, repeat)/45 second rest
• 3 x 10 close grip rows (15 kg)/3 x 20 box jumps/30 second rest
• 3 x 25 crunches, 3 x 25 bicycle crunches, 3 x 25 dumbbell crunches (hold dumbbell over head with straight arms and crunch up). This was a brilliant ab workout, I actually felt my abs the following day which was most unusual.

Tuesday

• 3 x 10 bench press (16kg DB, 12kg DB then back to 16kg, nearly killed me)/3 x 30 flutter kicks/45 second rest
• 4 x 8 barbell skullcrushers (10kg, then up to 12.5, then back down to 10kg)/4 x 50 jumping jacks/30 second rest
• 3 x 10 dumbbell military press (10kg - although on 2nd set only got to 8 reps then complete failure until the next set)/3 x 30 med ball woodchoppers (15 to each side) (6kg)/45 second rest
• 4 x 15 bench dips/4 x 15 dumbbell bench step ups (10kg)/30 second rest
• 3 x 10 barbell clean and press (15kg, this was quite easy but any heavier and I'd have had to push press) /3 x 10 burpees/60 seconds rest
• 4 x 10 incline bench press (10kg)/4 x 30 mountain climbers/45 second rest

Wednesday

• 3 x 10 barbell or smith machine squats(30kg)/3 x 45 second jump rope/45 second rest
• 4 x 10 deadlifts (50kg)/4 x 20 horizontal jacks (In plank position, jump your feet off the ground and spread feet wide, jump feet off the body and bring your feet together so you’ve returned to plank position, repeat)/60 second rest
• 3 x 10 dumbbell lunges (8kg)/3 x 25 lunge jumps (lunge, jump up, and switch legs in mid-air and land on other foot forward)/45 second rest
• 4 x 10 reverse dumbbell lunges (8kg)/4 x 45 second jump rope/45 second rest
• 3 x 12 box or bench jumps/30 second jump rope/3 x 20 mountain climbers/30 second plank/60 second rest

Most of you who know me will remember that I have severe OCD, and in particular a fear of...well, for want of a better word...poo. There's been some blocked drains at the gym and indeed an overflow of sewage which has struck cold fear into my heart, and after spending a number of hours sanitising my entire gym kit, following that up with two showers, I am reluctant to return. With this in mind, I am going to do the best with what I've got, which might include interval training with hill sprints, or working out with our limited equipment at home. Either way, this week could prove challenging on many fronts.

Week 8

Friday's workout was good fun - the exercises were diverse and interesting. I particularly liked the Arnold presses, not that I could do them with particularly heavy weights but mastering the technique was good.

Look at me, trying to be positive! Honestly, this program sucks, as does the fact I've put on 3 lbs. I shan't blame the program, I will blame an amendment in medication. I am so ridiculously tired of working my bum off only to have my bum...expand.

Monday I didn't do anything. Tuesday I did 4 out of 5 sets of Cross Eyes, the 5th was abandoned because of the boxing class but I made up for it by doing 20 minutes of HIIT sprinting at the end of my session.

Wednesday I did 3 sets of 12 reps with 40kg narrow stance leg press, then the same with a wide stance. I did the DB squats with 12kg, but got confused about what to do with the weights as I squatted - I mean, I hung my arms at my sides but then they bumped into my knees on the way down so I ended up propping them up on my shoulders. Then I did 150 box jumps in 5 sets of 30, on a high step. After that I did 50 step ups (each leg) and then 50 reverse step ups. But, I can't tell the difference between normal step ups and reverse step ups. They feel the same to me.

Today is Thursday and I was meant to be doing Wednesday's workout because I'm a day behind myself. Well, now I'm two days behind myself as I didn't go. Life has well and truly gotten in the way this week, and whilst I was reluctant to skip the workout today, I felt it was for the best. So tomorrow I will try and get 45 HIIT running in plus 15 minutes of backwards walking (looking forward to that...), and then Saturday will be Thursday's arm workout as well as further HIIT. I won't pretend I'm going to do 30 minutes of HIIT rowing or cycling, because I'm absolutely not. I'll find an alternative, whether it's HIIT sprinting (I'll incorporate a little Total Warrior training and do it on a hill somewhere), or skipping. HIIT sitting activities kill me, I end up limping for days because my hips seize up. Blame the hypermobility again.

As I'm sure you can tell, I hate this program at the moment - I've lost momentum with it, and am consequently bored. I want to get back to muay thai and doing my own thing. But, I'm trying to finish it. Please don't think I've abandoned workouts easily - it takes a lot for me to skip one, but this week it really has been necessary. Hopefully next week I'll find my second (third?) wind, when I start the third and final stage.

Week 7

My 10k was uneventful, I started super slow to make sure I finished but finished quite fast. Unfortunately due to the slow start, I did it in an hour and 10 seconds. I reckon I've got sub 50 minutes in me. Somewhere.

So back to the program. Today I've had 2200 calories, mostly good calories but the pistachios sort of pushed me over the 2000 mark. Boo.
Monday
3 x 12 reps bent over rows with 15kg. Still doing the wretched TUT technique for the whole workout. It's really getting dull now, I can't lie.
3 x 12 reps with 12kg DB bench press
3 x 12 reps 8kg DB incline bench
3 x 10 reps with 4kg lat DB raises
3 x 8 reps with 6kg incline bicep curls. They're hard. But quite good.
3 x 10 reps with 4kg tricep kick backs (each arm)
3 x 10 reps with 31.6kg rope pushdown
started to do the upright barbell rows, but then something in my right wrist popped out of place and continued to pop out each time I did a lift...so I reluctantly called time on that one.
This was ultimately an incredibly tedious work out and took me hours. I came home in a stinking mood, and had a big ol' rant about this program. At this stage of the operation, I don't think it's worth the time and trouble. I'm sure there are more effective workouts that can be done in two hours.  But I'm far too stubborn to toss the towel in at this late stage.

Tuesday
20 minutes HIIT cycling (:30/1:30), 30 minutes skipping (2 mins jump, 30 seconds rest). Then I did my boxing class to add a further 30 minutes to the cardio for the day. Got to burn those calories somehow!

Wednesday I had a gut ache the size of Russia so I swerved the gym, knowing I would force myself to do two days' worth of training on Thursday instead. Which is what I did today.
3 x 12 reps 50kg leg press
3 x 10 reps 40kg deadlifts
3 x 10 reps 40kg squats
I started to do the side barbell squats but couldn't get the technique quite right so I'm going to study that one a bit more before doing any. 3 x 8 reps with 30kg sumo squats.
And then I did the Black Diamond Challenge. Oh it looks like a nice, steady, low key workout.

It's not.

400metre run, 30 box jumps (I used a box taller than a standard step - but I don't think it was 24 inches, that would have ended badly if I'd attempted that), then 30 wall ball shots with 7kg ball. Klick is a new gym, and they're rather protective of the fresh paintwork so they don't like people abusing the walls too much. With this in mind, I threw the medicine ball as high as I could, caught it and then went into a squat - 30 times.
This you're supposed to do 5 times. I got to the end of the first set and had serious doubts about making it to the second, let alone the fifth. But then this occurred to me...

The guys at Share It Fitness write that their challenges are 'very strenuous workouts, so don't feel bad if you can't make it all the way through.' But I did make it right through, in 29 minutes and 54 seconds. It was hard, especially straight after quite a tough leg workout. This is the price I have to pay for having a day off on Wednesday.

I didn't feel good in the gym today, I felt like I'd put weight on, and I felt self conscious, as though people would notice I'd put weight on...since Tuesday. I hope this is a temporary thing because although the results I have had from this program have not been dramatic, I would hate to actually go backwards.

Tomorrow I'm  off to the beach for a training session, and then Saturday I'll have to do what I was meant to do Friday, so I'm not getting as much rest as I should be, but I feel ready for it.

Week 'off'

Egads I had no idea it had been 10 days since my last blog! What neglect is this?!

My apologies, my non-existent readers.

This week has been a week off the programme in preparation for my first ever 10k race tomorrow. I don't have high expectations for myself, but I wanted to make sure I gave myself the fairest chance.

I do have a confession though. I didn't complete last week's schedule. I missed out half an hour of skipping. I am ashamed.

In my defense, I got distracted decorating my staircase. That took a day and a half so I think that was probably equivalent of half an hour skipping. Maybe.





So this week I've been back to playing around in the gym. It's been quite nice in some ways, because I haven't had to rush around trying to get the workouts done before the gym closes, or go when I really haven't felt like it. Having said that though, I have done some sort of exercise most days. Tuedsday I did my boxing class, Wednesday I did some cardio and deadlifting. I haven't done any one rep max testing because I haven't been strength training, so I thought I'd give it a go. I managed 50kg, 60kg, 70kg, 80kg, 90kg. I expect I could have gone up to 95kg but I didn't bother. I tried to convince myself I didn't want to risk hurting my back ahead of the race but actually I just didn't want to look like a fool in the free weights area. Pride comes before a fall I know...

Thursday I did 40 minutes steady cardio. Friday I did a beach fitness class led by Dave. Now that was awesome. These silly boot camps in parks with 2kg dumbbells ain't got nothing on taking a sledgehammer to a tractor tyre, after having flipped it a couple of times on a windy beach.

I do like training on the beach, and I think I'll be doing it a bit more on the run up to the Total Warrior race, running up sand dunes and whatnot.

So tomorrow's my first race. As I said, I'm not planning on setting any personal targets other than finishing without losing my breakfast. Then next week, I'm back on my plan.

I'm particularly looking forward to the 'Black Diamond challenge'. But not really.

Week 6 - Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday

Calories yesterday - 2169
              today - *blush* 2445 (and I wonder why I don't lose weight...idiot)

I detracted from the program to run up Moel Famau, but I assure you I did Friday's workout on Saturday morning. I can't remember what I did, but I did it in its entirety.
Monday this week I did 5 minutes of weighted speedskaters. I was foolish enough to start with a 10kg plate, and started getting tired very quickly so reduced it to a 5kg plate. I stopped 3 times to take a short breather within the 5 minutes. This was a pattern that emerged throughout the second and third sets of 5 minutes as well.
After the 5 minutes of skaters I did 5 minutes of high knees, and had to stop - regularly.
After that, I did 5 minutes of skipping.
I repeated 3 times.
This seems basic and when I looked at it I admit I scoffed, thinking it'd be easy. It was not. This was probably one of the most difficult workouts I have come across in this program so far. I had to stop many times, and to add insult to injury, I felt really stupid doing the exercises. One guy at the gym asked me if I was playing hopscotch.

Tuesday I did the following, using the TUT format:
Bulgarian squats with 20kg, 2 sets of 12 reps on each leg, then the last set 10 reps
I started doing normal squats (which should have been my first exercise but there were no frames available in the free weights area) but then got roped into doing a boxing class. After the boxing class I carried on with the squats, with 40kg, 3 sets of 12 reps
Reverse DB lunges, 12 reps (6 each leg) with 8kg DBs for 2 sets then 10kg DBs for the last set
I skipped the calf raises. I hate them. They don't do anything except butcher my ankles. I'm all for doing exercises you hate, but when you know you're constantly doing them wrong because they cause you to hurt in places that shouldn't be hurting, I don't see the point in going through the motions.
Quad extensions, 20kg, 3 sets of 8 reps. I might have been able to bump the weight up but I know from my powerlifting days that quad extensions make my thighs look huge for days. And they ain't small to begin with.
Hamstring curls, 32kg, 3 sets of 8 reps
Finally, 100 box jumps, split into 60 and then 40.

Today is Wednesday, so I did 20 minutes HIIT rowing and 20 minutes HIIT running, 0.1mile jog at 5mph and then 0.1mile sprint at 8.5mph.

Now then. Below further demonstrates my reasoning for hating rowing.

My hands are not the most feminine due to my tendency to use toilet cleaner to wash when the soap runs out. I also have callouses from a few years of lifting with Olympic bars. But the rowing took these callouses to a whole new level today.
"Owch."

In terms of progress, the pound I put on last week has gone again, and my fat percentage is back down too. But that does not mean there has been an improvement from when I started.
The photos below are the most recent. I have to say I feel as though I look better, but these photos don't really demonstrate that, although I do quite like the little bit of definition in my legs these days. Still a far cry from that beautiful body on the front page of the program, but I'm only 6 weeks in. Fingers crossed for a miracle within the next 6 weeks. And maybe a few less calories as well.

My jaunt up Moel Famau

The alarm went off at 7:30. It was switched off but I was unable to get back to sleep knowing that someone else - Mark, to be specific - was packing his bag, donning his running kit, and making his way in the rain to the base of Moel Famau. So up Rich and I got, debating whether extra hoodies were going to be necessary, and off we went.

The extra hoodies were necessary. Rich took great delight in telling me every time the temperature gauge in his car dropped half a degree. By the time we were at the base of Moel Famau (the second car park - closest to the hill), it was cold.

Not that we needed that snowflake to advise us as the windscreen was white with hail. We took our time putting our headphones in, making sure our woolly hats were on straight, fastening our running belts, regretting wholly our choice of shorts as opposed to trousers...

My soundtrack for this run was Fleetwood Mac - 'Go Your Own Way', Placebo - 'Running Up That Hill' and Chicane & Bryan Adams - 'Don't Give Up'. Every pun intended.

I took the easiest route of course, with it being my first attempt. I started too quickly and ended up gasping quite quickly. But I levelled my pace out, controlled my breathing and carried on. As the wind got stronger and the hail beat me around the face, I admit I had to stop a few times and put my back to the weather. That hail was like tiny little needles all over me, especially when my skin was starting to feel red raw, even through my windbreaker. I also had to walk up the steep slate path only because running would have been risking actual death, it was so slippy. I ran where it was safe to, but I did start wondering when I'd get to the top. I was completely alone, not even the sheep had bothered to come out. I dropped to tie my shoe lace, then as I cast my eyes above, the cloud cleared and I saw the Jubilee Tower.

Victory!

At the top, I sought shelter in a doorway of the Tower, feeling pretty happy with myself, when a man appeared from around the corner, casually jogging along as if the terrain was a calm beach. He caught sight of me cowering amongst the rock, and yelled 'Morning!' whilst waving. These proper fell runners are truly insane.

The descent hurt more than the ascent because the hail was on the back of my legs, again like tiny little needles. I found it was easier to run like I was running through tyres, like footballers do in training, to try to avoid the rocks, but also to avoid getting into too much of a rhythm and running myself off the edge of the hill.





I was victorious at the end of the run and remained so for around 5 minutes but then the shivering set in and didn't stop until around an hour later.

It was totally worth it. I know it's not a huge deal to most people, but to me, running up that hill was a victory. And yes, it's a hill, not a mountain, which kills my buzz just a little bit. I think it's only about 6km at the most. Next time I'm doing it in dry weather, or at the very least, wearing trousers and waterproof gloves.

   

week 5

Calories 1863 (Thursday)

This week's training regime may as well have been flushed down the toilet. Monday I did the following using the 'Time Under Tension (TUT)' technique, which means counting to 4 on the lift and 2 on the descent.
3 x 12 reps with 10kg DB bench press
2 x 10 reps with 8kg then 8 reps DB incline bench press
7.5kg skullcrushers, 3 x 10 reps
3 x 8 reps with 8kg DB military press
3 x 10 reps barbell upright row, 15kg
Barbell preacher curls - I don't know what the bar weighs for this. Rumour has it, it might be 15kg. I just Googled it, asking 'how much does a preacher bar weigh?' and it tried to autocorrect me to 'how much does a preacher get paid?' So that was interesting. Anyway, I curled whatever the bar weighs plus a whole extra 2.5kg. Boy, I felt stupid struggling to lift that small a weight. I did 3 x 10 reps with a whole 2.5kg. Proud day for Gina...
100 crunches & 100 bicycle crunches

Monday went to plan. Tuesday did not. I couldn't get to the gym so I had to make it up on Wednesday. Wednesday I did 1 set of 12 squats with 35kg, but that was easy so did a further 2 sets of 12 reps with 40kg
12 reps with 40kg deadlifts, then did a further 2 sets of 12 reps with 45kg, and then I nearly died. Seriously, using the TUT technique for deadlifts is not recommended. I thought about sitting on the floor in the free weights section of the gym to stop the blood rushing to my head any more, but refrained since I can't bear the thought of being the girl who nearly passed out because of a 45kg deadlift. That would be up there with my achievement of curling 2.5kg.
Leg press machine with 70kg, 3 x 10 reps
Hamstring curls with 32kg, 3 x 12 reps
Calf raises with 8kg KB in each hand. I tried to do it slow but ended up losing my balance, a lot. So I did what I could for 3 sets of 12 reps
After this, I did a 30 minute jog but didn't have time for a further 30 minutes of cycling as per Tuesday's workout. So I had a debt of 30 minutes HIIT cycling to carry on to Thursday.

Thursday I did 100 squat jumps 30/20/20/20/10, 100 bodyweight squats 40/40/20, 100 russian lunges 20/25/30/25, 200 line jumps 176, tripped and then completed the last without a break. I'd have done it in one had I not tripped! 50 burpees 25/15/10. And then 30 minutes HIIT cycling. At that point I wished I was dead.

Today is Friday so I should have done Friday's workout, but once again I couldn't make it to the gym so I'll have to pick it up tomorrow. Then Sunday I'm hoping to run up Moel Famau, but can't guarantee that'll happen.

Why did I start this again?
Answers on a postcard.

Let phase 2 commence...tomorrow.

Calories today - lost count. Lots.

Thursday I did the last leg workout of part 1, and Friday I went on a 7 mile run which took me 1 hour, 11 mins. I know that's not a brilliant time but it's steady so I'm not going to beat myself up too badly. At least I know I can do 10k without a great deal of preparation. My first 10k is 13th May, and I'm not worried about that one. I am, however, very worried about my second 10k which is the Total Warrior on August 4th (http://www.totalwarrior.co.uk/).
So anyway, check out part 2 of my regime. http://blog.shareitfitness.com/2012/03/14/do-this-look-like-that-total-body-blitz-workout-part-ii/
This starts tomorrow.
The key point in this section is that it is going to 'help shift those stubborn last pounds', which is what I need. Ideally I only want to lose a maximum of 6lbs, but I want to look and feel great - even if the pounds don't come off. At the moment I don't look OR feel great. Boo. So tonight I'm having one last 'hurrah' with just a few more biscuits than I might normally eat. Tomorrow it's going to be strictly clean eating, and I'm going to give the carbs a go before I go to the gym.

I'll level with you, my sparse readers, I'm losing the will. All I want to do is eat what I want without feeling like I've betrayed myself, and not have to avoid food without calorie counts on the label. But I guess this feeling is rather ordinary, and I will toil through.

Tomorrow is a new day, so on we plod.

Week 4

Yesterday's calories - 2050

I have three new least favourite exercises.
1. Rowing.
2. Cycling.
3. Calf raises.
Yesterday I completed 20 minutes of HIIT cycling, then 20 minutes of skipping and finally 20 minutes of HIIT rowing. The rowing and cycling nearly killed me. How people do this for hours on end I've no idea. Then I did my boxing class, which was good, taking me upto a good 90 minutes of cardio.
Today I did 3 sets of 20:
1 set 14kg DB bench press, 2 sets with 12kg DBs
incline bench press 10kg DBs
rope pushdowns (instead of tricep pushdowns - my shoulders hurt too much to do that effectively) with 40.8kg
1 set 6kg concentration curls with right arm, got to 15 reps on my left and failed. So dropped down to 4kg and did the rest with that, on a count of 4 on the lift, which was time consuming
23kg lat pulldown, on a count of 4 on the way down
2 sets of 10kg upright rows, then my wrists stopped playing along so I switched to shoulder presses with the 10kg, I did two sets of 10. I don't think shoulder presses work the same muscles as upright rows but at least I did something
30/30/30 bicycle crunches
20/20/20 decline sit ups, on a count of 4 on the way up
I didn't do the hanging leg raises because of my loose shoulders so I did leg lifts on my back instead, 20/20/20

I did a weigh in today, and believe me when I say I am not happy. I've been working my backside off for a month now, only to find I have actually put a pound on so I'm 11 stone, 1 lb. I know what you'll be thinking. It's muscle, right? Wrong. I did a fat percentage check, and that's gone up from my first weigh in as well. It was 22.something %, but now it's 23%, 16.2kg of fat. So, all of my good feeling and positivity must have just been pure placebo, because there has been absolutely no improvement in my stats. As I said, I am not happy. All the fitness experts say that a good physique comes from 40% what you do in the gym and 60% what you do in the kitchen. I'm starting to understand this much more now. I'm not being naive; I'm not suggesting that after only 4 weeks of training hard I should have a rippling six pack and veins popping out of my biceps. But I have actually been training relatively hard for nearly 2 years now, and I am nowhere near the physique that I really want. I try and watch what I eat, and I have recently made some modifications but it seems I'm going to have to get really specific. I asked a few of the personal trainers in Klick, Steve and Terry, who suggested I replace 180 calories worth of 'fatty' food for 180 calories worth of carbs, preferably one to two hours before training. Apparently my body will metabolize those carbs and burn them without eating away at my muscle, thus resulting in a loss of body fat percentage - in theory. So maybe I'll give that a go, although it is difficult to work all this around a full time job and only being able to train once a day.

Now I must end this entry, I have a date with Ed Norton circa American History X. Yes, he has a swastika on his chest. But my, what a fine chest that is.

on a nutritional note...

Just a very quick one tonight - at 22:55 on a Saturday night. Rock on.

On a nutritional note, I have discovered a wonderful recipe which tastes remarkably like a chocolate digestive milkshake (if that exists...although it probably does in Shakespeare's milkshakes, Oxford - http://twitter.com/#!/0shakespeares0, seriously if you live near Oxford, well worth a trip). It's skimmed milk, or I'm using Kara dairy-free coconut milk alternative which is lower in calories, with a scoop of chocolate protein and a heaped dessert spoon of flaxseed.  It's so tasty and really good for you too. The flax adds extra protein and fibre.

Another thing I have discovered is the ultimate lazy girl's fajita. Usually I hate pre-cooked meats, especially poultry because they use all the off-cuts and it's revolting. I thought I'd risk it today though because I was feeling extra lazy after spring cleaning the spare room all day (again, rock on). I picked up some turkey tikka (Bernard Matthews), some Weight Watchers wraps (do check the calorie count on wraps - they can range from 98 calories each to 250!), light Philadelphia with roasted peppers and some salsa. Zap the turkey (obviously making sure it's piping hot...), spread half the wrap with Philly, the other half with salsa and load it up with turkey, adding some low fat Cheddar if you like. I think 'yum' pretty much covers it.

Week 3

I thought I'd give myself a week off this week, which is why it's been quiet on the blogging front...

Psyche!

It's been quiet because this has been a tough and time consuming week!
Monday was a nice little day, skipping for 45 seconds then 12 box jumps which I did on the higher level then rest for a minute for 20 reps. It was a good exercise, nice and steady. I have a fancy skipping rope which counts how many skips you do, and in that set I did 2209 skips which I don't think is too shabby!
Tuesday was meant to be 5 sets of 8 close grip lat pulldowns, single arm dumbbell rows, dumbbell bench press, dumbbell flyes, incline dumbbell curls, standing barbell curls then lat pulldown burnout (100 reps on low weight). I knew it would be time consuming, but I didn't get to the gym til later on because of work, and a boxing class I went to last Tuesday started at 7:30 so I thought I'd give that a go. Once that finished I tried to get stuck into the workout, but got to the dumbbell bench presses and realised I was being lazy in order to rush through the workout, so I was sticking to my 'safe' zone of 14kg. At this point I stopped and thought I'd just do two workouts on Wednesday instead.
So Wednesday I started with Tuesday's workout:
68 kg on lat pulldowns,
12kg on single arm DB rows
1 set 14kg DB bench press then did 4 sets at 16kg DBs
8kg DBs for flyes
At this point, I actually experienced my first pectoral spasms. I usually struggle to work my chest properly because my shoulders tend to take over but I seem to suddenly have overcome that little issue!
6kg DBs for incline curls
10kg standing barbell curls
For the 100 reps lat pulldowns, I tried to do as many as possible with 45.6kg (22.8 each side) but it got hard quickly, I did 30 reps then 20, 15, 30 then another 25. I gave the weight below that a go, but that was only 26kg, it really didn't even feel like I was doing anything so I just stuck to as many as I could with 45.6kg.
And then I did as Monday, with the 20 reps of 45 seconds skipping then 12 box jumps.
Thursday - are you bored yet? Thursday was 100 body weight squats which I did in two sets- one 60, the next 40. Then 60 crunches (in one set), 100 alternating lunges. I did these jumping lunges, 30/30/30/20 (consider the extra 10 a penalty for having to do them in sets). 60 bicycle crunches in one set, 100 knee tucks 30/30/30/20. 100 flutter kicks in one set then 3 minutes plank which took me 3 attempts in 1 minute slots. This didn't take very long at all so I attended a little Combat class at Klick, which was good fun and then went on to muay thai for an hour. In hindsight, I expect I overdid it. I felt great at the time but then today when I came to do Friday's workout (30 mins HIIT cycling 20 secs high intensity then 1 minute 60% effort followed by 30 mins HIIT running, 0.2 miles sprinting then 0.2 miles jogging and so on) I was tired. I did the running first as I expected the cycling would stiffen me up too much to run afterwards. That was fine, I jogged between 5.6 mph - 6mph and ran between 7.5 - 8mph. I ran for the last 2 and a half minutes at 8mph just to push myself that little bit harder. Then came the hard bit. I set myself up to cycle for 30 minutes, but my knees felt stiff and heavy so I thought I'd move to the more upright bikes. After a few minutes on that my hips felt as though they were tightening and I know my body well enough to realise that I wouldn't do myself any favours to push through it. So I tried the cross trainer - by which time I'd already done 5 minutes cycling so I reduced the time on the cross trainer to 25 minutes. I did not do interval training. I was lucky to get 25 minutes done at all, I actually stopped the program twice and tried to get off but a little devil in my brain started yelling at me to 'get your lardy bum back on the cross trainer!' I obliged, but believe me when I say I hated every damn second of it.

On a progress note, I'm quite happy with the small results I've seen so far. I'm 3 weeks in and I definitely feel that muscles are a little tighter, especially around my tummy. Visuals below, although I wouldn't say there's much to see. Excuse the toilet behind me!

Week 2, Friday

Yesterday's calories 2372 (not good...)

5 x 8 reps - 60kg deadlifts
                   20kg bulgarian squats
                   20kg lunges
                   50 squat jumps in 2 sets
                   50 calf raises with 8kg dumbbells in each hand, 20/15/15
                   plank - 2minutes/1minute
                   60 reverse crunches in two sets
                   And again, I didn't do the 60 hanging knee raises. I gave it a good go, and got to a whole 7 reps before my shoulders gave up. So I punished my weak ligaments by doing 60 slow crunches and then 2 sets of 20 more reverse crunches. Needless to say, my abs hurt a little today (the day after...)

There's nothing much of note from this workout, apart from a source of fresh inspiration. I went into the free weights area to start my deadlifts, only to come across another woman! It's pretty rare to find another woman in the free weights area, although I don't fully understand why. Please don't think I'm making some anti-feminist sociological statement with that comment, I'm speaking only from experience. When I discovered another woman, I was curious as to what she might be doing. She was doing some pretty heavy clean lifts, and I have to admit I was in awe. My awe only increased when she bench pressed 42.5kg repeatedly, unsupervised. At the height of my strength training I was able to press 45kg once, shaking like a defecating dog the whole time, and that was only with the security of a spotter standing over me (there have been rumours that I've managed 50kg - but I was blindfolded at the time - this is apparently a legitimate training technique, but as a consequence of my blindfold, I do not believe that I fully pressed 50kg). Anyway, this woman just repped out, seemingly without even thinking. Suddenly my 60kg deadlifts seemed rather measly, and my routine rather pointless. I suppose everyone has their moments of feeling inadequate, and this was one of many for me. But I take my sweatband off to her, she looked fantastic (both aesthetically and in terms of technique) and deserved to be told as much, so I did. I asked her how long she'd been training and whether she competed. My eyes were green with envy but I still felt I needed to pass on my kudos. I am banking that feeling of envy and drawing on that for my next workout.

I have one more thing to note. I have made the decision to re-introduce a very limited amount of bread into my diet. This decision has not come to me lightly, and those of you who know me (and  those who have bothered to read this far...) will realise that this decision incites cold hard fear into the deepest, darkest crannies of my soul. I gave up starchy carbs in a bid to lose weight a number of years ago, and consequently lost 2.5 stone. I am now terrified that if I start eating these carbs again I'm going to expand at an alarming rate. My reasoning for starting to eat these carbs again is because actually, I'm really tired of being hungry. I'm not going to start eating massive portions of pasta or whole loaves of white bread. And I'm not quite ready to eat normal bread, so I'm going for a spot of Burgen bread with linseed and sunflower seeds. Because I've not eaten bread for some time, my body has forgotten what it's meant to do with it. I've had probably 4 slices in nearly 3 years, and each time it has nearly killed me. So I figured I'd start with a lower carb, lower GI bread and hope for the best. I'm also experimenting with flaxseed and some nuts. Nuts have been firmly on my 'banned foods' list but apparently it's good for me to have some almonds and peanut butter with my low GI bread. It's essentially a diet-overhaul. Believe me when I say I'm worried, but I will keep strict tabs on my weight as well as my athletic performance and also my constant feelings of hunger. If I can eat this way and perform better whilst still maintaining a satisfactory weight then I'll be a happy bunny. (That's my nod to Easter.)

Week 2, Wednesday & Thursday

Calories 2201

Yesterday's workout:
5 sets of 8: incline bench press, 1 warm up set with 10kg then 5 sets with 14kg
                  clean and press - 20kg
                  overhead tricep extension - 5 sets of 8 with 6kg, each arm
                  bent over barbell row - 1 set with 25kg, 4 sets with 27.5kg
                  concentration curls - 2 sets with 8kg (each arm) then dropped down to 6kg for a set, tried to move back to 8kg...and failed. So final sets with 6kg
                  upright row - 20kg

This was a good workout, nicely varied. I do have a bit of a mental block when it comes to the difference between clean lifts and jerk lifts though. So what I did was probably a bit of blend of both. I had delusions of grandeur with the overhead tricep extensions. I had 10kg dumbbells ready, but thought I'd start 'easy' with the 8kg. I was able to do the 8kg a few times, but I had to hold my shoulders in place. I dropped to 6kg, and did it quite easily so I think 7kg dumbbells would have been my Goldilocks weight but alas, 7kg dumbbells are not so common!

Today's workout was scheduled to be an hour of HIIT running. I thought I'd get it done in the gym because after last week's 60 minute outdoor jog turned out to be dull as dishwater, at least in the gym I can people watch and time my intervals accurately. The treadmills don't have an interval training program though, so I had to just crank the timer up and manually change the speeds.

I cheated a little. I only did 40 minutes. I know - shocking, and I'm ashamed. Actually, I'm not because I cut it short to go to my muay thai class, which probably burnt more calories in an hour than a further 20 minutes of running would have done. I jogged at a speed of 5 mph, and ran at a speed of 8 mph. I could have gone faster, and spent the last 2 minutes sprinting at 8.5mph. I have a fear of flying off the treadmill. Everyone has seen someone who has gone A over T on a treadmill, and there is no way of flying off the treadmill and maintaining any degree of dignity. It can't be done. So that's why I kept my speed down.

Anyway, my muay thai class was awesome, as usual. And I was inadequate, as usual. Although I found out that a guy who trains in the same class lives literally round the corner from me - and I completely embarrassed myself by doing the Michael McIntyre thing where I got really high pitched when I found out we were neighbours.

On a progress note...there is none. I took some photos to put on, but they were appalling so I can't bear to put them on. I'm hoping to upload some next week.

week 2, Tuesday

Calories 1984 I don't think I need to go into great deal about my 60 minutes HIIT cycling. It wasn't fun, and I had to split it into two sets of 30 minutes like I did last week just so I didn't a) die of boredom and b) lose all feeling in my bum. In between my 30 minute sets, I did 10 crunches and then decided I was taking the easy route so switched to 20 reverse crunches, but my abs were still quite raw from yesterday. And then it was back to the bike. I planned to go to muay thai after that. Aside from things I've already mentioned in previous posts, I don't like going to a class where I know I'm going to make things difficult for other people, so I thought it was better to give muay thai a miss as my energy levels were incredibly low. I didn't want to struggle holding the pads for anyone again, as I think it's unfair for them to pay for a class that I can't help them with as much as they can help me. I noticed there was a new boxing class at the gym so I thought I'd give it a go. It made a nice change to have a female instructor who was interested in technique rather than just punching pads badly. It was a good class, and I was suitably exhausted although that was more likely to be because of the 60 minutes of cycling beforehand. I am missing muay thai though, but it was arrogant of me to believe I'd be able to do this program as well as 3 classes. I'm hoping to go to at least one of the classes on Thursday. I feel almost guilty for not going, like I'm not working as hard as I could be. But for anyone else who might be thinking I'm not working as hard as I could be...

week 2, Monday

Calories - 2350 I think 'owch' pretty much covers it today. But I knew it was going to be hard though so I was ready. 5 sets of 8 deadlifts 70kg. This felt very difficult today. Last week felt quite easy at the same weight but I hadn't done any deadlifts for a number of weeks, so I think my body forgot what a challenge deadlifts can actually be. My back felt weak, and the last sets were done quite slowly and split into sets of 4 with a very short break in between. 5 sets of 8 bulgarian squats. I did 16 each set, so 8 for each leg. I did one set with 15kg but that was too easy so added an extra 5kg. 5 x 8 lunges with 20kg, again I did 16 each set. The workout then says '5 sets of 50: squat jumps...' But it does then say the 50 squat jumps should be done in as few sets as possible so I think it should only be the one lot of 50. I was open to the prospect that it may actually mean 5 sets of 50 squat jumps, so I cracked on. After my first set of 20 (I didn't manage to 50 in one set) I realised only the devil himself would ask someone to deadlift, squat, lunge and then jump 250 times. So I just did the one set of 50. I did the 50 in two sets of 20 and a 10. 50 calf raises with 15kg in sets of 20/15/15. They hurt, I'm not going to lie. I have a confession to make at this point. I spent the next few minutes on my knees, but only because it was the best position to stretch out my ankles after the calf raises. Anyone who has trained with Team Forge 54:16 (http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61407337&ref=tn_tnmn#!/pages/Team-Forge-5416/143280055715698) will know that if you drop to your knees you get yelled at. To drop to your knees is a sign of surrender. Whilst Team Forge have ran off to greener pastures in Dubai, that sentiment stays with me. I do not drop to my damn knees! Anyway, I got a personal best for my plank, I did a 3 minute plank in two sets but the first set was 2 minutes. I've said it once, I'll say it again - hooray for small victories! 60 reverse crunches in sets of 30,20 then 10. Who knew reverse crunches were so hard?! I did 3 sets of 10 hanging knee raises. With this exercise, I met my first failure within this regime. I couldn't make it to 60 reps. My excuse is that I am hypermobile (Google it!), but in a nutshell my tendons or ligaments or whatever don't hold my joints in place quite as well as they should. It makes for some awesome party tricks, but it's not great when I'm trying to train. Basically I can't hang for very long because my shoulders dislocate. I attach the photographic evidence, just in case anyone suspects I'm fibbing...

As a forfeit I did another 3 minutes of planking. I'm not on board with making things easy for myself, so if I can't do an exercise I will swap it out for something just as hard, if not harder. Tomorrow I'm ready for my 60 minute HIIT cycling. I think.

Day 5 - technically

Calories yesterday: 1728 Technically yesterday was day 5 of my regime. It was meant to be today, but I ended up skipping both the muay thai classes yesterday as I was late back from work and then I decided I was probably too battered to get much out of the class. So I went for my 60 minute jog instead. I thought I was safe to go out without covering my ears, after all, the weather looked beautiful. This was a mistake. It was freezing. 20 minutes in and my extremities were numb. 25 minutes in and my bladder was like a rugby ball, and short of doing a Paula Radcliffe on the side of the road, I had to live with it. 35 minutes in and my MP3 player flatlined. 45 minutes in, after running through a small group of teenage boys, I had one of them on a bike shouting 'RAPE!' at me. All in all, a delightful run. As I said, the plan was to go to my classes last night and go running tonight but I thought if I went running last night instead that would leave tonight free to go out for a little date night, including a nice dinner (salad...) and then the cinema to see the Hunger Games...but I walked out. The camera angle made me motion sick. Poo. So tomorrow I've got a best friend's wedding which I've no doubt will be beautiful - and I'll be wearing my wonderful zebra shoes. Walking in those shall count as my workout for tomorrow. The regime will continue on Sunday or Monday, along with my blog and maybe some progress photos.

Day 4

Calories 1968 - on a nutritional note it might be worth noting I am not looking to deplete my calorie intake much so long as what I'm eating is good stuff. My main source of calories is from protein and fruit - yes I do eat some rubbish as well, but this is always factored into my count.

I took a gamble today and went to the gym only an hour after eating out with a friend. I dined light on chicken skewers and salad, but I normally don't eat before working out at all. This is partly because I don't usually have time and partly because I've known far too many people vomit during workouts I've been involved in. I don't need that drama. But, it wasn't that much of a gamble to be honest because today was mainly focussing on punishing my arms and chest for being too lazy so far in this regime.

Run down of today's workout, all sets with 8 reps:
1 set incline bench press pair of 12kg dumbbells, 4 sets with 14kg DBs
1 set military press with 12kg DBs & 4 sets with 10kg DBs
2 sets barbell curls 15kg & 3 sets 12.5kg
1 set skull crushers 10kg, attempted 2nd set and failed at 6th rep, then went on to 4 sets with 8kg
5 sets snatch 18kg - admittedly I could've gone heavier with this exercise but I lack the explosive power to really get it right, so I kept it at a safe weight to avoid injury
1 set lat pull downs 32kg, which was too easy so I didn't count this. 5 sets 36kg

The last exercise was 250 ab reps, for me to pick the exercise. I tried not to take the easy route, I know I could have bashed out 250 ankle taps without any issue. I did 70 proper crunches - by proper crunches, I mean I gave my abs a good squeeze on every rep which makes it a little slower but much more effective in my humble opinion. After 70 crunches the ache in my abs stopped and started in my back so I knew my form had gone downhill, so I moved on to do 30 leg lifts, not lifting my legs beyond 90 degrees, then 30 bike sit ups (what's the technical name for them?!), 50 crunches, 20 leg lifts and then a final 50 crunches.

I enjoyed this workout today, it was quite technical so I appreciated having some encouragement from around the gym. It's always a special moment when someone offers to check your snatch for the first time (if I was a tweeter, I'd probably say something like '#awkward'). I also saw Kelly Rowland's groping elephant again so that added a little fun to proceedings.

Tomorrow brings with it two muay thai classes, but I'm not doing anything from this regime because I'm a day ahead of myself. Friday's workout will take place on Friday, right on schedule!

Day 3

Calories 1773

I think today's workout was designed to go easy on me. 30 minutes interval skipping - 45 seconds skipping and 30 seconds rest then 15 minutes rowing. This wasn't too arduous, especially considering I got away with yesterday with only minimal aches - so minimal I was able to use the stairs without incident (hooray for minor victories). However, it was boring. The only entertainment I got was from musings about why Kelly Rowland's 'Lay It On Me' video features her being groped by an elephant's trunk. If anyone can explain this for me I'd appreciate it. Anyway, I digress. After my 45 minutes of mild cardio I thought I was perfectly fine to go ahead with my muay thai class, so off I went.

Seriously, I've never been more of a girl's blouse in my life. I had to swap the leather pads for the vinyl ones because my feeble little arms couldn't quite cope with the weight of the leather ones, especially when being whacked repeatedly by a rather large man. I think it's too easy to underestimate how much energy heavy lifts require - deadlifts and squats specifically - and even though my brain went through the motions of carrying out a risk assessment prior to the class, my body failed to communicate that actually, it was pretty damn tired.

I wish I could say I've learnt from this and won't do it again. But the truth is, I will do it again. And again. I love working hard and pushing myself to the limit, and the only thing that really bothered me about my shortcomings in today's muay thai class was the fact that the people around me didn't know that I'd done a hard session the day before. I wanted to stand there and tell everyone what weights I lifted yesterday and that I'd completed a workout today already, and that I'm not usually so pathetic, and I don't have a problem holding the pads and that I can hold my own against big tough men...etc etc.

On that note I'm shutting this down for the night, but not before showing off my new shoes. When I'm wearing these bad boys, if you hear hoof-beats, go right ahead and think 'zebra'.

Day 2

Calories today: 2079

Today was Tuesday's workout, even though it's Monday. I don't have the energy to lie and say I loved it, because quite frankly the workout was grinding and rather dry. At least with the cardio aspect the momentum of it keeps you vaguely alert. But this was just hard, and the only thing that really kept me focussed was the presence of a few friendly faces around the gym.

In case you don't know what today's workout consisted of, it was 5 sets of 8, squats, deadlifts, sumo squats, walking lunges, reverse lunges and then 100 box jumps. The weights I used were as follows:
- Warm up with 40kg squats then two sets with 50kg. The last 3 sets were with 55kg
- Deadlifts 70kg
- Sumo squats 35kg
- Walking lunges 1 set 20kg, 4 sets 25kg. I actually technically did 16 reps - 8 each leg x 5
- Reverse lunges 20kg
- 100 split box jumps (unweighted - I defy anyone to do these weighted after all that)

The squats were pretty easy even though I haven't done heavy squats in weeks, possibly months. My rugby player thighs come in useful on occasion, but hopefully this regime doesn't expand them to the extent they expanded when I was strength training for powerlifting. Nothing says 'feminine' like blocky quads that stick out three inches beyond your knee caps.

I enjoyed the deadlifts, even though I was thankful I hadn't eaten within the last 2 hours. I did have concerns about my form though. There were a few guys in the free weights area from a gym I used to go to, a gym which was filled to the brim with bodybuilders (apart from me...obviously). I got it into my head they'd be watching me and thinking my form was awful. But, those concerns made me pull my backside in tighter and stop curving my spine. It turns out the guys remembered me from the other gym, so I stopped to chat and break up the monotony. You go into a gym to work out and don't expect anyone to take notice so it's nice when they do, especially when they give you some useful pointers.

Then the sumo squats and the walking lunges and the reverse lunges just blended into one another. My knees turned to actual jelly and I started wondering how on earth I was going to punch out 100 box jumps. As the plan doesn't state whether they're high or low box jumps I used some creative license and did them on a low box. I also did split jumps because as I said before, my knees were jelly and I knew I'd end up face-planting if I tried to jump with my feet together. To conclude, as I sit here, I can feel my quads and glutes quivering so I don't expect to manage the stairs tomorrow - thank goodness there's a lift. Having said that, I have Wednesday's workout to complete tomorrow, which is 30 minutes HIIT jump rope, 15 minutes rowing, and then a muay thai class.

At least I'll sleep well - silver linings and all that.

Day 1

I have to admit, this feels a little odd. I know I'm about twenty years behind everyone else in doing one of these, but whatever. It'll help motivate me to push myself harder - and that's what I want! So, the point of this blog is to document my workouts - not in painstaking detail you understand, but enough detail to be able to identify trends in what works and what doesn't work. I'm hoping I'll be able to upload some photos - I've taken some today, to record my progress. This will be vastly improved provided I stick to the plan and try to watch my nutrition. Don't judge me too harshly at the minute please!

Today was the first day of my next workout routine which I found on Pinterest (http://blog.shareitfitness.com/2012/02/22/do-this-look-like-that-total-body-blitz-workout/ - am I allowed to talk about other websites? I'm not au fait with blogging etiquette...). It's pretty hard, and I must admit that most of the exercises will have to be split into two so I don't die, for example, 60 minutes of High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) cycling was done in two sections today, with a nice set of 60 crunches and reverse crunches in the middle, as well as foam rolling my legs. I'm not used to cycling so I thought it was important to roll my muscles out so that I might have a chance of walking tomorrow without looking like I've had an embarrassing accident.

So, this blog will itemise my workout for the day, and *cringe* my calorie count. I'm not going to detail exactly what I ate - no one wants to read that. Just my count, but if I go over 2500 I'm going to call it a 'write off' day. I have these every once in a while - and I'm too ashamed to figure out exactly how many calories I've actually eaten.

Weight to date: 11 st 0 lbs (70.1kg)
Body fat % - 22.4%
Body fat mass - 15.7kg
Waist (belly button - not around my ribs where some people measure!) - 30.5 ins
Hips - 37 ins
Thickest part of right thigh - 22.5 ins

excuse the dents from my jeans.

not much to see at the minute.