Saturday 21 June 2014

Saturday share: five things about me

1. I have been able to ski pretty much my entire walking life
2. I met my lovely man in the mountains and we were engaged a month later 
3. I am currently obsessed with crochet
4. Not one bit of my body has been pierced (I don't have any tattoos either)
5. I work for the old English-speaking university in the world

Saturday 14 June 2014

30 Day Shred: update

So the injury and a return of the pain in my right foot has put the kibosh on the Shred. I went to the osteopath yesterday and after a beating she has said no strenuous exercise for 3-5 days.

So I'll take this chance to review my experience of the 30 day shred. Things I've learnt:
1. Make time for exercise. I found I worked hardest in the morning and getting up 30 minutes earlier than normal was easy to do. 
2. Warm up, cool down and stretching are so important. The warm ups for both level 1 and 2 were pretty good but there definitely wasn't enough stretching in the cool down. Luckily I've been taught to stretch a lot after exercise by my lovely Zumba/Pilates teacher Gemma so I always did more once the DVD was switched off. 
3. Exercising in the morning makes me ravenous! 
4. I can do press ups (only knee ones but still!)
5. Water weight is real. 

Overall I think the 30 day shred programme is good. Jillian Michaels' instruction style suits the way I like to learn and I like that there are different ability levels catered for with Anita and Natalie assisting. The 3 2 1 approach works well and the exercise were varied. If I were to do it again I would schedule in a rest day every 7, I inadvertently did but not intentionally. 

Thursday 12 June 2014

30 Day Shred: day 14

First injury! Not sure how I did it but I've pulled a muscle in my thigh. It was so painful, more so than anything I've pulled before. Lots of stretches and painkillers and sleep and it feels slightly better this morning but sore. Walking upstairs is the worst. Going to try to get an appointment with the Osteo to see if she can fix me. 

Otherwise level 2 is now getting easier, it's not easy though by any stretch of the imagination! 

Monday 9 June 2014

30 Day Shred: day 13

Weekly weigh in and measurements time! I'm back down to the 'never go above this weight again' weight which is encouraging and I've lost a total of 15cm around my body, mostly from my thighs. Was definitely feeling buoyed as I started the DVD this morning. 

Level 2 is hard, and I am having to take 5 second breaks every so often but I'm getting used to the amount of plank variations now! 

Sunday 8 June 2014

30 Day Shred: day 12

She's still mean! Found a great keep calm and... poster on Pinterest which pretty much sums up what I'm doing: 



Saturday 7 June 2014

30 Day Shred: day 11

Jillian Michaels is MEAN! Level 2 is a whole new world of pain, she's slotted in planks everywhere! Lots of static lunges too. Actually dripping with sweat...

Thursday 5 June 2014

30 Day Shred: Days 9 and 10

I forgot to post yesterday! So two for the price of one...

Day 9 was completed after getting home from work. It was difficult to fit in with cooking dinner and my evening Guiding meeting but I made it work. As such I kind of powered through, a big sweaty mess at the end.

Day 10 I was back to the normal before-work routine, much better and this morning was a nice cool temperature which helped!

Up to Level 2 tomorrow!

Tuesday 3 June 2014

30 Day Shred: Day 8

I may have discovered something. I think I do better at this DVD in the evenings. A combination of early start (every Tuesday due to brownies) and soreness from Fitness Pilates combined with a visit to the osteopath on Monday meant I couldn't do the shred this morning. So I planned to do it after dinner (with time for digestion). And I really enjoyed it! 

The problem is mornings are easy, I just get up earlier. With all the evening activities I do it's harder to build a routine for exercising after work. Hmm, something to ponder further. 

Monday 2 June 2014

30 Day Shred: Day 7

I didn't do it twice yesterday... With lots of walking in town (we went holiday clothes shopping) I was bushed in the evening! Hopefully I'll catch up another day.

This morning was hard to get into, but I enjoyed it once the dreaded press ups were done. I think I will be ready to go up to level 2 in the next day or two.


Sunday 1 June 2014

30 Day Shred: Day 6 (on day 7)

Yup I missed one. Combination of whole day in London plus what I ate for lunch not agreeing with me last night. I'm going to do it twice today, morning and evening. 

Today was weigh in day and I was dismayed to find I'd lost nothing. Nada. Zip. Then I googled '30 day shred first week no loss' and saw that a lot of people had experienced this. Apparently it's water weight as my body is conserving it to rebuild my muscles as I work them. So a little happier. I have lost a cm on each of my upper arms and thighs so that's something.