Inspired by Leah and Jane I decided to see if my personal trainer would do a fitness, strength and flexibility test. I actually took along a print out of Leah’s ‘Week 8 Fitness Test’ as a guide.
I do not know what I was expecting but I thought that I would have done a little better especially with my flexibility (which has always been good). However, my trainer was pleasantly surprised at some of my results. She explained that we have to have a benchmark to see improvement.
Week 1 (21st April, 2011) results:
Body Weight Squats | 1 minute: 39
Crunches | 1 Minute: 45
Press Ups on Knees | 30 seconds: 15
Body Weight Tricep Dips | 30 Seconds: 18
Star Jumps | 1 Minute: 37
Plank Hold: completed 30 seconds
Flexibility Sit & Reach Test: +9cm beyond my toes
Wall Sit: completed 41 seconds
So where do I go from here?
I need to get to the gym more and when I am there I need to work harder. I also need to drastically sort out what I am eating and when. I have not been eating regularly and often skip meals huge “no-no”. Last night at the gym my trainer gave me a print out from the April 2011 Prevention Magazine showing ‘Time to Eat’. It is pretty good actually as I often forget to eat in the afternoons and then I am starving by dinner time and end up eating far too much. I searched around on the net and found an online slide show of the ‘Time to Eat’ information. Also tracking my daily food intake is a good way to see where I am going wrong.
Last night I also ran for the first time in years on the Treadmill. I was following the C25K program on my iPhone. Was it hard? Yes it was. Did my heart rate really go up? Yes it did. Did I feel great for doing it? Yes I did. I was inspired by Lauren to do this. I have realised that in order to be successful at running on a treadmill as an alternative form of Cardio that I definitely need to wear my heart rate monitor. This means I will be able to keep a close watch on my heart rate until I get stronger and fitter. Unfortunately, I had to hold onto the handles when I was running otherwise I thought that I would probably end up on the ground at the end of the treadmill. Slowly but surely I am going to train myself so that I do not need to hold those handles as “There are no handles in life”.
Last but not least I have decided that I need to do more flexibility based exercise be it Yoga or Pilates. I have Windsor Pilates at home so I might give that a whirl. I always used to be very flexible and over the years as I have gained more weight and done less exercise my flexibility has decreased.
What are your best exercise and food tips? What keeps you motivated?
After reading Kez’s blog today; I have decided that Mark and I can make it a really fun evening. So we will have scones with jam and fresh cream and either some tea or a fresh pot of coffee. Might even go hard out and have a "pint".
