Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Week 1 Results

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?

2 comments:

  1. Hey Vanessa, great start! Tips: Keep a food diary!! Accurately..... Plan ahead, know what you are going to be eating 24 hours ahead of time if you are serious. Have the right food on hand so you can be successful - and - believe that you can do it. Remember, the fat loss equation is 80% food and 20% exercise, so don't waste your time exercising if you are blowing the food bit.

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  2. Well done Ness - keep us posted with progress. I do 45 mins of yoga everyday and love it. And I discovered at my mother's recently that Wii Sports is awesome for rainy day exercising :O)
    Hugs
    Angel

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