RPM and Shake Up

If I have not said it before I will say it again…I love RPM!

It has taken me a bit to love the gym again and RPM has been the perfect thing to help me get back into it. Also, Pump with Tara on a Tuesday night has been a refreshing way to add a touch of resistance training back into my week.

This week was the first week back into Shake Up Training with Motivate Me NZ with our wonderful trainer Delane (you can read about him here). We only have 5 women registered this time around which is great, however it would be good to have a few more beautiful West Auckland women joining us for the rest of Autumn or looking at Winter/Spring and Summer. You can find out about this on Motivate Me NZ website.

Given that Monday was very wet, Lesley and I were a bit apprehensive about Tuesday’s weather…it was fine!

We did a bit of boxing and a lot of stairs. Can I tell you all that I hate the stairs with a passion? On Thursday we did them in the rain and I said to Delane “seriously I have been doing exercise and these f*cking stairs are still killing me”.

I woke up early Wednesday morning and realised that my legs were killing me and then at 5am when my alarm went off I had to do some serious self-talk to get my butt out of bed to go to RPM. I made it and going to RPM and flushing my sore legs was probably the best thing I could have done. Plus, I love the instructor at the 6.10am RPM class at Britomart. His name is Brett…he is awesome!

I had to do some serious stretching on Wednesday night (including the foam roller) to help my legs. I could barely even sit on the toilet. Still, probably not as bad as the first time I did Shake Up.

Friday morning my alarm went off for RPM and I just could not bring myself to get up. My muscles have pretty much recovered; although my calves are still a bit sore. I am sorry Brett for missing your Friday class.

The other thing that I did this week was buy a voucher for 3 x Bikram classes. I figured it would be a good way to give this style of Yoga a try and hopefully I want to continue. I have just recently started following an amazing blog about a woman who does Bikram Yoga; if you have some time you should read it! You will laugh, you will cry, you will be able to relate!

Battling Bikram Being Big

 

Exercise this week:

Monday and Wednesday:             RPM

Tuesday:                                              Shake Up and Pump

Thursday:                                            Shake Up

Friday and Saturday:                      Rest and Recover

Sunday:                                                O Rock

Rest of February

10th February, 2013 Before and After the Albany Walk with Ronnie

A lot has happened in Fabulous February; some of it not so fabulous.

After not really doing any training since the first Albany Lakes Walk we did the second one on the 10^th February. I met the gorgeous Mel and we walked together. Fiona ran/walked and managed to do the 10km in 1 hour 30 minutes; awesome!

I caught up with the beautiful Ronnie again and missed the group MotivateMe NZ (MMNZ) photo….will definitely be in the next one!

What I did do was wear my MMNZ tank top and the support from the other members along the way was absolutely INCREDIBLE. Smiles, waves, and words of encouragement…these gals are incredible! However, it gets SO MUCH BETTER.

Makaia (started MMNZ) was approached by Joe from Ludus Magnus as he wanted to get the MMNZ women in for a session to show us what they do. I was initially nervous and to be honest I signed up and then a week or so later I checked out their website and then freaked out. I am going to liken the training style to cross fit as that seems the easiest comparison for the time being. About 15 of us went along on Sunday 24^th February and it was absolutely amazing! Joe was great and the training was both rewarding and hard; I had to modify quite a few moves but know that I can improve. Trying to explain to Mark and show him was hilarious! Oh and I did run a bit!

What I do want to say about the MMNZ gals is that they are absolutely incredible. They are so strong, so supportive and so driven. I feel privileged to be part of an amazing group of women who are all at different stages of their journeys. I feel motivated, supported and encouraged by them. These are things that I have rarely felt over the years, especially in team/group environments.

Words cannot express what these women and my own friends have given me over the last few years.

Then my cousin Letti sent an invite to a Bootcamp group which I joined. Letti is on her own amazing journey and is doing incredibly proud; she’s getting stronger, fitter by the day. As I was leaving Letti’s on Monday night after a great catch up I got a message from Kiri from MMNZ to say that they had convinced Delane (our Summer Shake Up trainer) to do another 3 weeks; starting the following morning. I thought “OMG I cannot do this” and then responded saying “yes, I will be there in the morning”.

I then realised my week was going to look something like this:

Sunday – Ludus Magnus

Monday – nothing

Tuesday – Shake Up (am) / Walk (pm)

Wednesday – Bootcamp (am)

Thursday – Shake Up (am)

Friday – Bootcamp (am)

Saturday – nothing at this stage

Sunday – Final 10km Albany Walk

I am a crazy person.

Tuesday’s Shake Up was intense with boxing, stairs, boxing, STAIRS, SQUATS….boxing. I honestly thought my arms would die during the boxing part; however I can still answer the phone today which is a bonus. Wow those gals can hit! Go Kiri, Liz and Steph. We were all sweating glowing in the moonlight…yes it was that early.

Wednesday’s Bootcamp was easier in some ways (no stairs) but really great. We were working on correct form for body weight exercises like Squats, Push-ups, lunges and planks. It can only get better right? Oh and I said “I will not run even if zombies with chainsaws are chasing me”….hopefully I will be able to run a bit when I get my weight down more.

All in all the training is keeping my mind off other things which is probably quite good. Now I just need to fix up the eating a bit more and I will be home and hosed.

March is a huge month for me in terms of events and I need to be really on form for The Dual in 4 weeks.

I am going to get one of the Bootcamp trainers to help me with a program for the gym as the thought of 45 minutes on the cross-trainer is boring me silly and putting me off going. I do love exercising in the fresh air and with other people. We train hard and have moments when we laugh. Last Tuesday I realised I was sweating so much it was rolling down my arms and dripping on the stairs. NICE. Oh wait…I was glowing!!!

If you want to know more about MotivateMe NZ or the other Bootcamp I am doing then please just ask :) 

Making Exercise Fun

At the gym the other night I was thinking about exercise and personal trainers. Over the years I have seen quite a few personal trainers, and this year when I found one for my mum I decided to see her as well. Last week I got a bit of a “telling off” from her; it is the first time that a personal trainer has actually seriously made me sit up and take note. Prior to the telling off I had been doing exercise twice a week and I had considering lying to her (out of guilt) about how much exercise I was doing.

What I realized is that we should not have to lie about how much exercise we have done, nor feel guilty about not doing it. What we should feel is that we want to exercise to feel better and help us on the way to a healthier lifestyle. We should challenge ourselves when we exercise, otherwise we become complacent. I reckon that exercise should be a good mix of fun and challenge!

Ways to make exercise fun:
• Do it with a friend
• Have a good soundtrack (My pick this week is ‘Proud Mary’ by the cast of Glee)
• Find exercises that you enjoy as well as those that you do not
• Set yourself mini-goals i.e. next time on the Cross Trainer I will try level 8
• Mix it up; do aerobics, weights, walking, running, sport, dancing, swimming, Zumba...
• Try new things

So if you miss a day of exercise try not to feel guilty about it, but just enjoy the "rest day" and then get back into it the next day. So stop beating yourself up for not exercising and just make a start...even 20 minutes 3 times a week is better than nothing.

Previous Weight: 157.2kg
Current Weight: 155.9kg
Weight Loss: 1.3kg
Initial Goal Weight: 99kg
Work out pledge: 4 cardio workouts including a swim