Core Cardio & Balance - Recovery Week

It took far longer than i'd hoped to shift my cold and so I eased back into exercise last week with 2 swims, an outside run - 4 miles, and a long gym sesh. The great thing is that I haven't put on any weight - still 9 stone 9 as of last check 2 days ago.

This week, i'm running and gyming plus supplementing this with the Insanity core cardio and balance workout.

I'll be honest, I thought this was going to be half an hour of stretches. It's 90% of a normal workout! Shaun T keeps saying don't overdo it throughout, but then gets you to do some flipping hard moves! Maybe it's because I haven't done it for 3 weeks.

I re-read the food booklet that came with the DVD's and I generally eat all of that anyway. This weekend we had a christening, so that slightly went out of the window. But I think if you don't have the odd treat then you suddenly binge, so everything in moderation. I don't usually have a sweet tooth but the pudding was amazing - a meringue and fererro rocher tower! Our neighbour, the baby's grandmother, made it and brought us more round afterwards which I couldn't resist. 

Lots of study done, big run tonight and healthy week ahead.

If you're about to go into recovery week let me know and if you're already there, tell me what you think of the workout - are you finding it easy?

Starting tomorrow

I don't like the phrase "i'm going to start tomorrow" but ironically that's exactly what i'm going to do! I'm still frantically blowing my nose, but think this should be the last day of a week-long cold. I don't think i'll ever start jumping out of bed in the morning until it's light!

This weekend was purely productive and I struck a few things off my bucket list:

Buy a luxury Mulberry bag as reward for recent promotion
Start studies - do at least an hour
Take down Christmas decorations and spring clean the house

Aided by the fact the weather was horrendous, it meant that I didn't mind staying in and studying/cleaning yesterday.

I have 6 pretty free weekends stretching ahead of me to write my assignment and once i'd sorted the house, my mind felt lighter and I could focus on studies in a lovely, tidy office. The only problem with studying is that you're very much sedentary. Hence, Insanity!!!

Tonight i'm going to complete another item on my list - print wedding photos to have around the house. They'll act as motivation on my quest to not slip into fat wedded bliss! 

Some people put their skinny photos on the fridge or a Victoria Secret girl in a bikini, but i'm not sure about that... imagine how embarrassing that would be if your friends and family came round and saw that your fridge was a diet shrine! Instead I should write my goals on the fridge.

So how do you keep yourself motivated? Any tips?

Goals

While i'm unwell and mid-Insanity, it's a good time for me to write down my fitness goals for this year, as i'm sure most of you have this on your mind at the beginning of January.

I work in marketing, where we use SMART objectives:



My 2014 fitness goals are:
To complete Insanity by mid-February (i'm on the week "break" once my cold has gone)
To lose at least 6lb by mid-March when I go skiing
To run the Jurassic Coast 10k race in August

I think these are all completely achievable - it's not as though i'm saying I want to run a marathon, whereas my friend is doing the London marathon but that's achievable for her. 

My other goal is to finish my studies this year. I need to get the last 3 assignments out of the way and then i'll have a baby in 2015 (all of this punishing myself with Insanity will be ruined ha ha!).

I also hit the big 3-0 this year - eek!

So what's your SMART goal(s)? Is it to complete Insanity? Let me know by posting below.

Zzz...

How boring - day 6 of being ill! My colds usually last 1-2 weeks, so hopefully after this weekend I can start month 2 on Monday. I'm not going to be stupid and do it if i'm unwell though - major shock to the system otherwise!

I had to work from home on my first day back - but i'm going in this morning. I've been sleeping like a log thanks to nose drops :)

Husband is still doing the plan without me. He had an asthma appointment earlier this week and the lady said he'd put on 2 stone in 2 years :-O looking at photos we could both reduce our weight so as I do all the cooking, we're having healthy eating AND reduced portion sizes!!

His main problem is he eats too much too fast. I'm very aware of my portion size or i'd end up as big as him!!

Also, I watched a program about people who don't understand why they're putting on weight - mayo is 3/4 fat and 2 tbsp is the same as a slice of chocolate cake. A glass of wine is the same as a chocolate eclair cake!!! So no fatty sauces and a very dry January...

We also have 3 months to get fit for skiing - what could be more motivation than that?!

Oh and my New Years Resolution is to complete my final 3 study assignments this year. As painful as that is!!

Should you workout when ill?

I have a full blown cold - on New Years Eve :-/ typical!!! I slept for 10 hours last night. Husband is doing the workout of the week in between months 1 and 2. Without me :(((

So I had a good read on Beachbody.com because i've gone to the gym with a cold before (I know, stupid eh). Apparently working out would do my body no good at all. What I didn't know is that you actually burn MORE calories when sick because your metabolism is increased. 

I'm going for a walk with a friend this afternoon as I need to get out of the house!! Then we're walking to a friend's for dinner tonight to see in 2014. Hopefully I won't be sniffing all evening!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Lurgy

After an evening out and Insanity Pure Cardio yesterday, i've finally caught my sister-in-law's cold :( to be honest I wasn't feeling 100% during the workout and was complaining about having a couple of days off and how drinking really affects your fitness (although that is true!).

So annoyed! Today was my last workout of the first month, grr! I'm aching, have sore eyes and throat etc. So husband is doing it without me. 

I was actually asleep at 10pm last night and slept for 10 hours! Going to get some medicine today.

I'm now looking forward to the festive period being over. Watch this space for Month 2!

Glass half full

I managed to squeeze in 25 mins of a 40 min workout yesterday (Plyometric Cardio Circuit), due to having a vet appointment in the morning and general rushing around - cleaning house, massive food shop (tons of meat at half price, winner) and seeing friends. 

But I like to see the glass as half full - at least I managed to do some of it. Those first 25 mins are tough and I was still sweating. Went to use the hairdryer and husband had taken it to a golf day and dinner (says it all really) so I thought I could use a US one with an adapter that I bought on holiday last year when the apartment we were staying in was sans hairdryer. 

BIG MISTAKE. I turned on the hairdryer and there was a big flash of light, bad smoke, explosion smell and my hands went black. Luckily I didn't blow up the house and it only tripped the switch - but it gave me a big shock, literally. I won't be playing with electrics again any time soon!

I ate quite randomly yesterday as I was out of food, except for a yogurt, couple of slices of toast with lightest Lurpak and a mushroom cuppa soup. 

£150 later and I now have a whole fridge full of 2 weeks worth of pretty damn healthy food which i'm starting on today. I had quite a few cocktails last night but i'm driving tonight. I never go out with my friends drinking as I usually drive, so for once I drank and this morning I feel fine. I was in bed before midnight and before I went to bed I had some potato and chickpea salad with some bread and smoked salmon. I'd already had half of the salad with some crisps to line my stomach before I went out. Not exactly a healthy day but hey ho.

I also cleaned the house - but today i'm going to pick up something in the sale that's quite exciting (ok for me it is!) - a steam mop!! I want shiny, shiny floors after i've been sweating on them from Insanity hehe!

Today is meant to be cardio recovery but i'm going skip to pure cardio and cardio abs instead. That is 100% my hardest workout - so a pennance for last night ;-)

Beating the Xmas bloat

Well I gave myself Christmas and Boxing Day off Insanity. I ate pretty healthily considering and was designated driver those two days in fact! Lots of roast dinners play havoc with my stomach though, so i'm pretty pleased to be done with Christmas.

I got some great presents - a full Nike running kit from my sister-in-law, a Samsung tablet from my mother-in-law and biggest prezzie of all: a ski holiday from my husband!! Also many other beautiful things :) 

Today is week 4, day 3: Plyometric Cardio Workout. Including today, I still have 7 full days off work!! :) I'll probably skip the recovery week to be honest as I haven't done the workout all the way through every day.

I do feel quite accomplished that i'll be half way through when the crazy January people are in the gym. Apart from swimming, I think i'll go back to the gym in February when i've finished Insanity.

Hope you've had a great Christmas! Did any of you receive the Insanity workout in your stocking!?

Pure Cardio and Cardio Abs

Husband and I did Pure Cardio and Cardio Abs first thing in the morning. I wasn't aching but he was, so he skipped the abs section. In fact, the day before he did 2 Insanity DVD's - one on his own and one with me. We've had terrible storms here so working out inside has been perfect!

The moving press ups are absolutely killer. As i've said before, i've improved on press ups, but Shaun T counts ridiculously quickly so I have to skip one just to keep up. Oh well, i'm doing the best I possibly can. 

This morning i'm going to do Cardio Power and Resistance. Husband has told me that it's ridiculous to do it tomorrow morning (Christmas Day!) but i'm going to try. Will balance the roast dinner. I was designated driver last night and I didn't really mind because then i'm fresh for the workout and haven't consumed a ton of empty calories over the Christmas holidays.

Last New Years, there's a photo taken where I look about 6 months pregnant with a holiday food and drink baby. Horrible! So this year i'm being careful not to go overboard just for the sake of it - that only makes January even more depressing!

End of week 3 - whoop!

Yesterday was plyometric cardio circuit - last workout of week 3. Tough as ever - I think i'm sweating more than ever now. We managed to squeeze the workout in between friends coming over for tea and cake and going to our neighbours for drinks and nibbles at 8pm! Phew! 

Had a busy morning shopping with my sister and mother-in-law - we got to see glass blowing which looked very tough. 

Foodwise, I had a Dukan galette with a banana toffee activia yogurt for breakfast, then I had lunch out, which was an open sandwich covered in huge prawns and salad. Delicious! Then half a slice of cake at tea and a 200 calorie boxed salmon, prawn and sushi rice salad from Boots after Insanity. Prosecco, crisps and popcorn in the evening was naughty, but it's Christmas, what can I say?!

So today i'm doing week 4, day 1. I haven't posted this before, but you can see where I am here. I don't think i've lost any weight but feel fitter.

Cardio hell

Ahhh yes it's finally the Christmas break!! 12 days of not working! Bliss!!! Saying that, no lie-in for me today as we need to get a few more presents in town and beat the crazy traffic :-/ 

Last night we did cardio power and resistance. I think it must put you through around 100 press ups in total during the final half of the workout. I can now easily do 10 push ups at a time - which is amazing! It's always the last 5 seconds of each round that kills me!

The rest of the next 12 days I have off work i'm going to try and be as healthy as I am in work (I always have a healthy breakfast and lunch with hardly any snacking). But hopefully i'll move around more than I do at work where i'm confined to my desk - yesterday I had to work through lunch so barely moved all day! 

So I had a healthy dinner but my husband had been talking all week about getting a chinese takeaway and I can't remember the last time I had a chinese, let alone a takeaway. 

I also had 1.5 glasses of prosecco to wash it down. Watched a great film called New Years Eve.

Anyway, i'd had 2 eggs for breakfast and a small chicken breast with salad for lunch, then worked til 6 and did Insanity, so that was well deserved I think. I didn't pig out either.

We're going to watch the rugby this afternoon which is exciting! 

Feeling very positive about this time off and doing Insanity as the plan says. Currently this is coming to the end of week 3, so hopefully I can sail through week 4 and then straight on to the hard 2nd month.

I've read horrendous things on other blogs about month 2 - that it's absolutely ridiculous compared to the first month. Eek!

Last run of 2013!

My last run of 2013 went so well! Especially considering that I only started running outside in May - when i'd only ever run about 3 miles at school once a year between the ages of 8 and 13. I was a fat child and always came last in the annual cross country race. The PE teacher would run the last leg with me and the rest of my class would watch me finish. HORRENDOUS! Ever since, I never wanted to run. I would do about 5 minutes on the treadmill in the gym. But now, I love it! 

When I started in May, I was always behind my friend C. I had to stop and walk and felt totally out of breath and would get stitches. Last night I literally whizzed through 4 miles in under 40 minutes. I didn't stop once and kept pace with C's husband who is super fit. I'm sure all of this Insanity is doing something!! 

I was really surprised that I was fine in just a tshirt in the cold too - I definitely ran easier in the cold compared to a hot summer's day. Oh and minor error - I was crossing a road and almost got hit by a van but C's husband saved me :-O I think I need to invest in a reflective top!

So 2014 is definitely going to involve a 10k race - there's one near us which I didn't do this year, but C did, which i'm going to do. It's in August along a really pretty coastline so should be very nice!

The run was my night of Insanity recovery so tonight is cardio power and resistance and tomorrow is the plyometric cardio circuit to finish Insanity Week 3 (technically taken me 5 weeks with other workouts and time away but who's counting!?)...at least I have the next 10 days off to do a workout each morning. I can't wait!!!!

Pure Cardio & Abs

I did it!!! Not only pure cardio, but cardio abs after! You're meant to double these up, but it's extra tough. I did get through cardio and think, wow it ended quicker than I thought. I had a bit of a second wind in places and could continue further than my husband (competitive, moi?!) - again, he wouldn't continue to cardio abs. I will say, on the press up sections Shaun T counts too quickly so I can only get about 3 in, when he's already saying "stand up, jump up". Phew! I did my best though :)

I felt so good afterwards, I was so glad I did it :) just need to remind myself of that feeling. Straight after, I feel toned, but this is probably the placebo effect!

It did annoy me slightly that when you go to do Cardio Abs and you're sweating to death, it's not the same group of people doing pure cardio. So they're fresh and jumping up and down like bunnies, while you're dying and exhausted! Doesn't seem fair!

I'm definitely improving on the press ups. Oh and i've gone off chocolate. Isn't that weird! Right before Christmas! Can only be a good thing ;-) I ate super healthily yesterday so feeling better today.

So tonight is the recovery day of the workout but i'm going running with the girls - probably 4 miles. I haven't been running outside in a month or so because it's so dark, cold and wet, but I agreed to "a last run of the year". We'll see if the Insanity has made any difference! 

Meh!

This weekend was crazy. 

On Thursday night we went to London and Friday morning I went to the gym at the hotel for an hour. Then walked all round London - met my oldest friend which was lovely and did some shopping with husband. He said my clothes were so bad that we went shopping. I had a new jumper on! Anyway, I wasn't complaining about being bought a new outfit!

We ate pretty healthily, but I did have some vino! Woke up with a banging headache so now sworn off wine! 

Slept 10 hours on Sunday and then did a few hours of last ditch Christmas shopping, then had lunch at my parents-in-law's for lunch (gammon and oven chips, not great?!) and went over to my parents to make homemade truffles as presents. I think i've gone off chocolate - I didn't even want to eat any of the mix I made! Then went to see our friends' new baby... Exhausted.com!!! 

But while I was running about like a madwoman, husband did Insanity without me. He also did it the day before as soon as we were back from London. Cheers then!

So, today is the start of a fresh new week. Tonight I have to wrap a few presents before my parents go away for Christmas but i'm determined to do Insanity. I'm also going to walk at lunch. 

At least it's my last working week of the year. 

Now to think of what my new years resolutions will be.......

Something to admit...

It's now Thursday and I had a spa afternoon yesterday with husband for his birthday - facial, massage, steam room and sauna - plus a 15 min swim. I drove for 2 hours.It made us realise we should do this more often - like a honeymoon afternoon :)

So I haven't done Insanity since Sunday, terrible! I'm going to London for a couple of nights so will probably have to take the DVD with me - although there's a gym and swimming pool there, so maybe I just do that. If I go through the floor of my hotel from jumping around I would die of embarrassment haha! 

I think i'll class this as my rest week and then get through the rest of it. Why am I so crap. I wonder how many people actually do every day!? 

Technically Day 16!

So it's taken me 27 days to do 16 workouts. I've been to the gym 3 times as well. Friday I had a lovely swim, jacuzzi and sauna with my friend C, who I usually go running with but it's freezing now.

Then Saturday I had to do a ton of Christmas shopping - was pretty healthy and ordered an egg sandwich on brown instead of cake with my mum! She had a yummy yogurt flapjack, so I traded a corner ;-) I am definitely more of a sandwich person and actually had a late breakfast so technically that was lunch.

Then Sunday (yesterday) I did Insanity Cardio Circuit first thing. Better to do it in the morning to get it out of the way before you have a shower. I wish I could do that in the weekday but I don't have time. It was harder than I remember - a few days off is the killer. That's why it's an everyday plan with 1 day off. Weirdly, I find the press ups get easier when i'm on the 3rd set. 

Just as well I did the workout - we had a roast lamb dinner at my mother-in-law's and then had dinner out with friends, argh! I had 2 small glasses of rose wine too. But as I decided not to go to my Christmas party on Fri night in favour of the pool, I think that's okay. Also, I must've had about 6 portions of veg yesterday - curly kale, carrots, leeks, peas, broccoli and swede.

I tried gurnard - a type of fish - for the first time last night. It was wrapped in parma ham and was delicious. I might try and do that myself if I can find it!

Only this week and next week at work, then 10 days of for Christmas, ahhhhhhhhhhh! I can't wait!!!
Because we got married in June and had 2.5 weeks off, I haven't had any holiday since then! This Weds arvo we're going to a spa as a treat for husband's birthday :) 

I'm also going for a Christmassy dinner with the girls tonight, so will workout tomorrow eve and Weds AM for sure. What's quite funny, is that recovery week is Christmas week! I'll probably supplement with swimming as it's nice to have the time to fully take advantage of the sauna, jacuzzi and steam room.

So anyway, still carrying on with it. Trying to fit it in as much as I physically can. If it takes me 3 months to do the whole thing, then that's fine if it's the best I can do (or so i'm telling myself!).

Skip

Work was manic and by the time i'd done a Tesco shop on the way home, I was shattered. I might add, I carried an entire weekly shop around the store in a shopping basket for half an hour so this definitely worked some biceps, just not by Shaun T's standards!

When I got in at 7.30pm, husband had already started to do the cardio workout. I started dinner instead, which was super healthy baked chicken, with sweet potato wedges and salad with balsamic dressing. I'm working from home today so i'm going to squeeze Insanity in at lunch time, or before if I can.

I must admit, i'm finding working out 6 days a week really tiring. However, i've found an app for ticking off your daily workout on your phone and keeping track of your measurements and weight which is clever and better than that paper booklet they give you with the workout DVDs.

After watching I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here, I really want Amy Willerton's stomach, okay whole body! Well, who wouldn't! All of the women on the program have been slating her for being so hot which is bullying, just because Olympic Swimmer Rebecca Adlington has body issues, ridiculous!

I better go, as this blog is turning from a workout diary into my own little monologue!!

Gym cheat

I feel like I cheated on Insanity with the gym last night! But at least I pushed myself there too. I did a 15 min fast run, 10 mins on the normal bike, 15 mins on the low sit down bike, then weights and ab work.

I got home and cooked the Waitrose frozen seafood risotto. When I say cooked, I mean chucked it in the wok and waited for it to melt, ha ha! It was ok, needed a lot of chilli sauce and pepper to make it tasty and less like mushy porridge. 

It's cardio circuit tonight, followed by chicken, sweet potato wedges and salad. I am becoming obsessed with dinner because exercise makes me so hungry, agh!

Fit test take 2

I wasn't really feeling like doing the fit test. All I could think about was my salmon, brown rice and broccoli for dinner, how bad is that?!!?

The fact i'd written on this blog that I was going to do it made me power through. I was tired, feeling heavy and aching from the gym workout the day before, however I gave it my best go. Husband did it too but as he didn't do the first one, he stopped counting. As we've put up the Christmas tree, there was barely enough space for both a 6ft 4 man and a 5ft 7 woman to do push ups side by side. (You're thinking, I have an excuse for everything!)

So these are my scores:
                                                           #1                               #2
SWITCH KICKS                               56                              59
POWER JACKS                              59                              53
POWER KNEES                              84                              80
POWER JUMPS                              33                              46
GLOBE JUMPS                               10                              11
SUICIDE JUMPS                              15                             14
PUSH-UP JACKS                            24                              30 (HALF PUSH-UPS AS NO ROOM)
LOW PLANK OBLIQUE                  50                               65

So it was a mixed back of better than last time scores and worse than last time. Next time i'll aim to do this on a weekend morning when i'm fresh and without my husband getting in the way! Argh! The 2 areas I really excelled on were the power jumps and low plank oblique, which are the toughest, so i'm trying to be positive.

Here are how other people have done - as their switch kick scores are in the 100s, I think they are double counting the switch kicks when in the Insanity booklet it says 2 kicks = 1 rep. 

I put all of my food into My Fitness Pal yesterday and it came out at 1,400 cals. I reckon I burnt 200 minimum with this workout. Why do I still feel so heavy?!!? 

I said i'd meet a friend at the gym tonight, so i'll do Cardio Circuits tomorrow.

Gym day

I was in the gym last night for 5.20 to meet a friend, but she was about 40 minutes late so once she arrived I did a workout with her too! Having already done mine! I didn't leave the gym floor until 7pm! I did 20 mins bike, 20 mins fast run (10.5km), 5 mins fast row level 7/10 (I did 1000m 20 secs faster than EVER!). Then I went on the mat and did arms weights, 3 and 4kg, then ab moves from Insanity and knee push ups.

I was cream crackered afterwards! (knackered)

I was really healthy yesterday and had a small bowl of Alpen with raspberries and milk, then mid morning 2 black pepper Ryvita on their own, then for lunch I had a 320 cal Covent Garden Chicken Soup, with a 100 cal yogurt and an apple, then as a snack a slice of granary with light butter. For dinner I had a small steak with onion and garlic cous cous, couple of tablespoons of half fat mayo, and broccoli. With teas and coffees about 1,800 cals and burnt about 450 in the gym.

A girl in the gym was telling me about the 5-2 diet as she's looking really slim since I last saw her, around the middle where I want to trim up. She said that surprisingly on her low calorie day she has loads of energy - she'd just done a spin class. I might try it for a week but I don't know how I could go a day with only 500 calories while exercising. Maybe for my day off... Apparently because your body is always digesting, if you give it a break then it regenerates cells instead. May have to read into this malarkey. The only diet that's ever worked for me is the Dukan but I was too strict and was on protein only too long. Basically looked so thin at 8 stone 12. Now i'm 11lb heavier, agh! I should basically just eat half what I do and not pick when i'm cooking!!

So tonight is 100% fit test! After surprising myself with all of that exercise yesterday and a personal best on the rowing machine, i'm feeling quite positive!!! :)