Gym Session and.................HOLIDAY!

So I finally feel like I'm getting back into it but I'm hesitant to say anything like 'Hey, I'm back for good'. Don't want to count my chickens!

However, I did go to the gym today! It was meant to be an abs class but no-one else turned up, so the instructor decided I would be having a personal training session. Yay for me!

The trainer (Greg) started me with 3 minutes on the cross trainer to get me warmed up. We had a little discussion about my prolonged absence. He was very understanding but he was keen for me to get back into it, as was I at the time. Strange that just need someone to believe in you and encourage you and you're raring to go again!

Once warm-up was over, he had me do 20 squats with 5kg weights and then 12 lap pull downs at 55kg. I had to do this 3 times and man was it hard! I swear my face looked like this most of the time :(

Very, Very Sweaty!

After that I had to cycle 3km on the bike. A little bit of Cardio he called it! Such a charmer.

Next was 12 lunges with 4kg weights and 10 box press ups. He commented my form in my lunges was excellent :D Happy Emily.

I struggled with the press-ups. I always have and always wondered why. Recently I realised my left wrist is much weaker than my right which I think is due to my ganglion cyst (harmless, so don't worry about me) on my left wrist.

This is what mine looks like. This is NOT my wrist.

Once I told him that, he asked me to use the weights whilst doing my press-ups and it caused there to be much less pressure on the wrist. However the press-up got a whole lot harder and I ended up only doing 6 on the final round of 3 sets.

The exercise that followed was 3 sets of 20 bunny hops over the weight bench. Hard as it put pressure on my wrist but I persevered, only dropping to 10 on the last set. I'm still proud.

The last thing of my work out was reverse crunch exercises. Had to do 2 sets of 10. Painful as haven't done a whole lot of abs in a long while but I pushed through. So proud of myself. Even considering going swimming tonight.

Greg did suggest that I needed more protein in my diet, especially in the morning and recommended I try a female friendly protein shake for breakfast and after work-outs. The one he suggested is called 'Diet FX' (picture below).

Think I will try the Banana flavour.

I'm keen to try it for at least a month and see how it goes. I also plan to cut back on the pudding :(

My last bit of news for you all is that I'm going on HOLIDAY!!!! My family are going for a lovely week in the (fingers crossed) sunny Mallorca, Spain. I'm really rather excited. The added bonus... we are going to go walking, swimming, cycling and scuba diving. So we will be extremely active!

Right catch up with you all soon!

Emily xx

Eat well, Exercise strong and Be happy!

My Gym in Photos (aka The Place the Pounds Go to Live) :D

Just for you all to see how small my gym really is :D

Cross Trainers x2

Rowing Machines x2 Bikes x2

Weight Machines plus free weights zone

Mats and Mirrors - Exercise Classes happen here!

Running Machines x3

As you can see it's quite small but it's got everything you would need! Plus it's really cheap as it's at my work place.

So there you go!

Emily xx

Day 3 of LA Fitness Free Trial

The end has arrived and our free trial is over! What a sad thought. I have rather enjoyed having my gym in my home town.

We finished up the trial with a warm up on the rowing machine, then some of the floor exercises from Day 2, then I popped onto the reclining bike (first time and I'm not a fan) and then a small run. Swimming to finish off.

Funny enough not one person asked us to sign up whilst we were there. I've had a call since but I'm not calling them back. :D I got what I wanted. I know so naughty!

My leg is still hurting me so I can't go full pelt but I don't really want to stop exercising. So I'm taking tomorrow off and my housemate should be massaging my leg tomorrow or Saturday. Can't wait!

I tried my first smoothie today. I put milk, oatmeal, honey and a banana in a blender and it was delicious :D

On Saturday I'm going to buy myself some new working out clothes, possibly some weights and a sports bottle. I really feel I need a boost and I'm sick of my usual clothes. So I'm hoping this will pick me up.

I'll be exercising over the weekend and I'm looking forward to weighing in on Monday.

Emily x

SCC Week 2 Weigh In and Week 3 Goals

So it was week 2 weigh in today with SCC update:

Weight: 13 Stone (-5lb)


Arms: 13" (+0.4")
Chest: 33" (-1")
Waist: 32" (Same)
Stomach: 40.2" (-0.8")
Thighs: 23" (same)
Calf: 17" (Same)


So most of measurements are the same, so I'm hoping when my leg is better and I can start to train again that I will trim up a bit. The big thing is the weigh loss. I'm fairly hesitant to scream and shout about the supposed 5lb weigh loss. I'm thinking I never really put any on, it was just my totm that made it seem like I had but its nice to know that I'm not that big.


SCC update:

• Losing inches - Like I mentioned staying roughly the same but think it will improve with time. 
• 1 mile time - Still 11.12, as had to take break from running
• Size - Clothes are definitely getting big, So I'm thinking this one will happen.
• Calories - Not doing calories at all. So restricting and time consuming. I'm trying to start again this week
• Water - Currently exceeding 6 Glasses a day. Whoop go me!
• Exercise  - Exercise 4 times due to injury
• Gym  - Went twice again because of injury
• Swimming - No 
• Zumba - No 
• Horse Riding - Complete for month
• Blogged - Have Blogged twice a week every week so far and have been supporting other challengers

How was week 2?


Did you have any a-ha moments?
When I went for a 7 mile walk, I realised just how fantastic it was to do exercise outdoors, even in winter.


What was your biggest success?
Got rid of the weight I had *put* on and didn't have any chocolates from the Milk tray sat in the office :D


What was your biggest struggle?
Not exercising due to my injury. I Wanted to exercise but knew it would be better to just not exercise and wait for it get better.


Week Three Goals:

• Enjoy my birthday.
• Work extra hard before and after so I can have a really good time.
• Get my leg healed up, so taking it easy and not rushing back in.
• Stick to healthy eating on non celebratory meals.
• Get into 12 stone realm on scale

Emily x

Back to the Gym aka Aches and Pains

Back to the Gym yesterday and my legs ACHED!! :(

I can't believe how much they ached. I thought this kind of aching was over and done with. Thankfully after today's Gym session they feel a bit looser. Will just have to work through the ache I guess, get back up to my normal work out level.

Since Christmas I've started sweating a lot more whilst exercising, a friend told me that means it means I'm getting fitter. Has anyone else heard of this?

I  ran 1.5km today in the Gym. Feeling very proud of myself. The best way to do it I'm finding is to run 1km and then assess whether I can carry on or not at that point. I'm still hoping to do Race for Life this year, so I need to train up to 5km. Once I get a date for RFL then I will figure out what 5km training programme I should do. Any suggestions?

A sad thing about this month is that I'm very poor, which means I may have to cut back on some of exercises that I pay for i.e Swimming. Thankfully after my Christmas purchases I should be able to do a mini gym workout at home instead but we'll see how this month goes.

Unfortunately I had a small Cheese binge last night. It wasn't a massive amount and it was low fat but I probably shouldn't have eaten it. I'm not going to beat myself up about it but I do feel I need to get some more healthy snacks into my cupboard to avoid such situations.

Concerning the challenge I'm doing okay but I think I'm struggling on the food part. I'm going to give it two weeks. If I feel I'm not doing well, I'm going to Blog what I'm eating and exercising every day for a week and see what you all think about my regime?

Catch up soon

Em x