Complacency, go and get knotted ya bastard!

Complacency... a friend of mine from years ago who was a pilot for 40 years said that more pilots have accidents not long after they've completed 300 hours of flying because they forget to be careful, they get confident and make mistakes.What does that have to do with me? Can I fly a plane? Hell yes! Like a bird... Virgin's just begging me to come fly their big jets.

So not true. 

But what is true is this... I remember last week thinking "I'm in my groove!" Fantastic, I had a rest day, then worked out, Friday I forgot... didn't even think of it, Saturday I worked out, yesterday I forgot and I've just had a mega dinner and realised I'd forgotten again and there's no darned way I'm working out with a belly this full!

Complacency is not my friend. From this point on, seeing as the novelty has worn off, I need to be strict and schedule my workouts. I'll plan them the night before so that when I wake up early, there's one ready. And I'll make two times available every day so that if I sleep in or get held up in the morning, I have time in the evening.

It's that simple. Complacency won't get me a body that's strong and capable. I know because it hasn't so far. It's got me a flabby albeit skinny body that has no endurance (my endurance is all mental...) and aches at the slightest strain. Exercise will give me a body that is strong, can go the distance, is muscular enough to support the skeletal system, is cleaner (hello lymph glands) and that I'm proud of when I look in the mirror.

No more! I workout whether I feel like it or not. Two off days per week and every other day... I... I... I workoooooout. Two of those workouts each week will be full on and make me hurt like my muscles have been injected with battery fluid and the rest will be gentler recovery workouts.

I'm excited by my plan. It's taking shape but gives me freedom. Huzzah!

Complacency, go and get knotted ya bastard!

DOMS!!!!

After my first Convict Conditioning workout I felt good. I'd worked hard, broken a sweat, was a lil trembly but able to function. The next day I was sore, and the day after that I was in agony! I searched this problem and found that it's called Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness and it has a bit of a history.

In the past DOMS was thought to be caused by lactic acid getting stuck in the muscles and taking days to leach back out. But this is been disproved over and over.

About 19 years ago I did an aerobic class with an incredible lady who told me that muscle soreness was caused by minute tears in the muscle fibres. That was the first reason for it that I heard. The lactic acid reason was the second. The lactic reason made sense to me because often when I exercise that same group of muscles again, it they felt better afterwards. So if I did a leg workout, and was mega sore the next day, a smaller leg workout would help the pain.

It turns out that working that working out the same area can trigger certain responses within the muscle group, which enables the muscles to heal more quickly.

So, from what I can find, if you are sore after a workout, do a gentle workout focusing on that area the next day. I've tested it a few times now and the theory holds up well for me. My research found that exercising the sore area doesn't exacerbate the muscle tears.

In other very important news today, I purchased myself a training journal. So far my training records are on scraps of paper lying around the place in my messy universe. I hadn't planned on buying one, but I saw this in office works today and thought PERFECT!

I just love it! Cannot believe she is standing on their heads/necks. I'd love to see our current lifesavers doing such a thing. A cover that represents strength is just the thing for my journal.

The weather has been insane here so no kayak love yet. I'll get there dammit! I have continued to workout every day this week with the exception of the day before yesterday which was a targeted rest day. Reason being that I had a huge day at work followed by a meeting with girlfriends who are also in business which went until very late and I was already tired. I have decided that having one to two rest days a week is good. Not directly after each other. I have also done a second Convict workout and geez I love it. I'm sore from it so my workout tonight will be yoga or rebounding. Loving the freedom of not being locked into a program.

Have a happy weekend all! xxx

PS: Learn the difference between regular muscle soreness and an injury. Exercising an injured area is obviously not good. If you're in doubt, seek professional advice. ;)

First Convict Conditioning Workout DONE!

As my mental health and physical fitness improve, I'm becoming more motivated. This morning I was up at 6am which was unheard of just a few weeks ago but is now happening on a Sunday (!!!), then got out my Convict Conditioning (CC) book and, while I was oil pulling, planned my first CC workout. This is how it looked:

  Then I decided to work out in the great outdoors so I set up my workout area, pretty!

Then I worked out. CC has six major exercises which are broken down into 10 progressive steps. With most of the ones I chose, I was one either the first progressive exercise (the easiest) or the second. I was supposed to do two sets of each exercise which I did. I don't like resting between sets so I just did two rounds of all of the exercises (except the last one) and that worked for me.

Unfortunately the mozzies found me after exercise 2 round 1 which made me feel like this...

So while I was out I bought some of this...

Natural insect repellant. Bugger off blood suckers! Geez I hope it works. I loved being outside. But mozzies are about as welcome around me as Colonel Sanders at a vegan picnic.

I moved inside and set up another workout area. Not as pretty but functional. I didn't use the weights, that's just where we keep them. One of the things I love about CC is it's simplicity. No huge outlay for expensive equipment that ends up getting used to hand drying washing on, just bodyweight exercises. I think that with some of the harder exercises there might be some equipment required like a chin up bar, but they don't cost a lot.

 After that I did the usual Sunday stuff, and it's now midday and I hurt! I hurt all over. It looked like a simple workout and felt like a simple workout mostly but it must have been keeping the hard part in cammo gear because I feel like I've done one of the hardest workouts of my life. There was a few difficult ones, but I hurt nicely. It's not a hurt that's going to wake me if I move in my sleep for example. 

I added a quick 2 minute cardio warmup which was just skipping on the Cellerciser for two minutes. Harder than it sounds! I was getting the hang of it by the end but not easy that's for sure!

What I do not like about CC... the author is derisive about people using other methods of fitness for gaining strength. I really don't like it when someone puts others down to make themselves look better and it grates on me a lot. I would prefer a smaller book. It's big and can be awkward to handle.

The photos are clear but are mainly taken from one angle. It would be great if the photos were taken from side and back for example so we could see the exercises from different angles.

I don't like that I don't know what's true and what's not. It's 'based on' fact which means while I'm reading, every second thought is 'is this bit true?'.

What I do like is it's simplicity, the need for very little or no equipment, and that the exercises are really explained. I love the layout and the 'no messing about' style of writing the guy has.

After working out, I love that I can get through the workout, raising a sweat, and struggling a little, but can feel muscles I didn't know I had hurting.

CC was given to me as a gift and I'm really grateful to that fella. I think I'll do what he did and buy a bunch of them for family and friends as well. I'd definitely recommend it which, given my background doesn't mean much, but two friends of mine who have amassed strength and muscle mass in gyms for years (all their adult lives), both say it's one of the best books they've read. One of them has given up gyms entirely, and the other one goes now just for fun and to see the people he's met over the years.

Good stuff!

Why I don't go to gyms

I sucked ass at sports at school. I was always the last chosen for any team, I was the slowest runner, couldn't catch to save myself and missed every ball ever bowled at me for any sport, I tripped over when I was running, and hit people when I threw things. The sporty kids made my life hell on a regular basis both in sports class and everywhere else. As an adult, I know that at least one of these kids was undergoing a similar sort of abuse from his father who had visions of him being an olympic athlete, so I guess his behaviour was normal for him. The others just followed him because he was the best at everything. And the rest was just because kids are mean because they don't know how to be nice yet.

As an adult in my 20's after exiting a relationship with a junkie that was abusive on many levels, I gave up smoking and started to gain weight at an alarming rate. So off I went to pump iron, to aerobics, suffer circuit training etc. I was appointed a personal trainer who was also called Jennie so I felt a kind of kinship with her straight awa which was quickly smashed to smithereens as she openly giggled at me (definitely not with me) after putting me through my fitness test. She then swept me through my first workout explaining all of the machines, how I was to use them and showed me where my chart was kept.

For the first couple of visits after that, I couldn't remember what some of the exercises were called, so I'd ask gym members as there was hardly any staff around and those that were there were flat stick. Some of the peopel I asked were really nice and helped me out. I'd wait until someone was between a set to ask, but most of them were just big assholes. One guy said "If you don't F*^$ing well know, then you f%*&ing well shouldn't be here. The gym's not a pick up joint you know, some of us are actually here to work out". Humiliated I slunk off to the loo. I quickly changed and waited outside in my car hoping to see him leave. He had a distinctive car and from that point on, if I turned up and his car was there, I left.

I persevered and my trainer was grudgingly impressed with my progress as was I. I was doing well and some of the women in the gym had actually started to talk to me which was nice! But by this stage I'd gotten used to "gym is just like school sports" and just wanted to get in and get out, to get my workout done. I wasn't enjoying the workout experience because I felt like I stood out like a sore thumb and shouldn't be there because I didn't know enough about it all. I was so worried about gym bullies I'd be almost physically ill walking through the front door. So... one day, I walked out of work, through my entire gym bag in the bin and bought myself a packet of cigarettes. And that was the end of that.

I don't feel sorry for myself about it now. It's all past and I've learned a lot. These days that guy could say that to me and I'd go slash his tyres while he was benchpressing brush it off and ask someone else. I'd have gone back when he was there and in time he'd have learned I was serious and may have apologised. He may have just found his wife in bed with his best friend before getting to the gym which was why he took it out on the first victim nice person he saw... or he might have just been a prick on steroids.

 It was all a long time ago and I could have done a gazillion things to make the experience different for myself, I know that now. I had absolutely no confidence and the idea that someone might be nasty about me and be wrong about it was completely foreign. I just felt that they could see the real me that I managed to hide from everyone else. Not that I thought the gym was a pick up joint... he was wrong about that...

Gym's just do not appeal to me now except on one level. I get a little pang every now and then when I hear about my friends going to the gym. They really enjoy it a lot of the time, and a lot of them make new friends there with similar interests and targets.  It's the gym community that I think I'd like to be a part of. Maybe. One day.

So perhaps one day I will give it a go. But I'd rather try it out when I'm a little more fit and also I love working out at home. I can be silly and stupid when I feel like it (like doing my happy dance which I'd NEVER do in public), I can do any sort of routine I like at any time and I don't have to go through traffic to do so. I like it!

I've been consistently working out almost daily. I missed one day this week and didn't realise until I woke the next day so I must have really needed the rest!

Have a great day all!!!

Happy Valentines Day To Me! (A Day Early)

Today was a pretty good day. I am bouncing back from my recent funk in almost record time but had a very good session with El Shrinko anyway. It's lucky I like her because I'm back to seeing her once a week for awhile.

We had a big delivery at work today which meant I was lifting heavy boxes from up high to down low for close to 20 minutes at a fast fast pace so that was my workout, I was hot, sweaty and tomato red which is exactly what I'm like after a workout so that's good enough for me today.

After my session I got home and Mr JDF asked if I'd like my VDay present early. What? Do bees make honey? Do trees grow in the woods? Is a frogs butt watertight??? Hell yes! Here tis for your viewing:

Sorry for the crappy pic. I took close to 40 pics to get this and have a mozzie bite for every single shot. I washed off 24 mozzie carcasses when I got inside but who cares? (Except maybe a few Buddhists who will forgive me because they're Buddhisty thank you!) I has a kayak! Tomorrow, I'm up early to go out on this sweet thing. More pics then! Yay for outdoor fitness!

Depression and exercise, changing the habit of a lifetime.

You know, I have suffered from depression on and off all of my life. I'm not going into specifics because it's a boring story. There's no history of abuse, no childhood trauma, etc etc, but from time to time I get very depressed to the point where people watch me to make sure I'm not dead or dying. Unfortunately I'm in that space at the moment which sucks ass because I really thought I was past it this time. Fortunately I have an emergency appointment with El Shrinko tomorrow which will help me get back on track again.

When I get like this I have no energy. Even saying "Hello" to people takes huge amounts of energy. Then I get so wound up from pepping myself up all day that I can't sleep. Going to sleep actually takes energy. Your brain has to permit certain functions so it can switch bits and pieces of itself off and then... we sleep. Last night I lay there for hours and hours until I finally got myself to relax enough to sleep and boing! I was up and at 'em again this morning.

In the past, depression has been one of my exercise downfalls. For awhile I used to walk or run every day but at some point went out all depressed and nearly collapsed from exhaustion. I walked home in tears and got into bed and stayed there for the entire weekend.

Yesterday I didn't exercise. I let this exhaustion/depression get to me, but this morning I woke determined that no matter bloody what, I'd do something after work. So I got home from work and yes I'm knackered, and yes it's fecking tough to put one foot in front of the other, but I hopped on that trampoline anyway. And then I put on my 6 years old Nikes and did 6 whole laps of my house. Running. Just like Forrest, until I stopped.

I have to say that I'm feeling a bit good about myself right now. I make my goal smaller for today. I know darned well that in a happy mood, I can run around this house 12 times. And that was a few weeks ago so probably 13. But after intense therapy for the last 8 months I'm also starting to realise how energy sapping stress is and that it can physically exhaust us.

So rather than repeat past habits and just not exercise when I'm a mess, I readjusted, did something different and I'm glad I did. 6 laps raised my heart beat and got me all sweaty. I'm proud of myself and think I learned a big lesson today!

So glad I listened to myself...

It's been a busy day. Up at 6.30 for market shopping, get the rest at the local shopping centre, then home, washing, cleaning unpacking the shopping, strip beds, etc etc. FINALLY I got to my workout at around1pm I'm happy to say.

I had planned on doing a full P90X workout today. To say that I was apprehensive could only be called a gross misunderstatement. Most of my workouts have only been around 10-15 minutes long and I didn't feel up to doing a 45 odd minute workout. But my ego wanted it so badly! I was going to do that full workoutno matter what. I wasn't looking forward to it at all, in fact part of me was fully rebelling against working out simply because it was going to take so long and be so intense.

It was funny that when I turned on the TV to start doing the video, it was on a channel and there was a guy speaking who had lost around 70kg. Interesting! He was asked for his tips and he said "start small, build commitment" and it was such a timely reminder. I really needed to hear that as my ego was about to take over. I'd promised myself this time not to push myself beyond my limits when I started working out. I always do that and it always ends in injury. So I took his advice and promised myself I'd do half of the workout with light weights. So I did, then followed up with a short 5 minute rebound session and some stretching.

I'm so glad I listened to myself because my arms and back are quite sore and fatigued but satisfied after my workout and I walked away feeling good about it, not dreading the next one. Yay! I did about 35 minutes of the workout which was great. I'm really happy about that. If I'd done the whole thing it would have been overkill.

I'm noticing changes in my muscle tone with my arms and legs. I've also noticed that I'm hunching over more than I was. It seems to be a result of working my abs a lot but not my back so some back training will be happening.

I'm enjoying some chill time in front of the TV with my kids and cat. Here's a pic for you... inspire you to rest!

Start small... build commitment. I'll remember that when I get too big for my booties next time! <3

It's Friday Yaaaaaaaay! Workout done...

It's been a great week. First of all my shrink declared me to be not-depressed! So I can now drop to seeing her monthly instead of weekly which is wonderful news though I shall miss her a little. And I've been consistent with my workouts. I missed yesterday but that's ok. I'm not going to get down on myself for missing a single day at this stage.

After work I decided that as soon as I got home I'd work out and I did. Any time I had some other inkling whether it be emotional or mental that I'd rather be elsewhere I slammed that inkling down like the piece of crap it was and moved the hell on. The result was a sweaty mess! But I feel good about myself now.

This is my set up today. Don't be fooled by my big smile. I'm smiling because there's a camera there and I look better when I smile than when I don't...

To the left is the chair I used for tri dips. Next time I'll put something under it to stop it slipping. Then the rebounder which was used for... rebounding, (Did you guess that? If so, 10 points to you sunshine... you're smart!) then the weights on the coffee table to the right that I use on the rebounder and finally the yoga mat that I used for a few floor exercises.

Todays workout went as follows:

5 Second countdown
2 minute warm up gentle 2kg weights
30 seconds of tri dips
2 minutes high knee jogging on rebounder with 1.5kg weights
30 seconds of pushups (on knees)
2 minutes of jump squats with 1.5kg weights
30 seconds of Mountain Climbers
2 minutes of Ski jumps (twist knees from left to right and back as jumping, do the twist!)
30 seconds of ab exercises focusing on left side
2 minutes of fast running with 2kg weights
30 seconds of ab exercises focusing on right side
2 minutes of cooling down bouncing.

All 2 minute sessions were done on my trusty Cellerciser. That's about it. I don't know what the ab exercisees are called and there's a rabid teen needing this pc right now so I'll find out another day!

Have a great weekend all. xx

Today I am awesome!

I'm so proud of myself today! I woke at 6am which in itself is darned miracle. That just doesn't happen, not even at Christmas. So instead of lying in bed and going back to sleep, or lying there checking Facebook on my phone (yes I do that), I got up, and did 40 minutes of agonising yoga. I felt so great after it. If I wake early again tomorrow, I'm going to do it again.

Tonight I'm working back late at the office, in my new warehouse all by myself! It's not spooky at all, even with all of this space and no one nearby... I'm loving it. I'm also falling asleep as I type so instead of doing a workout when I got home I devised this little plan to keep me going:

Work 30 mins
Burpees 1 mins
Work 30 mins
Push ups 1 mins
Work 30 mins
Tricep Dips 1 mins.

There was more but I got so tired I couldn't' concentrate. That's as far as I got. It surprised me how much energy I had for about 20 minutes after each 1 minutes exercise... I wonder why that is.

Tomorrow I will bring a yoga mat and runners here to leave. Because trying to do burpees on this floor, in these shoes:

Considering that thanks to the Bum Bum workout from the other day, (pronounced Boom Boom by the happy as hell man torturing us via screen), using either of these items is pure torture:

I'm very pleased. I can hardly walk, hardly sit, but hey, I did burpees on a slippery hard floor. I'm awesome!

Hi, I'm Jennie, and these are my ladybits

Well today has been a day I'm happy to leave behind! I'm exhausted because I put everyone and everything first over the weekend which means I didn't rest at all and I need it. So I was behind before I began! The landline phone died at work, I didn't get anything big done because I'm stuck doing the small stuff, which I did badly. On top of that I bought some lovely officey type clothes which look awesome until out in the wind. So the guys in the factory near us whom I haven't met yet saw my knickers before my face. "Hi, I'm Jennie, and these are my ladybits".

Fortunately I managed to keep my mouth shut, held my dress down, smiled grimly and stalked with utter confidence to the office. LOL.

I so do not want to workout right now. I just want to curl up with a good book, or even a bad book and pretend today didn't happen.  

But you know what? I've learned over time that if I don't workout when I'm tired and can't be bothered, I don't feel good about myself afterwards. I often don't if I do workout either, but when it passes, and when I get back to being me and happy, then I am glad I did it. So I'm going to go now and give the Bum Bum video workout from the Brazil Butt Lift fitness series my best efforts.

This will be quick for you than for me I promise!...

Done. I did better than the last time I did that workout. Got to 14 minutes something on the screen, stopping twice to catch my breath. I have sweat dripping off me (because I worked hard, not because it's hot,  the air-con is on here because the house started to go mouldy from the humidity end digression) and my legs are trembly shaky so I reckon I did well. Huzzah! I do feel a little better about myself for having done that workout. Not so much "My world is ending" and a little more "I'm just tired". Gosh I'm so so sleepy!

Dinner, then bed. Yay me!

Before Pics... Shoulda been my first post!

I was going to, going to, GOING to, post before pics and then I forgot! It took seeing someone else's pics to remind me to take them. Before you view these images, please note, I know I'm not fat. I'm not working out because I think I'm fat, I'm working out because I want to be stronger as Strength=Freedom.

Freedom? How so? Body and mind are intrinsically linked. One follows the other. A strong mind makes choices more readily freeing oneself from much unnecessary worry about whether one is doing the right thing for example.

Also, there are things I want to do but I cannot because I'm not strong enough. I want to be strong so I am free to say yes to things such as climbing Mt Warning for example. Or "Yes I'd love to go for a 10k run tomorrow". That's just two types of freedoms that can arise from having a strong body.

So... here's my before shots.

As you can see I have a fair amount of excess baggage hanging over the edge of my pants amd upper back fat near my armpits. I'm not too worried about either of these areas as I know they tighten up quickly with lot of intense and painful exercise. Embrace the pain yeah!

While I love my body and I'm grateful for it, many women have parts of themselves that makes us cringe.I'm not saying this is a healthy reaction, but it's one that many of us have nontheless.  My belly fat is one area that I cringe at. You can see above that I can grab a good handful of it while standing. This is more than I'd like and more than I think is healthy.

While I know that the back fat near my arms will go pretty quickly with regular exercise, I feel a little nauseous when I see it. This stuff is so soft it's like liquid in a plastic bag and when I touch it I feel a little bit sick because I just cannot believe I've let that happen to my bod! Poor thing...

I also have fat at the top of my hips at the back which is kinda weird. It looks worse when I have my clothes on than off which means I need to workout or spend a lot of $$$ on flowing new tops and turn myself into tent woman. My daughter has a pic of this on her ipod which I'll share at some point.

Overall I'm not too bad. Just untoned, undermuscled and with a lot of strength to be gained. I think there's a lot of us around. We fall into the 'skinny fat' category meaning that we aren't big, but our body fat percentage is still too high. I have no idea what my body fat percentage is. 

This cringing and nausea at belly and backfat, while unpleasant, is part of what eventually lead me to do workouts like this:

 

I did Zuzka Light's workout # 22 today and ouch ouch ouch. I did about four rounds of burpees before I said "suck it Zuzka" and just did the rest of the workout without them. By the end I was shakey and sore and couldn't stand on one leg let alone to the squats outlined in the workout so I skipped those. I also did my pushups against the wall because after 3 lots of burpees and the chair jumps I couldn't do a chair pushup to save myself. Or even an on the knees push up. 

Tomorrow will be my trampoline workout. Yay! I'll see if I can film it for you. That should be a laff! Hehe.