Cybex Arc

I'm back from a well deserved holiday and straight back into my training programme. I'm not going to lie to you, I've been a fat lazy bastard for the last 2 weeks, and a borderline alcoholic but hey ho sometimes a girl needs to let loose.

Time to up my cardio game I thought to myself this morning. I've been sticking to the weights sessions of my bombshell programme and ignoring the cardio element. But after a scolding email from my trainer I got a much needed kick up the arse.

Ladies and gentlemen.... the cybex arc!

The most amazing piece of cardio equipment I have ever encountered.  My regular gym don't have one, and told me to bugger off when I emailed requesting they buy one, so I went in search and eventually found it in the Scotman gym and signed up on the spot.  It's lush! 

I did 6 x 10 minute intervals - 5 minutes on the arc, 5 minutes on the treadmill.  Instead of having a rest interval, the intensity increased each minute in the block until peaking at a 2 minute insane interval.  An hour on this bad boy left me wobbly and cursing.  I actually mouthed "fight for it, fight for it" as I held in the vomit that was creeping up on me.  Sore sore sore....the burn in my booty was awesome!

My trainer kept telling me over and over again that the elliptical was not an adequate substitute for this machine and I was kinda thinking yeah yeah - I'm converted!

Refuel, potter around the shops, then onto Virgin Active for the first this week's legs session.

Murder on the dancefloor but no pain no gain.  Tomorrow is going to be interesting....

Love

x

Saintly Fish Choices & Recipes

I only came across Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's Big Fish Fight Campaign on Monday night.  I'm probably the last to pick up on this (darn you self involvement) but

1.  Love the cause - absolutely shocking EU Fisheries Policy!!
2.  Fantastic resource

I've come across a few "discard" fish species in Waitrose recently and put them in my trolley, well, just because they were cheap. *squeak squeak*  Eating healthy is far from kind on the purse strings, so when I saw fresh white fish for literally a 1/4 of the price of my usual cod I was delighted.  Genuinely, it tasted just the same....

I eat fish a lot, just because its so good for you and I'm excited to try some of the recipes on the site.  Here is a link to them - awesome recipes.  The site is cool there is a guide to sustainable fish species and where to buy them. There is even an app you can download with all the information for your smartphone.

Personally I'm not a fussy eater - bit of lemon, pepper, chili or lime (or both) and I'm a happy gal.  But I will definitely be trying some of these.

Healthy, affordable and good for the environment.  Three gold stars!

Love

x

Are You Present?

Are you present during your workouts?

Does your mind turn up as well as your body?

Nope, I'm not losing it, stay with me on this one....

So I've not had a training partner in months now.  Its kinda lonely, and have definitely missed it.  However the one thing that occurred to me today is I felt more "present" during my workout.  What I mean by that is mentally I was focused on each set, during each rep.  Tuning my mind into each contraction...

where am I feeling it?
how fatigued is the muscle?
am I maintaining form?

I hold my hands up and say rarely do I train with such consciousness and focus.  I take my workout sheet into the gym- thank you team bombshell, have a scan of the exercises, sets and reps and get going. 

Generally my mind is focused on just making it through and any mental pain avoidance/distraction techniques I can come up with, and I got loads of them :-)

Today I switched on, stayed focused, and really felt each contraction.  Judging by my wobbly legs and the hoarseness in my throat from the pain grunts (sexy!), I definitely worked extremely hard.

Rattling on about working hard and making the most of your workout is one thing.  But once the workout is designed, your up off your butt and in the gym, staying mentally tuned in and making the most out of EVERY SINGLE REP, is quite another.

Pleased as punch with my hard work - gold star me.

Love

x