Sorry...Kinda

This last week I have been really rubbish at blogging. I've had some stressful things going on behind the scenes which has left me uninspired and short on time.

Luckily those stresses are gone now. I'm back to a routine and back to writing to all you lovelies.

Normal services have resumed.

This week is:

Workout Wednesdays - Progress, Recipes & Fitspo
Fashion Fridays -  A rant about sizing in different shops
Skincare Sundays - Makeup Madness.

Better get my scribble on!

Workout Wednesday... When did this happen?

 

Yesterday I had the biggest grump on. I was in a foul mood all day. I even clocked myself pouting with my arms crossed.

This time last year, if I had been in the same mood, I would have gone home, binged and cried a lot. The bad mood would have hung over me like a dark cloud for days and the last thing on my mind would have been the gym.

I don't know when it happened but I have already made my biggest transformation - my mental one. I have no idea what clicked or when but something has changed and I am in a much better place. In my funk yesterday, I knew it would dissipate once I got myself to the gym and got some endorphins running through me. I didn't come out smiling and bouncing but I did no longer feel like the entire world was against me as I had during the day. I even managed to ring my mum and laugh at my sorry state, something which seemed impossible a year ago.

Earlier in the week, I remember tweeting about joining "the fitfam", the community of fitness enthusiasts on twitter and other blogospheres. I'm not sure at which point I entered the Fit Fam but I'm so happy I did. I'm part of a community of peers from around the world. We're not defined by our gender, our class, race, ethnicity, hair colour. There's no negativity and insulting each other. There's nothing but love and support for each other's journeys.

Searching #fitfam on twitter brings up a multitude of entertainment. It can be motivational quotes and pictures, new exercises, recipes, tips, seminars or a simple progress pic. If you need some fitspiration to get you to the gym, want to check a technique or ask for advice, you need only add the hashtag to your tweet and a strong stream of useful, knowledgeable people will reply in an instant.

Sometimes, battling your inner demons can feel like a long, lonely task. Some days, mustering the energy to even walk to the gym can seem like a painful endeavour in itself, let alone managing to workout once there. You can feel that people you know well aren't noticing your progress or that people around you who don't understand your diet or training regime do nothing but criticise you because it's different to what they know. One quick tweet can release all those negatives and bring light a positivity into your virtual world, giving you the determination to make another success of your day, no matter how small.

For those of you who are fitness enthusiasts, I strongly urge you to use twitter as another training tool. There are a lot of accounts that are "anonymous" and dedicated just to fitness. I decided to not start a separate 'fittie' account and use my main account. After all, the gym and the new love of health and fitness is just another extension of me. Why should I put it in a separate box?! You can follow my waffle on all things in my head at https://twitter.com/23HRH23

I love the Fit Fam!

Workout Wednesday.... New plan

So having become a little obsessed with the gym, I've decided to stop winging it and actually follow a plan. I think I know what I'm doing in most areas now, I just need to get more organised and split my workouts evenly to distribute my time and muscle exhaustion!

I found a sample female weight-lifting workout plan online and I've tailored it to my abilities and schedule. I never - never ever ever - thought I would find myself in the gym 6 days a week but apparently it's happening. I'm not going to be super strict on myself as I think I'd be setting myself up for failure and disappointment if I didn't manage to stick to an impossible routine.

I'm allowing myself a day off here and there, for socialising or just plain laziness but I'm going to try and keep to it as much as possible. As we all know, dedication and determination equals results!

Below is my new workout plan. I'm going to follow it for the next 4 weeks (in theory) and then spice it up after that so my body doesn't get too used to it all and plateau. I'm aiming to be using higher weights by the end of week 4 than I currently am too, which will be a nice challenge to myself!

I'll be starting each weights session off with a little cardio too (even though I utterly despise it). It'll be simple HIIT on the bike or crosstrainer, for around 15-20 minutes. Hopefully this will get the fat burning started and will get my body nice and warm to lift heavy!

I'm aiming to blog each Wednesday about my week's workouts and how it's all going. This scares the life out of me but I'll also be making a note of whether I'm up or down any kgs / lbs / inches and keeping track of my bodyfat percentage. I'm hoping that having it all written down in a public domain will make me more determined to improve on it all!

Monday – Upper Body A
All 3 X 8-12
Bench Press
Bent over row
Dumbbell shoulder press
Lying tricep extension
Barbell or dumbbell bicep curl

Tuesday – Yoga

Wednesday – Lower Body A

All 3 X 8-12
Squat
Stiff leg dead lift
Leg extension
Leg curl
Standing Calf Raise
Abs – All 3 X 15
Lying leg raise
Swiss ball crunch

Thursday – Upper Body B

All 3 X 8-12
Tricep Dips
Lat pull downs
Dumbbell rotor raises
Tricep cable pressdown
Cable curl

Friday – Lower Body B

All 3 X 8-12
Deadlift
Leg press
Lunges
Seated calf raise machine
Dumbbell shrugs
Abs – All 3 X 15
Incline crunch
Back extension (superman)

Saturday – Yoga

Sunday – Rest!

Welcome to my world...

Welcome to Holly's little corner of the internet.

I've been blogging over on tumblr for a while now but I've been quite inconsistent with my posting and it's mostly my instagram pictures. I've decided I want to get more dedicated to blogging and tumblr doesn't really offer me much. It's also mostly full of emotional teenagers and pro anorexia pictures, neither of which I particularly enjoy.

So here I am, a brand new Blogger. Or is it Bloggerer?

So a little about me... if I were in XFactor, I'd be in the "Overs" category yet I'm still under 30. I work in the PR / Marketing world and dream of being a Beauty PR Exec. My humble abode is in SW London and I live with a German who is awesome. I have the best nephew ever (who I'm sure I will blog about a lot, not sorry) and a hanful of lovely family and friends to keep me entertained.

I know that the most succesful blogs have a specific topic / purpose but I've yet to find my niche so this will be a scramble of the things in the world that entertain me: music; food; the gym / exercise; things I think are beautiful; things who annoy me (of which there are many, I'm afraid); whatever else comes across my life.

If anyone has any blogs they can't live without (beauty / fitness / entertainment preferably), please share! I'd love feedback and comments on my posts. The social media world is amazing and I love the interaction!

You can also find me here on Twitter and my instagram is 23HRH too.

This is my face...