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... Week one success!

I'm 10 days into my LDN Muscle Bikini Guide plan and with brilliant success!

In a week I've lost 1.5lbs and 0.9% body fat!

I also found better form in some of the exercises I've been doing for months and discovered new exercises and muscles I didn't know I had, let alone how to push them!

I've followed the diet plan almost to the letter and even enjoyed my heavenly advent calendar choc each lunchtime! I even skipped one workout due to generally feeling naff and pathetic but I made up for it with an extra yoga session.

I am insanely proud of myself. Although I've been training for some months now and seen some improvement, I think having a set regimen and diet has really kicked me up a gear. Now that I'm understand more about nutrition and exercise, I'm wanting to learn more and delve deeper into the health world. I find myself browsing Amazon for supplements or workout clothes instead of the usual trashy books and shiny things. I'll never give up shiny things though, don't worry.

I'm also learning how to cook healthily! How to plan and structure my meals according to my macro needs and how to make yummy healthy things. For example, I've adapted a protein flapjack recipe to my tastes (and cupboard contents) with wonderful results!

 

I've started carrying one of these little beauties in my bag for an on-the-go snack to avoid me picking up bad treats in shops or as a substitute for the carbs in my breakfast if I don't make it out of bed in time in the morning!

 

 

Also, my Internet reading has changed. I've discovered http://www.womenshealthmag.co.uk/ which is packed full of articles on everything from beauty and workouts to sex and diet advice! The things that's really caught my eye is the wonderful little #WHUKFitmasChallenge Advent Calendar!

 

Every day on their pinterest account, they're posting an exercise to burn off the amount of calories in the average advent calendar chocolate! Then, they recommend, you add up the week's daily exercise to form an epic weekend workout. What a fun idea! I'm definitely going to start incorporating these into my workouts too.

 

Are any of you taking on any challenges to combat the Festive Fattening?



Workout Wednesdays... A new beginning

 

I have discovered during my fitness journey that I'm really bad at the diet side of things. I'm also bad at remembering what I'm supposed to be doing on each day. I've hit a real plateau in my progression and decided it's time to Eat Clean, Train Dirty and Get Lean.
 
There is so much information on weight training / diet / fat loss / health on the Internet. I've found that's a problem. There's too much information. Too many conflicting opinions. Too many contradicting articles. Trying to learn everything from the Internet with no real guide or structure can be just as bad as not knowing anything, I think.
 
I follow various health and fitness accounts on the different social media platforms and the one that is consistently praised and recommended by the social media fitness sphere is LDN Muscle. Created and run by four (beautiful) young lads, LDN Muscle has it all. Blogs, diet, exercises, apparel, the works.
 
Before you read my rave review of LDNM, please bear in mind, I have not been asked or paid to write this post. The guys don't even know I'm doing it. I've chosen to write about this as part of my Workout Wednesday theme and narration of my life.
 
They also produce and sell a multitude of digital training guides called Premium Programmes. Specifically for men, there are a wide variety, ranging from the Natural Bulking Bible to the Leg Torture Pack. Lads, whatever your aims, they have a pack for you. If you're unsure of which would be best for you, tweet them or facebook them or email them. They're wonderful at replying and full of really helpful information and advice.
 
The thoughtful lads at LDN Muscle have realised that it's not just men who want to train insane. They've collaborated with each other and some of their female guest bloggers to create a pack especially for women wanting to lose fat and gain lean muscle. All herald the Bikini Fit Guide!

 

With 34 pages of intense advice and direction, I think this guide is going to drastically change my training and, hopefully, my body! It has information on: diet, including a sample week menu plan; exercise, with different training types and picture descriptions of all exercises; supplements, including what / when / where / why / how to take!
 
To quote their website:

"The price of your comprehensive ticket to bikini bod glory? Just £29.99. To put that in context, these days that could would buy you;

- A 30-45 minute session with a PT. Once.

- Half a bottle of perfume.

- A top you’ll wear twice."

 

So I figured I had to at least try it. It's payday today and I'm feeling good so I went ahead and bought it. I've glanced through briefly at work but will devour it in full at home.

 

I've set a date to begin my new regime - Monday 2nd December. I'm going to fully embrace every aspect. I'll be sticking to the diet as tightly as I can and training exactly how they say. I'm going to record a before and after of weight / measurements (and maybe even pictures) from Sunday and then after 6 weeks and see what results I get!

 

I'm nervous and excited. I'm always scared of failure, as we all are, but I'm excited to discover what fabulous body I've been hiding for so many years!

 

And yes, I know it's ridiculous to start a new plan before Christmas but if I don't start now, I never will. I'll always find some excuse to prolong it and avoid success!