Wednesday 28 November 2012

Not quite to plan...

Image hot-linked from Fitocracy


Hello again! I just thought I'd let you all know that I rescheduled my PT session and that it was a bunch of crap. The trainer seemed to think that because I'm a woman, I shouldn't lift free weights and should only do machine work. Then tried to sell me a bunch of stuff.

So I'm going back on Friday with Ras, who is nice and helpful (and also my boyfriend of 3 years as of today...awwwww <3) and has agreed to spot me to make sure I'm not doing anything wrong.

On the upside......293 points later and I'm now level 10. Woooo!


  • Machine Triceps Extension:
    • 13 kg x 15 reps (+10 pts)
    • 13 kg x 15 reps (+10 pts)
    • 13 kg x 15 reps (+10 pts)
    • 13 kg x 15 reps (+10 pts)
  • Machine Bicep Curls:
    • 11 kg x 15 reps (+12 pts)
    • 11 kg x 15 reps (+12 pts)
    • 11 kg x 15 reps (+12 pts)
    • 11 kg x 15 reps (+12 pts)
  • Abductor Machine:
    • 15 kg x 20 reps (+12 pts)
    • 15 kg x 20 reps (+12 pts)
    • 15 kg x 20 reps (+12 pts)
    • 15 kg x 20 reps (+12 pts)
  • Adductor Machine:
    • 15 kg x 20 reps (+12 pts)
    • 15 kg x 20 reps (+12 pts)
    • 15 kg x 20 reps (+12 pts)
    • 15 kg x 20 reps (+12 pts)
  • Crunch:
    • 20 reps (+13 pts)
    • 20 reps (+13 pts)
  • Dumbbell Lunges:
    • 1.5 kg x 20 reps (+83 pts)

The green ones are my personal bests (it just takes the last one if it's the same as every other time)

See you on Friday!
xx


After effects of Yoga

I was pretty surprised to discover that 45 minutes of Yoga was worth 175 points on Fitocracy, as for me it just felt like a lot of stretching and a bit of balancing. Today and yesterday, however, I can understand! I'm aching all over, much worse than I have been the day after a session running/doing crunches/on the cross trainer at the gym. 

I'm planning on doing Yoga on my off days and starting to do a lot more strength work. 
My new workout plan looks something like this (the yoga is in there to help me stretch out and improve my posture and flexibility. I may skip it some weeks/days if I'm feeling particularly sore).

Monday: Strength
Tuesday: Yoga
Wednesday: Strength
Thursday: Yoga
Friday: Strength
Saturday: Off
Sunday: Cardio.

I've been asking a ton of questions on the Fitocracy forum about strength exercises and a very lovely and helpful lady has come up with a routine for me, which is pretty exciting. The people on the forum were all so patient and helpful with all my questions, I can feel a real sense of community there and it's given me extra motivation - I want to show them I've taken all their advice on board and not give up!

Here's my new strength routine:

Barbell Squats 3x8-10 (3 sets of 8-10 reps)
Barbell stiff leg deadlifts 3x8-10
Weighted crunches 3x10
Weighted side bends 3x10
Planks 3 x F

I had to ask what the 'F' meant. It means "to Failure", in other words "hold it as long as you can". I love the terminology!

It's also been suggested that I focus more on building my endurance with the cardio, so I'll be trying to up my time rather than my pace or distance, and attempting to get to the point where I can run for 45 minutes to an hour.

I'm trying to reschedule my personal training session for today, as I have tons to do tomorrow, including waiting for a delivery, so we'll see what they say. If they can do it, then I'll get to test run my new routine sooner than I thought!

Today for breakfast I had a whole mango chopped up into some low fat natural yoghurt. YUM! I'm going shopping later for some more veg and fruit and meat, so I'll probably have a big lunch and then something light for dinner before the weekly pub quiz.

Hannah :)


Monday 26 November 2012

Welcome to Adventures in Gym Land!

Hi all,

I'm starting this blog as a way to keep motivated, track what I'm doing and have the odd rant now and then when I feel sore/unmotivated.
I've just started taking my fitness and nutrition a lot more seriously and have been seeing some progress already.

To start with I'll give you my goals, my current stats and what I've been doing so far. Over the coming months, I'll be updating you with my progress (with pictures), what I've been doing at the gym (and at home) and generic chatter.

So, here goes!

Current stats
Waist: 26.9"/68.5cm
Hips: 34.3", 87cm
Weight: 112.6 lb
Body Fat: 18.5%

Goals
Waist: 24"/61cm
Hips: 34"/86.4 (so I'm basically there already)
Weight: I don't really care about this so much and I'm planning on strength training so it'll probably go up
Body Fat: 14%


Fitness

I've been to the gym a couple of times in the last week. I keep track of what I'm doing at the gym on a website called Fitocracy (that's a clickable link if you want to check it out). I'm a bit of a nerd, so the fact that I can do quests, unlock achievements, gain points and level up appeals to me greatly. Here's what I did yesterday:


  • Running (treadmill):
    • 0:15:01 || 2.1 km || 8.5 km/hr (+92 pts)
  • Elliptical Trainer:
    • 0:05:00 || Moderate (+37 pts)
  • Crunch:
    • 25 reps (+16 pts)
    • 20 reps (+13 pts)
    • 25 reps (+16 pts)
  • Oblique Crunch:
    • 20 reps (+13 pts)
    • 30 reps (+19 pts)

If you're lucky (!) I'll copy every workout I do into this blog, so if you don't want to join Fitocracy, you can still see what I'm doing.

Nutrition

I'm a bit of a newbie when it comes to any kind of nutrition knowledge. Sure I know that lettuce = good, deep fried Mars bars = bad, but as for which foods contain which vitamins and which food groups I'm supposed to eat lots of/not so much of, I'm a bit rubbish. I've done a ton of research online into which foods contain which vitamins and I've complied a list of the vitamins, why they're good for me and which foods are good sources of them. I now use it as my staple shopping list each week and make a point of eating it all before it goes off (a lot are fresh veg/fruit).
I may or may not blog what I eat each day, as I know I'm quite lazy and will probably forget anyway. I'll blog when I have a particularly 'good' day and when I have an utterly terrible one (like Friday - I had a 12oz steak with blue cheese sauce followed with double chocolate cake along with wine...then we went to a pub...oops!).


I guess that's pretty much it. My main goal is to end up looking like this:

Image from www.i-want-abs.com


Right, I'm off to do half an hour of yoga to stretch out before hitting the gym again tomorrow (planning on running another 15 minutes, but at a faster speed and doing 10 minutes on the cross trainer rather than 5. Might throw in a bit of rowing machine too, then on to the crunches).

Wish me luck!


*Edit*
45 minutes of Yoga later...


General Yoga:
  • 0:45:00 (+175 pts)
  • Barbara Currie's Power Packed Yoga DVD. Sections: 'Shape and Balance' and 'Shape and Flexibility".


Just 31 points to Level 10! Good thing I'm off to the gym tomorrow :)