Pass the Water

It's been a hectic week - what with chasing Prince Edward all over Ilfracombe, I just haven't been able to make it into the gym this week - but running up and down all those hills in town is pretty much as good as any workout, I reckon!!
Anyway, between royal visits, Domestic Violence Week and Anti Bullying Day at Ilfraocmbe College, (see this week's Journal folks) - I've (just about) had time to draw breath and reflect about my time at Studio 20 and realise it's quite amazing what you learn while you're pounding the treadmill and heaving those weights!
One of the biggest things I've struggled with has nothing to do with bikes, trteadmills - or even the dreaded cross-trainer - but water intake. It's not that I don't want to get up to two litres a day into me, it's just that I forget and let's face it when you're in the presence of an HRH you don't really want to be running off to find a public toilet every five minutes.
But what really encouraged me in this department was - yep, you've guessed it - Jo - again!!!
She told me WHY it's so important for our bodies to get so much fluid inside them every day - so here goes...
The job of our liver - among other things, is to convert stored fat to energy - that's it's job, but it also has to pick up the slack from the kidneys when they decide they want a Duvet Day. The kidneys need plenty of water to get them out of bed and working properly in the morning - and if they are deprived - poor little mites - they just won't play, and the poor liver will have to do their job as well as its own. Not good.
It means that the liver then doesn't work as efficiently at it's own job of metabolising fat.
So if I don't drink enough water I'm not only being unfair to my liver, I'm also setting myself up to store more fat. Jo reckons that's why so many people who are trying to lose weight will get so far and then stick - or plateau. Something as simple as upping your water intake can give you the little kick-start you need to get back on track - amazing!!!
So pass me the water bottle, I have another mantra to add to my collection - "I'm a fat-burner, not a fat-storer!"

Fighting Fit

It didn't take any time at all to get back into the swing of it - I really thought I would be back to square one after having 'time off,' but if anything, it felt a little easier - and I'm really beginning to feel the benefits. I've lost two more pounds - that' s 8 altogether - and my clothes are feeling noticeably looser. But what I love most of all is that I'm actually FEELING so much fitter now!

I'm running up stairs, have boundless energy - and I'm actually looking forward to my three-a-week visits to Studio 20 in Ilfracombe.

I'm loathe to say it's getting easier in case Jo, my amazing training instructor, ups the stakes and gets tougher.

Having said that - and I never thought I would have this in me, but I am actually toughening it up for myself - setting harder targets in the gym when things get a bit too 'easy' - adding a little more weight, or a steeper incline on the treadmill, or faster mileage on the bike.

I'm discovering stuff about me that I never knew I had - a tenacity not to give up, that I'm sure wasn't there before. So yeah, I'm feeling pretty damned smug about the whole thing at the moment - LOOK AT ME - I'M REALLY DOING THIS!!!!

And without wanting to sound too much like a Mutual Appreciation Society - I have to pay tribute and say, it's all down to Jo Walker!

We talked, this week about how she began in the business and it became really clear that the training she gained herself, is now being passed on to the people who come to her gym, here in Ilfracombe.

Talking of the woman who inspired her into her now hugely successful career, Jo said: "She really cared about the people she was training." Jo does this too. I sometines wonder if she realises just how good she is at motivating people. As I've said before, what makes the massive difference between her methods and the perceptions I had before coming to a gym, is that she gives me the mental ability to do this - explaining why this exercise or that, should be done in this way.

Just by shifting a milimetre, she makes me hurt (yes I know Jo, it's a really good hurt) - so that I know I've intensified the exercise and I'm using precisely the muscle she wants me to get at!

This week - a bit more boxercise - at my request - because I absolutely LOVE this - and it was still so much fun!

Then back to the gym where we have been doing more weight work. Jo explained that now the weight is dropping I can start to shape up those muscles so that my shape really begins to change for the better. Lots of upper body work - biceps, triceps - and deltoids - which were very sore the next day.

Oh, and just in case there was any doubt - adn anyone thinks I'm just sat at my desk all day, making this up - we now have the pictures to prove it!!!

I'll Be BACK!!!

It's been a while...but I can explain!
Two Sundays ago I put my back out!!! Nothing whatsoever to do with performing complicated boxercise moves at Studio 20 in Ilfracombe - it was simply bending down in my kitchen to get a pan out of the cupboard for Sunday dinner and ping!...ouch!!!! That was it - couldn't stand up comfortably, sitting down was purgatory and driving was impossible! I felt a prize idiot!
Having last week off for half term has compounded matters - I got up bright and early last Monday and was down at Studio 20 by 8.15am, gingerly stepping on the treadmill for the first time since my back went. But it was ok and I did my whole workout - and even followed it up by taking the kids swimming - so was feeling extremely virtuous at the beginning of last week.
Then my Mum came to stay for a few days! We went out - a lot - had lunch out - a lot - and the food diary has gone out the window (although I did make healthier choices from menues than I would have done before I started all this).
So anyhow - I'm back to work today - and back on track. When I went over to Studio 20 last Monday, Shaun said that a lot of people would stop coming to the gym after suffering a back problem - so I felt even more virtuous for going back - AND even more determined not to give up... I could see what he meant though - it was getting very easy to slip back into those comfortable curling-up-by-the-fire habits!!
But to all those nice people who have been so friendly to me in the last few weeks at Studio 20 - I'll be back!!! (Today)! And if anyone is reading this for the first time and would like to accompany me on my fitness 'journey' - I'd welcome the company - so come down to Studio 20. This first session back is going to be a killer!