New Year = New Plan (well, for me anyways).
I have given myself time to get used to the gym, and I used the following tactics to do so:
- I started off with classes – You can’t walk out of a class at the gym. You’ll look like a stupid failure if you do – so, by starting off with these, I have been able to let my body adapt to being at the gym without having to do it fully on my own.
- I took nutritional changes slowly – I didn’t go in full pelt with protein shakes, supplements and caveman food straight away. I knew that if I did I would fail miserably, so I took it slowly, cut out alcohol first, lowered calories and then started looking at macros and the rest of it when I felt more comfortable.
- I started small – I ran 1k, walked 0.5k, ran 1k and so on before I threw myself into a full 5k. Crawl before you walk and all that. It’s so important when starting out to do it properly. Take it slow and make sure you are comfortable with what you are about to do before you go in and hurt yourself.
But now it’s time to up my game. Considerably.
I know what my body can do – I know what my body can look like – and I would like it to look like that again (please and thank you). I need to do my 2 month progress photos and see where I am with my goals. If you remember, on New Years Eve, I was 2lb away from my goal (which was a 10lb weight loss from the 3rd October to the 3rd of Jan). I haven’t been on the Wii to see whether I have managed it – but I will do this week and keep update you all.
Now my plan has evolved. I know that now, realistically, I only have 5 or so pounds to lose. I remember my best weight being at 9st 4. It was when I looked my best and felt my best, and so really that’s the goal. But I know, with the muscle that I want to build, that my weight is going to seriously fluctuate. I am tempted to get rid of my scales, but I am so addicted to them, it’s seems to be a real difficulty for me. It’s not something that I am going to do right now, but I am going to try and only weigh myself once a week, and look at my measurements and in the mirror more to see whether I am happy with the way things are going.
So the new plan is this: Weights & HIIT. Weights and HIIT forever!!!!!! Grrrrrrr!!!
If you are new to all of this and don’t know what HIIT is – it stands for High Intensity Interval Training. You may hear Tabata or just simply Interval Training – it’s all kinda the same thing. My personal way of working is 20 seconds 110% hard bloody work, followed by 10 seconds rest.
There are plenty of ways to get into HIIT. Download an app where you can set your own timings and you will see it come up on the screen, or download a specially made track which calls out the timings for you. This is the one I use…
My weights plan:
I have never done one of these ’30 day challenge’ things. Mainly because they are always set out in certain ways which doesn’t fit in with my job, lifestyle or plans etc. But then I thought “Why don’t I just make my own”. So I did. I used the original 30 Day Squat Challenge and just adapted it to suit me. Zero to 250 squats within the month. Simples. I made sure I avoided the days where I won’t have a chance to do it, and I worked it around my working hours and time off.
Normally, these challenges are aimed at girls who want to get back on that work-out bandwagon, and I don’t truly know how well they actually work out. I’m taking this pretty damn seriously. I’m adding a weights bar (undecided how heavy at the moment, but I think I’m going to stay pretty low) and I am dedicated to doing every single day that I have set out to do until the end of the month.
I will be adding some other weights on to get more of a full body workout – my favourites being shoulder press, chest press and tricep exercises. Fingers crossed my progress photos will show some differences.
My HIIT Plan:
I will be using the song I posted above, and I will run it 4 or 5 times over. 20 minutes to half an hour of HIIT training, if done properly, is all that you need for it to be effective. These are some of the exercises that I will be doing:
- Mountain Climbers
- Russian Twists
- Plank with Knee to Elbow
- High Knees
- Step Ups
- Kettle Bell Swings
- Kettle Bell Lifts
- Planks/Side Planks
There are loads of different exercises that can be done in a HIIT/Tabata session – it’s just a matter of looking into it and getting loads of different ideas. If the song I choose is done 4 times over, I just choose 8 exercises and do them in pairs.
Fingers crossed the next month will show some significant changes in my body shape. I’ve taken my progress photos for the beginning of the month, all there is to do is take them again at the end.
All of this exercise is all well and good, but I do need to start being stricter with my nutrition if I want my ‘ideal’ body by my birthday. That’s the end goal – to be perfectly happy with my body when going out on my birthday. After that, we have a wedding to attend in May – and I just want to look the best I’ve ever looked. Is that too much to to ask?
Some people might think that I stress myself out trying to get the ‘perfect’ body, but having something to focus on is really important to me. I will do it! Who’s with me?!!!
That Fitness Journey 