Bridal Bootcamp June 29, 2009

OK, yet again I’ve been slack on the blogging front but I have a very valid excuse. Exercise has taken over my LIFE!

It’s now under 4 weeks until the big day and in preparation I’d been doing a moderate exercise regime for 6 weeks, produced by my rugby physio who’s also a personal trainer.  This finished a few weeks ago, at which time I asked for another programme from physio queen, stating that I wanted to be more hardcore and go for it in the run up to the big day.
She literally took me literally! My new programme looks as though I’m an athlete preparing for a competition. If my wedding day was sporting superstars, I reckon I would totally win!  It’s intense, it’s full on and it’s time consuming.  But, it’s also working – I’m now nearly a stone lighter than I was this time a few months ago and I even let people take pics of me in a bikini on my hen weekend (Um, but I’ve asked them not to post on facebook!).

So what’s the magic recipe? Basically, hard work, and lots of it.  Week one was 35mins cardio interval sprints three times a week with toning and core, plus extra toning another two days a week. Now on week three, I’m onto exercise six days of the week. Yesterday morning I was doing 45mins of 2mins on, 2mins off sprinting round my local park.  I think the kid on the swings was a bit perplexed the third time I struggled by – by the end, my sprints were more like feeble limps.  This morning in the gym for 0730, it was core and toning, involving gym-ball pressups (inelegant, and difficult!), tricep hell and another 45 mins cardio intervals, this time on the cross trainer.

Bridal Bootcamp

The Bridal Bootcamp regime means early mornings, motivating myself when I really really really don’t want to do another set of bilateral tricep exercises, and fitting in increasing amounts of exercise at the expense of some other things (no food shop this week, and minimal piano practice).

Alongside this, top physio lady has given me lots of nutrition information. I was a bit scared by her recommendation of six small meals a day, protein before and after gym and a list of supplements.  I admit, I’m not following this to the letter preferring real food! But the mantra is the same – I’m having rice cake and tahini before the 0730 gym, followed by a yoghurt or in some instances a protein bar (ICK!!). Then I’m having half my lunch around 12 and the rest later in the afternoon. I’m off bread for now and trying to avoid caffeine and added salt and sugar (although I had salt on my potatoes yesterday).  I’m also taking a joint supplement as I’m doing so much exercise and recently a friend got osteo-arthritis so it can’t do any harm.

It’s hard work. But the end is in sight and once I am a Mrs, I am going to have a lay in, chillax on the exercise front and eat a whole loaf of lovely crusty bread!

Whassssssup? May 19, 2009

S’been ages since I last blogged. Seriously, ages.  Sometimes I go on holiday and I’m already thinking about posts I want to write whilst I’m mid campsite.  But recently, I’ve had a mini drought of some kind. It’s been almost a month!

Missed me? 

Hmm, possibly not…but in any case, here’s a quick run down of whasss been going on!

 - Cooked Father John thai chicken kebabs and rice, and showed him our veg patch. He was impressed.  Am sure this has convinced him that as our onions are in straight lines, we have a good marriage ahead of us.

 - The Boy survived his stag do, and came back with hair intact.  Involved Amsterdam, Skis, boiler suits and oysters.

 - Went to first wedding of the season and could tell I was B2B as nearly blubbed at arrival of le bride. Tres bon do involving pianist who played Spandau Ballet!

 - Have tweaked a tendon in my foot. This is not good news for Bridal Bootcamp regime and have tried to compensate for lack of running with swimming and cycling.

 - Work has gone crazy mental, am v glad we have a good gang of mateys in the office to keep sane with! Am looking forward to cocktail-hen-do type evening with les ladies on Friday, bring on wine time!

 - Invites have gone out for wedding and replies are trickling back. It’s quite frustrating waiting for people to reply. I would like to know in an instant whether it’s yay or nay, am v impatient!

 - Tried to inspire The Boy on the John Lewis gift list front with a very mild introductory visit, after work, for one hour. Including food.  He was quite good and managed to not break glasses, walk calmly through the towel section and even find an opinion on placemats. Good effort! Lack of opinion/caring means that Gift List is now in my lap. Woah yeah!! Bring on the soft furnishings!!

 

O my god. I realise I’ve written the list above and ALL of it relates to wedding! I’m not obsessed, seriously I don’t think I am but that makes me look obsessed and freaky bridezilla-y! Must try harder next time.

Anyhoo, that’s all for now, me is tired. Off to Bedfordshire.

It’s official: morning workouts are best February 27, 2009

Writing about this article

I totally agree! I am rubbish at working out just after work, and end up yawning away.

I’ve been on a mission recently on the fitness front, with a 6 week programme devised just for me by our rugby club physio, who’s also a personal trainer. It’s quite hardcore, and I’m having to get up at 6am for 7am gym sessions twice a week to fit it in with the rest of my life. But, I’m a B2B and with less than 5 months to The Big Day, I can’t let it slip.

Looks like those early morning sessions are the way forward, if this article is to be believed…

Exhilaration, excitement and endorphins January 7, 2008

Finally I was given the all clear to start proper exercise by my physio, so on Sunday avo I merrily joined rugby fitness training.  However, seven weeks of doing nowt has had seriously negative results on my bod. Not only do I feel lardy, but my right quad muscle is pretty inexistent now, and as a result I look wierdly lopsided in my training leggings.

However, I absolutely was loving being outside in the fresh air, running in a straight line (no corners yet for the duff knee), back out with the rugby girls and all the gossip and laughter that entails.  By the end I was a red faced wreck with jelly legs – the effect of not training for 2 months I guess. 

I wouldn’t at all say I’m an exercise addict or gym bunny but there is something great about doing fitness stuff – whether just jogging alone, having a calming swim or bombing it round the rugby pitch.  The endorphins certainly flow and the smug feeling of having done some good work is ace.  I can’t quite understand people who won’t at least give exercising a go – perhaps they have had a bad school experience which put them off? I certainly did at Middle School, with an (as yet) unnamed PE teacher being a complete bitch, and making everyone’s life a misery – unless you were in the netball team.  Luckily I re-discovered sport at University and haven’t looked back.  I’m certain there’s a sport out there for everyone, it’s just a matter of keeping going until you find what you like.  And on the way, you can try a whole range of wierd and wonderful games…Gaelic football anyone?

Bring on the WAG backlash… November 15, 2007

Apparently women aren’t doing enough sport, with few reaching the target of 30mins exercise per day.  Sorry, but who has time to do 30mins of sweating it out every day?  My general regime is rugby training (90mins), a game of rugby (80mins) and a couple of jogging sessions (20-30mins) each week.  Doing something every single day just isn’t practical for many of us, especially when we are trying to balance work, cleaning, socialising, hobbies etc etc.

The article on the BBC website goes on to note that many girls don’t want to be seen as sporty, preferring instead to be the arm-candy WAG that is the main female form associated with sports.  I think the media has a role to play here – if more coverage were given to female sports (rugby included, of course!) I’m sure the balance would shift.  People would see that women can be sporty without sacrificing their femininity and that actually, women are pretty darn good at a load of sports! 

But nothing will change without demand growing for female-oriented sports however, and the recent womens footie world cup showed that this demand can be nurtured.  One of the team was on Jonathan Ross, games were shown on ITV and even my ma and pa (neither of whom are footie people) ended up watching the tournament.  Some good PR work, decent media slots and of course a well performing team seems to be the right recipe.

It’s an uphill struggle I guess but as time goes by I reckon girls sports will get more of a serious shout in the media, particularly when we get the WAG backlash that I am hoping for…