All synced up!

My life is imitating the blogosphere! What a coinkydink!!

This morning, as I do most Mondays, I got to the office early & got caught up on all the blog action from the weekend. One blog I read each & every day (unless she's on a blogging hiatus - lol ) is Charlotte.

A word in the title of today's post caught my eye.

TABATA

Where have I heard that recently? I thought to myself. No sooner had I thought that very sentence than was I assaulted right between the eyes with a vivid flashback of Friday evening - dizziness, flashing lights, tunnel vision, incredible sweating, elevated heart rate, puce coloured face. Traumatised I recalled the unholy terror that was Friday night's pt session.

TABATA.

Japanese for cruel + unusual punishment. Not really. I made that up. But it should be.

Yes, pals, on Friday I was introduced to the mad, mad world of Tabata intervals. Simply put, 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest. Save me retyping a definition, go read Charlotte's post all about it here and then read on!

I am always suspicious when I arrive at the studio and see Chris with a stop watch. It never turns out good. And always means hard work.

"Are you ready? Tabata!" - he said, all smiles and cheery disposition.

Having never heard the word before, I assumed he'd said "Are you ready to batter?"

Had I realised it was a 'thing', I'd have immediately demanded a full explanation. What can I say? I like to know what I am getting myself into, particularly when paying for the privilege.

As it was, I hopped unsuspectingly onto the treadmill to warm up with a quick 1k. What followed is something of a blur, but roughly included this:-

1. Lateral jumping side steps over the bosu. 20 seconds. 10 seconds rest. repeat. 8 times. With the added bonus of the last interval being 30 seconds.

2. Hammer curl to shoulder press. With 3kg dumbells. 20 seconds. 10 seconds rest. repeat 8 times. With the added bonus of the last rep being 30 seconds. (Getting the picture?)

3. MB sledgehammer. With 8kg kettlebell. 20 seconds....yadda yadda yadda.....

4. Fast step ups on a step.

5. Jumping over a cone. Fast.

6. On treadmill. 14kph run at a 2.5% incline for 20 secs, 10 secs rest walking at 6kph. 8 times.

7. MB pullover to crunch with medicine ball using rebounder to throw + catch MB.

Each exercise might sound pretty tame and do-able but try doing all that in the space of an hour whilst trying not to throw up. Or faint. Or both. De-light-ful.

Oh, did I mention that I was only allowed 1 lousy minutes' rest inbetween each exercise.

Nice.

That my friends, was my induction into the world of Tabata (my 'to batter' doesn't seem so stupid now, does it!!!!)

I swear my face has never been so red following exercise. Ever.

It was bloody good though! I worked flipping hard. I would never push myself that hard alone. I guess you should only try it though at a level that's reasonable for you and your level of fitness, or under instruction of a qualified professional because it is reeeeeallllly hard....

(I remain convinced that the 1.5lb loss this week happened entirely on Friday night - hahaha!)

Happy Monday dudes!

Love Lizzie xoxoxox

I am almost certainly going to hell for this post.......

Last night I went to the gym.

I forgot my iPod so on the treadmill I resorted to people watching. I admired some people, learnt some new things, and thought constructively how I'd change what certain people were doing if I were a pt. (To the man doing ridiculously heavy chest presses WITH AN ARCHED BACK you are going to do yourself a mischief sunshine – engage that core and tense your abs…and whilst we're at it boys of gym world, please don't think we cant see you having a 'cabinet reshuffle' with one hand down your roomy gym keks…..because we CAN. And it's vile. So stop it. It'll still be there when you get home, play with it then. Good grief. Oh and ONE MORE THING! Pleeeeeease wear proper shoes rather than flipflops in the weight room you doofuses.)

*Ahem* Where was I?

Oh yes, on the treadmill, people watching………

And then I saw an actual pt working out alongside one of her clients. She had a t shirt that said 'Personal trainer' on the back. They were rowing together. She was hard to miss. And by that I don't mean she was a honed & toned gym bunny and all-round good advert for her profession. Oh no. She was, well….how can I put this?

Er…..chunky and flabby.

I was appalled. And also surprised by the strength of my reaction. Now I am appalled at MYSELF for being so bloody judgemental.

But I DID judge her. I wouldn't pay someone who looked like that my hard-earned cash to train me. HOW BAD IS THAT!!! I am a BAAAAAAAAAD person and clearly gonna get a karmic kick in the ass for it. But nonetheless, it's true.

I judged her immediately as a poor trainer because of her size, shape and the fact that she looked as if she'd never been near the gym.

It got me thinking, how important IS appearance when choosing a pt? When I met Chris I didn't think 'WHOA! He works out!' I just thought 'there's someone who looks fit and as if he knows his stuff and as if he can teach me a thing or three', but if I'd met this girl from last night, I'd have hightailed it out the door after the consultation & never looked back.

If the proof really IS in the pudding, then I guess appearance IS important. Kinda like when you pick a new hair stylist. I unashamedly pick one who has good hair. It seems to make sense. If they can look after their own 'do', they're gonna be respectful of mine! Equally with pt's, if they look like they take care of their own bods, I'm gonna trust them with mine. Simply put, I respect them. I

t's kind of the reaction I've been getting lately when I get chatting to gym people and I tell them my story – as if people can't imagine that I've ever had a problem with my weight, or wasn't always this fit – and once they discover that I've had to work for my success, a light of respect (acceptance??) comes into their eyes and I know I've got them 'on side'. Weird.

Anyhoo….. So, if you're still reading this, after discovering what a total judgemental b*tch I am, what do you think?

Would you reject a pt on the basis that they were a bit on the porky side?? Interesting, innit?

Laterz,

Lxoxo
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Weekends are FAR too short.....

Monday? Again? Seriously?!

So, my weekend went a little like this:

Friday- was a total saint all day food wise, high-tailed it straight to
them gym where my legs begrudgingly took me through a fast 5k (well,
fast for me- 21 mins) and then did a super set weights circuit. Legged
it home and got ready to go to The Heywoods for my cousin Andy's
birthday gathering. All the rellies, my own dear husband included,
chowed down on that classic British staple of fish + chips, whereas I,
dear friends, took along a tuna super salad. Rather than taking the
mick, one of my aunts exclaimed how great it was that I was that "in the
zone" I didn't even WANT to eat what the others were eating.......and
the more I thought about, the more I realised how true that is. After a
successful week of being healthy, I didn't want to chuck it all away the
night before weigh in!

And weigh in? Well, I managed a stay-the-same at 10.5 stones (140.5lbs,
63.7kg) from the last time I weighed in, which is not bad going
considering what I've eaten + what I weighed at the beginning of the
week!! So I'm pretty pleased. Only 0.5 of a lb over goal, so my aim for
this week is to press on and see a nice 9 at the start of the scale @
weigh in this weekend! Should be do-able.......

Still wimping out of the pt though.....I'm like one of those ww members
who says they'll "return to meetings when I've lost a bit of weight".
Good grief. Sue's right in her lovely comment on my previous post - I do
need to go and face the music. Grrr....... I am DREADING getting on the
scales of doom - the ones that calculate bodyfat. GROSS.

Workout-wise I wussed out on Saturday, was just too tired (on account of
having stayed up till 2am the previous night - bloody idiot that I am!).
I did ride my bike to and from fat club thought but that was it on the
exercise for Saturday. I did, however, make up for it on Sunday. Sucked
it up and ran my first 10k for 8 weeks. 57mins, which SUCKS but I'll
take it. It can only get better. I absolutely loved it, though. And
typically, afterwards I wondered why on earth I'd been so reticent to do
it in the first place! WEIRD. After my run I had a little rest for a few
hours then hit the gym to do my own kick ass circuits in the weights
room. I got there at 5:15pm so could have done the 5:30pm BodyPump class
but I wanted (yes, WANTED) to challenge myself a little bit more so
spent a good 90 minutes doing circuits of tri-sets, completing 3 sets of
15 reps on each individual exercise. Sounds complicated, so let me give
you an example.

One arm tri-set that I did was on the ball, prone position. 1 set wide
rows with 5kg, 1 set tricep kickbacks with 4kg, 1 set rear delt fly with
4kg. Each set has 15 reps in, so I did wide rows, then triceps, then
rear delts, then began again with wide rows. I super-setted it so no
resting in between.

I alternated between arms, core, resistance, legs, abs to ensure an even
workout and worked a bit on my pull ups. I just felt like I got so much
more out of my workout than if I had done that Pump class. Don't get me
wrong, I love that class and it's great when you only have an hour to
whizz in and out of the gym, and can follow a bit mindlessly, but this
way I used my own knowledge and love of exercise to better equip my body
to deal with life. I'm so sore today but man it was worth it!

Eating-wise Saturday was not so good, but on the plus side I DID track
EVERYTHING! Saturday night we had pizza and x factor with a few beers,
but yesterday - oh yesterday! I got all 'Domestic Goddess' in my kitchen
and made (ww friendly) chicken Kiev for Rich and myself! Amazing what
you can do with good ol' Philly ! I also made chilli potato wedges and a
super salad. I measured a 175ml glass of Soave and snuggled up with the
hub to watch Transformers. Rich was rather impressed with his dinner and
did not believe it was a ww recipe! HAHAHA! I was most impressed with
myself - particularly because I was well within daily points for the
day, which means I am starting my week off on the right foot! Now bring
on that fat loss!!!!!!

Hope you're all having a great Monday and HELLO NEW FOLLOWERS!!! (Bloody
HELL I've got 104!!! :0)

Love Lizzie

Oh, and PS - what the chuff is labour day all about? Seriously!!

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