I love the calm feeling that cardio work gives me, pushing myself on the treadmill for 45 mins (booooring, but was listening to XFM on the radio and they had some pretty banging tunes playing :-D particularly loving Ian Brown's new song 'Stellify', it's fantastic, back to his best :-)
So how is everyone? I've been pretty busy this week and I have a deadline tomorrow so can't really arse about on here for too long but thought I'd come and say hi and share my week with you so far.
So I had the best workout on Monday as reported, perhaps fuelled by the rather excellent Venison burgers and sweet potato mash I had for dinner beforehand. Just look at this:
They were gorgeous! But you know what the best part about these 'Bambi Burgers' was? No fat came off! We cook with a George Foreman Lean Mean Fat Reducing Grilling Machine, we grill nearly all our meet on there, it's disgusting how much fat comes off sausage and bacon! But there wasn't a speck of fat in the grill tray below!
I'm sold :-)
On Tuesday I woke up super early (for me) and got to the gym for the Tuesday morning 06:45 spin class. Sam "The Psycho" spin teacher was there this week - hurrah! He was away last week, not a happy bunny me :-(
The class was awesome, I love spin because you work as hard as you want to... the levels are completely arbitrary, it's all about 'perceived effort'. I'm pretty damn sure my version of 80% requires a lot less resistance than our instructor's!
in any case, it rocked, I felt really good despite it a) being so damn early and b) really powering my legs during the sprint stages... it must mean that I'm getting a lot fitter... hopefully!
Tuesday lunch time I went to my work's gym and did some core and back work... here's what I did:
3 x Supersets of the following exercises:
Plank - x 60 seconds
Hip Thrust - x 20
Side Plank/raises - x 10 each side (ouch, feeling it today still!)
Alternate leg extensions - x 10 each leg (these seemingly innocuous exercises are great for lower down deep stomach muscles)
Back extensions - hands by ears - x 20
Reverse Crunch - x 20
Dorsal Raise - x 20 each side
What I love about the above set is that you just need a mat to do it on, no other equipment - will definitely be working on my core when I'm on holiday the week after next!
Tuesday evening Joe and I went with some friends to the Royal Albert Hall to see the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain play after the Proms. It was absolutely bloody marvellous!!!
We didn't have the best seats, I think they were last minute purchases as were only a fiver, but didn't give a damn, the atmosphere was excellent and the music was fantastic! We had a whale of a time, here's a pic, click to enlarge, it's quite good:
You can listen to the performance here via the BBC iPlayer, you've only got 5 days left though to hear it - I recommend you take a listen though, they're fantastic and, if you've not heard them before - quite unlike anything you have heard before!
I really really really want a ukulele now! I love them, they're so teeny and perfect, so cute!
Yesterday I cycled to work and did my Lower Body Routine #2 at lunch time and then cycled home.
Today I went to the gym and did the run I was raving about earlier. I was going to row afterwards but I needed to shower and get back to my desk so thought it best not to... my boss is already pretty relaxed about the fact that I take my 'lunch' break at about 2.30/3 so that the gym is more or less empty when I go - don't want to push it by spending the whole afternoon there!!
Tonight I'm going to go home soon and make turkey meatballs. Turkey is a great meat, very low in fat and high in protein - better than chicken in some respects but not as tasty perhaps ;-)
I've also got to bake some bread to take with me to our friends whose place we're staying at over the weekend... because daaa daaa daaaarrrr
We're going to the V Festival!!
man, can't wait, will be the last festival of the year though *sob* but it's going to be absolutely rocking! Just check out the line-up!!!
There are so many bands I want to see... Kings of Leon and lostprophets played last year and I was in heaven. This year I can't wait to see the Killers as I've not seen them before(!!), Oasis - the great British staple of rock, Starsailor (even though I saw them recently and they made me cry, for personal reasons, one of the song's title and subject are very poignant indeed to me), Ting Tings are fab although have seen them too and wish they had more material!
Really really can't wait to see MGMT and Pendulum, OMG! The Noisettes are great too, saw them when they supported Maximo Park earlier this year at the Brixton Academy, that lady is damn sexy... speaking of damn sexy, Lady Gaga is playing too - hubba hubba! I love her, she's nuts, absolutely perfect :-)
Other than that, umm Biffy Clyro, they're great, have seen them too, Pete Doherty's playing so might go check him out, ahh Will Young... I saw him at the Royal Albert Hall a few years back, I love him, he waved at my son a few times when we used to see him when he lived in Chelsea... bless :-)
Ooh dizzee rascal, snow patrol, elbow - the specials!
right, gotta stop, getting too excited
the thing is that I know there will be some horrible clashes... like last year when the Kaiser Chiefs were playing at the same time as the Chemical Brothers... I went to see the latter, it was pissing it down outside so probably the better choice as they were in a tent... still gutted I missed the Kaisers though...
right, gonna stop, there are more there though that I'd like to see, I can't wait!
Okay so in terms of food and exercise... well I've been doing quite well actually!
My camera is on the blink though, which is quite gutting as a) can't put any progress pics up, b) can't take any pics of V festival and c) might not have a camera to take on holiday with me!!
I'm considering just going and buying one, I'm really upset, I feel so naked without my camera, I take it everywhere and my blackberry's picture quality is just shit
I really want to buy the new Nokia N97, it has a 5 megapixel camera, but it's not out on O2 yet, dammit! Although there is a successor apparently out already in the form of the Nokia N900... might wait for that now, I'm quite fond of my little Blackberry, but I do want a decent camera... arghh!
anyway, so yes, food is nice indeed... I recently made a rather nice lunch for myself, haven't got a pic, and it's not the most attractive dish but it's simple and easy to make, uber high in protein and handy to take to work :-)
Here's the nutritional info, it makes 4 servings so plenty of lunches for me.It's a tuna, beans and rice salad. You just cook up the rice, then drain, stir in the tuna and beans and the Promax Natural. I like to eat it cold with some extra tabasco sauce, and serve it with cherry tomatoes and salad leaves :-)
I'm really loving the way my arms are looking at the mo, they're leaning out really well, as is my waist although it's still achy from the core work on Tuesday!
I had a bit of a panic when I got an email from those nice people at Maxiwomen to remind me that the Maximuscle Body of 2009 competition closes in a few weeks!!! arghhh!
I'm feeling good, but not ready so have decided to knuckle down over the next few weeks and be really strict with my eating and ensure I get up and do some exercise too - particularly as it's having such a welcome effect on my sense of well-being :-)
I've already warned my friend that I probably won't be participating in the bacon and sausages that will be in abundance the weekend mornings between festival performances... I'm going to take plenty of Promax Diet Bars, powder and Maxi-milks with me to help stave off hunger and the ensuing temptation!
You can buy 2 packs of Thermobol for £22 at the moment on the Maxiwomen site so have bought a few of those to ramp up my fat loss over the next month. I'm feeling really positive about it all, and liking the changes I'm seeing, I just wish it hadn't taken my so damn long to actually start taking this all seriously!! It's been such a learning curve though, I had so many wrong ideas about what it took to lose fat beforehand... I'm glad I'm getting there now, slowly but surely!!
Right, I'm off home now, going to cycle back and then tomorrow I'll go to the gym first thing and do some cardio work and maybe some leg weights, before doing my Upper Body Routine #2 at 'lunch' heh. I won't be able to exercise until Monday evening so Saturday and Sunday will be my rest days - hence why I'm packing it all in this week, I would ordinarily space it all out a bit better!!
TJx
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