Training

My wonderful husband has written me two new training programs to go with this week’s menu.

The first is my resistance training program for the mornings and my second a conditioning program for the afternoons. Both compliment one another which is equally important to ensure not only I get maximum gains but also muscle recovery. Hubby’s incorporated a lot of large compound exercises which in our opinions are key staples to any resistance training programs. They’ll be utilising multiple muscle groups which puts a greater metabolic drain on the body therefore burning more calories. It’ll also allow me to have fewer exercises which in turn means less time spent in the gym. Normally this wouldn’t be an issue but when you’re trying to overcome Adrenal Fatigue it is.

So between this weeks menu and my new training programs I’m pretty much guaranteed to kick this plateau to the curb and back this week with any luck. It certainly won’t be for a lack of trying that’s for sure.

Today for example this is what I did:

Resistance Training: Lower Body Stretch

2 x Gym Width Walking Lunges

4 x 6 Bulgarian Split Squats

2 x 4 Single Leg Box Squat

1 x 20 Donkey Calves

Conditioning Training: 15,10,5 for Time

15 x Thrusters / 10 x Thrusters / 5 x Thrusters

15 x Sit-ups / 10 x Sit-ups / 5 x Sit-ups

15 x T Push-ups / 10 x T Push-ups / 5 x T Push-ups

It’s not like anything I’ve done before so I enjoy that aspect of it. Because I’m obviously training less I’m putting more focus into the quality of my training making sure I get more bang for my buck. It also requires a lot more concentration due to it being new. I have four weeks all prepared, all different. So for this first month at least I’ll be finding my feet so to speak until I get a feel for everything.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

I’ve been both fit & healthy and fat & lazy and a lot can be said about both lifestyles. There’s positives and negatives because life is all about balance just like yin and yang.

Fit & Healthy: I won’t lie, in the beginning it was a lot of work and effort. Anything in life worth having never came easy and this wasn’t an exception to that rule. But over time it did become easier and before I knew it it was second nature so all wasn’t lost. Sourcing, travelling and buying organic foods is definitely more time consuming but the positives out way the negatives. When I sit down to my organic whole food meals and snacks it makes all the difference. They’re delicious, they’re easier to digest and there’s no suffering any of the physical repercussions. Then there’s the way it makes me feel, the energy I get to get me through a tough training session. It all comes down to, you reap what you sew in life.

Fat & Lazy: This was by far the easier lifestyle, or so I foolishly thought at the time. In the short term maybe but definitely not in the long run. Eating fast processed food involved very little thinking and effort. At the time it appeared to be time efficient until the health problems of being fat and overweight kicked in. My digestive system took an obvious flogging and my liver which isn’t the best at detoxifying, was placed under even more pressure to remove the copious amounts of rubbish that I consumed. My hair, skin and nails all looked terrible, actually the worst they’d ever looked. And I was tired, really really tired because of the strain of carrying around all that extra weight all day every day. The list goes on and on but I’m sure you get the picture.

Life is great at the moment and I’m reaping the benefits every single day I chose to live the fit and healthy lifestyle. I’m fired up and no matter how hard it seems some days I won’t give up, I won’t give up on myself and I won’t give up on the life that I deserve to have. I owe it to myself if nothing else.

Lorna Jane is my store of choice when it comes to training gear. So here’s what I picked up this week as a reward to myself for being consistent and applying the necessary self-discipline to my training and nutrition.

I don’t have set rewards as such, instead it’s more random and spontaneous these days, like this purchase was. I did need some new training clothes though. When I saw this new t-shirt I just loved the logo and had to have it especially since living in Queensland. The comfort sports bra on the other hand are an old favourite of mine, they keep the girls nicely secured for when I’m training. Now I have one in black and white.

For me, it’s important that I not only feel good but also look good. There’s nothing wrong with taking pride in your appearance even when we’re at the gym. If I feel good then I look good, if I look good then I’m more confident. It’s a win win situation isn’t it.

Whilst I’m on the subject of training gear I’m also noticing some physical changes from my Nike Free Run+. They definitely work the lower legs. Because they have a barefoot-like feel with shoe-like benefits, I’ve noticed lately that my shins and calves are being utilised more because they’re pulling up sore. When my new SKINS arrive they’ll definitely come in handy. They’ll probably look funny on but they’ll definitely come in handy and help with muscle recovery. That and scheduling in an extra epsom salt bath. I’m a firm believer that if you don’t look after your body then it won’t look after you. We have to treat our bodies more like a temple and worship them if we want to achieve great things with them. Nothing’s impossible if you really really want it.

Every Tuesday I have boxing lessons. A friend of hubby’s from work used to be a boxer so he’s given up his time to teach me how to defend myself as well as using it as conditioning training.

I already had some boxing gloves, so that was good. But I did need to buy a couple of extra things for my gym bag. I needed my own skipping rope for my pre-boxing warm-up. Then I needed a pair of hand wraps to prevent any hand injuries. My first lesson I suffered from bleeding and bruising under the skin around the knuckles so these were as must.

My very first lesson was a real eye opener. I new it was going to be hard, but really, that hard. By the time we were finished my entire body was shaking from muscle fatigue not to mention I was covered from head to toe in sweat. It was intense, really really intense. It definitely takes fitness to a whole other level.

The thing I love most about boxing is that it’s a high intensity full-body workout and perfect for my conditioning training. I mean, who doesn’t want to get aerobically and anaerobically fitter right. My focus is all about high intensity, minimum time and maximum fat burning. I want to be fit and strong so all my training now is geared for that.

At the same time I’m eating all the right nutrition and supplementing to support and maximise on muscle recovery. Everything about my approach is new to me compared to what I’ve done previously and for the first time in a long time I’m excited and enthusiastic about all my training. I can’t wait to get into the gym of a morning for resistance training and again after work for my conditioning training. It’s just one big new adventure and I’m having the time of my life.