Something had to change...

Anyhow. Back in the ‘real’ world I realized something had to change. As in…me.  I had become a bit lardy over the winter, piled on a few pounds…oh, okay, let’s be frank, a stonking ten pounds.  And I didn’t like it. I didn’t like the way I looked and I didn’t like the way I felt.  But hey, it happens.  We backslide from time to time, right?  And it doesn’t mean you just give up and let it all slide back to where it was – you just…regroup.

And when it comes to bodies, they’re clever buggers.  They will adjust to pretty well any regime.  So you have to be a bit sneaky, change it round a bit, confuse those muscles and all that.

Hence. I have rejigged my exercise programme.  I’m still doing my kettlebells (by the river, in the church) cos I love ‘em and it’s a feelgood class where we have a lot of laughs.  And I’m still doing my two-hour Zumba and Step class, when I can. But I’ve now added in a workout blast pretty much each morning at the gym.

I know, I know – I can hear you saying that you could never do that cos it’s too time-consuming, or you don’t have a gym near you or whatever…but…but.  My workout takes about half an hour and, tbh, you could just as easily do it at home.  I’ve been playing with HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) where you go like crazy (ie you sprint or crank up the bike to the max or go hell for leather on the stepper or rower) for short bursts of time interspersed with recovery periods where you sink back to ‘normal’ levels.  To begin with you only need to do bursts of around eleven seconds – so, honest guv, it’s doable.  If you weren’t using a gym you could get the same effect with running or power walking; or by running up and down the stairs. In fact, if you Google HIIT you will find all kinds of suggestions for circuits and running/stepping schedules - just find one that suits you. 

And then, when it comes to weights, I’ve been trying out Slow lifting – where you do just a very few reps but seriously slowly and incredibly smoothly – so it becomes almost meditation.  In fact, I now do nearly all my workout with my eyes shut – because I find it helps me focus on the part of my body that I’m using – and also, of course, it saves time on meditation (and how I love multi-tasking). 

So. So far, so good. I’m coming to the end of my second week and I’ve shed about five pounds and already my jeans are looser and I can feel my muscles returning to form. 

So how about you?  Did you come through winter with all your intentions intact?  Or do you feel the need for a little regrouping with me?  J