Understanding Gym Jargon…

I was next to a PT the other day at the gym and could overhear them talking to a client. His client was quite a young girl, and judging by her uncomfortable stances, it was her first time in the gym. The PT wasn’t overly interested in what this girl was doing and kept making conversation with others as they were passing, whilst chucking in a few phrases every now and again, such as ‘we’ll do 12 reps on this set to really fatigue the muscle, then quickly superset it with a drop set…’ etc.

Your probably wondering, minus the PT sounding like a tit, there is no problem here, but actually, the poor girl had no idea what he was on about and had to keep asking him what he was talking about!

I left the gym feeling sorry for the girl but also semi-smug that I haven’t done this…. And then I did it. Mid-conversation with someone and I got stopped to ask what I was talking about… Smugness gone.

So I thought how awful is the fitness industry for this? There’s an expectation that everyone knows what you’re on about, but why would they? And worst still, this just keeps us in that cycle that people fear gyms and the fitness world because they can’t understand it…

So here we go, a little, short list of gym phrases / words and what they actually mean! Let me know if I have missed any that you’re just itching to know.

Reps (repetitions) – The amount that you will be completing that move. E.g. 8 reps of squats is simply, 8 squats.

Sets – The amount of times you will be completing said amount of reps. E.g. 3 sets of 8 reps of squats is completing 8 squats 3 times.

Rest – What it says on the tin… rest time between your sets.

Drop Set – Where you perform an exercise and keep reducing the weight until failure, reduce the weight again and continue to failure…etc.

Super Set – Performing two exercises back to back with no rest. E.g. Chest press followed by tricep dip, and then followed by a rest.

Giant Set – As above but four exercises back to back. E.g. Squat followed by lunge followed by glute bridge followed by squat jump, and then rest.

Functional movement – A movement which is a similar action to an everyday movement. E.g. a squat is a similar movement to sitting in a chair.

Compound movement – A movement which uses more than one muscle. E.g. Chest press uses both the chest muscles and triceps, with some shoulder muscle use.

Plyometric – Essentially ‘jump training’, where you do a movement which has a jump in it. E.g. jump squat.

Circuit training – Usually in classes, a circuit is one round of the prescribed exercises or stations, where you are using multiple muscles and training systems.

HIIT (high intensity interval training) –Completing movements for a short period of time at maximum capacity, where your heart rate should be between 70 and 90% of its maximum.

Mobilisation – Essentially preparing your muscles for movement. E.g. rolling your shoulders is a form of mobilisation.

Bulking – A method to put on muscle mass where you would usually eat more.

Cutting – A method to reduce body fat usually by eating less.

DOMS (Delayed onset muscle soreness) – A pain you would experience in your muscles after working them in a gym session. E.g. your legs may have DOMS for a couple of days after squats.

Isolation – Working just one muscle and reducing the amount that other muscles can interfere with the movement. E.g. Carrying out a bicep preacher curl to reduce the likelihood of swinging to lift the weight.

One Rep Max – The maximum weight that you can perform a certain move with, usually only for one rep. E.g. a one rep maximum of a squat at 70kgs.

AMRAP (As many rounds as possible) – Setting a timer and trying to complete as many rounds of movements as possible in the allotted time. E.g. 10 minutes to complete as many rounds of 10 burpees, 10 squats, 10 press ups.

EMOM (Every minute on the minute) – Essentially completing an exercise(S) for a certain amount of reps at the beginning of a minute on the timer. E.g. 10 squats at one minute, if you complete this in 30 secs say, you get 30 secs to rest before the next minute starts and you go from the top again!

WOD (workout of the day) – A crossfit term for quite simply the workout of the day.

Spotting / spotter – Someone who can assist you with a movement if the weight is high, in order to make sure it is safe. Typically used for bench presses and squats.

Voi la – I hope that is useful for you if you have been struggling to understand the gym jargon that flies around!

Muscle tone: the who, what, where, when

I get asked so so so SO many questions about how to get muscle tone, with apparently a ‘toned’ look being the body goals for most girls…

Now I want to start by saying muscle tone isn’t actually a thing… 😦 say what?! You heard… You can’t ‘tone’ muscles, and anyone, or any PT, who tells you otherwise is just wrong. You’ll never hear me referring to muscle tone because I know it’s not right and I want to try and educate people so that they do the same.

So let me explain… The look that most girls are after is muscle definition, where you can see some abs, hamstrings, glutes… Etc etc. This ‘muscle tone’ look is actually achieved through two components:

1. Muscle size… You need muscles to form the base of this, so you need to lift weights, eat some good stuff and voi la, you have muscles.

2. Low body fat percentage… The only way you’ll see these muscles are to reduce your body fat so they pop through, which means being in a calorie deficit.

Ah ha – for one you to have eat lots and the other you have to reduce? How can this be?!

So yes, the two are hard to do together, building muscle whilst also losing body fat, as ultimately you’ll be eating for two different goals. But, this isn’t unfeasible, and my personal view is that you can achieve both with some clever training.

This training for me is HIIT training, where you’re working to a high intensity with a mix of weights and bodyweight moves. Incorporating push ups, shoulder presses, Burpees, Kettlebell swings (etc.) with mixed short intervals will keep your heart rate up in a fat burning zone whilst also using multiple muscles through the weights and bodyweight moves.

This isn’t an easy fix and it’s not easy to achieve that look, it takes time and patience like everything else, and as ultimately you are trying to achieve two different goals, it will take a while!

Throw some weighted HIIT training into your routine however and see how you go with that, I’m sure it’ll make a difference. And even better, this form of training has been proven to keep your metabolism up for up to 24 hours after the session! Burning calories whilst on the sofa… Winning.

And if you’re stuck for ideas, I have handily published a little HIIT workout for you below… You’re welcome!

Go for 40 seconds on, 20 off, pushing yourself to the absolute max.

Kettlebell swing

Squat to shoulder press

Burpee

Walkout to push up

Bicycle crunches

Jump lunges

Renegade row to push up

Ankle grabs

Repeat five times

Let me know if you try it and as always feel free to ask questions x

My beginners tips for losing weight…

Lately I’ve had countless people message me asking for tips on how to start out in the gym / lose weight / shape up their diet etc. I think it takes a lot to reach out to someone and ask, which suggests to me that there are lots of people out there who want some advice and are too afraid to ask. The Internet is a wonderful place but also a source of conflicting advice, lies, money making schemes praying on the vulnerable and simply, there’s just so much! So I know people look to people they can trust / know for some basic tips… With this in mind I thought I would re-kickstart blogging again with a series of beginners tips for people to look at if they need it.

I want to start by saying that there are no magic tricks, losing weight is all about eating well and exercising – there really is nothing else to it. However, having said that and from personal experience, I know it seems a lot harder than that, particularly if you’re stuck in a rut, don’t understand where you’re going wrong or are just so far away from where you want to be everything seems 100x harder.

Below is a list of tips which are based on my own personal experience of losing weight (approximately 2 stone / 14 ish kgs) which are meant to help those at the very beginning of their journey. These are general and I will do more specific posts (for example, starting in the gym) but for now, I hope this is a good starting point for anyone who needs help.

1. Start small

When people make the decision to change, for some odd reason, it’s an all or nothing approach. This will never be sustainable and you are likely to fail if you decide that 50% of what you normally eat / do has to go. When I first started my journey I made small changes little and often, started with stopping drinking fizzy drinks, to stopping eating Mcdonalds / greggs every day, to then stopping wine Monday – Thursday… Etc. And one thing that really really helped me was having ‘off weekends’ – for the first 8 months ish when I was losing weight, I ate everything and anything at the weekends to give myself the stuff I like. And when i say everything and anything, I mean it. I remember showing up to a friends house for the evening with a large bag for life full of snacks and pretty much finishing them off myself… But I needed this to keep going! If I had cut this all out to begin with I would have never made it through and lost the weight I did.

2. Manage your drinks!

I don’t necessarily mean alcohol on this, I mean your fruit juice, fizzy drinks, coffees etc… These drinks have an immense amount of calories in which people don’t actually count. For example, a standard Starbucks drink can have over 500 calories in! That’s a meal!!! So I decided, and still to this day, that I will pretty much only drink water, and alot of it. Other than this, I drink Peppermint / green tea, black coffee and alcohol (because where’s the fun without it…). These drinks (minus alcohol) are so low in calories, if any, which means that I get all my calories pretty much from food. Another little tip here is to make sure you drink at least 2 litres of water a day – did you know that some hunger pangs are actually just because you’re thirsty? You should drink some water before eating if you get a pang to work out whether it’s genuine, or your thirsty… Now this was life changing for me. The amount I used to eat because I was ‘hungry’ was crazy… Funnily enough, I’m not that hungry these days…

3. Move in a way you enjoy

I am a firm believer that there’s some form of exercise for everyone out there that you will enjoy. For me, I found walking, HIIT, boxing and weights. This was a mixture of lifting weights in the gym and doing group classes at a former gym I went to. I loved this, I didn’t really have those days where I couldn’t be bothered, I was always excited to attend and most importantly, always gave it my all. However, I appreciate that this combination won’t be for everyone, but there will be something and it doesn’t have to be gym / class based. You can walk, run, rock climb, pole dance, standard dance class, trampoline, gymnastics… Etc etc. You see, the list goes on! Find something you enjoy and just get moving.

4. Walk more!!

Walking is so underrated, yet its so easy to fit in, so good for you both physically and mentally, and is free! Now firstly, walking is the best fat burning exercise – it keeps your heart rate at the perfect rate for burning fat during the duration of your walk… Perfect! I didn’t actually know that when I decided to start walking more, it was just very easy to fit in. I started getting off the train a stop earlier which added a 25 – 30 minute walk to my journey, doing that twice a day was a lovely calorie burn at really, no extra effort. It helped to kick start my fitness journey in a ‘safe’ way, building up my aerobic fitness. When I first started, that walk from the station to work took 40 minutes, and now I can do it in under 20 without getting out of breath. Now that is an improvement and is why I am now able to do the HIIT work and run 5kms like their nothing.

5. Ask for help

Don’t be afraid to ask for help, everyone starts somewhere and that is so important to remember. When you first start out in the gym, you need to make sure you nail the fundamentals and your form, otherwise you’ll risk injury and will be teaching your body the wrong movement patterns. Every gym offers an induction, take it and tailor it! If you’re interested in building muscle, working on your squats, whatever it is, use the induction as an opportunity to ask this. Or if you don’t have an induction, find a trainer and ask them! I was very fortunate when I started that I had people who knew what they were doing helping me, but also some friendly gym goers who stopped me to correct my form. It’s better to suck in the ego and get it right rather then injure yourself and get it wrong.

6. Find your inspiration

This, this and this. Instagram was the biggest tool for me, finding people who I aspired to, who gave me tips and who motivated me to be better. I still use it now, I have certain people I follow who I know will motivate me to get out of bed and go to the gym, or make lunch rather than buy Mcdonalds… I found my inspiration and motivation, now you need to find yours. I’ve trained with people who’s kids are there’s, who are aiming for a certain event, certain outfit, whatever it is, find it and use it. And if it’s not inspiring you then stop using it! I have a rule now, anyone who makes me feel crappy on my timeline is now gone 💁‍♀️

7. Cook from scratch

(where possible) – I get that there are time constraints for people and they can’t afford to spend hours meal prepping… And truthfully, neither can I! I have never been the type to spend hours slaving in the kitchen, but I always cook my meals from scratch,sauces in all. This made the biggest difference, no longer did I have hidden salt, sugar, additives, but all fresh, nutritious ingredients which I knew where it came from. For example, instead of using a stir fry sauce, I just season with chilli, garlic and soy sauce, still delicious but not consumed in calories and crap! It might seem like a big ask but start small, vow to cook 50% of meals from scratch and build it up… Easy!

8. Trust the process

You’re not going to see instant results, it’ll take a while. I got so disheartened to begin with, taking weekly pictures and weigh ins to see progress, when there wasnt any sometimes… But I promise, it’ll happen. Trust the process and the results will happen.

(To caviate – please don’t check in weekly!! It does no favours for confidence or progress)

9.Keep it simple

I said it at the top but I want to say it again… Keep it simple! Losing weight is made to be so much harder these days then it should be, just keep it simple, eat better and move more and I promise, the weight will fall off!

10. Have fun!

Nothing more to say here 🙂

I hope that helps someone, it seems like a lot but I promise it’s not. All my advice is about taking it back to basics and at a manageable pace. Do this and I promise you’ll see results.

As always I’m happy to help 😘😘

My year in review…

As the New Year draws in its a perfect opportunity to reflect on the year that we’ve just had. I want to start by saying that I have had a great year, I have achieved so much and managed stuff that this time last year I could only dream of. Having said that, from a fitness perspective, it has been more than shoddy… The purpose of this blog is to show you that setbacks happen –  they’re OK, inevitable and character building.

At the start of the year, for the first four months I’d say, I was at peak fitness of my life. I had just enrolled in my PT course, was managing 5-6 workouts a week and my eating was truly on point. To be fair, that many HIIT workouts was 100% excessive but I was in peak form so loved it. I was smashing pylo push ups, could run a 5k in 25 mins…etc etc. I truly thought that by the end of the year I’d be pushing out 20 pull ups, deadlifting twice my weight and running marathons.

But… In April I was fortunate enough to buy a house. I was unfortunate that this house was in a terrible state. This meant that all my spare time was at the house, some days 7am until midnight just gutting, cleaning and redecorating. I had zero time for working out and my diet was terrible, living off ready meals (‘the healthy kind’) and minimal sleep. I was bloated 24/7 and very tired. (Remember my bloated post and picture, that was me in the house, in that shape for 3 weeks) 

This lasted for about a month and then I had a few weeks building up to my best friends wedding where I rewhipped myself into shape. My eating improved, I managed to sleep, get a few workouts in and was finally not bloated. So again, I thought this was how the year would continue. 

Nah… End of June (night before said wedding) I had a little bit of an accident and broke my hand. It was in a cast for 2 months then had to have another two months of no impact or weight through it. This also coincided with the beginning of my PT course, which for those who have completed the course, can imagine how challenging that was!

This literally put me out of action for all of those months. I really really wanted to be one of those people who still smashed their workouts, managed to go running and smash their legs or core but that’s not life. When I tried to run the motion sent shooting pains up my arm, when I got hot my arm felt like it was on fire and I inevitably banged it and tried too much. So that was it, no true workouts until October, end of my PT course.

The other side to this is I was working full time whilst doing a weekend PT course. In my head I’d spend all my time working out at the weekend and be fitter than ever. I was actually just exhausted all the time and reading material in my free time so even if I wanted to, it’s never that simple. 

So my arm is healed, let’s get back to working out… Nope. We decided to get two puppies and I thought this would make us super active and healthy fitspos… Actually the first few weeks we were so tired from early starts and late nights I never wanted to workout. I also wanted to spend all my time with them, and any free time at the weekend was spent walking them, not at the gym. 

That lasted a couple of weeks and then I was ready to build in a proper routine which incorporated the puppies. I think when you’re going through all the change you can’t actually build in a proper routine and it’s important not to stress about it. If you pick anything up through reading this, let it be that. 

As soon as I started to build in a routine I was unfortunate enough to have a car accident. (Did I mention an achievement this year was passing my driving test…) This really did knock me out for six. The car was a write off but I was fine so I thought I’ll get straight back into it… Again I was wrong. Shock really took over and my wrist took most of the impact which meant again I had to take it slowly for 2/3 weeks. On one day I slept for 16 hours (spooning said puppies) so no, the gym was not an option. 

Come mid November and I am fighting fit, ready to take on the world. And that I did, for about 4 weeks. I started proper strength training and HIIT workouts and loved it, loved the routine and started trying new things. Going to new gyms, trying new classes and taking more of my own. Honestly loving life. 

And here we are at the festive period. I really haven’t worked out, I have truly let myself go in terms of eating and drinking, but I have relaxed, slept and spent good time with family and friends. And I truly have no desire to get to the gym currently. In fact I was booked for classes today, and cancelled. God I know, what a terrible PT. But, I know, in two days life will take back over, and I won’t have the chance to spoon my dogs at 3pm and have a 2 hour nap, and truly 100% look after my wellbeing. But I do know, i am looking forward to getting back to my routine and getting my fitness back to what it was.

Fitness is the key word there. Never have I mentioned that I’m sad that my body is fluffier, I have a higher body fat percentage etc… I’m sad I’ve lost strength and my body has had to take a back seat, but these things happen. 

So 2018, I have huge things in store, some great resolutions and a new found motivation to truly smash the year ahead. This post wasn’t a woe me, look at how hard things are. It’s a positive post. Life happens, so what. Focus on doing what you can and the rest will fall into place. Don’t beat yourself up about it, that won’t get you anywhere.

So let’s go 2018, I’m ready 💪

My one equipment workout..

Ever got to the gym and it’s absolutely rammed with all your equipment taken? Can only find one Kettlebell and a corner of the room? Well that’s all you need for this workout so don’t you worry, I got your back… 🙂
I did this workout today as a quick blast in between cleaning and dog walking, and it was 👌 It’s straight forward, garaunteed to get you sweating and is easily done inside or outside the gym.

Do 15 reps of the below exercises with no rest in between, when you get to the end have one minute break and then go through again. Repeat 3 – 5 times.

Make sure you’re not rushing the reps and really focusing on form and muscle connection. Have fun!

1. Sumo Squat with high pull
2. Straight leg deadlift 
3. Chest press 
4. Russian twist 
5. Clean and press (15 each side)
6. Bicep curl 
7. Swing 
8. Overhead press 
9. Sit up with press
10. Press up 

And there you go, a quick, easy full body blast for when the gym is too full or your short on time. Let me know how you get on 🙂

Rest periods

Let’s talk rest periods between sets / reps… The other day I saw something on Facebook which just annoyed me to be honest. It was from a popular fitness page and essentially said in order to maximise fitness, do not rest for longer than 30 seconds in the gym.

Understandably there was quite a mixed reaction, some saying how they do this already and feel smug, some saying how this is where they were going wrong, and finally the others, who called this bullshit. 

I will start by saying this is bullshit. Rest periods during a workout are very important, important you don’t take too long, and important you don’t take too little. However, a blanket 30 second rest is crap, and will be more detrimental then effective. And I will now explain why…

You might remember (or if not take a look back) that I did a blog on training zones (endurance, hypertrophy and strength), what they mean, why you should care, etc. The zone that you’re working out in will essentially determine how much rest you should take. And here’s the spoiler, they’re not all 30 seconds!

The first range, endurance, is when you complete 12 reps or more at under 60% of your one rep max. This uses your aerobic system and therefore needs less rest then the other two zones, around 30 seconds to be precise.

The second zone, hypertrophy, is where you complete between 6 and 12 reps at around 60-80% of your one rep max. This uses your anaerobic system and therefore needs a little longer to recover, 30-90 seconds recovery period.

The final zone, strength, is where you complete 1-5 reps at 80%+ your one rep max. This uses your creatine phosphate energy and therefore needs much longer to recover, up to 5 minutes to be precise.

Now as you can see, depending on what your workout is, your rest periods vary hugely! And you’re probably now thinking, so what?

Well firstly, your muscles need time to rest and recover. If you don’t allow enough time to recover then there is much higher chance that you’ll injure yourself. Your muscles will be fatigued and it’s very unlikely you’ll actually be carrying out the exercise correctly, which leads to increase chance of injury. 

Secondly, when your muscles are fatigued, you cannot perform to your optimum performance and are therefore not taking full advantage of your workout! We all know how precious time is these days, so it may seem good to scive on your rest periods, but actually, you’re hampering your time in the gym and not hitting the numbers your body is capable of.

Finally, let’s look at the other side, resting for too long. If you do this you are losing the intensity of your workouts and likely cooling down. Again this increases risk of injury and can lead to an ineffective workout.

Rest periods are just as important component to the workout as a warm up, cool down and the actual workout. If you time these wrong then it really does affect how effective your workout is, can increase your chances of injury and shorten your workout through quicker muscle fatigue.

When designing your programme / session it’s important to build these in, and if you are confused then do not hesitate to ask for help.

And finally, please do not believe everything you see online. 

My Super Duper Leg Workout

As promised here is my leg workout from the beginning of the week. This isn’t one for beginners as some of the moves are quite technical and advanced. It can be adapted if necessary, just ask 🙂

Warm up: 5 minute bike ride, 30 squats, 30 lunges, 30 Glute bridges

Main workout: 

You will need a heavy Kettlebell (I used 20kg), two steps, a set of medium dumbells (I used 8kg) and a leg press.

For this workout you will do 3 different supersets, each of which will consist of 5 rounds with 10 reps. Essentially, it will be 50 reps of each exercise… You’re welcome! 😉 

1. Raised Wide Squat: position yourself with a foot on each step, wide stance, holding the Kettlebell with both hands. Squat, engaging your glutes,  quads and core.

2. Burpees: you know the drill 😉

1. Straight Leg Deadlift: I personally do this raised on the steps in order to get more depth, but only do this if you have enough flexibility in your hamstrings. Hold the Kettlebell with both hands and perform the deadlift with straight legs, a slight bend in the knee so you don’t lock them. Make sure your back is straight.

2. Squat Jumps: again, you know the drill 🙂

1. Kettlebell Swing: most important thing, this is not a Squat, it’s a hip hinge and thrust. Take the Kettlebell to shoulder height and keep your core engaged.

2. Weighted Step Ups: hold the dumbells at your side and alternate legs as you step up. If you fancy an extra Glute burn, kick your leg out at the top and engage your Glute muscles.

Finisher: Leg press – as heavy as you can to finish off (I only managed 40kgs!) 50 reps of normal stance leg press and 50 reps of wide stance.

Cool down and stretch.

I can’t stress enough – most of these moves are quite technical and will be very easy to injure yourself with, so please only do this  if you’re 100% comfortable with these moves or are being supervised!

Anyway, enjoy and let me know how you get on! 🙂

Bloating… The who, what, why, how

So I want to start with saying, bloating is very normal and happens to us all (as demonstrated by my picture where I look 7 months pregnant). It can be very very uncomfortable, and make you look and feel pretty crappy. 

I also want to say, I am not a dietician or nutritionist so all I’m giving here is some friendly advice from someone who has experienced it all and who’s bloating has dramatically calmed down. To be honest, if it is bad and happens regularly then I would get proper medical advice. 

So firstly, what is it? Well if you have a look at the picture at the bottom that is a very good representation of what bloating is… It can take different forms but your belly can swell, you can get bad gas (both ends unfortunately…) and you can get bad stomach cramps. For me personally, I just look heavily pregnant and very uncomfortable, where my jeans won’t do up and I have to lie down.

There are so many causes and not all of it can be what you think. For the most part, food is the biggest cause. It can be intolerances to a certain food group (gluten, dairy etc) or sometimes a build up of filling your body with crap. That’s not to say you should cull everything and go on a celery stick diet only, but just be mindful of the triggers.

My biggest trigger is actually stress. The picture below is when I was mid move, working full time and then spending all my spare time out of the office sorting out the new house that was soaked in dog excrement and filth. I was eating more ready made food then usual, sleeping around 5-6 hours per night and just peak stress truth be told. This meant that my body went into full meltdown and even when I had healthy food, my body rejected it. The picture below I actually had a vegetable soup for dinner and it just went ‘nah’. 

Other causes include IBS, food allergies, POS etc, all of which are obviously more serious and need proper medical attention.

So, I am no longer walking round a bloated mess, and I’m sure you’re on the edge of the seat wondering how I rectified it. As I said, mine wasn’t caused by a food intolerance, but a mix of pure neglect to my body. Below is how I beat my bloat:

• Drink water!! This is the most important tip I can give you… It just helps to get your body working properly again and begin to flush out some of the nastiness which is lingering in your body.
• Although this is the last thing you want to do… Get moving! Not only does it release stress but it also relaxes your body, gets your blood flowing and just puts your body back in tune.
• Look at your food and start to get your diet into shape. Minimise the amount of processed food you’re eating for one… I don’t care how healthy it says it is, it will not be better than food cooked from scratch. Eat your veggies, get your micros in and start to rebalance yourself.
• Sleep, sleep, sleep, sleep. Sleep is there to restore your body back to how it was, for all your body processes to take place, if you’re lacking this, your body won’t be able to replenish itself. You are 1000x more times liable to bloat if you’re sleep deprived.
• Destress! Stress is so bad for your body for so many reasons, and has similar effects as being sleep deprived. When you’re stressed your body is in flight or fight mode… do you think your body is caring about your bloat when it’s thinking about survival only? Take a long walk, have a bath, watch a show, whatever it is, just relax.

That is how I dealt with my bloat but for most, it will be specifically food related, an intolerance of some kind that your body just does not like. If this is happening to you, then identify what it is that triggers it (food diary is probably the best and easiest) and cut out this food, or at least cut back. I know if I found out that I had an intolerance to dairy I would hate to give up cheese, but I would minimise my intake of it. 

Bloating is ultimately a sign that there is an imbalance in your body. It’s not life threatening, but it is uncomfortable and needs to be taken seriously if recurring. For me, it was the kick in the back side that something needed to change so I could feel OK again! 

I actually remember being permanently bloated when I was at my peak unhealthy phase, and why I didn’t take it seriously is beyond me. Now as soon as I bloat I look to what caused it and how I can get over it. 

As I said, I’m not a dietician, but for me, informal tit bits like this helped me to take the steps to beat my bloat! Let me know if this helps you or if I’m talking out my arse please and thank you. 

Next blog : my super duper leg workout 

Getting back on track…

You may have noticed it has been a wee while since I’ve posted a blog…  I’ve been so busy I just haven’t had a chance. And I wish I could say that this just applied to this blog, but it’s also my training. I haven’t properly worked out in a week or so, which for me, is ages. And when I don’t work out, my eating also goes pear shape. That though, has been happening for longer than the week. So basically I’m in a rut and need to get out of it. I need to get back into my healthy lifestyle, and actually practice what I preach. 

So I thought I would create a blog on getting back on track, which is as much for me as it is for you. I know summer holidays have just finished, lots of people are looking at kick starting their healthy lifestyle so hopefully this will help 🙂

First of all I want to say, we are all human. Life happens and we can’t be perfect 24/7. For some reason we are so obsessed with being perfect all the time that when blips happen, people panic and self criticise so much. 

A. That won’t help.

B. You don’t have to be perfect all the time.

C. It happens to everyone.

The most important thing is to minimise the amount of time this happens for. At the end of the day, one bad meal won’t harm your progress or one missed gym session, but one week, one month… Now these habits become longer term and that’s what we need to prevent. We need to help you get back on track, and the following steps should help you. They should help you get back to a healthy lifestyle.

• Drink lots of water. This is self explanatory but one of the best ways to get back on track is to drink more water. 9/10 junk foods are extremely high in sodium and processed crap, and will dehydrate you. Drinking water will obviously rehydrate you and start replenish what is lost. When you’re dehydrated as well you get hunger pangs and are likely to pig out. Drinking water will prevent that and hopefully prevent unnecessary eating. Water is essential to getting back on track really. 
• Move your body! I know I know, when you’re bloated, eaten crap, not moved in a while, working out is the last thing you want to do. And I’m not saying go straight into a crazy HIIT session but start off small. Go for a light walk, start off small and do light sessions whilst you get back into it. A light sweat I promise will do the world of good, it’ll help ease the bloat and a good sweat will start to get rid of those toxins.
• Build up slowly. If you’ve had a couple of weeks, month off, going straight back into it is going to be hard. For some they need to dive head first, but for others, when you let it slide for a while, it can knock your confidence and you simply don’t know how to get back into it. For me, I make sure I slowly cut out my bad habits (chocolate is my current vice which I’m trying to stop), and I start off with little walks. This works for me where I can build up my health slowly, making sure its manageable and before you know it, I’m back smashing those classes.
• Start RIGHT NOW. Don’t wait until Monday, a new month, New Year… These are great as times to set new goals but don’t wait to start fresh. It doesn’t matter if you start at 5pm with a good dinner or if you start on a Thursday, just start. Your body doesn’t care when it is, it just wants to be healthy. It just wants it nutrients and it wants to be fit. Why wait to do that? Waiting a few days, hours etc won’t achieve anything. Do it as soon as you get the urge to. Don’t let that momentum go. 
• Go easy on yourself! Nothing will be achieved if you beat yourself up. You’ll just get down and keep in that cycle. Like I said, it’s so normal. I’m a bloody part time PT and hold my hand up to falling off the wagon. It’s fine. It happens. We’re human. It’s OK. Go easy on yourself and start fresh. 
• Get help!! I’m not saying go get a PT, some people may need that and that’s fine, it’s what we’re here for. But most people leave their healthy lifestyle because they’re bored or like me, it doesn’t fit their current routine. So change it up and find help. Whether that’s a friend and you want a buddy to go to the gym with, or whether that’s finding a different class to restart your regime, or looking online at new recipes, or finding a fabulous blog to inspire you 😉 sometimes we all need a helping hand to get us back on track and that is absolutely fine. There is no shame in asking for help to kick start. 
• Just do it! Stop thinking about doing it and just do it. I don’t really have an explanation for this. Just do it.

So I hope that helps. Even if you disregard all the tips that I have given you, hopefully you will at least be thinking about getting into a healthy lifestyle. And if none of that helps, writing has helped me to kick start my routine again, so that’s one bonus. 

Recipe #2 – My Prawn Pho

I am obviously not a chef but I enjoy throwing stuff together and seeing what happens. So last night I had a friend for a dinner and I can tell you, this went down very well. Give it a go and let me know what you think! 

Cooking time: 30 – 40 minutes 

Serves: 2

Level: easy 

Ingredients 

Inch of ginger 

2 cloves of garlic 

4 spring onions 

One head of broccoli chopped 

100g mushrooms diced 

100g green beans 

500 ml vegetable stock cube

220g King prawns 

2 wholemeal noodle nests 

Dash of soy sauce and fish sauce 

Recipe

1. Fry the spring onion, garlic and ginger in a dash of sesame oil in a wok for a few minutes until softened 
2. Add the broccoli, green beans and mushrooms, fry for 5 minutes 
3. Whilst this is frying, put the noodles to boil in a separate pan 
4. Add the stock to the wok and leave to simmer for 10 minutes 
5. Turn the noodles off and add the prawns, soy sauce and fish sauce to the wok
6. Simmer for 10 minutes and then add the noodles 
7. Mix all together and ta-da, you have a delicious pho esque dish 

Cost (approximately): £5.50

Per serving, 

Calories : 425

Carbs: 58g

Fat: 3g

Protein: 35g

 3 of your 5 a day. 

Disclaimer – I am not a chef, nor a trained nutritionist so the recipes I provide are purely on an advisory basis, based on what I have found to work and have enjoyed cooking. 

The nutrients are based on online information. I don’t advocate calorie counting so please take the numbers above with a pinch of salt and don’t use them to the line. 🙂