Tuesday, 29 November 2011

Pole Dancing as exercise, you'll love it!

Hiya!
From my previous post you know that at the moment I am on a serious fitness kick. For me it’s not just about losing weight and toning up, it’s actually the fitness aspect. I want to be healthy, I want to have a serious amount of strength and I want change my whole lifestyle not just diet and lose a few pounds here and there.
So as you’re more than likely aware again from my previous post, I completely detest the gym! So I said to myself ‘come on, you need to get fit and stop being bloody lazy and find some type of exercise you love’! So I did, I started horse riding 4 months ago and I also do Zumba now...but those are for a different post.
Soooo, pole dancing. When you think of pole dancing you automatically think cheap, seedy, ‘your dad must be proud’ and a few other names that I’m not going to post on my blog! Because let’s face it, pole dancing is prone to stereotyping. But once you have seen a pole dancing class I can guarantee you that your opinion of it will change and you will have a new found respect for pole dancers.
I have been doing this for a few weeks now and I absolutely love it. This along with horse riding is probably my favourite form of exercise.  It requires an unbelievable amount of upper body strength that I really don’t have yet. But I am assured by my teacher that this comes with time.
In these classes it’s not about grinding up and down the pole for men to watch and throw money at you. It’s about growing your self confidence, gaining strength and toning up. Obviously being ‘sexy’ is part of it, but to me that’s part of growing you self confidence and becoming comfortable with yourself. The girls who have been doing it for a while are unbelievably graceful, confident, flexible and have a LOT of strength.
The studio I have my classes in has floor to ceiling mirrors, poles and really low lighting. I mention low lighting as you have to wear shorts and when I say shorts I mean hot pants or just plain underwear. The lighting consists of a few lamps and fairy lights. This means any lumps, bumps or the dreaded cellulite can’t even be seen in this light and it makes you feel so comfortable and relaxed.
I was made aware that you will ache really badly and you will have bruises all over your thighs. I was like well I feel fine, you aren’t even doing that much it won’t hurt at all. But sweet mother, I hurt like I have NEVER hurt from exercise before!!! I had bruises on my inner thighs and I was using both hands to change gear in my car as it hurt to bad to do one.  Lol. At Zumba, the instructor told me to stretch.....I couldn’t get my arms above my head. I hurt for like almost a week.
If you want to start exercising, hate the gym and don’t know where to start try this!! Women of all sizes  and ages do it, everyone is in it together and everyone helps each other. There’s no negativity or self confidence issues.  If your scared to go by yourself go with sister or friend. You will love it I guarantee!!
Xoxo

Donna Nook?

Hellooooo!
This is a really random post, but I’m going to tell you all about it anyway! Whilst visiting family last week in Lincolnshire, I got asked if I wanted to go to Donna Nook. Hmmmm, Donna Nook. I’ve never heard of it so I asked what was there. I got told that it’s an RAF base on a beach with a few seals ‘knocking about having babies’. So I thought what the heck, it will be nice to go for a walk on the beach even if there aren’t any seal pups! So we went and Oh. My. Gosh. I have NEVER seen anything like it!

We parked up and walked over the sand dunes and there were literally 1000’s of seals laid on the beach with their little pups. It really was beautiful to see. There’s a little wooden fence that’s been made so that us tourists can’t go on to the beach and disturb them or destroy their breeding environment. But the seals (especially seal pups) are literally laid up against the fence! This really isn’t normal behaviour but because of the amount of years the seals have been going there to breed, they really aren’t bothered with humans or the RAF planes constantly flying over.


At one point the male seals were fighting over the females.....I actually felt like David Attenborough. Haha.
So if you live around this area google it for directions and just go! It costs a £1 for parking and that’s it, no other extra costs to go on the beach or anything. Adults enjoy it and the kids absolutely love it! The seals are only there November through to December to have their pups and breed, so you best start thinking about going now!

Random post, but I wanted to share it as it is something totally different and not what I expected or what I thought I'd enjoy as much as I did!
Xoxo

Sunday, 20 November 2011

Couch-to-5k in 9 weeks!

Having embarked on a new fitness regime, I have decided to give running a go. Now, I am not one for running and I completely and utterly hate the gym. I have tried and tried to motivate myself to go and I just can’t do it. I get bored, and really who wants to hang out in a gym full of sweaty body building men? I can tell you I certainly do not! I even went as far as signing up around 3 years ago for a 3 year membership....I have been a maximum of 10 times! What a waste of money!

Anyway, I have been introduced to an awesome app that seems to be helping me....Get Running. This app is based on the couch-to-5k in 9 weeks programme. It breaks it down into 3 runs a week and slowly builds you up from nothing to running for 30 minutes non-stop. To me I was very sceptical thinking this would not work for me at all but after the first week I can already see an improvement! The first weeks programme is walking briskly for 5 minutes and then alternating from 1 minute runs to 1 1/2 minutes walking for 20 minutes, then back down to 5 minutes walking to cool off!

Now don’t get me wrong, coming from a girl who does no exercise and works in an office this is a challenge. BUT it is achievable! I’ll keep you updated and let you know how I’m getting on.

It’s a nice app, keeps you motivated and lets you know how long you have left. You can also listen to your music at the same time and it fades in and out quite nicely to give you instructions. The app is £1.99, well worth it! So if you’re interested in running but haven’t a clue where to start, you may just need this in your life!

xoxo

Welcome!

Hiya,

I have decided to start writing a blog based on beauty, fitness and fashion! Hope you like :-) xoxo