OK, so I haven’t posted for a few days because there has been a fair bit going on. Wednesday and Thursday were spent caring for my Mum, keeping her company and making her cups of tea and lunch. On Tuesday she had an operation on her foot and is not able to walk at all for the next two weeks.
Woody is taking care of Mum's poor foot
Enter lots of casseroles, chillies and soups being shipped from my house (and my sisters) to hers. I don’t enjoy seeing Mum in pain but it is nice to be able to care for her for a while and pay back a little of the love she has given us over the years.
I covered a friends aerobics class on Thursday evening and because of my cold-related breathlessness decided to do circuits. The ladies all seemed to enjoy themselves and it made a fun change to grapevines and box steps. My Saturday morning class was a re-run of Thursdays and even though we had a fairly low turnout (lovely weekend sunshine=lower attendance) we all had great fun skipping, stepping and boxing. In fact I think I may have a few converts to the way of the gloves!
Circuits is a great way to trick your body and mind into working a bit harder than you might normally. Because you have a brief rest between stations, there is an opportunity to recover a little and then work just as hard at the next station. It’s a form of interval training, which has been shown to improve fitness more quickly than steady state workouts. It can be applied to any type of workout, for instance, at the gym you could alternate between cardio equipment eg xtrainer, treadmill and resistance exercises with free weights or machines. If you are running, try altering the speed at which you run throughout your session, for example run fast for 1 minute then jog gently for 2 minutes (or whatever intervals work best for you)(this is also known as fartlek training if you keep the timings random). Try it, I promise you will see a fast increase in your strength and endurance.
Whilst browsing blogworld on F
riday I found a challenge at South Beach Steve called the Hot 100. On Thursday23 September there were 100 days left of 2010. The idea is to make the most of each and every one of those 100 days and set yourself some goals to achieve this. If you would like to take part just follow the link above or click on the image to the right by 1 October. You will need to set yourself a minimum of three goals. I decided I would like to take part in this challenge and my goals are as follows:
1. Workout at least 5 times each week, not including classes that I teach, running at least 3 times.
2. Stick to my dietplan – 1400 calories per day.
3. Run a half marathon.
What appeals to me is this being such a positive challenge which focuses on making the most of every day. As long as I do my best to achieve my goals I will have succeeded. If life gets in the way, as long as I am honest with how much this impacts my ability to achieve my goals, I can alter my goals to reflect this. Please let me know if you decide to take part in this, so that we can support one another. The plan is to update my blog every Friday with my progress and I would love your feedback, so please do leave a comment or two!
Nat x
Nat, I am glad you decided to join in – let’s make the end of 2010 the best days we have ever seen!