Today I went on a little road trip for my FWOM workout. All the way to sunny Nottingham to check out the free "Meet me at the barre" barrecore workout at the Sweaty Betty store.
First of all, Sweaty Betty is one of my favourite ever sportswear brands. When I arrived I instantly saw about 5 things I wanted to buy on the spot:
Everything in the store is carefully designed with super soft fabrics and cute feminine details :)
When it came to the actual workout I was a little nervous. Unsurprisingly, it was an all girls group which was good but 18 people had turned up instead of the maximum of 13 and we did the class in the store which isn't huge, so it was a little cramped and uncomfortable at times.
The barrecore was a combination of yoga movements and stretches with pilates/ ballet elements mixed in.
I think I enjoyed the yoga poses the most, which made me want to take a straight yoga class!
These were my favourite poses:
Today's FWOM was a 10 Minute Solutions DVD : Belly, Butt and Thigh Blasters with a resistance loop (included with DVD)! I have mentioned 10 Minute Solutions before they are really great if you are pressed for time as you can either do one 10 minute section or 2 (as I did today) or all of them, and you can select the order you want them to play in to create a custom workout.
Today I did the Better Booty Camp and Trim & Toned Tummy. The toning loop took some getting used to but the workout was really fun and I liked the novelty of doing familiar ab and lower body moves with the added resistance.
The instructor is good and the presentation easy to follow. Will definitely add this to my go-to quick workout shelf :)
A little video to give you a taste of the moves.
Lunch today was great, inspired by the yummy cafe lunches I have been having lately. I made a salad with leafy greens, carrot, cucumber, kiwi and roasted seeds. With sides of homemade Cannellini bean hummus (recipe from the veg everyday book) and half a warmed chapati and some slices of Cheshire cheese with apple and chutney.
I don't usually have such elaborate lunches...it was delicious! :)
Dinner was "vegeree", again, taken from the Veg Everyday Cookbook. Kedgeree (with fish fingers) was a childhood favourite but this 'grown up' version included oven roasted aubergine and courgette with onion. To be honest, I was disappointed with this dish, I thought it was going to be great but it was a bit dry. I added the spice to the veg not the rice and it ended up a bit bland. My boyfriend makes amazing pilafs and so I think I was judging this by a too high standard..would maybe be better with a curry paste not powder. Still the rice and eggs were yummy!
I have been in a very covetous mood today. I really fancy some new tshirts for working out and some new strength training trainers and some cute but comfy shorts. Hmmm...
It's no secret that I love the American Biggest Loser programme. Or that I love Jillian Micheals exercise DVDs but I have never, until today, tried a Bob Harper workout. I thought the 25 minute beginner section of his Pure Burn DVD was a good place to start. The workout is based on strength exercises using dumbbells with a constant progression through sets, the main focus was on the upper body and some ab work.
I really liked the format of the workout, Bob explained the moves well but didn't talk too much and there is a bar on the bottom of the screen which shows you which move you should be doing and how much time you have left which was really helpful.
Here is a little taste of the kind of exercises you do in Bob's workout.
Today I had two slightly weird but delicious food combinations.
For lunch I had two toasted crumpets with baked beans.
And for dinner I had pasta shells with chickpeas and cheese with oven roasted ratatouille. Both from the veg everyday cookbook. I admit a slightly weird meal, but yummy!
Do you like any slightly strange food combinations, that shouldn't go together but are super tasty?
Had a great start to the day today: 30 minute Kettlebell class then met my boyfriend at the farmer's market to get something for lunch.
I returned to kettlebells because it was so fun the first time, and I wanted to try using the 6kg and defeat those flutter kicks! I used the 6kg for almost all exercises and did manage to do the full minute of flutter kicks at the end! yay! We had a different instructor and she was definitely making us work harder! Was a really great workout!
At the farmer's market we chose a trio of homemade little savoury pastries to share: broccoli and cheese, sweet potato and chorizo and roasted vegetable. The sweet potato one was definitely my favourite!
Super good!
For dinner I made a prawn curry (using this recipe). It turned out really really well and I served it with wild rice and a chapati each.
Today's FWOM workout was a Stott Pilates DVD. The workouts on the 2 part DVD are divided into parts- a warm up, a 30 minutes "walking workout" and then a 30 minute pilates mat workout.
To be honest, I thought the workout was a little ridiculous, I had to do various steps, essentially walking on the spot but with modifications like licks and lunges. It just felt like I wasn't working that hard, and if I want a leisurely walk I would rather go out into the countryside! The pilates matwork was fairly standard- effective but not exhilarating.
Overall the DVD was very dated and didn't really offer a new experience...it is maybe aimed at an older audience.
I would like to try some other workout that combines pilates and cardio though as I think it could be really fun, this version just wasn't for me.
One success story was, however, my Friday baking. Today I made "fruitburst"muffins with blueberries, raisins, dried berries and apricots. I added the oats on top as I think they are pretty :)
I also had the pleasure of eating out for lunch today :) My boyfriend and I went to the local vegetarian restaurant and had risotto stuffed peppers with goat's cheese with a deli salad...this salad was awesome...leaves, kiwi, mango, strawberry, seed, quinoa...great food inspiration!
Today was a momentous day, I finally dared to try bodypump! yay! This is the description of the class from the bodypump website: BODYPUMP™, the original LES MILLS™ barbell class, will sculpt,
tone and strengthen your entire body, fast! Great bodies aren't born, they are transformed, using the proven
BODYPUMP™ formula: THE REP EFFECT™ a breakthrough in resistance
workout training. Focusing on low weight loads and high repetition
movements, you'll burn fat, gain strength and quickly produce lean
body muscle conditioning. BODYPUMP™ is one of the world's fastest ways to get in shape as
it challenges all of your major muscle groups while you squat,
press, lift and curl.
I have to admit I was a bit nervous as I had never lifted weights before. I opted for the 30 minute class just in case I didn't like it or just couldn't do it! There were times when it was really challenging and I had to take a break...I really messed up the squat portion where you had to rest the barbell on your shoulders...I wasn't used to this at all and ended up resting it on my spine not my shoulder....a really really bad idea and painful!
I will definitely go back, I want to do it all again with proper form and maybe progress to higher weights.
I am kind of proud I went to this class, it definitely was out of my comfort zone and I like the feeling of strength and achievement weight-lifting gives...even if I did get it a bit wrong the first time :)
Knowing I had a big day ahead I made myself gingerbread porridge and a skinny latte this morning! Yum!
This morning I headed to the gym for my next FWOM workout: kettlebells! This 30 minute class was a great way to start the day! I had never used kettlebells before so opted for the safe 4kg weight. We did various exercises working the lower body, core and upper body, moving on to a new move every 60 seconds. It was really great fun!!! We did most of the exercises above: swings, rows, Figure 8, dead lifts and more! The dead lifts were especially awesome and right at the end we did flutter kicks which killed me! I gave up and didn't do the full minute!
Update!: the next day my legs really ached! I could feel the hard work!
Today's FWOM workout was Aim True Yoga with Kathryn Budig. I am probably at a beginner/intermediate level at yoga. I did the Beginner's Practice to begin with and then the core bonus workout. The thing that attracted me to this DVD was the younger, brighter approach to yoga, I find yoga DVDs are quite often dated, boring and stale. This one was definitely not that, Katryn explains the poses properly and is unintimidating and encouraging. I feel like I will come back to the beginner's practice a couple of times and then move on to the flow sequence of the DVD.
Kathyrn has a really lovely website with videos and tips :)
Love this illustration of her dog :)
This video is really great as it properly explains key poses. It is really important to get poses correct to get the full benefit and avoid injuries.
Today my boyfriend cooked our lunch and dinner, which was a nice treat!
Carrot and coriander falafel pittas and for dinner "Mexican shepherd's pie" (mince with Mexican spices, mashed potatoes with paprika, cheese) = very tasty!!
Today I wanted a quick workout and decided to try something from a magazine. A while ago I read about gliders, they are little plastic discs which you can use to modify exercises like lunges, press-ups, etc. they can enhance these moves by making you engage more muscles and allowing for a wider range of movement. I was intrigued but, to be honest, put off my the quite high price tag for essentially two bits of plastic (cheapskate moi?). So I was really excited when I found a 10 minute tone up feature using...paper plates! They essentially act the same way the gliders would. The workout was challenging and really fun (I laughed quite a bit) especially the sliding pike.
I definitely want to try more moves using paper plates in this way, maybe eventually I will invest in some gliders, or ask for them as a gift :)
Here is a fun video demonstrating some of the other moves that you can do with gliders. Try it! it is great fun!
On another note, there are still few signs of spring but I cheered myself up today with this 'Hot cross bun' fruit loaf from Warburtons. Full of cinnamon and raisins and delicious with hot melted butter. In moderation of course :)
Couldn't help but feel a bit down today. I think everyone is feeling the New Year blues. There are little things you can do to lift your mood, I like to get a take away coffee and take an hour out to read a book or magazine. Today I got a skinny chai latte and borrowed Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's veg everyday from the library and it is pretty inspirational. Anyone who has seen Hugh's television programmes will know that he likes cooking and eating meat so his challenge to be vegetarian over the summer was a big task. His book is massive and has lots of inspiring and original recipes from raw or warm salads, to soups, roasted vegetables..... the list goes on.
I love trying new recipes and think I prefer clever vegetarian ones to most others.
One of my favourite veggie dinners is the not-so-original veggie lasagne. Today I actually followed a recipe (usually just wing it) and it came out pretty delicious.
a manicure using bright colours
going for a brisk walk
some quick exercises even if just yoga
Today I did 20 minutes Pilates using a "10 minute solutions" DVD
They are really great to get a quick workout in, I did mine whilst the dinner was in the oven :)
