No pain no gain! Day 2

I woke up this morning and I felt like I had been thrown down a flight of stairs! Every muscle in my body aches! And it feels so good!

The last couple of times I did Rushfit and got to week 7 and 8 I remember not really feeling it the next day, mainly because I was over training and a bit injured and not eating properly, but also because I was going through the motions of the exercises and not feeling it the next day. This is because it's all in the technique. The importance of engaging the correct muscles in the correct ways is easily forgotten when you are on the 40th day of a work out programme.

Other than technique, the next thing to focus on is stretching after the workout. I used to teach yoga about ten years ago so I know the importance of a good stretch. As much as I love the Rushfit programme, the cool down is the bare minimum for stretching and it's important to listen to your body to know which muscle groups you need to concentrate on after your work out.

My other consideration today is nutrition. I am worried about not having the correct fuel for my body because the last time, you may recall that it did not go well for me. I do not want to repeat that and I want to make sure that my body has what it needs to repair itself between workouts. As I already have calcification in a few of my tendons, I need to be vary careful on the supplement front. But I will be heading out today to see what I need to stock up on.

As for today's workout, it's all a bit of a blur. I can't remember 2 or the first 3 rounds and quite enjoyed round 4 but round 5, a,ways has been and still is a mystery for me. There are very few things I don't think I will ever achieve in life, a sit through is definitely on of them. Either I don't have the upper body strength or my arms are not long enough, even the hand boost position doesn't work for me. But overall, I was just glad to get it over with as the first week a,ways is the hardest. 

2 down... Only 54 to go!

Shoes, shoes, shoes! Day 1 of 56.

I was excited and nervous in equal measure leading up to todays workout so I did what I normally do when I am nervous and bought a new out fit! Woo hoo! So let me introduce my first outfit!

I have just retired an absolutely great pair of Nike Zoom trainers. I need additional instep support so they were really good, and despite constant use, lasted just over 12 months although, that might have been more to do with the fact that I was really attached to them. The added benefit of the Nike+ chip and my iphone made these trainers some of the best training shoes I have used in a while.

On the clothes front I have been wearing Nike Dri Fit. The fit is good, the support is great and the clothes last. One of my Nike Dri Fit sets has been going strong for 3 years with very regular use and washing. I will be using these until my new Under Armour, Nike and Adidas sets arrive.

But all good things come to an end, so I have moved to an Asics shoes. After breaking them in on a Christmas shopping trip and jaunt around Universal Studios Islands of Adventure, I decided that today was the day to put them to proper use. The only two things about these shoes that stick out at the moment is that they don't have a place for my Nike+ chip and I will need to buy a different insole for them as the existing one is pretty basic.

Todays workout was pretty hard going, even the warm up was hard going and I am already having to vary the exercises to protect my shoulder from getting worse, but its important to train smart and protect yourself, so I am starting out easy. By the second round I was well on the way to being tired out and by  round 5 I was glad to get down to the floor to rest my weary legs. But Georges and Eriks constant motivational comments and encouragement really really helped. So day 1, done!

The last time I did Rush Fit, I did not pay enough attention to the dietary elements of the programme and therefore didn't get the results I was hoping for, although today was a little hit or miss... there were some Oreo cookies and some Terry's Chocolate Orange on my diet sheet today that shouldn't have been but remarkably I stayed under my 1500 calorie limit.

On the eating side of things, I will be aiming to take in between 1200 and 1500 calories a day, without getting to caught up in limiting myself.

If you start like a lion....

It's been a crazy and long few months for me. If you read my last post in July, you will probably have realised that I wasn't doing too good.

I was diagnosed with calcification of the tendons in my shoulders as well as being very tired, run down, emotional and generally out of control. After seeing a large number of doctors, I was diagnosed with some fairly large non cancerous tumours which turned out to be the cause of most of the issues. Now I have had an operation and put on a course of medication to sort things out, I think it's about time I got after it again and started on the Rush Fit Intermediate programme.

In addition I will be training using different fitness equipment and clothes to see if what you wear makes a difference to how effective your work out is. The brands that I will be focusing on are Nike, Under Armour, Adidas and Asics.

So where am I...

I have maintained a reasonable level of fitness through occasional jogging and yoga classes, but I have not really done any resistance training so I have lost some muscle tone and definition. I have probably gained about 10 pounds and honestly, it feels awful! I have not gone up a dress size or anything, but things are definitely a little tighter than they were a few months ago, so it is the perfect time to start on Rush Fit once again!

Today an official Rush Fit blog post talked about the importance of setting goals. Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely and with this is mind I have decided that my goal is to loose between 16 and 20 pounds within the next 8 weeks. I will do this, with a combination of diet and exercise and while my main method will be Rush Fit, I will be paying more attention to my body and probably substituting the occasional Rush Fit session with a swim or a yoga class.

With this in mind, maybe you are reading along and thinking you want to undertake a fitness programme or start trying to loose some extra holiday so why not come on the journey with me? Let's get after it!

No really.... I mean it this time!

**There is no medical advice in this blog and if you think that you are verging on an eating disorder, please talk to someone** 

Losing control is a difficult thing to face. The last time I did Rushfit, the first 5 weeks were amazing but the problem was that I was getting ill and injured and couldn't see the woods for the trees. I realised over the past month or so that I was so stressed out about my life, my job, my relationship, my flat situation, finances and lots and lots of other bits and pieces, I was using Rushfit to effectively beat myself up. The aim was that as long as I did it, everything was fine. This clearly wasn't the case this time.

As I slowly scaled back Rushfit, I started making some really unhealthy choices bordering on developing an eating disorder. This was not my intention at any point, but having felt like I had made good progress fitness wise and not losing enough weight, I became scared of food. I didn't know what to eat anymore. Fruit is sugar, carbs are bad. bananans are carbs.... but wait they're sugar... only when they are brown! WTF!

So I did what any self respecting girl does in this situation! Started boozing and partying and having a nice time! I also spoke to my nutritionist who is also a very patient and understanding man and helped a lot!

Good news, my confidence is back and I feel a lot better than I have done for a while! But Iwant my immense press up skills back again..... so here we go! Rushfit.... here I come!

Rush Fit - The next level...

Okay, so it's been a few weeks since I embarked on my Rush Fit journey of self abuse and absolute agony and what are the results??? Not great. I have put on weight. How much I don't know, but I feel bulkier that I did and things hurt all the time that didn't hurt before. However there is every chance that this is a temporary problem brought on with erratic amounts of exercise and my body is maybe just in a little bit of shock. Anyway, that is not the point. The point is, I feel really bloody fit! My recovery rate is down significantly and my press ups are pretty impressive, even if I do say so my self. But over all I am less happy because I haven't lost weight!

So... what is the plan now? Well, intermediate level of course!!! But this time I seriously need to manage my food intake more effectively. This is a marathon not a sprint and I have learned a lot of lessons from the last time I attempted to become Rush Fit. So from now on, there will be more meal planning and less boozing!

So here we go! One more time from the top!

Week 6

Well as I get closer to the end of the 8 (okay 9) week challenge of becoming 'rushfit' I feel like its not gone all that well.

On Monday of this week, I was due to complete the Fight Conditioning workout but because of work and availability of space, I was forced to swap it up and do Cardio instead. Then... during my high intensity cycle, hit my knee off the corner of the bike and really hurt it. So then I had to swap Wednesday's day off with Tuesday and now I am planning on doing the fight conditioning workout tonight.

Between this and the tendonitis catastrophe and having to repeat a week I feel like I have lost the momentum.

Although the workouts are doing a great job in tightening up my arms and legs, I am not feeling like the core work is really having that great an effect my abs or back and have decided to swap out the straight up / sit ups for another type of crunch that will be more effective.

Maybe I started at a level that wasn't good enough to do the moves in the correct way and while I do feel fitter I certainly don't feel like I have achieved 2/3's of the rushfit goal.

The diet that I have been following has been a little hit and miss but overall my calorie intake has been significantly lower than that recommended by the rushfit nutrition plan. Although I have not followed the timings of the meals as well as I would have liked.

But I am nothing if not committed to improving my technique and getting better results so I will keep you posted.

I think that the secret might be cardio and a lot of it, which makes me think that the intermediate level programme is the one I should have started from the beginning. But I am going to give this until the end of week 8 then take a week off before undertaking the intermediate programme!

Week 5, Day 4 (Take 2)

As per the injury and the sore knees and shoulders I have opted for a slight alteration to rushfit.

An increase in Cardio (10 mins of reasonably intense cycling prior to warm up) and substituting some of the exercises that will have a negative effect on the shoulders and knees seems to be working well.

I have also opted for a low carb diet over the past week. So I am looking forward to finding out tomorrow how it is going!