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!

The Goal

For the past 5 weeks I have been asked regularly... What's your goal.

And I lost it for a while there as my response was Rushfit is my goal. What about after Rushfit? More Rushfit. Well that's just not a goal.

So here it is sports fans... My goal is to lose 30lbs between now and July 22nd. Which coincides with my 30th Birthday.

This gives me 10 weeks and no leeway to stick to something!

Easter Hols

Well it turns out that too much of a good thing can be bad for you and as a result I got some tendonitis and had to rest myself for a few days to get past it. The recommendation was 1 week, but I decided 4 days would be plenty and finally got back to Rushfit on Tuesday.

Another problem is that despitew planning to lose weight I am putting it on. Fair enough I am Reducing my body fat but I am feeling too chunky in the thighs and shoulders.... Probably because of all the pressups and squats.

In response, I have talked tommy nutritionist and am now doing a low carb diet and increasing cardio. I will also be skipping a few exercises from Rushfit to ease off the joints. Anything that puts too much pressure on my knees or shoulders is being reduced by about 20 percent to ensure I don't enrage the tendonitis.

Despite the aches and pains, it felt incredible to get back to working out, 4 days off was just rubbish and it's amazing how thenlethargysinks in. I have also learned that pineapple has stuff in it that is really good for joint inflammation and tomatoes, peppers and potatoes are really bad for joint inflammation.

I am gutted I have failed to complete the programme in the way that was intended so I have decided to repeat week 5 and complete Rushfit in 9 weeks. But I am concerned that I should be adding an additional week 5 as punishment. But I have been assured that continuing would have caused more harm than good.

Onwards and upwards.

DAY OFF DAY OFF DAY OFF

If it didn't say it on the programme i wouldn't believe it. But today is a day off. Incredible timing considering I am flying back to Glasgow today and wouldn't really have the time. But 4 weeks ago when I was just starting Rushfit I was worried that going home was going to derail my efforts. This weekend, I am not worried at all.

I might even go back to my old gym and say hello to the folks in there! I am sure they won't mind.

Anyway, despite all my grumpy chat of late, it probably is worth it.... and on the up side, there is only Thursday, Friday and Saturday left of this week and then there are only 3 weeks left! Woo hoo!

I am so nearly rushfit!

Day 30

Well haven't I just been a barrel of laughs all week? Eh, not so much! I am a total Grumpy Grumperson! And day 30 was no exception.

This is a total grind. Everything aches and far from feeling like I have loads of energy and feel amazing, I am permanently exhausted. Day 31 is a day off and thank goodness for that because if it wasn't I would seriously struggle.

There is something fulfilling in knowing that there is only 25 days left or whatever but between me wanting to rip a guys head off because he crossed my path in the gym, the disney haired f*ckwit and the weight gain. I am starting to wonder if its really worth it.

Maybe its better to be a happy fatty than a skinny monster??? But probably not!

A food diary might lie... the numbers do not.

Okay, so this was a bad week and I knew it all along.

I ate cake. I ate ice cream. I drank wine. I lied about it to the nutritionist. I did this because I naively thought, as long as your exercising it doesn't matter what you eat. Well that's not actually true and I am massively disappointed because not only was last week hell, it was a waste of time! Dammit!

So yeah, I put on a kilo and some or all of it was fat. Ho hum!

But yesterday (except the 3 glasses of wine after work) was the beginning of a new me and this time next week, I am going to be delighted with my incredible results!

Remembering to Listen

It was no secret that last weeks Rushfit kicked my ass! Compared to the previous week where I actually moved house, last week was worse. Much worse. But yesterday I decided to turn over a new leaf and started listening to the dvd's instead of just going through the motions of the exercises. This involves watching the whole video and listening to the chit chat at the end that I had been ignoring for the past couple of weeks.

The difference is immense because its important to keep in mind, why your putting yourself through this and to remember to keep it in context. When going through the DVD, work out like your life depends on it and know that its only going to last for 30 minutes.

When GSP and the team congratulate each other at the end, congratulate yourself and take on board your accomplishment! The pain and the exhaustion are temporary and the long term effects are not. All those hints are within the DVD's and reinforced throughout.

I am meeting Behar, the nutritionist today to get week 4's results! Fingers crossed the week from hell paid off!

Half way to Rushfit!

Fridays workout and todays workout were actually grim. But they are done now and I am half way to rush fit! I am perpetually tired and hankering after chocolate but it's all good as I AM HALF WAY THERE!!!!

I guess I just need to figure out what the next goal is....

DAY 26!

I am 2 days away from being half way through the Rush Fit. And the wall has come down like it hasn't before. I am completely exhausted. Everything aches. And I am getting fed up. The results are okay, but the amount of effort required to get me into the gym has increased and although I am not skipping sessions, it feels like the road to rushfit is getting steeper!

Once I get the next two workouts finished and out of the way... I will be half way to rushfit!!!

I just need to use the next few days to figure out how I am going to make the next 4 weeks easier that the last week!

Only 3 days left this week!

Okay, its Thursday. I am over the hump and the end of the week is in sight.

My plan to come in early has been foiled by sleeping in and I will have to squeeze it in at the end of the day. In other bad news, todays workout is the full body beasting, my second least favourite of all of the Rushfit workouts.

By half way through the warm up I am questioning whether I can make it through but I have to hand it to GSP, he knows how to motivate you and Erik constantly encouraging you to 'get after it, only 30 seconds left.' Really helps. Erik is a dictator of fitness and getting through todays work out feels like a real team effort.

After the workout I had a really healthy dinner of Prawns and M&S Rainbow Salad. But gave in to temptation and ate chocolate cake and drank rose wine! IT WAS AMAZING! Although might have to lie to Behar about it on Tuesday!

I need to rediscover my will power!!!

Another early morning

Having been delayed by the Northern Line I finally got to work at about 9.15, a far cry from the 8am start at the gym I was hoping for but time for a workout anyway...

This morning is the day of the Abdominable work out. Its hard but enjoyable and I am in and out in record time. I am really getting into the hip heist sit ups and my technique is improving every time I do the work out!

I am tired though. Really really tired. All over!

All in the numbers

So we're back to Tuesday and the second week of numbers based results! I have lost 1kg of weight and 1.3kg of fat!

Having gone through my food diary with Behar and been somewhat judged by my fairly awful choices over the week, I was delighted. Bahar believes that exercise only accounts for about 25% of fitness with about 60% being attributable to your diet. But he is also a strong believer that all bodies are different and there aren't any hard and fast rules.

In order to reduce the judgement bestowed upon me, I didn't fully divulge my weeks food intake. For instance I didn't go into dealt on the chicken with rice being a Chinese takeout or the fact that I drank a whole bottle of Sauvinon Blanc on Sunday or the night that I skipped dinner I actually replaced dinner with beer, gin and cake! So when the results were announced, I agreed whole heatedly that I'd gotten away with it! But hey!!! It was my moving house and suffering from a cold.

However, as I said in my last blog, if I want results, I need to try harder.

I was toying with the idea of changing from the beginner to the intermediate plan, but then decided that was probably not advisable at the almost halfway mark, so instead I decided just to try harder with the current plan. By doing the occasional double rep on a squat thrust or using weights in the fight conditioning workout I will feel the benefit more.

He has advised I don't run as my cardio as I don't have the physique for it and will just injure my joints, I don't really agree but will reduce the running a little to make sure I don't injure myself.

Week 4, Day 1

So despite my best efforts to maintain the Rushfit, my eating was bad last week and having thought about some of the sessions, I feel that I might not have really given it my all.

Now yes, I had other things to worry about. But my initial buzz that I kept it up despite packing and moving and being a bit out of whack soon disappeared when I thought about it realised I am not feeling the post gym burn that I had been getting in the first few weeks. I toyed with upping my level to intermediate, and then I decided that mid programme that would be a bad idea.

But something's got to give for this to work.

In the past week I have been on the booze 4 nights out of 7 and fair enough, not like before Rushfit, but in a measured way where I might drink 2 or 3 drinks and call it a night. That mixed with not achieving my calorie count, eating too many carbs and generally disappointing myself and wasting all that effort has made me think of how I can do better this week!

So here is the plan..... This is the week of the improvement, I have dug out the nutrition guide again. And as for the workouts, I don't have the stamina to go to intermediate and my arm is too sore... so I am going to compromise.

Today was the start of week 4... some more fight conditioning. But this time I  was doubling up on sprawls and using 1kg dumbells when throwing punches to increase the effectiveness of the movement.

That as well as doubling up on the squats and plank calanetics that occurs in between rounds.

So tomorrow we have cardio again and as I am nearing the half way point, I am really starting to get excited about achieving the 8 weeks of rushfit!

Hey Sports Fans.... guess who's back online?!

Okay so I am aware that I haven't blogged since Thursday and so the last workout that I wrote about was Wednesday night.... Well in that time, not only have I moved house, but I have also managed to not mess up the Rushfit! Fair enough, I was without internet connection in my new place and I have been busy with packing, but am totally delighted that I haven't tapped out!

So where have we been....

Thursday, moving day and Abdominables day! 

Friday, quick cardio and stretch for flexibility workout before going out for the evening. I was really happy with this cardio as I jogged for the full 30mins non-stop with a few sprints added in for good measure.

Saturday saw the introduction of a new video. The Full body strength and conditioning workout. Now that was a hell of a thing. Doing a plank or a one arm press while leaning on the handles of weights is just awful! But got there in the end and quite enjoyed using my new spare room as a gym.

And what do you know..... I made it to Sunday! Which with all the unpacking was not very restful!