TwentyFourteen....already?!!

Well, I surely am the most neglectful blogger out there!!  How does that happen? Just like that nearly three months have slipped away and we're almost at the end of the 2nd month of 2014! Slow the bus down - someone - please!  

I got a sudden burst of inspiration from the new goings on at the gym.  Let me take a step back to the end of 2013 for a moment.  I get all philosophical and introspective at year ends and see where I've been, how I've improved on the year before and where I'm headed, or to be more precise where I am going to attempt to steer this ship!  I was quite disappointed that I had not attained some goals that I set for myself in 2013.  I find I am very quick to start that nasty internal dialogue and really beat myself up.  I stopped this nasty cow in mid sentence, told her to shut up and get lost and thought rather about what I had achieved and what I had learnt during the year.  What lessons would I take to heart and carry with me in the brand new, shiny and much better sounding TwentyFourteen?  One of the best lessons for me was pretty fundamental and probably one that you all know anyway!  Consistency and small lifestyle changes equals progress.  Lightbulb moment!  Looking back, I realised that I am dropping about 1kg per month, slowly dropping body fat, glob by glob, and all the while getting fitter and having a blast!  I've also gained a lot too....in the form of amazing friends.  It's wonderful to be amongst like-minded, crazy, beautiful people!  They add the sparkles of colour to the whole gym experience! 

You all know by now that I am a zumba addict.  Due to work constraints, I am unable to do the morning zumba classes, but thankfully VA Waterstone added another evening class on a Thursday.  It's quite a mission to get there on time, but thanks to an awesome boss who lets me dash out the door a little earlier, I make sure I am there.  Enter 2014 and VA came up with a new twist to zumba...or should I say... step.  Yip, zumba step.  So you're still doing your booty-shaking dancing to latin rhythms, but you have the little added challenge of a step!  As a step-class virgin, this was something completely new for me.  What a blast!  It's just amazing how that little step makes a big difference to your workout!  Ok so sometimes everyone is up on their step and I've fallen off the edge, or everyone's on the left and I'm on the right, but I'm getting the hang of it, and having great fun in the process.  I glanced in the mirror in class the other day and nearly burst out laughing as I noticed this one chick with an idiotic grin pasted across her beetroot red face....then with another glance I recognised the T-shirt....oh dear...it was me!  So you see, it's not just the lower body that gets the workout...it's the face muscles too as you dance, sweat and grin for an hour! And the soul...oh it's so good for the soul!!  

So zumba step wasn't the only thing that VA dished up.  They introduced a 12-week challenge.  Now really, I must have some sort of genetic short-circuit somewhere...my brain hears the "challenge" word and it's like "yes, I am in, I am there...so what is the challenge".  It's dreadful! I'm in and signed up before I've even considered what I'm letting myself in for.  I'm still debating whether this is a good or bad trait to have!  I'm in week 3 of the challenge now.  What they do is assess you.  Oh ja friends...with the caliper thingies....uh huh.... body fat....eeeuw.... they measure you with a tape measure...weigh you....take your height....put all of this info into their computer and voila! you're registered.  Every three weeks, they re-assess you so that you can see how you're progressing.  My second assessment is coming up this Friday, so I need to be extra extra strict this coming week.  

I've added spinning to my gym regime on a Monday and this morning, yes, on a Sunday morning, I was in the gym at 08h15 for Chantal's Shape Mix class.  I think I may need assistance fastening my seatbelt and turning the steering wheel tomorrow morning!!  That tiny, petite girl is dynamite I tell you.  As I sit here typing I can feel muscles I never knew existed freezing up!  I will definitely need to do a lot more of those classes!

On my wishlist this year is the Colour Run which is in October I think.  It's just a 5km run.  For me, that seems impossible.  I am not a runner!  I am probably the most clumsy, ungraceful runner ever...not that I can run very far!  It's crazy - I can dance at quite high revs for an hour, but as soon as I attempt a little jog, I feel like I am dying after about 100m or so!  So I will have to build this up and hopefully by October I will be able to shuffle along for 5km!  I'm trying to organise a huge bunch of friends to all do the run - should be quite a party!

So all in all, it looks like a pretty positive year that lies ahead!  

Spinning? Gulp!

As I approach the end of my second week, I realize that I have discovered two really important things.  


Firstly, that you don't have to go to the gym every day, but you do have to remain active every day.  People so often say "oh where do you find the time to exercise, I certainly don't have time to exercise" and it just doesn't wash with me.  You see, if you value yourself and your health, then you prioritize exercise as extremely important and you work around that.  I mean surely one doesn't say "oh well, if I have time this morning I'll brush my teeth"!  I don't think so!! So whether you go to the gym and pump iron for an hour or whether you power walk for twenty minutes while you wait for your kid, you're being active and that's cool.  That adds up to that magic word "consistency".  Consistency can attain goals that seemed completely unobtainable. 


Secondly, I discovered something called "spinning".  I took the plunge and booked myself into a spinning class for 05h30 in the morning so that I would not be able to cancel a few hours beforehand.  I have to say I was terribly nervous.  I had visions of the whole spinning class looking on as they try to resuscitate me, but it was actually alright.  I'm here telling the tale!  The instructor was great.  After asking if there were any beginners and me putting my hand in the air, she came over and made sure I knew exactly how to set up the spinning bike, checking that I'd get a comfortable ride and telling me to pace myself and not try and keep up if I felt it was beyond me.  Rather come back again and build up slowly than be put off for life.  Ok, I like her thinking!  Those sections where you have stand up and cycle "uphill" were absolute killers.  I'm afraid I only managed a couple before my legs flatly refused to straighten and push me out of my seat, no matter how much I willed them!  Not to worry, I managed to keep up with the pace and the resistance she took the class through even though most of the time I was seated.  I can tell you that my sweat towel came in really handy, especially when mopping up the bike and floor afterwards!  I looked like I'd been dunked in the pool man!!  I felt very awake and ready to take on the day.  I'll definitely go back.  I would in fact aim to do two of those classes a week. And I have to tell you I dedicated my first spinning class to my brand new "great niece" named Scarlet who was born the night before!  


I hope I can in fact get out of bed tomorrow morning, as I need to be at the gym early and do my thing with the weighing/blood pressure/body fat machine again.  I wonder how I've done this week?  I've certainly put in the time on the exercise front and I've been fantastically good on the nutrition front, so I'll hold thumbs...