Rest day? What's that?

So I have maintained my view on resting, that it is entirely unnecessary, for quite some time. This, sums up my view of it quite nicely.

However, I'm learning that if I want bigger muscles, I'm going to have to allow some R-E-S-T in order to make these gains. D, my training partner and just about everyone else has been convincing me I need at least one rest day a week, if not more.

I train heavy legs on Sunday and yesterday was no exception. Tuesday is deadlift day and I usually try to go as heavy as I can.

So Monday has now been made rest day. I thought I was going to go stir crazy.

However, I've had a good day! I'm as surprised as you!

I walked to work as normal, 3kms and took about 25 minutes.

Then at lunchtime I took a 45 minute Body Balance Class at Les Mills. Normally I'm not a big fan of this kind of thing but I thought I'd give it a go to try and stretch and relax. I was pleasantly surprised by this, but for the stretching and the relaxation, and I went back to work feeling great.

Later that night I went back to the gym and foam rolled and stretched. I took almost a whole hour for these and then had a sauna afterwards.

Now I'm having a green tea before bed.

I feel like I've had a great day off, being active but not too active. I don't feel guilty taking this time like I thought I would, and I think this is going to make a difference to my training from now on :D

Eating clean :)

Hi everyone!

Quick update from me: training is going well! I'm still having training sessions with Les Mills PT Jason Brown, we did legs Sunday after I'd danced all weekend at Sevens and it took me 2 days to recover! This week's leg training wasn't much better and had really bad cramp in my calves by the end! He's a hard task master but definitely makes a good training partner!

I'm still in the 1stPhorm Athlete Search and enjoying interaction with heaps of people through social media! So please support me by liking my page at  www.facebook.com/xoxajvxox and follow me on Instagram www.instagram.com/xoxajvxox :)

I'm also giving people a chance to get two free sessions at Les Mills and I'll take you round the gym! So message me on FB or email me xoxajvxox@gmail.com if you're keen!

I've had a few people ask me about how I eat when I'm training. The main answer to this is I eat a lot but I eat very clean!

I'm reluctant to give the specifics of my eating plan because it's very specific to me, and what fuels my training might not be as efficient at fuelling yours.

Instead I'll say a bit about some of the foods I eat and give some tips for combating cravings and

Breakfast:

I never, ever skip breakfast! I spent a lot of my early 20s doing this to the point where I wouldn't even be hungry in the mornings... Man, I'm glad those days are gone! Breakfast is sooo important for a healthy body (and healthy mind!) so I always start the day with a protein shake and a big bowl of porridge (oats) topped with low fat milk and a sprinkle of cinnamon to taste. Oats are such a great food and contain protein, iron and ... For fuelling athletes!

Lunch/ meals during the day:

I usually eat 2 day meals, one about 10am and one about 12.30pm. I eat chicken, roast kumara (sweet potato) and basmati rice for this. I eat basmati rice because it is lower GI than brown, keeps me feeling full for longer and even for someone like me who doesn't like to cook it's relatively easy.

Dinner: as well as chicken, for dinner I have a massive salad and this is where I load up on most my vitamins and minerals. Lots of greens, cucumbers, spinach, green peppers and lettuce; reds and oranges -tomatoes, red peppers, carrots. I'll throw mushrooms in there and some feta and olives to taste. My favourite meal of the day. I don't have carbs like sweet potato or rice at night, but this isn't the same for everyone, so talking to your trainer is best for determining this for you.

Snacks: fruit is my best friend. When you stop eating processed food and sweets you become more sensitive to taste, and let me tell you, fruit tastes amazing! Nothing I like more than snacking on fresh fruit!

Nuts: I've added some nuts back into my diet to supplement my vitamins, having small portions of almonds, Brazil nuts and cashews. Not peanuts, they are a legume, not a nut!

Tips, tricks and fighting temptations

Like I say all the time, I'm not a fitness expert, I'm supported by awesome people who plan my meals for me and I'm just good at doing what I'm told. So anything on here is just from my experiences so far and is definitely not to be taken as gospel. My first tip is to go see a trainer, get a food plan set up for you that will support your body while you train :)

 Even if you don't have a meal plan, pre-plan, prepare and pack your healthy meals! If you have something g ready to eat you are much less likely to go out and buy something unhealthy. I do all my meal prep on a Sunday so I am ready to go Monday morning. It makes it a lot easier to avoid takeout if you know lunch and dinner is all ready to go.

Pre-planned meal at the Wellington Sevens #noexcuses

Eating clean can be extremely hard, especially when there are temptations all around you. I went cold turkey from candy, and I find that low carb/low sugar protein bars do more than enough to satisfy my sweet tooth.  We tend not to have junk food in the house and keep eating out to a minimum to make sure we're sticking to the plan. It's much cheaper to cook at home and you know what's going into your food!

One main thing is not to punish yourself if you do slip up, or give up just because you caved once. If that biscuit was just too tempting, don't throw your whole eating plan out of the window and eat the whole packet! One biscuit won't kill you, so tell yourself next time you'll resist. I can look at a large range of goodies ( like at my work's morning tea) and not be phased.

People will get used to you eating clean. It will be novel, strange, odd and you may cop some teasing about it for a while, but once you have been going long enough people will stop noticing and will realise this is just part of your lifestyle. People like my awesome workmates will even help accommodate your eating needs (see my post about my birthday and what my workmates and wonderful friends made me!) Do remember though this is a choice you are making, if you get upset every time someone eats a candy bar around you, you'll not only stress more about eating, but you'll quickly make yourself unpopular too!

Drink heaps of water. I'm really bad at staying on top of this, but I always feel so much better when I'm hydrated. You've probably heard people mistake thirst for hunger and I find this is so true! If I'm ravenously hungry outside of a mealtime I make sure I go have a couple of big drinks of water to see if food is what my body needs!

So these are a few of my tips, if you've got any others please feel free to leave them in the comments! 

Progress as of 16/2 :)

Training updates!

Hello everyone!

Well as per usual I've been training hard! It's been a couple of weeks

Last Thursday I had a crazy back session with Les Mills PT Jason Brown who reminded me of the wonders and absolute benefits of good form. I learned better form on seated cable rows and bent over rows that made a huge difference to my back training.

Had a few days away last weekend and made the best of the situation, I ran 2kms (me, running, I know right?) and had a makeshift workout by the beach... I have to admit the view was a lot better than in my normal gym haha! It just reminded me that training isn't just something I do, it's a part of my life.

On Monday I trained with Jason again, chest this time. Working with him really helped to refine my form on a few exercises, and add a few things into my repertoire that I didn’t have before. It also reminded me of the importance of taking a training notebook with me, as I found it difficult to remember what I had done when I wasn’t in my normal routine!

I’ve been a little tired and stressed recently, and I think it’s impacting on my training a little. I haven’t been hitting the gym with the same enthusiasm that has been a trademark of mine.

I’m thinking about trying some stress reduction tips such as having a bit more relaxation time and adding some meditation into my routine to see if I can regain a little bit of my focus. I’m going to start with a little each day and see if it helps. I downloaded a couple of meditation apps, I’ll give them a go and see if it helps.

I am getting to the point where I really need to add more cardio into the mix to bump up my fat loss. I feel like I’m fighting a losing battle with this part of my training, but thee’s only so far I can go without making a serious attempt at it!

My squats are getting a little better, I think I hurt my hip flexor a couple of weeks ago so I’ve been babying that since then. I had one of the awesome Les Mills Gym Instructors show me a good stretch for it the other day that seemed to perk it right up and I hit a 70 kg squat without a problem. So I’m going to keep working on it, hope to hit 80kgs by 1 June. 

Weighted tricep dips

I’ve been so lucky to have a supportive fitfam, both in real life and online, who are always there when I need some motivation or someone to complain to when things haven’t gone so well. Fitocracy has had a massive part to play in getting this support. so just want to give these guys a shout out.  If you haven’t already, sign up to Fito and get amongst it, the environment there is so good and so inspiring.