Ze lovely Sarah Devlin!

A little over a month ago I started on my journey to fitness once and for all, by enlisting the help of the lovely Sarah to help me navigate the jungle known as “Doing More Exercise Than Just Walking to the Bus Stop Each Day“.

It was an unknown world to me, full of strange creatures such as the wild lunge squat, the dreaded tricep dip, which tend to travel in packs of ten…(at this stage, I hear they get more prevalent the further into the jungle we go), the gentle plie (plee-yay) and the common press up. There are also some ultra rare beasts known as ‘rest periods’, but we haven’t seen too many of those during our travels.

Dreaded tricep dip, for reference!

So what have I learned so far on my trip? Here are a few of my discoveries.

♥ I am capable of so, so, SO much more than I ever thought possible. Despite being in the early stages of training, I had very low expectations of how much exercise my body could cope with. The great thing about this style of training is that we work on so many different areas (eg. not just cardio, although there is some) that most muscle groups are nicely exhausted by the end of the session.

♥ I was scared at first. In the past I’ve heard of trainers who make you work out until you can’t see / throw up / emotionally break down. My training sessions are not like this! By no means will Sarah let me slack off, but she’s not there to make me cry or be sick.

♥ My bum, thighs & tummy are getting tighter and stronger all the time. How do I know this? Well first up it’s the aches and pains that come the day / two days after training!! This has got to be the worst part, but I’m told it will get better in time. It just means I’m working muscles that have been taking it easy for WAY too long!!

Secondly, I can visibly see / feel that these areas are getting firmer and it’s such a great feeling. As a reminder, I’m pretty small already and not trying to lose weight, but I’m very happy to be getting firmer and more toned as that was my goal 🙂

A pic of me at the beach after some workouts… oh wait. Maybe one day?

♥ Better posture – as you can imagine, running a website requires a fair bit of computer time. My ‘real job’ also involves a hefty amount of staring at screens also, so partially rounded shoulders tend to come with the territory.

We’ve been working on my posture, strengthening up the back / shoulder / chest muscles and even the work on the core helps too! I’ve definitely noticed an improvement which makes me super happy! My spine is beginning to ♥ me again.

So overall starting personal training is definitely one of the best things I’ve ever done for my health & wellbeing and I’m only just beginning to see the results.

I can’t wait to see what happens as I continue with it!

If you want to find out more about Sarah see her website!

Tell me your personal training stories of joy / woe!

Be well,

Annette

xoxo

Carmen Electra – Fit to Strip

Carmen Electra: Fit to Strip Vol. 2 – for those who are unsure from the title, this is a workout DVD(not porn!) that claims it’ll give me a dancers body and spice up the bedroom.

My bedroom is currently about as spicy as vanilla yoghurt so I’m welcoming Carmen’s projections on that one. Keen for the dancers body too!

The great thing about this DVD is that when we watched it later in the afternoon while eating leftover vegetarian pizza (me) & a triple ham sandwich with mustard, plastic cheese and a beer (housemate), we were amazed by how sweet and friendly Carmen Electra actually seems.

And the ‘celebrity fitness instructor’ Michael Carson who leads us through the routine is nice as well, another great aspect is seeing Ms. Electra struggle a little with the workouts, human after all!

Volume 2 doesn’t seem to have any actual stripping moves, but focuses on cardio and getting toned up, apparently the other DVD’s in the series look more at the art of taking ones clothes off in order to excite.

We did some of the exercises whilst indulging in previously mentioned treats and let me tell you, I am really feeling it in my thighs and ‘buns’ (as Carmen is fond of describing my rear) today. Wonderful news for my impending fitness!

I really like what I’ve seen so far from Fit to Strip 2, it’s definitely not something I would have picked up had I not received it as a gift, but it’s really enjoyable and I’m already noticing the effects from it the day after first using it, so I’m keen to continue on and see some results!

LOVES IT!

PS. Author does not condone eating leftover pizza, beer & ham sandwiches on the quest for optimal health and wellbeing, HOWEVER, if you’re going to do it, might as well be before you get your body movin’ so you can burn some of it off!

Be well,

Annette
xoxo