Back from the gym

Ended up a bit late in going - stopped to chat over recent 'developments' with a colleague first. The situation is all a bit worrying really. I'm trying to persuade myself that if the worst happens and I am made redundant, then it will be an excellent opportunity to do something different with my life. Que sera sera, as the Tartan Army always says!

Anyway, once I got over there I ended up with less than 30 mins so I opted for 20 mins cardio. I chose the cross-trainer for a change. It's not my favourite cardio, as I'm not convinced of its benefits. However, I've been on the bike (spinning) twice this week already and I didn't fancy the impact of the treadmill today. So it some hard cross-training for me. Knocked out 3.5km in the time, which I thought was pretty decent. Heart rate topped out at 174 with an average of 167, which is probably the highest it's been in a while. So from that point of view, it was a good workout. I was certainly a wee sweaty person at the end.

Pity about the bacon roll that I've just had though lol.

Off to the gym

Have been at work for about an hour now, and I've shifted quite a bit of work incl prepartion for a meeting this afternoon. I've even managed some decent work on a job application form. So I now feel quite justified in nipping over to the gym when it opens in about 15 mins. A wee bit cardio should blow some cobwebs away.

Classless in Edinburgh

Still not made it to any kind of MMA or krav class :=(

Really need to get my rear end back into gear. However to make up for my lack of 'class' effort, I hit the old kettlebells tonight.

2 sets of swings
2 sets of presses (left and right)
2 sets of squats
2 sets of snatches (left and right)
2 sets of high pull (left and right)
2 sets of single arm swings (left and right)
2 sets of swings


Tomorrow I will either hit the gym at work in the morning, or I may trundle over to the boxercise class in the evening. It's not martial arts, but it's activity. I'm certainly intending to go to circuits on Saturday and I have Rannoch's kettlebell refresher workshops on Sunday.

More spin

and I thought Tuesday's spinning was hardcore! It's been so long since Sarah took spin that I'd forgotten how tough she is. We don't call her the Queen of Tough for nothing lol. The worst (best??) bit about it is that she reduces us to sweaty heaps with a smile on her face and without her even breaking a sweat.

So, yesterday's spin was a v tough session.

Still no MMA or krav. I still don't feel like going out to a class, and I'm not sure why that is. I was feeling v guilty about this so I did 4 sets of 100 reps at home.

I did:

a full 100 bodyweight squats without stopping
50 crunches
2 x 25 press ups
50 crunches
2 x 50 kettlebell swings


I have to get back to classes of some kind soon.

Hard core spin

Yup today's lunchtime spin class was a real toughie. The class leader, Dougie, is v keen on sprints with high resistance on. At first I was glad about the tough hills - the heating had been off in the Sports Centre due to a burst pipe and it was really cold in the dance studio. Took me a while to really break a sweat due to the temperature. Boy, when I did break a sweat, I *really* broke a sweat lol!

Came back to my desk to some very serious work-related news. Have now kind of lost the enthusiasm for training tonight. I guess I'll see how I feel when I get home.

Sideswiped by Rabbie Burns!

Left work early fully intending to trundle along to krav maga class. However in my clearly advancing by the day old age, I forgot that my partner and I had agreed yesterday that we would have our own wee Burns supper tonight.

Got home to find the haggis, neeps and tatties already bought and him hard at work on the preparations. It wouldn't have been very nice to disappear off to training.

Never mind - spin at lunchtime tomorrow and krav in the evening.

Thank you!

A big thank you to fellow martial arts blogger SueC for being kind enough to sponsor my aerobathon on 08 February. It's very much appreciated, even though I probably shouldn't be getting encouraged in this kind of daftness.

Quiet weekend

Okay, so less of the guilt now for bombing out of circuits class on Saturday - the class had been cancelled anyway! So I got to do my other stuff with a clear conscience lol.

Sunday I played badminton with my partner for about 90 mins.

We have v contrasting styles. He favours nippy wee drop shots, and I like smashing real power shots straight at him. Mind you, it's been a while since I played (a good few months, in fact) and at the start I was moving about the court like the Scottish rugby team (ie flat footed and caught in two minds most of the time). Once I warmed up a bit though, I kind of started to get my groove back and I was getting to a few more of those drop shots. I find myself vulnerable to those shots, mainly because I don't like to overcommit myself in one direction once I've returned the shuttle, then I'm just not quick enough generally around the court.

I like badminton but I don't get to play enough these days.

Nearly back on track

I've been to the gym this morning and had a wee trot on the treadmill. Cranked out a couple of (slow) km then did some bodyweight row things on the Smith machine. I'm way too short to reach the chin up bars even if I was strong enough to do chin ups, so this is my compromise. A couple of sets of bench presses, some dumbbell shoulder presses then I hit the shower. Not a lot but it's a start.

first sponsor!

Yup somebody daft enough to encourage me in this whole aerobathon thing. Suppose I'll have to actually do it now.

I'm not suffering too badly at all after yesterday's spin session. This morning's spin was cancelled due to lack on anyone other than me turning up. I could have gone to the gym, but thought maybe I could leave that till tomorrow even though I'm over the worst of the cold.

Truthfully I haven't trained much at all this week. I haven't done any evening classes at all, although I have the perfectly good excuse for last night in that we had visitors! I don't think I'll make circuits class on Saturday either, as I've a few things that I really need to do in town and can't do any other day (oh the joys of being based at the back-end of nowhere). This is odd for me, as usually I spend a lot of time either in classes or charging about to and from classes. I don't generally spend a lot of time in the house, so it has been a nice wee change to have a wee bit of chill time to kick back, watch a couple of dvds and read.

Normal service should be resumed next week however.

got this one sussed!

When our Sports dept recruits new staff, they don't just check that they've got their spin qualifications, they check how tough a spin class they can give us regulars!!

45 second sprints - bloomin' 'eck. Only slightly burst ;=)

Am defo going to feel this one in the morning.

Much to our amusement, we reckon the class leader also burst himself in the process lololol.

Help ma boab

Have signed up for this: http://www.nspcc.org.uk/getinvolved/events/aerobathon_wde67742.html

on Monday 08 February since our on campus Sports Centre is taking part. Not that the Sports staff were chivvying me into it or anything lol!

I'm told that the activities we're being offered for the 2 hours are:

body conditioning
boxercise
spin

Apparently you can choose up to 2.

I thought about just doing spin but I'm not sure if I could sit on a spin bike for 2 hours!! Might do spin and body conditioning. All I need to remember to do now is to send off the registration form and then get peeps to sponsor me.

UPDATE: Bugger the snail mail - have registered online instead and have set up a donations page and everything:

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/AvrilBrown

Spinning

I went to spin class yesterday lunchtime. It was fine. I took it relatively easy and ended up quite enjoying it.

I decided to give krav a miss last night, and had a quiet night in watching a dvd and catching up on all the washing. How can I amass so much washing in just 3 days????????

From the looks of things, I missed a good class unfortunately.

I had an early night and the first really good night's sleep in a while, so I'm feeling much better today. Spin class again at lunchtime, and I'll see how I feel about tonight.

Not much to report

I came down with a cold over the weekend, so there's not much to report on the training front.

I went to the circuits class at Combat Ready on Saturday. I was obviously just starting the cold, so I really didn't get as much out of it as I would have otherwise done. I was a bit gutted about that, as there was some good stuff there, especially at the end where we did some good sets on the heavy bags.

Sunday I just chilled with some household stuff and last night I gave training a miss and visited a friend instead.

I'm feeling better today so I'm planning to go to spin class at work and see how that is.

RIP Frankie

19 August 1995 - 14 January 2010

The week so far

Monday
On Monday I ended up heading up to the Energy Gym at Boroughmuir RFC for the krav maga class. The car park up there was, well hilarious would be about the best word for it. Let's just say that the thaw hadn't quite made it up there!

Good turn out for the class though. We started off with a quick circuits set: pushups with raised feet, weighted arm extensions, shoulder press, kettlebell squats, Swiss ball plank, skipping and step ups.

Then it was on to the pads to work our combatives (and fitness) before moving on to defending wrist grabs, chokes on the ground from side control and full mount and hair grabs. Lee demonstrated how to take the side control defence into an arm bar submission. Great for sport but maybe not so cool in self defence as you are still on the ground and therefore vulnerable if your attacker has friends. Useful to know and practice though.

Tuesday
First spin class on 2010 (and for about a month in fact). A few wee ouchies, esp when we hit the sprints with a lot more resistance than we're used to. Otherwise a good class and very nice to be back at spin. I like spin a lot as I find it's good for both cardio endurance and building the strength in my lower body. I have quads of steel these days lol.

In the evening I headed along to Combat Ready for a krav maga and kettlebells class. I was hopelessly disorganised and totally forgot that I really need my gum shield and boxing gloves for this class. Actually I think my head was somewhere else altogether last night. I fully intended to stay for the full 90 mins, but I kind of lost heart just before the 45 min mark. It wasn't lack of fitness or anything like that, as I actually really enjoyed the conditioning part. When it came to the krav stuff, my heart just wasn't in it. Strange one - maybe just one of those things.

Wednesday
Spin at lunchtime today which I'm looking forward to. Tonight - haven't decided yet. I have the choice of a Tactical Edge class or an MMA class. I haven't been to an MMA class this year yet; in fact, I haven't even seen the new venue yet. However, I may just stay home for a wee change. There's some stuff going on at home just now which suggests that may be the right thing to do.

Saturday circuits

It was snowing when I went along to Combat Ready for the circuits class on Saturday. At least my windscreen washers were working though!

It was good to train again on a Saturday morning. I haven't had Saturday classes since I stopped training with kupso, and I've really missed that.

It was cold, but I soon warmed up and was able to shed hoodie and joggies and eventually even my socks. Going barefoot was more about not falling flat on my face during the burpees right enough, rather than because my tootsies were toastie lol.

The class was good and probably at about the right level of challenging. The stations were changed about a bit during the 45 mins, but we did things like: dumbbell bicep curls, kettlebell swings, skipping, Swiss ball pushups, burpees, kettlebell press, situps, kettlebell high swings, kettlebell squats with 2 kbs and Swiss ball plank.

I tried swinging a 16kg kettlebell for the first time and it was ok. I would seriously toil to press that though! I'm going to Rannoch's KB1 and KB2 refresher on 31 January so I think I will order a 16kg for collection on the day.

I fully intended to do my 100 reps yesterday (Sunday) but got involved in doing many exciting things like tidying out the wardrobe etc. I'm sure we'll get something similar at class tonight though, although I will have to decide between nipping along the road to Combat Ready or going up to the Energy Gym. I'll see what I fancy closer to the time I think.

New running shoes

Back during the festive break - must be oh all of about 100 years ago now - I bought new running shoes. My partner went to a local running shop (Footworks in Bruntsfield) to have his gait analysed. It was obvious that the guy in the shop really knew what he was talking about, so I decided to get my gait done as well. I found out that I over-pronate a fair bit on the left foot but not so much on the right. The Asics Trabucco shoes I've been wearing are ok but the guy got me to try these Saucony Xodus shoes, which I really liked. And they happened to be on sale. So I bought them!

Today was the first day I've been able to try them out. Since I brought the car, I duly toted my sports gear in and went to the gym on campus. I ran 2km on the treadmill, did 5k on the stationary bike, did my 100 reps (crunches) for the day and finished off my press ups (40) from last night.

Then I realised time was kicking on, so I hit the shower and went and got breakfast. I suppose I should go and do something constructive now lol.


In other news, looks like the Combat Ready guys could be running a couple of classes tomorrow. Hope so - training will stop me from going out spending money lolololol.

I dun training!

Made it along to krav maga class tonight. It was a 90 minute class - my friend and I stayed for about 45 mins. She had done the ladies class immediately prior, I was more concerned about driving home safely!

This was my first class in the new Combat Ready venue, which is in an industrial unit not far from where I stay. Definite improvement on our old location!

We warmed up with some sets of skipping. Whacking cold toes with a skipping rope is really not to be recommended, lol. Then it was lots of star jumps (jumping jacks) interspersed with some gym ball stuff (pushups onto the ball, pushups with feet on the ball) and a set on the ab roller. Next was a couple of 100 rep sets - 100 bodyweight squats, done in sets of 20, followed by 100 pushups. I find the squats quite straightfoward, but as a woman the pushups are much more challenging. We girls were asked to do 50 pushups - my friend managed 55 and I managed 60.

Finally we got onto the mats to work some combatives - a variety of palm heel strikes, then adding in elbows and knees. Next we started working in threes, defending against 2 attackers.

I enjoyed my first class back, and it was good to be back training.

This morning I was v brave and drove into work so I have my stuff to go to the gym and finally break in the new running shoes I got during the festive break.

Weather woes

Last night's class was cancelled due to concerns about student safety in the current weather situation. I was actually quite glad of this as it was bitterly cold on the way home. It's even colder today - I was told it was -6.6C on campus, and a number of trains were cancelled due to frozen points etc.

Since I was missing class, I decided to do some bodyweight work instead. I've been trying to do 100 reps of one bodyweight exercise. Last night was bodyweight squats, which I don't find too challenging. I also added in some pushups.

Hopefully class will be on tonight.

To class or not to class?

I decided to give Monday's krav maga class a miss due to the poor road conditions. That particular class is a good 20 mins away by car with a couple of really nippy hills. Given the driving conditions during the day and the evening drop in temperature, I wasn't taking any risks!

Yesterday (and today) I have left the car at home and come into work by bus / train. Ouchies on the wallet but much less stress, despite the pelters I am getting from my colleagues for wussing out of driving.

Last night I had great intentions on going along to new Combat Ready venue at Bonnington Mill. I even got home in plenty of time to get along. However there was another real drop in temperature plus snow threatening. I really didn't fancy coming home by bus (or on foot) after training hard, so I gave it another miss. Instead, I broke out the kettlebells and worked some tough sets with them. I then did some bodyweight exercises to finish.

I see that class is cancelled tonight, so it'll be home gym time again tonight. I'm not even managing classes in the gym at work as without the car, it's difficult to carry all the stuff I need :=( Hopefully the roads will be better tomorrow so I can get back to training then.

I've even ordered home deliveries of cat food and litter to save me having to take the car to get those! How extra wussy is that lol.

Boo!

Back to work today :=(

Roads are a real mess, and rumour has it that the local council either has, or is about to, run out of salt. Certainly there were no signs of any roads being treated this morning, and I skidded onto the A1.

That said, I had even more difficulty finding our slip road and really slithered down it. Am really not looking forward to attempting to get back onto the A1 when I leave work shortly. Although I've just been told that the gritters have now been on campus. Fingers crossed ....

Leaving the car at home tomorrow though.