One-on-One

Ok. Instead of taking you through my day, I'm just gonna start backwards.

I just got back from kickboxing class. I went even though I still am not feeling 100%. However, since it's mainly just a sore throat - no sniffling, sneezing, coughing etc - I thought, this is ok. I can suck it up and just go through with it.

Plus, LJ, the other girl who goes to kickboxing class, sent me a message earlier asking if I was going to be there. At that point I still wasn't sure, but since I left her on her own for yesterday's class, I really wanted to make an effort to go there.

Working out in a small group definitely gives me an extra push.

Groups are great because you establish a rapport. You also have a bit more accountability - like if you skip a class, the trainer and your partners are there to ask you why and tell you off it it's not a good excuse (all in the name of wanting the best for you of course). Anyway.

What I didn't know is that LJ got held up at work and I was the only one in class -- my first one-on-one training session with Marc. Boy did he work me hard! It was great. We went straight through the hour with just 3 1-min rest breaks -- worked on all the punches, elbows (love 'em), knees, and kicks as well as self-defense. The hour flew by!

I felt fine except for a bit of extra dryness in my throat.

So glad (as usual) that I made it to the class.

The rest of my day was fine. A bit tiring - lecturing for 3 hours with a sore throat is not fun.

Hoping for an early night tonight - definitely need some rest.

Today's Workout
MMA training: cardio kickboxing (1 hour)
Stretching: 15 minutes

Today's Food
Breakfast: 2 omelet 'muffins' & 1/2 avocado
Lunch: leftover veggies from last night's dinner & 1 omelet 'muffin'
Dinner: a whole life challenge friendly version of Shepherd's pie
Snacks: 1 banana, 3 dates, 1 cup of green tea


Click here for today's Whole Life Challenge VLOG & update :)

Wednesdays are My Chill Day

I love that I don't teach on most Wednesdays this semester. It's kinda like a surprise treat in the middle of the week - a day off, then one more day of teaching, and then the weekend.

I had a late night last night so it was kinda nice to get another hour or two extra of sleep (meaning up at 6:45 instead of 4:45 a.m.). The only problem I have with 'lazing' around is that it makes me more lazy and I really don't want to get out of bed.

I've decided to take it easy on Wednesday mornings - spend a bit of time at home, doing things in the house, reading a bit, catching up on blogs etc.

I got to the gym around 9:30 a.m. and just chilled with some of my friends before the 10 a.m. Body Balance class.

Me in the Body Balance studio before class

I took some time to catch up on some reading for my upcoming paper and enjoy the sunshine at the cafe at our gym after showering and changing. I wasn't sure what to do for lunch because I realized that I hadn't made an extra portion of dinner last night, so I decided to grab a salad - their broiled shrimp avocado salad is delicious (no dressing) - and have it at home. Not having to frantically worry about cooking lunch and preparing meals was the highlight of my chill day!

Last week I found out that there was a Zumba class being held in the studio where I do my cardio kickboxing. The class is from 5-6, and it is taught by the person who introduced Zumba to Kuwait. I had been dying to meet her for ages (and I found out she's actually married to one of my classmates, who happens to be the guy who owns the gym where I do my kickboxing) ... Since I really miss doing Zumba and can't fit in the classes that are at my regular gym into my current schedule, I decided to try it out.

It was AMAZING. Her class was way better than any other that I've attended. She's got a fabulous energy about her. I felt a bit stiff since I really haven't done any Zumba since October, but I caught on and did pretty well for my first class with her choreography - I think.

I was dripping with sweat by the time class was over, and although Marc said I didn't need to warm-up with the kickboxing group since I was already warmed up, I did their warm-up anyway.

Had a great kickboxing class, and by the time I was done, I was more than ready to be home, in my pjs, and in bed!!


Today's Workout
Cardio: Zumba class (1 hour)
MMA: Cardio kickboxing (1 hour)
Stretching: Body Balance class (1 hour)
Burpees: 40 {challenge total: 960}

Today's Food
Breakfast: 3 egg muffins & half an avocado
Lunch: Broiled shrimp and avocado salad (from the PQ)
Dinner: White fish with half a sweet potato and legumes
Snacks: 4 dates - eaten throughout the day - and 1/4 cup of mixed nuts and raisins


It was a satisfying day :)

Putting up a Fight

In my recent posts, comments from both Marion at Affection for Fitness and Marc at Fat of Fit? got me thinking -- what are my fitness goals.

I'm doing a lot of different things at the moment, and while it may seem a bit chaotic, I'm actually really enjoying everything I'm doing. In fact there are several other things I'd be doing right now if I had more time (and I'd probably need more energy) - namely CrossFit, Zumba, and RPM.

Since I can't do it all (hrrumph) I'm focusing on MMA at the moment. I'm doing a combination of boxing, kickboxing, taekwondo, and Jiujitsu. What I'd really like to do is get to the point where I have developed very good technique and some bad ass power behind my punches (I'm very, very close). I still have a LOT of work to do on my kicks and knees. The ultimate goal is to train at Fight Club Kuwait. They're really intense and very, very good. I want to be sure I have a good foundation and feel up to it before I join so that I'm totally committed --- and then I can really kick some ass!

Right now I'm doing my MMA training 5-6 nights a week.

In the mornings I'm working on my cardio, resistance training, and flexibility.

Again, it may seem like a lot, but I believe all the workouts compliment each other ... and as long as I make sure to eat right and get proper rest, I think I'll be fine.

--------------

This morning I headed to Body Balance class. I cannot emphasize how much I absolutely adore that class. Many people come in and assume that it's going to be easy stretching and just some basic yoga. Let me tell you, we work up a sweat!

This evening I had cardio kickboxing. I was happy to be rockin' my new t-shirt from Fight Club Kuwait - co-sponsored with Fighting Against Rape, a foundation in Sweden that promotes self-denfense for women (and men).

I tried a spinning back fist today for the first time -- loved it, though of course I need more practice. :)

Today's Workout
Stretching: Body Balance (1 hour)
MMA: Cardio Kickboxing @ ClubFit (1 hour)
Burpees 40 {challenge total: 650/20,130

Today's Food
Breakfast: Egg muffins with quarter an avocado
Lunch: Grilled shrimp with sundried tomato
Dinner: White fish cooked with sweet potato, sugar snap peas, bell peppers, and mushrooms

Phase 2 of 2013

Week in Review (Jan. 13 - 19)

As part of the 13 in 13 challenge, I wrote out goals for both the year and the month. In order to help me focus on what needed to be done, I typed up and printed out a very simple, basic checklist. I've spent many hours planning, organizing, making lists, and doing it over and over again until it looked right/looked appealing ... it got to the point where I spent too much bloody time planning and not nearly enough time doing! So this time I kept it simple:

I'm definitely behind which is really annoying, but it is what it is. I just gotta try and fill up as many more blanks as I can. At the end of the month I'll reevaluate the plan and modify as necessary.

I started off the year by writing down my workouts and what I ate at the end of my blog post. I need to get back to doing that. It'll help me keep track of what I'm doing and also how it is having an impact on my progress. Plus I know that tracking my food always helps me stick to my plan.

My week in review: 

Workout sessions: 3 cardio; 2 weight training; 5 martial arts; 1 body balance

Daily stretching: 7 days

Burpee count: 300 {challenge total: 440/20,130}

Plan for the upcoming week

I had such big plans for my 3 week vacation but it didn't go as well as I had hoped. I did get a few things done and I think I did the best I could in terms of exercise given my bronchitis. I'm actually kind of relieved that I'll be getting back into a more structured routine. I definitely think having the time off and being home for so much time (coz' of the illness) led to me eating more than I should have.

I start my new semester tomorrow. I spent about four hours today getting organized for the week.
What I got done:

• this week's menu [breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks] + grocery list
• filled in my planner with the week's errands and appointments
• organized my lessons
• tried on and selected my work outfits for the week
• wrote out my workouts

In addition to this I got some general house prep done - laundry, organizing, etc. This upcoming week will still be a bit off plan since D's parents are still here. However, I've worked that into my schedule as well. I'm hoping that I'll be able to stick to it, but I've got a few contingency plans set aside as well. Saturday mornings will definitely be put aside as my organization day. I feel much calmer and in control now that the plan has been written out. I'll be really happy if I'm able to implement it. We'll see how it goes.

Something new in my schedule that I started today was going to a Saturday session of kickboxing at ClubFit. We had a great class today. It totally got me revved up for the upcoming week.

Let's get Phase 2 of 2013 started!

The Burpees Did It

I've realized that the soreness in my thighs that I was feeling earlier this month is actually from the 60-daily burpees that I've been trying to do each day (I have not been successful at doing these on a daily basis, but I haven't given up). After doing my 60 burpees on Sunday (after a 9-day recovery period from my bronchitis) my thighs were killing me. I'm torn between just ignoring the soreness and continuing the burpees so that I don't have to keep going through this soreness or taking a day or two to rest and recover before continuing.

I did not do the burpees yesterday ... but now all I keep thinking about is how behind I am with my burpee count.

My workouts have been spot on.

Yesterday I went to Body Balance in the morning. Marko has taken over the class since his wife, who used to lead the class, has gone to work at another gym. I was a bit apprehensive about how the class would go. It's hard to switch to a new group exercise leader when you're so used to one person and their particular style (plus they know your strengths and weaknesses) but he was great & I really, really enjoyed the class.

At night I had a killer kickboxing session at ClubFit. Marc really pushed me in the beginning - forcing me to put out the idea of being sick and just focus on what I could do and bang out those punches. It was terrific.

Today I had another session at Sidekick Academy. The taekwondo/kickboxing session is nothing too new for me. They're quite technical about getting form and posture right, which is great. The Brazilian jiujitsu part is really interesting -- something very different from anything I've ever done before.

So, my exercise has been great.

The thing that I've been faltering with for the past 3 days is food. I don't know what's happened to me but I do know that I need to get a grip.

This is something that I've been chanting over and over to myself. There's no point exercising for 2-3 hours a day and then eating a bag of Doritos (which is what I did today). They were in the house and I ate them. I'm totally surprised at myself and on the other hand I'm not that surprised.

The appetite that I lost during the worst part of my bronchitis has obviously returned. First it was bread and cheese and today it was chips. This is not good. There's food leftover from when my dad was here - it's gone now - and now there are some munchies that are part of the welcome basket for D's parents. They arrive tomorrow so all that food will be gone too.

I'm definitely disappointed in myself. I should be able to share the same living space with a bag of chips and not give in to temptation ... the fact that I did so gluttonously consume something that I knew was bad for me makes me realize that I do have a long way to go. This is the first time in a LONG time that I had such a binge. I'm going to do my best to ensure that it's the absolute last time that happens.

I've always preached - Don't bring the food in the house. I broke this cardinal rule. Shame on me.

It's done. I'm here now.

There's work to be done!

Pushing through the soreness

I was still super-sore this morning. I mean, super, super, super sore --- I could barely lift my hands up to my head to tie my hair back. I guess that's what I get for the 200 push presses (only a 20 kg/45 lb bar though - wtf?) along with 200 push-ups that we did on Monday. In addition to my arms, my thighs were killer sore - I think it's a combination of the 200+ squats from Monday as well as the frantic biking  of yesterday ...

Am I complaining? No.

I'm just surprised at how sore I am. Not doing CrossFit for 3 weeks will do that to you I guess!

I went to the gym this morning and couldn't help but laugh when I saw that it was empty. What happened to everyone's New Year's Resolutions? lol

I didn't have anything adventurous planned for this morning. I decided to do a slow and steady walk on the treadmill at an incline to loosen up my thigh muscles. The first 3 minutes were really painful. I actually thought about stopping, but I knew that the only way to loosen them up was to keep moving. Slowly but surely, my muscles began to loosen up and by the end of the half hour, I felt fine. My legs were still a little sore, but not anywhere close to how they were feeling before.

I then decided to tackle the burpees challenge that I set for myself. I never, ever thought that I would do burpees voluntarily, but as both Jenn and Norma have said before - if you hate it, you should do it! How else will I get better at them unless I practice (I'm saying all these positive things but believe me, I'm still resisting inside). Anyway - 60 burpees done.

Unfortunately since nobody showed up for Body Balance class it was cancelled so I had to stretch on my own. The instructor did work with me for a bit though to help me loosen up my tricep and chest muscles. It helped SO much!

I had the rest of the afternoon to get some errands done and rest a bit before heading out to kickboxing class. I was really nervous about how my legs and arms were going to hold up for the class, but I survived! I definitely paused more times than I would have liked to, but there were points when my arms were just burning. Still, no pain, no gain ... so I kept punching on. It was tough, but it felt great to be back!

At night I met up with a friend of mine who is visiting from the States. She's actually the only person I've literally known my whole life. It was lovely catching up :)

Today's Workout
Stretching: 20 minutes
Treadmill: 30 minutes (slow, inclined walk)
Burpees: 60 {challenge total: 120/20,130}
Cardio kickboxing: 1 hour {class at ClubFit}

Today's Food
Breakfast: Egg white and black bean salsa scramble (turned out much better than I expected)
Lunch: Small baked sweet potato with black bean salsa (I've got a ton that needs to be used up)
Dinner: Grilled lamb with some hummus and a few other bits of mezze + a piece of bread that I should have resisted :/
Snacks: 1 banana; 1 tablespoon of peanut butter; cup of green tea; 3 dates; 6 cranberries

Clothes and Cardio Kickboxing

I decided to take some time to go through my clothes ... wow. I emptied out more than half my closet. There were some items of clothing that I bought in August (still had tags on them) that are already too big for me. I was really surprised.

Body image is such a strange thing. I mean, I see the numbers going down on the scale (am at my lightest weight in about 7 or 8 years I think at the moment) and I feel my clothes getting looser ... but when I look in the mirror, I don't see it. I mean, occasionally I'll notice that my arms are getting thinner (like yesterday when doing tricep extensions) and my legs are getting a bit more shapely ... but I don't see the significance of 26 kg loss (57 lbs) over the past 3 years [8 kg/almost 18 lbs of which is just in the past 8 weeks]

Isn't that sad? Will I ever get over that hesitation to accept that my body is changing? Surely that is a form of confidence that will be good for me to develop.

I am thinking more positively. I am definitely more focused on my goals, more driven, and also more confident (even if scared and intimidated sometimes) about my fitness level and workouts ...

I guess the bottom line is that there's more work to be done. A lot more work.

That's ok though. I'm ready for the challenge. I know that I've done really well over the past 2 months. I am eager to continue with this progress.

People keep asking me how I'm going to reward myself after the Whole Life Challenge. They're all thinking about food - pizza, brownies, wine -- A food reward is actually the last thing on my mind. There's nothing that I'm craving - how awesome is that?

After today's closet clear out, however, I will be rewarding myself with a shopping spree in a few weeks. I am a size that I've never been before, or at least it's been so long that I can't remember. However, I know dropping another few pounds will help me fit into that size more comfortably. Let's see how it goes.

In other news, today I went to my first cardio kickboxing class at my friend's gym - Club Fit Kuwait.

It was really good. We practiced a lot of different punches/techniques. I have no doubt my shoulders will be on fire tomorrow.

With CrossFit, my other gym training, boxing, and now this, my schedule is getting a bit overcrowded. This is on top of my job and my research ... I really don't have enough hours in the day. I guess it's a good thing I only average about 4 hours of sleep a night, hahahaha. Actually, I shouldn't joke. I need more sleep!!!

Anyway. As the end of the Whole Life Challenge approaches, I'm trying to find a way to organize my time, figure out my training schedule, my life schedule, and my eating plan.

There are a lot of decisions to be made in terms of eating. I could just stick to what I'm doing now. I'm wondering if I should add a bit of dairy back into my diet ... I don't know. It'll be a bit of trial and error. No matter what I do decide, I know that there will be certain things that will never be a part of my diet - fried, fatty, preservative-packed, sugar-stuffed foods are not entering my mouth ever again. I think with that resolution alone I'll be alight -- but I know myself & I think more specific guidelines will be helpful for me.

That's it from here -- I leave you with a picture from today's kickboxing session.

I was holding the pads at this point. Let me tell you, holding your arms up in that position for 5-10 minutes while someone is punching at them is not easy!!

Stronger Legs

I started writing a blog post yesterday but got distracted and didn't complete or post it. Oh well - it happens. Things have just been so busy around here. Even though it's a holiday I've got a bunch of research and writing to do. It really hasn't been much of a break, but just the fact that I don't have to go to work and deal with any lesson prep/marking is a blessing.

I've been feeling a bit stressed with things that I need to get done so before I started my day yesterday I took 45 minutes for myself and had a great yoga session. I was totally calm, relaxed, and focused. I took my time with the different positions and just enjoyed feeling my body loosen up. I wish I could do that every morning, but 15 minutes will have to do!

Later on in the day I hit the gym. After a 30-min cardio session (including 15 minutes of running in intervals) I went up to the spinning studio for RPM class. It felt so good to get on that bike and pedal. What felt even better was that I was able to put the resistance to a much higher resistance than I ever had before. My legs felt nice and strong. It felt AMAZING! I definitely want to try to fit in at least 1 RPM session a week -- scheduling is always the issue.

Today I did a bunch of different cardio exercises. I've been doing some running everyday as part of this week's specific challenge in the Whole Life Challenge. While the running has been going well, it has also been a bit draining and I'm kinda tired of the treadmill.

So today I did something a bit different. I did 2 km on the treadmill (including 10 minutes of straight running - legs definitely felt nice and strong during this run too! So happy!!). Then I moved to the rowing machine, which totally kicked my ass! I managed to do 2 km in just under 10 minutes. I then got on the bike and cycled for 2 km. I didn't like the bike at all. The pedals didn't have any straps so my feet were just resting on the top. Plus the seat was at a slightly downward angle so I kept slipping forward and having to slow down/stop to readjust. Luckily 2 km didn't take me very long to complete (I think it was 5 minutes or just under). I ended with the cross-trainer and did 4 km on that to complete 10 km of movement for the day. I ended with 15 minutes of good stretching.

So things are good on the movement front for me.

My appetite is back. Yesterday I had a crazy craving for meat -- so I had some grilled lamb kebabs for dinner. Then I did something that totally surprised myself. I ate chicken! I haven't had chicken in 5 years! For some reason I was just ravenous -- so I ate! It was all lean, all grilled, definitely all Whole Life Challenge friendly! I think I just needed a change of taste. I've been eating so much fish lately - I was tired of it. The change was appreciated.

I was a bit worried that I would feel terrible after eating so much chicken & meat after such a long time ... but luckily I didn't. I was definitely full after eating, but I didn't feel bad or over-stuffed. I felt a bit heavy ... but by morning I was ready to eat again!

I guess that's just the way it goes sometimes!


I'll end with a recent pic -- The first ClubFit t-shirt I bought was an XL, but what I ended up wearing was a Medium -- that's how deep body image distortion goes. Hope I can get over it!

Supporting Club Fit (Kuwait) [proceeds of t-shirt sales go towards breast cancer research]