What an opening line!
Getting back into exercise after some time off is never easy, and the fact that bikini season is looming here in Australia means I have to get my ass into gear and stop making excuses (and hurting myself in weird and unusual ways).
I haven’t been truly fit since I fluked my way into 1st’s rowing in Year 11 and somehow found myself with abs.
Yes, abs. Actual, hard, proper, useful abs.
Since then I’ve been floundering my way around the gym and the trails, making very irregular progress to some sort of wishy-washy level of fitness. Since my rowing days I have also discovered a love of a good pinot noir and French food, which probably hasn’t helped. On top of this I tend to hurt myself more frequently than most; ranging from infrapatellar fat pad impingements to broken backs. Yes, you read that plural correctly; backs. I’ve broken my back twice now, and it’s not something I recommend you try! But that’s a story for another time. Trying to work out in between injuries is a pain in the butt, both figuratively and literally.
Recently, I realised what my ultimate mistake was – my planing & motivation was shit.
Although I had a goal weight, a solid knowledge of nutrition & exercise, and what I thought was an achievable fitness goal, these magical numbers didn’t have a solid plan leading up to them, and my motivation was all over the shop. I also come from a woggy background, so food is life.
I quit smoking just over a year ago, after having smoked for a decade. Yes, a full decade. My motivation for that was that if I hit 30 still smoking, I would smoke for the rest of my life, so it was now or never. And you know what? It worked! I quit! And I haven’t had a cigarette for over 15 months now. But for some reason, I haven’t applied that same theory to getting fit.
I’m 28, so still have a chance to get fit before I turn 30. So, here goes! Time to spell out my motivations and plans, and get stuck into it.
The initial plan is:
- 1 hour weights session 4 times a week. Key is to ease into it, and listen to your body. If you go full force straight away, you’ll end up just hurting yourself or worse… Completely scaring yourself off exercise. I’m currently using the BodySpace app by bodybuilding.com, available on Android & Apple for freesies. And don’t let the mention of bodybuilding scare you off! It is a great introduction to safely adding weights to your workout. I have found the Jamie Easton’s Livefit Trainer program to be the most helpful & user friendly, but you should pick the program that suit your needs best.
- For me, Monday = Chest/Triceps, Tuesday = Back/Biceps, Thursday = Shoulders/Abs & Friday or Saturday = Legs/Calves. The reason I leave Legs till later in the week is that I get DOMS really bad, and am a wreck for 2 days after I do leg day, for at least 3 solid (and painful) days). Because I go for a hike on the weekend and I can’t do that with DOMS, so I have to plan for DOMS to happen during the work week when I’m not as active.
- Working up to a 30 min/5km jog 6 days a week. I have found the C25K app from Zen Labs to be a winner for ‘learning’ how to run. And the bonus is it’s free and available on both Android & Apple devices. I used this last year, and went from being able to jog 2-3 mins max and being completely knackered, to jogging 5km without a break! For someone as unfit as me, that was a huge achievement, and actually convinced me that me getting fit was possible again. So you go Zen Labs! Thanks 😉
- Yoga and/or pilates (matt or reformer) 1-2 times a week. I only recently got into yoga, and am quickly developing an adorable crush on it. Reformer pilates… Not so much. I’m joking, I love it, but I dieeee afterwards. And my wrists hurt really bad when I need to balance on them! Does anyone else suffer from that?
- Bush walk/short hike once a weekend. I use these to explore new areas, or to just get out into nature to clear my head. They are usually only 1-3 hours, as I have super busy weekends, and can’t afford to spend any more time out and about these days unless I plan weeks in advance. I try to sty within an hour of Melbourne and generally do this solo, but if I find a new spot I really want to check out a bit further out, my lovely friends are always up for an adventure 🙂
Once daylight savings starts up again on October 2nd (only 24 days to go!), I’ll also be adding an hour of horse riding to the above, building up to 6 days a week once Spaz (my darling of a horse) puts some muscle on. At the moment he looks like a fat, hairy yak wandering the muddy plains.
As you will start to see, my schedule gets pretty full, but I make it work! I like to get the most out of every day, and am addicted to being productive (much to the chagrin of my very chilled out boyfriend). And that is really what von kita is all about – being productive, getting the most out of life, and helping others to do so! Feel free to get in touch any time via the Contact section, I’d love to hear from you.
Much love,
P.S. In case you’re still think about my ass (😜), it’s from going on a run for the first time in donkeys ears AND from accidentally eating gluten. Yeah, get your head around that visual. Double whammy.
von kita 