The Bells, The Bells…

Hark! Is that the sound of bells heralding the end of Janathon? Why, I do believe it is. Unless you haven’t done yours yet – in which case, GET OUT THERE YOU LAZY SLACKER.

I know I’ve been the slackest of you all and it’s such a shame as, in the first week of Janathon, I HAD ALL THE ENERGY. Yes, all the energy, even yours. Then it went. Gone. My energy kaputted itself out of existence. Bye bye energy. It briefly came back over the last couple of days and I would have made more of an effort today if I hadn’t spent the day saving escaped bunnies, being a plumber’s assistant and making up stupid names for cottage pie.

But I did do some kettlebells later on in the day. Here they are.

The bells, the bells... (Yes, I know... I already made that joke)

The bells, the bells… (Yes, I know… I already made that joke)

So… thank you to everyone who took part in this year’s Janathon – I hope you enjoyed it and reached your personal goals whether that was to do one mile without stopping or to do one hundred miles over the month (or to do 400-odd like that nutter in Australia). Thanks also to those of you who took part in the DGDVC and I’ll embed the videos into a blog post some time next week and let the public vote for their favourite. If you haven’t done a DGDVC but still want to give it a go, feel free to send a youtube link to me over the next few days and I’ll add it.

Special thanks to Deputy Helen for being Deputy and helping to arrange some of the prizes and – more importantly – accompanying me to drink wine and eat pizza. But because we’re so hardcore, Helen and I haven’t even finished Janathon yet, as we’re doing a 10k tomorrow.

Wish us luck!

Making The Most Of What You’ve Got

Okay, I admit it – I was a *bit* of a slacker yesterday. And to be honest, today wasn’t holding up to be much better at first. I didn’t have the energy to run but I still fancied a walk in some fields – especially as the postman brought me a bright red bodywarmer and I could have looked like a proper countryside person and everything – but the weather was, as I believe the official term is, minging.

But, I couldn’t slack off two days in a row, could I? No. So I peeked into the conservatory where Shaun’s been making new worktops for the kitchen (despite me pleading for shiny black sparkles, he’s making them himself out of wood) to see if there was enough room for me and there was about two foot of spare rug, so I reckoned I could do a bit of a kettlebell workout without too much danger as long as I avoided tripping up on that sticky-out-bit of wood (which I did. Thank you for your concern).

2015-01-03 15.51.35

I used the 10 Minute Solution – Kettlebell Ultimate Fat Burner DVD which – strangely – doesn’t actually contain any kettlebell exercises but dumbbell ones instead. You can use kettlebells for the exercises but I don’t think you’d be very comfy. Still, if you have dumbbells, they’re good workouts.

I did twenty minutes and I promise I’ll do better tomorrow.

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At least I haven’t tried to make out reading a book about sport is actually a sport.

 

Juneathon 2014 – Days 13 –17 – Including A Run With Other People

I haven’t slacked as much as you might think, so there. On the 13th (last Friday) I went for a run/walk along the Greensand Way. It would have been more run than walk but the second field had hip-high grass and even a walk was difficult.

The next day I redeemed myself by going to the local parkrun. Despite going along on my own as usual, Helen said she was going to hers and also on her own and she was sure she was going to be really shit as she’s still getting her fitness back after having a baby. So, we decided to telepathically encourage each other round the course. It worked, too, as we both ran it a lot faster than we thought we would. Virtual high-fives all round, yay.

Sunday I walked to Tesco and back. IT COUNTS.

Monday I did some kettlebells and on Tuesday I decided to go out with the local running group (not to be confused with this local running group who were horrific and quite literally pushed me out the door when I said I didn’t know they were running so far and I’d come back another time) and join them for their speedwork/laps session. What they failed to mention on their schedule is that sometimes these laps are HILLS. I hate hills. We slowly ran up to the bottom of the hill and were told to do as many laps as we could in 30 minutes. I tagged along with a couple of the others who have just finished their beginners schedule and after three laps (half the lap is the hill, the second half is a lovely downhill) we decided we’d had enough, but then one of the other girls came along and said ‘come on, you can do one more’ so we gave another lap a go and ran some of the hill and I was pleased with my three and a bit laps as usually when I see a hill, I don’t even attempt it, I just stop and walk up it.

Today, so far I have done 30 minutes of body pump and I’m going to the gym later and then to a spin class.

See, told you I haven’t been slacking. Just slacking on the blogging.

Juneathon 2014 – Day 12 – Damn That Little Nagging Voice!

Dammit, Juneathon! I was happy in the garden with my Kindle. Well, kind of happy but I had this little nagging voice in my head saying ‘juuunnnneathonnnnnn… juuunnnneathonnnnnn’ and I briefly wondered if I could get away with counting my earlier walk to Tesco but decided I couldn’t get away with it twice in a month. I also knew if I didn’t do something this afternoon then I wouldn’t this evening as after I’ve had my dinner, I only want to sit on the sofa and watch telly.

So, kettlebells it was, using the 10 Minute Solution DVD again – this time doing the upper body power sculpt and the thigh and buns (don’t you hate ‘buns’ being used for anything other than bakery products?) blaster.

2014-06-12 15.45.35

Right then, back to the garden. Stupid Juneathon.

Janathon Day 25 – Fitness Blender kettlebells workout

fitness-blender

After trying out the Fitness Blender kettlebells workout I’d found on youtube yesterday (the video is on yesterday’s post), I thought I’d do the whole 33 minutes today. It comprises a 3 minute warm-up (mostly jogging on the spot), then 3 rounds of kettlebell exercises. Yesterday I’d only completed the first round so I was excited (that may be a slight exaggeration) to find out what exercises were in the other two rounds. I wasn’t excited for long though, as the second two rounds were exactly the same as the first round.

Oh.

I had a look at their website just now and they have dozens of free workout videos on there, for all kinds of exercise (cardio, yoga, strength, etc.). You can search for the kind of workout you want, including type, difficulty level, duration and calories burned, or the equipment you own (including ‘slosh tube’, whatever that is).

I only discovered Fitness Blender yesterday – is this a website everyone else in the world had already heard of?

Janathon Day 24 – my first foray into kettlebelling

I have no idea if ‘kettlebelling’ is a valid word – it sounds a bit rude, doesn’t it? Still, Argos delivered my kettlebells today (I say ‘delivered’, I mean the delivery man dumped them on the ground and left me to lug them indoors) and I was desperate to try them out.

kettlebells

Not having any kettlebell workout DVDs, I looked up kettlebell workouts on youtube instead and came across this beginner’s one from Fitness Blender.

Choosing the lightest weight (2.5kg) because I’m such a weed, I skipped the warm up (it involved jogging on the spot and I was wearing normal clothes, i.e. not gym kit and sports bra) and did ten minutes of the kettlebells bit.

I don’t know what I was expecting but those ten minutes were fun and more of a workout than I thought it’d be – my heart rate was definitely raised, although I couldn’t tell for sure as my heart rate monitor decided not to work. It was a weights/cardio hybrid I’ll be giving it another go at the weekend when I’m more appropriately attired and not about to make my dinner.

fitbit

Argos also delivered to me (and this was handed to me, not dumped on the ground) a Fitbit which I was mega-excited to get as it’ll track my steps and sleep and stuff. And it’s orange, which is obviously the best thing about it. I’ll write more about that another time, when I’ve played with it for longer.