Friday, June 27, 2008

Speed cleaning

A couple of weeks ago I bought this book – speed cleaning…

And I’ve been cleaning up a storm ever since!!!

Most of the stuff is just common sense, but there’s lots of good tips in there, and also includes a section on what products you should use to remove which type of stain. Last weekend it spurred me on to clean in areas that I just DON’T remember to clean – like cleaning out the fridge, dusting blinds, cleaning the grout in the tiles in the bathrooms and sweeping the deck. I managed to get the kitchen looking spotless, well, as spotless as my kitchen can get before its renovated (just don’t open the pantry door – I haven’t made it that far yet!) and have kept it looking that way all week (YAY me!!)

I’ve never been a tidy person, so this is a big accomplishment for me. Its nice to get up in the morning and see it all shining and sparkling!

Its been a bit cold here this week – its making it tough to get out of bed in the mornings. I seem to have lost my mojo a little bit lately, and I need to work on getting it back, so I’m going to re-read Fattitude this weekend in an effort to get me fired back up again. That should do the trick!

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Lead feet…

… is what I have at the moment. I woke up this morning feeling absolutely shattered! I feel otherwise ok, so I don’t think I’m coming down with anything. I’m told that it could be the herbal detox stuff that I’m taking – today is day 5 so it could be that my body is just starting to clear out the toxins in my system. I got up this morning at 5am when the alarm went off – stood in the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror – puffy eyes, puffy face, super tired and with aching legs (from my new leg session from Wednesday) and thought “there is no way I can drag myself to the gym feeling like this…” so I turned out the light and went back to bed. I’m sure nobody at the gym wanted to look at me in that state anyway LOL!

I was talking to one of OH’s mates (who is a Personal Trainer) on Saturday about my niggling leg issues – namely my right hamstring, which has been tight and pulls sharply whenever I stretch it, and my knees which are a bit iffy at the best of times. The hamstring issue has been bothering me for about 18 months – but it only ever hurts when I stretch. My chiro said it was more likely a tendon, and the acupuncturist couldn’t find anything wrong with me, so I just kinda forget about it until I stretch.

Anyway, he suggested that since I have some niggles, I should stay away from any “machine” based weight training. So, no leg press, smith machine, leg extension etc - and instead use only free weights. This will force my body to use more muscles (which may help balance out other muscles around my dodgy hammies and knees), and also improve balance and co-ordination.

SO! This week I did barbell squats, followed by front squats. OMG these are hard – have you tried them? Takes a lot more balance and I found that it also worked my shoulders as I tried to keep the bar balanced in front. Then it was on to deadlifts. The funny thing about deadlifts is – I found out that what I call a normal “deadlift” is actually a straight legged deadlift. A normal deadlift looks kinda different!! It was a PT years and years ago (like 8 years ago) that showed me deadlifts for the first time. So I tried to do ‘proper’ deadlifts – and wow it felt weird! Not sure how you do it without the bar hitting your knees on the way up AND the way down. Might have to grab one of the trainers at my gym and get them to check my form – I’m sure I wasn’t doing it right.

Looking forward to the weekend – really just want to have a sleep in actually! We’re off to a friends house for dinner on Friday night, and Saturday night might just be a DVD night, not sure yet.

Have a lovely Friday and a great weekend!

Monday, June 16, 2008

Naturopath

I had my naturopath appointment on Saturday, and it was very very interesting!

Firstly, when I got there I had to complete a full-on questionnaire about my health, my nutrition, and my health goals. The naturopath then gave me a dose of some liquid that tests your zinc levels, and asked me how it tasted? My options were metallicy/minerally/dry/sweet/watery

My reply was that it tasted like water with a teeny bit of vinegar in it. Apparently this is bad - it means my zinc levels are really low - the stuff is supposed to taste foul! I also had my blood type taken, I cant believe that it took me 33 years to find out I am a blood type O!!!

So we went through my questionnaire and talked about different things. She did a little iridology on me and found that my digestion isn't too great, that my body is a too acidic and I need a liver detox. My nutrition is good - because I'm an "O" blood type its good that I eat more protein apparently!

She then said she was going to "ask" my body what it needed to balance everything out. Hmmmm... ok - so she started doing Kinesiology on me. Strange. So she sits in front of me, and gets me to hold my left hand out, palm up. My thumb and pinky finger have to touch. Then I have to hold them together as hard as I can, while she tries to pull them apart. She put a bottle of supplements in my lap, and then asks my body a question out loud- such as "Does Hilary need XXX supplement to heal her muscle imbalances" and she would try to pull my thumb and pinky apart. If they stayed together, the answer was yes, if they came apart, the answer was no.

I ended up having a range of supplements placed in my lap, sometimes the answer was yes, more often than not the answer was no. This went on for almost an hour as she tried to get the combinations and dosages right! I started to think it was all a bit of hocus-pocus, but it was strange because there was no way I could have known what question she was asking, or have faked it in any way. If she thought that I was losing focus on holding my fingers together, she would ask the question a couple of times. She would also ask the question a number of different ways, so there was no way I could predict what she was going to ask!

I also think that if she was faking it, I would have walked out of there with MANY more bottles of pills than I did!

So anyway, I have started taking all of the remedies she gave me, so hopefully I will start to feel more in balance soon!

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Ten simple steps...

Today I was flicking through my copy of You Cant Afford the Luxury of a Negative Thought and I came across this statement:

If you're not actively involved in getting what you want, then you don't really want it.

This definetely struck a chord with me today. There are certain things going on for me that I need to make a firm committment to, otherwise I think I am just kidding myself.

And this little excerpt certainly rang true, and can definetley be applied to anyone wanting to achieve their fitness goals:

Ten Simple (but not necessarily EASY) steps to getting what you want:
  1. Focus all of your attention on the thing you want. Be interested, be "obsessed" by it.
  2. Visualise and imagine it
  3. Be enthusiastic about it
  4. Know exactly what you want. Write it down, use a model, use pictures
  5. Desire it above all else, above everything else, above all.
  6. Have faith, but with involvement. Know you can have it, that its already yours. Be involved with whatever you need to do to get it.
  7. Do the work required. How do you know when you've done enough? When you've got it, it was enough. Until you've got it, its not enough.
  8. Give up all things opposing your goal.
  9. Pretend you already have it
  10. Be thankful for what you already have.

This morning I trained biceps, and now my neck/traps arent feeling too good. I think I've slightly strained something again. I'm going to a naturapath on the weekend so hopefully I can get everything in my body functioning properly again. I'm interested to see how the naturapath works actually, apparently they do tests for bodyfat and hydration levels etc, so I'm curious to see how I go in that department!

Monday, June 09, 2008

Lorna Jane Addict

I'm becoming a bit of a Lorna Jane junkie!! I went back on Saturday because they had a sale on... although most of the stuff I was drooling over wasn't on sale :(

I did buy two more singlets - "I earn my chocolate one step at a time", and "Save the Planet (its the only place with chocolate)"... noticing a theme here??? Anyway, I think I'd better stay away from there for a while now - its just too dangerous!

Its been a lovely relaxing weekend. I even got to watch another DVD in my "ROME" series, which I only ever get to watch when OH isn't around - he just has no interest in ancient history that boy!! So he's been happily tinkering on his car and I've been happily watching a nerdy history series with my ugg boots on... gotta love long weekends!

On Saturday night we went out for dinner and the movies. This is the second time in a month that we've been out to the movies... I think thats a record! We went to see Indianna Jones, which wasn't too bad, but not as good as I was expecting.

It was funny at the cinema seeing all these women dolled up in their dresses and sparkly heels - quite obviously going to see Sex and the City. I think I might be the only girl in the country who has no interest in seeing that movie??

I'm nursing some shin splints at the moment, after a walk on Saturday. I was planning on walking again today, but I might ice my shins instead. I'm ready for another big week of training, felt so great to get back into it last week.

Have a great week!

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Retail therapy

I went shopping on Saturday with the idea that I was going to buy a new keyboard for the computer, and a present for a party we were going to on Saturday night.

Instead I had a spur-of-the-moment bit of retail therapy!

I finally spent my Lorna Jane voucher that I got for my birthday (in January!!) Not for lack of trying, I usually go in and have a drool every couple of weeks, but just couldn't decide what to get! (so much to choose from!). I originally was going to buy some more 3/4 workout pants, but I decided that I should go for something different and ended up with casual pants. Tried on a medium, but they swam on me so I had to get the small! Always a good feeling! These are what I got:
And then I meandered into Myer and decided that I needed to buy some new jeans (I dont know what came over me! LOL!) so tried on these Riders... the material is so soft and they are very comfy, so I'm happy!

I have my mojo back this week and I'm feeling good. This morning I trained my back for the first time in a month, and my traps feel ok so fingers crossed that all the muscles and bones stay put! I deliberately went light on the weights, and was on the lookout for the slightest niggle - but so far so good. I was slightly appalled at how much strength I've lost though!
I've also been focusing this week on making sure I'm drinking 3 litres of water - lately I've been slipping in that department a bit, and waking up feeling all dry-mouthed. I'm just downing my last 750mls right now, and then I'm done. Got to get it all drunk by 7pm or I'll be up all night!
Anyway, better go get dinner organised I guess!