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I hope everyone's been having a great time achieving their goals and having a wonderful holiday stuffing their faces, at least that's what I've been up to :)

I've been on holiday since last Tuesday the 23rd of December and have been doing quite well I must say, the first day Tuesday I went for an hour long walk, then I went for my first winter run on Friday the 26th my second on Sunday the 28th and my last yesterday Tuesday the 30th. Daily I've been doing the Ab challenge although I've decided to take on two days in one and do one day in the morning another in the evening. On the days I haven't been running I've been doing floor work, pushups, squats, weight lunges, jumping rope exercises and more :)

For the past two days however it has been snowing hardcore and I've had to go out multiple times a day to clear the driveway so I've been building up my arm strength through that :p

Anyway today I was scrolling through instagram and discovered that you can add photos to your nike runs ! HOW AWESOME IS THAT!??? 

So I obviously had to do this and here's what I came up with :) Wishing you all a lovely New Years! x

Gearing up for a new year

Well, to say my workout schedule over the past week has been dismall is an understatement. I got sick and wasn't able to workout and yet was still able to stuff my face over the holidays. grr... On Saturday, after almost a full week of no exercise, I finally went to athletic conditioning class. It felt so good!

I was having a major case of back and forth between- " I should stay home, rest and nap" vs the "get there and get'er done". When I have a cold working out either helps or makes it worse and you don't know until you are there.

I thought I'd just take it easy but it's pretty well impossible. There was a lot of cardio- sprints, burpies, squat jumps etc..and popovers with 6 risers under the bench! Always remember, you can do more than you think, so don't stop challenging yourself!

As cliche as it is, I am looking forward to getting back to healthier eating for the new year!

First run in the snow

Today I woke up with the full dedication of going for a run, I got even more excited to do so when I looked out my window and saw that the fields were covered in snow! The first snow of the year yesssssss! This got me über excited! 

So I got ready, wearing my awesome nike running watch (kudos to El), my long nike running pants (kudos to El again) and my great touchscreen friendly nike running gloves. (Yes I may have a slight Nike addiction...)

I ran through one village and along fields of snow to the next village, it was a tough run and I've never run so slow, I felt like a gazelle jumping through the snow as the car tracks were slippery I stuck to the "deep" (15cm) snow, which felt like running through the ocean or a pool?

Once I got to the end before I turned around I took a photo because it was so beautiful! That's something I really cherish about the countryside, it's beauty.

I ended up running 6km, taking me 40 minutes -.- Oh well next time I'll do better :) Once I got home I did the 30 Day Ab challenge and my usual jump rope workout :)

Enjoy the weekend! 

30 Day AB CHALLANGE

I'm starting this TODAY! Who's in?

Catching up!

Hey guys, so it's been a while since my last post. I just had my last pole dance class yesterday and have successfully completed level 1! YAAAY

Level 2 starts january 10th and I can't wait! Sadly I can't even remember when I had my last boxing class because there was a public holiday on Monday the 8th of December so class was cancelled and Thursday the 11th I think it was was the last class, it's too bad I can never attend the Thursday classes because of my Russian course...

Anyway I've still been going to the gym and have started trying out new stuff, especially since this nice trainer has been giving me free tips and has been showing me new workouts.

This week I managed to go to the gym on Monday, Tuesday, Yesterday and Hopefully today (boo for the big gap I was just too overloaded with work at work..) Anyway yesterday I basically had a double workout with two hours at the gym and an hour of pole dancing. My feet and the insides of my thighs are bruisedddddddd and in pain, but that's not stopping me with getting to the gym today :) 

Oh in Pole we've started climbing and I've learnt a couple of tricks on the pole, which look soooo awesome ! 

I have to say I am super proud of myself because I managed to do a double under on the jumping rope, which we always have to do in boxing class and which I've never managed before... So what this is, is that you jump up once but the rope goes under your legs twice. I was so happy I couldn't stop smiling, even the super nice trainer wanted me to show him because I boasted about it haha, the thought running through my mind was "shit now that he's watching I won't manage" but I did!!! YAAAAY

Also I managed to do a double spin, normal jumps, double spin, normal jumps... you get the point :)

I'm off on holiday tomorrow, I'm going to the countryside and I hope to go for runs, join a gym if I can find an o-kaaaaay one and I want to go buy a TRX band so I can do some leg and tummy workouts :) I'll also be taking with a jumping rope to keep on practicing! 

I can recommend started to use a jump rope to anyway! You may think it's easy but ohhohohhhh it's not, at least not at the start :P

Here's a pretty good video teaching one how to jump, tbh I don't do those fancy side swings, I stick to the simple running jumping combo, side to side, front back, lunge jumps, right foot only, left foot only, double swing, side straddle and the normal jumping - with this you can see he lifts his weight of each foot by the jump (if that makes sense) I still can't do one by one I only change the weight every two jumps..

Here's another great video

Anyway try it out if you want :) It's a great way to start off your morning :) What helps me is if you hit the rope on the ground it jumps back by itself automatically so all the work you have to do is jump and spin ;)

A little inspiration

Read this quote this afternoon, definitely inspired the rest of my day. Will be printing it and putting it up in my apartment. Wanted to share the beauty.

We can let the circumstances of our lives harden us so that we become increasingly resentful and afraid, or we can let them soften us and make us kinder and more open to what scares us.

- Pema Chodron

An actual day off

Yes, it's true I did it! No I didn't do any crazy workout class or finish something off my to-do list or cleaning my bathroom (although I probably should have...). What I did was take a full day off from working out. And it felt amazing. It helped that my immune system felt like it was crashing and I didn't feel like dong much anyways, but still I am proud I resisted the temptation to do anything active but walk (and a couple sun salutations :). And I'm pretty sure it helped me get over whatever was attacking my system faster.

OK anyways here we are and somehow it's already December 8th so I'm a bit late for the November goal recap but here it goes anyways.

My first goal was to do the 30 day calisthenics challenge and I did it! (despite feeling pretty much allergic to burpies at the end).
My other goal was to not straighten my hair in November and I did that too, and was way easier than I thought (and my hair felt healthier!).
I did not keep a daily gratitude journal , but I did it more often and thought about being grateful more often.

As for December goals, one was to do at least one of the three calisthenics/ yoga challenges that have been posted by El and Katy, and I have managed to stick to that so far, even if I only did the sun salutations a couple days.

Other goals have been more difficult. I wanted to try the gratitude journal again but I haven't been writing daily, despite reading so much about it's benefits. However, I just did some research and found that, big surprise, there's a app for that! : http://getgratitude.co/http://getgratitude.co/
So although I prefer the idea of journaling, this might be another tool I can try to get it done daily, will report back!


Hope everyone is having a good December so far!

Since then

Since my last post a lot as happened over a week has passed !

So on Saturday I had my pole dancing it was great we learned this new move called the carousel and you're off the ground eeeek! 

Sunday I went to the gym and finally did some weights :) on Monday then I had my boxing which was insaneeeee! I had sore muscles for two days afterwards .. I was the only girl this week with five guys and managed to punch one in the tummy (hihi) anyway I took a photo of my knuckles after class so you could see how much work I put into punching :)

I couldn't bend my hands the next day... On Tuesday I went to the gym as well, I did a small warm up on the cross trainer (25min) and then did my weights . 

On Wednesday/Thursday and today I sadly didn't have time to go to the gym as I had an insane amount of work to do but I'll be going tomorrow as well as having pole dancing in the evening again :)

Even though I haven't been to the gym for three days I've been walking everywhere (as usual) and I've been trying to eat healthier :) 

Can't believe the 30 day challenge is already over I still think ill keep going... 

November Goals Recap and New Goals for December

Hello hello,
So I said I would check in with my goals, and how I did for November.

Working out: I wanted to workout most days and I did. I have created a habit of working out.

Eating healthy: this one was mixed. I definitely could have put more effort into it.

Losing weight: I wanted to lose 5 pounds, but didn't really put in any effort to doing this. I actually gained weight at first. Maybe it was from not enough cardio, bad eating and building some muscle through strength training. I'm back where I started now. I do notice i am gaining strength and muscle and feel a bit more toned.

So for December, my goals are to do more cardio and increase my workouts. I am adding in more running as well as some workouts at home and trying to do more athletic conditioning as well. No weight loss goal for this month (.. but it went so well in November ;)) haha. I used to see a nutritionist and she said Christmas time is never good for losing weight, best to just try and maintain your weight. Otherwise you will get frustrated with yourself and stressed and gain weight. For nutrition, my biggest goal is to stop snacking so much after dinner. I don't know why but when I watch tv, I snack and snack even when I am not hungry. This will be a big focus for the month.

What are your goals?

Let's keep the ball rolling

Despite sleeping through my alarm this morning, I still feel like I've started December on good footing. Moved into my new desk at work - I have a window, it's small but fantastic! Went to spin after work with Daniele, braved frostnip with my biking commute, had a big salad for dinner and did a bunch of calisthenics. 

So my habit changing challenges for December are: 

Floss every night before bed. No explanation needed. 

 Get back to a healthier diet. I hate thinking so much about what I eat and I refuse to cut anything else out so I'm focusing on adding. I intend to eat at least 2 servings each of fruit and veggies a day. This won't be hard but i definitely went a little while where this wasn't happening. 

Continue with gratitude journal. 

Workout 5 days a week: whether at the y, my work gym, a long bike ride, hike or a video at home. Start each work day with calisthenics (thigh challenge/sun salutations/El's challenge).  

Continue building momentum in my life and re-connecting to who I am and who I want to be.

December

Woohooo- we made it to December!!

I will write about how I did for November later on, but I just wanted to pop in and share this 25 days of fitness-

It is from a blog I follow- Run eat repeat  and seems very doable, so I am going to try and follow along, if anyone wants to join me.