Keeping it fun and ZUMBA!!
This week was my first full week back to normal life. Back at work, and the possibility of budget cuts being announced. This meant that there was a potential for me to hole up on the sofa and refuse to stick to my New Year’s Resolution of trying new things and doing things I’ve not done for ages, in the general pursuit of having fun.
But I kept my spirits high, and the week was far less painful than it could have been. I’ve managed to try quite a few new things and keep the motivation levels high. This was after quite a slow day on Monday where the smallest things got to me which kickstarted a conscious effort at positivity for the rest of the week. It was funny really, the sheer volume of tiny annoying things that happened on Monday (including the alarm tag being left on my new coat, forgetting my water for the gym, my new jogging bottoms being too short when I put them on at the gym, and so on) but it makes me wonder if that is how many stupid things happen every day, but I just don’t notice…
Anyway, in terms of fun, I had a great afternoon being shown around Brooksby Agricultural College’s animal care section on Thursday. That was new and old experiences put together and I loved it! I got to hold ferrets and play with cats and dogs, hold some beautiful snakes including what I think was a Rainbow Python and a very sweet cornsnake. New experiences included holding a rather large Nile Monitor Lizard, a bearded dragon, a musk turtle and stroking the Office Chicken. Good times.
On the exercise regime this week there were also some new experiences.
Monday 10th January
* 1/2 hour personal trainer session discussing stretches and cardio exercise. Approx 100 cals burned.
* 2k row at level 10, 11 mins 20 secs, 106 cal
* 19 minute cycle, 5.5k at level 4, 101 cal
* 0.5k walk at 15% incline for 6 or 7 minutes
Tuesday 11th January
* 9 minutes on the cross trainer, 0.5k, 70 cal
* I tried my first ever Zumba class. This is a mix of aerobics and dance, inspired mainly, but not exclusively by Latino styles of music. It’s an interesting class because the instructor does not shout out any instructions, they just dance and you try to copy them! In the session I tried, we did some routines to lots of Reggaeton, salsa, techno-salsa (!), Cha Cha, Cuban style music and even that Greek song that gets faster and faster!
I absolutely loved the Zumba class. It was quite high intensity, and it really got you red in the face and a bit puffed, but it wasn’t too much that you felt like you might die! It took me a while to get the hang of some of the routines, probably because I’ve not done any dance or aerobics for ages, but I’m really looking forward to going regularly and getting the hang of the routines so that I perhaps look less like a dervish of flailing limbs at some point in the future. Research on the internet suggests I burned about 500 cals during this class.
Wednesday 12th January
Legs, Bums and Tums was cancelled – 🙁
* 2k row, 11 min 02 secs (13 SECONDS OFF MONDAY’s TIME – WOOP!), 104 cals
* 9 min walk, 15% incline, 75 cal
* 40 leg presses, 30 bicep curls on 5kg weight, 30 tricep curls, 30 arm presses, leg stretches.
Friday 14th January
* I tried my first ever Body Combat class! An aerobic class with moves drawn from mixed martial arts, including kickboxing, Tai Chi etc. This one really got the heart pumping over an hour session. There were lots of kicks and punches and even a couple of jump kicks. Add this to an absolutely terrifying instructor who looks like some kind of slender Amazon warrior and you have a pretty interesting class.
It did make me realise that my 4 year old, battered trainers are probably going to have to go. My toes are aching from them this morning, plus during the class I was having visions of my shoe flying off during a particularly vigorous kick and hitting a fellow attendee in the face. I am reasonably sure that this is against gym etiquette and should probably be avoided. This means I will get to have another relatively unexplored experience – shopping for trainers!
The internet seems to indicate that I would have burned about 6-700 cals during that class.
Other new or fun experiences this week include using the perks of my gym membership for free DVD hire, which meant last night we spent the evening in watching a film together, which was very lovely. And today, the plan is to actually go into town on a Saturday, do some book and charity shop shopping and then treat ourselves to a lovely lunch and a few drinks – normally something we reserve for when I am off on leave during the week.
