This past month I have really gotten back into working out, and I genuinely love it. Let me give you a little backstory……….

“Way back, about two years ago, there was a girl called Tracey. Tracey desperately wanted to lose weight and had joined the gym. But while Tracey went the gym regularly, she didn’t really know what she was doing and only succeeded in getting a wee bit fitter and not really enjoying it so much. In part, due to her chocolate addiction, there was no weight loss, but also due to not really pushing herself and doing the ‘right’ kind of workouts.

Then one day, Tracey got accepted onto a 10-week challenge. The challenge came with supplements, workouts times and schedules and a strict diet. Tracey worked really, really hard. She ate the nasty brown rice she didn’t like and tried aubergines which will never be eaten again and found a love for salmon and feta too but not together eww. She did the HIIT workouts and toning too along with swimming, classes and aqua to boot. She loved it she did, and when the 10 weeks were up, she was as proud as punch of all the amazing changes she had made. Nearly 2 stone down and 23 inches gone, she was fabulous, healthy, happy and toned. All was good in the world.”

Photo by Luis Quintero on Unsplash

I Work Out but…… I went back to work full time.

I got rid of my car and slowly it all unravelled. I didn’t have the time (I kind of did really but not a lot), but mainly I lost the desire and motivation to keep it up and time-lapsed. One year went and then the next and I honestly really started to miss it, a lot. In January, exactly 4 years to the date, I renewed my membership and slowly started to get back into working out.

But this past month, it has all just clicked into place. I really have a long way to hit my target just under 4 stone to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I think Olivia’s upcoming 10th birthday shocked me into a bit. I was 10 stone when I got pregnant and 12 stone 3lbs the day before I had her.

It’s safe to say I have been trying out anything I can book into, classes are ridiculously full this time of year and getting back into the gym and weight training with my friend/hairdresser/worst person in the world halfway through a kettlecise class. I have even been going to classes on my own! Pushing the boundaries and doing things out of my comfort zone. Have little read below of what I have been up and how I work out;

Kettlecise.

So I have only done one class so far, and man was it a killer, I hurt so bad for days afterwards but despite it being really tough (please tell me it gets easier?) It is an amazing workout. So far, I am only opting for 1 class a week until I build up my strength/courage/stupidity.

Piyo.

So initially I was like what on earth????? So I did the most obvious thing and looked it up on YouTube. It is a mix of pilates and yoga and is super intense. I have been struggling to get onto either a Pilates or a yoga class, so this seemed like the perfect solution, right? Wrong. It may just be me because I am ridiculously unfit but my bulging tummy and extra wobbles in places made for a tough class and a distinct inability to hold a pose or touch my toes and as for looking as graceful as others around, pah!

Just the warm-up brought me out in a sweat and a premature appearance of tomato face. I did this last week and had booked for this Tuesday too. However, kettlecise broke me, and I was in no fit state as especially as class 1 also had me hurting in places, I didn’t know existed for a few days after. No pain no gain, right?

Zumba.

Now if you read my weird Zumba post. You will know how much fun I have been having at Zumba and yesterday saw me tackle a class on my own, sans my Zumba partner, thanks sis, who cried off. It wasn’t as much fun and not having anyone to laugh with about my lack of rhythm and coordination and inability to keep up really put a dampener on it. But still, it was a good class, and the cardio is good for me balancing off the classes I have been doing.

Clubbercise.

So technically I haven’t done this yet. I was booked on for today, but my partner in crime (see kettlecise) cried off with a pulled muscle, so we hit the gym instead, hardcore we are (not)

Yoga.

Photo by Emily Sea on Unsplash

I finally managed to book on and am heading there Friday morning, and I can’t wait to get my first class out the way having previously cancelled one as I didn’t want to go on my own. But hey, it won’t kill me right, and it’s not like I’m being shamed for being the ‘big girl’ in the class.

Gym.

So having gone in all guns blazing, me and Carol seem to have found our stride in the gym. Today’s workout consisted of a low impact half hour on the treadmill as I was feeling tired from Zumba last night. Another 15 mins on the exercise bike. Mostly due to checking emails and wanting to sit down before we started our weights workout.

We then started using the weight machines, I work out a lot with weights, and I felt pretty strong, so I was lifting around 10kg on various machines for my arms and more for my legs before heading over to the mat for some free weight workouts. Medicine balls and kettlebells were our weights of choice today for some squats, 3x sets of 10 with pulses after each 10 and the same for lunges. I used an 8kg kettlebell for this. I then used 5kg weights for some arm workouts before doing some ab work with the medicine ball, which was 4kg, finishing off with planks, side planks, pulses and knee raises (probably not the right terms but oh well)

Gym time sorry about dodgy shot lol trying to run #workout #gettingfit #healthy #treadmill #losingweight

A photo posted by Tracey Bowden (@onefrazzledmum) on Mar 10, 2016 at 2:23am PST

Aqua Classes.

I haven’t really done any aqua classes this week as my sister hasn’t wanted to and I have been doing other workouts that are on at the same time, but I love a good aqua Zumba or aqua aerobics class. Yes, they are mostly full of ladies and gents who are of the more mature age range, but I love them, and they are becoming more popular with younger people.

I love to follow a Zumba class with an aqua class, unlike the lady yesterday who followed her boxercise class with the Zumba class! Can you say crazy!!!! FYI after watching the end of boxercise yesterday, I will absolutely never be doing one, ever!

I feel exhausted just writing about how much I work out, no wonder I am sleeping better, hey! I would love any tips, hints, workout ideas, or fab people to follow and workouts to try. Or even just some encouragement. You can follow me by clicking the icons at the top of my sidebar and see how I am getting on, wish me luck 😉 I’m off for a lie down now!

(ps I am using the invigor8 pass with Wirral council for £15 a month allowing me access to all facilities on 8 sites before 5 pm Mon to Fri and all day Sat/Sun. There are other memberships available click invigor8 to find out more)

I am linking this post up the lovely Jocelyn’s #WotW linky over at The Reading Residence, my word of the week is workouts.