Tuesday, Day 26 - And so, the end is near …. And you’d expect me to be up at dawn to get it all done and dusted! Well that didn’t happen for some reason, something to do with the cold, Dr Sleep out for a run, both kids up and being annoying straight away etc etc, by the time I’d started making a coffee it was all over as coffee needs eggs to go with it, and I didn’t want to do a circuit on a full stomach today! So we got ready and went to a lake nearby for a swim and a play. The kids had a good splash around, and we took it in turns to sunbathe and lifeguard the ginger nut who is convinced he can swim 50 metres by himself when he can’t quite swim 5! I swam the width of the lake there and back which I reckon must have been about 200 metres, but Dr Sleep thinks more like 70, damn him! A reminder of how exhausting swimming really is and how I need to make time for a regular swim on my own (not just as a climbing frame for the kids to use in the pool). We then decided to go back and starting packing up as tomorrow is the day we start making our way home.
The dew overnight here is so heavy it takes a long long time to dry off our tent in the morning and we really wanted to be off by 9am so we came to the strange decision of taking our tent down and sleeping in just the bedroom section of it instead - the kids have their own little tent that we put up inside our big one. So we packed up, sorted, re-sorted and tidied and made overnight bags and cleaned and put away one last time. We of course also needed to finish as much food as possible so I started making dinner and then half way through that I realised that I wasn’t really going to want to do a circuit in the dark later on, or directly after a heavy pasta dinner, so I decided to throw on my clothes right away and while dinner was cooking I did the circuit right next to the stove! I also realised that I had missed a strength session from week 9 in the days when I had needed to do some multiples of sessions to make up for missed days.
The circuit exercises are:
1) Bench lunge - one foot up on a bench/chair/kids sandpit behind you, then been front knee to lunge.
2) Skater hops - like a speed skater, jump and then drop one foot behind you into a curtsy lunge, then jump back out to the opposite side
3) Rotation reach push up - push up modified however you like, then with one hand reach under body and through to other side, then reach up and around to open out, switch arms each time.
4) Squat to Squat jump - an alternating squat and then squat jump - get into a rhythm here!
Leg lower - tuck legs in, then out to 45 deg and then up to a reverse curl
The strength exercises were:
1) Bridge on ball - feet press down on to mini ball to do the bridge
2) 1 leg bridge ball between knees - emphasis here much more on squeezing ball than on the full height of the bridge, it’s all about the inner thighs
3) Monster walks - band around ankles, feet apart to increase resistance and then shuffle walk forwards and backwards for around 20 steps keeping resistance on all the time
4) Seated knee press outs - sit down, band around knees, feet almost together then press knees out to side
And so I’ve done it: 24 workouts in 26 days. A little summary:
I realise I can:
- Commit to an exercise routine and have fun with my family at the same time
- Exercise regularly and eat normally enjoying myself
- Fit it in with other things going on
- Feel good even while going away with a massive change in diet
- Come back from holiday feeling better than when I started
- Make a change to my body with “only” 20 mins per day
Now a few of those points I knew already, after all it’s what I coach my clients in - chip away at it every day and you will make massive positive changes and it doesn’t have to take hours of commitment or get in the way of family time. I knew that before but now I’m absolutely convinced of it. Granted exercising while your husband/partner is around all the time is much easier than when you are the main carer and you have to fit it in around your own work, school pick ups and possibly baby routines, but I know there’s always a way to find that time, to make yourself more important than anyone else just for a few minutes each day. Because not walking around feeling shit about myself due to all the bread I’ve eaten and wine I’ve drunk all month and then not moved is worth every single second of effort and time I’ve sacrificed. I feel the strength back in my body now and I know I can take that and literally run with it! Or at least walk briskly and then pick up heavy stuff (let’s not get carried away). When you’re strong, the whole world opens up as you see yourself as capable of doing things you might have shied away from before. If you’re reading this and you’re thinking “but my back/hip/knee hurt, I can’t do it”, I say let’s try, nothing here is going to hurt you, and you’d be surprised how much your body is capable of if you just let it do it’s thing!