Renewed, thanks to the gym.

Well the weekend was quiet this end and I only managed a few walks in amongst cleaning and running Amina, Rehana and Franklin around. But we did get to an inter-club tournament for a few of Franklin's amateur boxers which was fun.  One of the women he trains had her first amateur fight and at just past 50 years of age it was great to see. Well done Jo.

I weighed myself on the Friday and was a little disappointed to have put on a kilo rather than having lost anything, but considering that I am just getting started again and had a topsy-turvy time, I'm not going to worry too much about that for the first few weeks and will just keep my eye on it.

Today I got back into the gym though and it was very cool. For some reason training in the gym with Franklin and taking a more measured pace really worked for me. My last few sessions were only half an hour and Franklin worked me hard so I was probably pushing myself too quickly, I think I'm more the tortoise rather than the hare. Today I took it slow and steady and had a good amount of time on the bags, which was great as my arms are still pretty strong from lugging my (currently 9kg) baby around so much!

 

Punching the bag.

Felt really good to let the arms fly around a bit and its such a HUGE stress relief.

If you've never tried it and have any pressures in your life I highly recommend you give it a go.

 

 

Ground work. Groan!



 

 

 

He looks down and laughs at me doing ground work!

Its VERY mean!

 

 

 

Amina with Franklin's trainer Brian,

had her first go at boxing on the floor to ceiling speed ball!

She's a natural.

 

Overall things were a bit easier today which was a relief and its helped me feel much more excited about going back in a day or so. I feel like I'm renewed in my passion for the sport and for getting fit. Last week everything felt so hard and so impossible. I even wondered if my body was too old...silly I know (and a few friends will frown when they read that and yell 'you're 33 you twat' at their computer) but the most ridiculous excuses fly when your looking for them!

Then I thought about a couple of my friends in the UK who are just a few years older than me and who are super fit. I trained with some amazing women while living in London for a few years and they all taught me a great amount about boxing, kick boxing and life. There is one person in particular who is an amazing mum, kick boxer and athlete in general, (she will know who she is when I mention that she was the first person to punch me in the nose during a sparring session and made my eyes water!) but she certainly is one of those people who has inspired me lately to keep going, safe in the knowledge that I can get back to where I was if I really want to because I know that she must have faced the same challenge.

Who is inspiring you to train? And what strategies are you using to inspire yourself? Many people hang their favorite 'far too tight' jeans up on the hanger in full view, some put pictures of when they were slimmer or fitter up on display and some, like me, let the whole world know about it to ensure that they have to keep going!

Jess xo

Mrs Grump vs Mr Patient

I had a bad day today. It wasn't anything serious but I started to do some light exercise and after about 10 minutes my body felt tired and weak. Not in any serious way, more of a no muscles, lazy, this is hard work and I could go and watch Southland way. But it got me down a bit.
The weather was so bad yesterday that we didn't get a chance to train, so this morning after walking Rehana to school, the sky was still clear and though Franklin was at work I decided to do some training myself. In the past I would easily complete light training or a 5k run without much thought at all, so it seemed like a no brainer.

I set myself up and had Amina chilling out near by playing, but after a good stretch and about 3 minutes of skipping she started to cry, so I had to take 5 and put her to bed. As I went out to keep going Franklin came back with a friend of ours and had a quick chat. All up this was enough to completely break my momentum. I tried to go back to skipping but my body felt cold and stiff. So I felt a bit lost and decided to do some sit ups. 100 crunches later (Hold the astonishment they most definitely hurt and were done in groups of 10!) I felt like I hadn't really done much at all but my muscles had decided that was enough and even a 200m light jog was received with protest from my legs.
Ergh! I was so frustrated. I used to train for 2 hours at times and although it was still hard I could will myself on, my body would comply and I'd do it, now I cant push myself at all (the muscles and fitness are just not there) and its a hard thing to face up to. But it also threw me into some quite negative thought patterns that I did not expect (but that we all are prone to I guess) and which can be really discouraging. Thoughts like "I cant do this.' 'Im so weak and beyond it now.' 'What's the point' 'Urg Im so fat and ugly, I should just go and eat a DONUT already!' lol
Franklin straight away knew how to handle the situation and he quickly reminded me that its been close to 2 years now since I trained properly and that I am going to have to take it slowly. But I had expected this sermon and had already been thinking and ignoring it from myself and it was the next part which was so important. He reminded me that at this stage I should (for the most part) be training with him and preferably with 1-2 other people.

Going it alone is hard work and that extra support to get through those initial slow weeks is really important. I gained some perspective from this and felt a lot better, determined to trust him and stay committed to our training sessions and to try some power walking on the off days to help with the weight loss and get my muscles working again.  I had put too much pressure on myself to complete things too quickly and it backfired. The older we get the more limitations that are placed on us by our bodies and we have to learn to respect that. Weight wont come off or go on straight away, muscles take work to develop and that stiffness in the bones and ligaments is something you have to work through. Though I have to admit I wont get there straight away, as long as I listen to my trainer and work the program I know I can get my body back on track. There is satisfaction to be gained when you do reach your exercise goals and that satisfaction comes for a reason, because getting there takes serious work.

So if you're feeling disgruntled with your training program, you didn't manage to run as far, or lift as much or you're struggling to get going, make sure you contact some people and get them to train with you, hopefully it will keep you as motivated as Franklin's determined to keep me!

Jess

Diet, its a dirty word to a foodie!

Its been really nice over the past week to get so many messages of support. Especially from people who I haven't seen in such a long time. I'm not, and probably never will be the most sociable Facebook user. I pop on every now and again and post here and there and like this and that but not prolifically as I find it a bit overwhelming at times. When my family suffered a personal tragedy a few years back, I found it really, really hard to even log on and look at what other people were up to, (and I'm sure I'm not alone in this experience) but I digress...so thank you to you guys for touching base.

Diet, its a dirty, dirty word! I dislike it with a passion. I know that many people would rather diet than exercise but here in boxercise town I'd rather exercise and eat heartily like the Botticelli I am! But even I cant exercise that much so here are a few of the changes I've made so far that will hopefully be enough to lighten my load.

• Upping the fruit, salad and vegies. A no brainer really but Im trying to increase my portion of salad and vegies at meal times and making it the bulk of my meals. This usually consists of whatever's in the fridge with a splash of olive oil and salt and pepper or a bit of dressing. I am having an apple a day but know I really need to add an extra fruit so that's my aim for tomorrow.
• A big bowl of porridge for breakfast with a splash of honey. (No more crumpets with peanut butter)
• Swapping full fat for lite.
• No white bread. I've cut out white bread and as much as I love it am avoiding the bakery abd all their donutty and pastry goodies like the plague!
• No sweetie darlings. I've cut out sugar and am avoiding soft drinks, chocolates and sweets but if the mood strikes me I will have a little something preferably a few corn crackers with honey or a few small chocolates or a cup cake.

So far these are my main changes. Not too many and not so strict that I'm going to beat myself up or restrict myself. I like to eat heartily at most meals and enjoy a bit of cheese in my salad or a handful of cashew nuts or a few chips. I guess the key is that I'm having a few rather than loads and I'm happy with that. If my body fat doesn't start to drop I will review my diet again. 

Since having Amina I have noticed a sharp decrease in my propensity to eat with my emotions. I don't really binge on sweets or savories anymore and feel more in control of my portion sizes and cravings. Emotional eating though is the bane of many people's lives and I don't know what the answer is (For me as a woman I would probably identify hormones as a contributing factor.) but I might try to find out by asking around and I'm sure I will touch on this again soon.

I've had a few messages over the past week from people who are in the same place as me, trying to get fit and lose weight and I hope that my blog and its little reminder in their newsfeed, inspires them to commit to do something towards this the next day. One friend in particular has had an extremely busy few years with work and, as a result has put on some weight (about 20kgs). Being really busy can completely annihilate your ability to eat well and exercise. So perhaps over the next few weeks I will try to come up with some suggestions for ways to deal with diet and exercise when you have what feels like ZERO time. I would love to hear any ideas from you guys? What do you do when your super busy? Do you have any suggestions for exercises you can do while sitting at a desk or during a lunch break? If you don't have time to post on the blog, a FB comment would be great.


Jess :)

I got the video up!

I hope the video comes through ok!

Jess

Sorry!

So sorry all, the video didn't load after all...will have to keep trying with it and hopefully get a video up soon.

Jess

Shut Up and Stop Talking...

Sorry about the late post, my video took ages. Might have to restrict the videos!

The post title I have used today is quite appropriate because I think Franklin must have said those exact words at least 10 times during our 30 minute training session. 'Jessica shut up and stretch...Jessica shut up and skip...Jessica shut up and listen to me....Jessica just shut up and do what I tell you...Jessica just SHUT UP!' I think the 'Shut up and stop talking' bit is somewhat appropriate though. Sometimes we spend so much time saying or planning what we are going to do, or what we want to do that we don't end up doing much about it at all. I know I do that and its always because I get hooked on some new TV show 'I'll just sit down and watch this and then get to it...damn those drama serials I'm so addicted to Southland at the moment!

But regardless of all his bossing around (HAHAHA) it was loads of fun and my body wasn't as rusty as I though it would be. There was NO vomiting! We did some stretching and then 3x3 minute rounds of skipping, followed by some shadow boxing and pad work with Franklin before the dreaded ground work and warm down stretches. Franklin was pretty happy with how I did too. Here is some pictures and a video to prove it!

 

Me ready and rearing to go.

 

  

The Boss Man takes no prisoners!

 

 

But my cheer squad had my back.

 

 

Ouch, skipping after such a long break is hard work, most of the 3x3 minute rounds were spent tripping on the rope.

 

But I haven't lost my touch with the pads...

 

 

 



Overall a great session.  What did you do today? I'd love to hear about the exercise you completed, especially those of you who are trying to do the same...if you didn't get a chance to do any today what have you got planned for next time? My next PT is on Tuesday and I'm looking forward to slowly seeing some results in my general fitness over the next few weeks.

Jess

Franklin says:

Boxing and training may seem hard at first but stick with it and it will be great fun. Everyone should know how to defend themselves and honestly speaking, after training, you'll be too tired to get into any trouble. Now shut your mouth and give me 20!

Weight for it!

For the most part I think I will try and post regularly from Sunday through Thursday...because as much as Franklin loves telling me what to do while in training, he also likes to talk to me without my face in a computer...BUT seeing as I did my job today I figured I would post my second ever blog.

My first PT (personal training) session with Franklin is all set for this Sunday. Now just for the record, and apologies if it is far too off topic from boxing and training for some but stick with me as I'd like to make it clear that I don't actually have a problem or major concern with my weight and thankfully neither does Franklin. I honestly believe that people are far too worried about their body image these days and it can and does have devastating effects for many people. In its extreme form it can result in people having a completely distorted view of their body and for many others it results in them becoming obsessed with every reflective image they can find, trying to squeeze into (or hide within) ill fitting clothes and feeling uncomfortable or embarrassed and paranoid (life's too short). I think its one of the things I hate most about western culture, the pressure to be what the media considers sexy and gorgeous all the time, many of the African people I have met don't understand it at all.

Anywho that's my two cents, I'd love to hear yours? A friend of mine commented on Facebook that she didn't remember me being chubby when we first started boxing. Thanks to my friend, its a reminder to me how even subtle body image issues can manifest...BUT I guess I also have to acknowledge that a majority of my extra weight at the moment is around my middle and with a family history of diabetes its the worst place to be carrying extra kilos.

So drum roll please...I stepped on the scales today (something I will only do every week or so) and I currently weigh 85 kilos. Not too bad but I put on about 10 kilos with my pregnancy and would like to at least get rid of them again and maybe an extra 5 if I can. Would anyone like to share their weight and weight goals? Its actually quite liberating (for girls more so I guess)

So there we have it for this Friday the 12th of April. I will try and post some pictures of me and my current figure in the next few days to have as a reference and my next blog will have a look at my diet goals Anyone else who would like to do the same and (if you are in the vicinity) anyone who would like to join my PT sessions with Franklin, just let me know.

Crackerdoodles for now.

Jess

Lets start at the beginning...

After 4 years of working, living and partying in London, I was chubby, lonely and bored. A good friend and travel buddy had recently moved back to New Zealand, all of my workmates lived north of the Thames (I was living south) and as happens to many living over there, I had put on some weight (Heathrow injection times 10) and I was unfit from too many cold winter nights spent on the couch or warm summer nights spent at the pub. So I decided to start a new sport, with the aim to lose some weight get fit and hopefully make some new friends. So I started a kickboxing class, a class which was destined to change my life.
The class was great fun, (I didn't realize how much fun kicking and punching things could be!) and after a few weeks I was finding the workouts easier and I had made some wonderful new friends. One day, Mel, the senior instructor suggested I might like to go with her and some mates to a local gym where you could do some boxing training for the bargain price of 2 pounds.
When we walked through the doors on that first night, the first person we saw was a very tall (6ft4) Nigerian man with a loud voice, piercing eyes and long dreadlocks. He was Franklin, a professional heavyweight boxer and former IBF African champion and he provided some of the most fun, most intense and fantastically addictive exercise programs my friends and I had ever done. He was also to become the love of my life.
To cut a very long story short...which I'm sure I will expand upon as time goes by...after 6 months of training with Franklin I was looking and feeling fabulous, I was strong, fit, healthy and at the lowest weight I had been for many years.  Now, fast forward 2 years and we're a far cry from where we were, we now live in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, married with 2 kids (my step daughter who's 12 and our daughter who is 7 months) I'm carrying considerable post pregnancy weight and am terribly unfit with considerably less time on my hands.  Hence I have decided to create this blog (ahh now we're getting somewhere!) to document my road back to fitness, a healthy weight, strength and my size 14 jeans!
So with the help of Franklin, and (hopefully) the inspiration of a few readers I'm going to get back in shape. Who else out there is trying to get fit and back into some much loved but currently far too tight clothes? Tomorrow its time to set some goals and to step onto those scales!