Bottled Motivation – I haz it!

Well, it’s not some magic sports drink it’s actually eyeliner from Lush, but both the colour & the name are awesome I had to buy it. (I just need to practice putting on liquid eyeliner now & I might get some good use out of it) I quite like the idea of getting up and putting on some motivation each day. It currently sits on my dressing table where I leave my glasses each night so I see it each morning, like a reminder that a little motivation goes a long way. It’s an awesome iridescent blue colour, I really like it, I just need to be brave enough to wear it.

But this is my running & fitness blog, not a make up blog, and I was motivated this week & managed to go to all three classes I said I would, with varying degrees of enjoyment.

Lets’s start with Boxfit

This was awesome. As the description of the class was basically “a fitness class focused around boxing moves” I’m not sure why I was (pleasantly) surprised when that’s exactly what it turned out to be. It was a mixed class of 14, and mixed abilities, and I was one of 3 new people. We got a short intro into how to safely throw punches & how to pad (for when punches are being thrown at us) and then we were into a jog for the warm up. There was some circuit training and ab work, and also some jogging intervals & some combo punching on the pads.

This was the most sociable of the 3 classes I went to, perhaps because we’d gotten any stress and nerves out of ourselves by punching the pads so hard our arms were ready to drop off, but instead of just leaving the gym the people in this class actually stayed about and chatted a little and had a bit of a laugh together.

Onto Body Attack

This was in the same small dance studio that Box fit was in, but had about 35 people crammed into it. The instructor was ripped, and seriously fit, and seemed a nice lady, but as this is a class set to music there was little time for idle chat! I was one of about 4 newbies, and we were given the advice to pace ourselves & try the low impact versions of the moves for the 1st class, then we could try a higher level next time. It was by far the hardest class of all three, my tshirt was soaked by the end & one of the leaflets I found about it says you can burn around 700 calories in one class, and I believe it. I have to say I was rubbish at the moves that required co ordination, but the instructor smiled (in a nice sympathetic way) and just encouraged us to keep moving, and we’d get it right eventually, but the point was to burn fat & get fit. There was a mix of people here, but only one guy, most of the super fit women were at the front, and us newbies hid at the back. I was not the least coordinated, but I was at a few points just flapping about. It was fun,  but no one even said goodbye to each other at the end, I think I was the only person who replied to the instructor at a few points. The hilight was the track that was set to a remixed My Sharona!

Dreaded Zumba

I’ll be honest, I was dreading Zumba. Having tried (& hated it) I wasn’t too optimistic. I booked onto a class that had 15 min “technique & moves” added onto the start of the normal 45 min class, as last time I went I was very confused about what I was supposed to be doing.

The class was huge, easily 50 or more people in the sports hall, and I was the only new person in there. We started with the warm up & possibly because I was the only new person, or the instructor forgot, we never did the technique & moves part I was expecting, we just dived straight into the class. I honestly tried my best, and even moved nearer the front of the class, so I was in the 1st row, but I just couldn’t get the moves & by the time I did the 2 minute or so track was over. I didn’t enjoy it, and where the Body Attack instructor actually showed different levels of the moves and counted through some of the steps, the Zumba instructor just shouted random encouragement or sang along with the lyrics. The class was 100% female and while there was varying levels of fitness, everyone else seemed to be a Zumba expert, a few ladies even remided the instructor of the moves to a track! It was the lowest workout of all three classes I went to, but I suspect that’s because I wasn’t doing as much work as I was supposed to.  The whole class was treated like a party, and the instructor wanted people to sing along with her and there was sections where we were supposed to “Shake it Girls!” But it wasn’t for me, I honestly hated the class. I’m starting to think that it might be the instructor that’s giving me the problem, as I honestly can’t see why everyone else loves it so much.

Will I do any of them again?

Well, it’s obvious that I’m not going back to Zumba, I’ve given it 2 goes, but they’ve both been awful. I am booked back onto the Box Fit this evening & even Body Attack later this week. In a few weeks my husband is off work so perhaps I’ll even go try some more new classes, or a Zumba class at the other gym included in my membership.

This week I am going to…

Record all my food honestly & acuratly.

I’m a member of My Fitness Pal and use this on my phone to track my calories, but I normally get to Friday lunch and stop again till Monday. I have also gotten into the bad habit of recording my food after I’ve eaten it, sometimes I leave it until just before I got to bed to add all the food, trying (badly) to remember everything I’ve eaten that day.

If you’re on MFP, then add me (RunfortheQuiet) and you’re welcome to nag me if I don’t complete my food log, let me know if you’d like me to nag you too. Also if you’re curious about what I’m eating you can see my food log there as well, it’s not a pretty sight!

Good luck to anyone, who like me, is just about to start 6 weeks of being at home with the kids! Schools summer holidays, don’t you love them!?!