Does anyone else enjoy doing weights/kettle bells/trx training?

Hi, I really enjoyed the sunshine today too, made my run almost enjoyable .

Where are you sunshine? It sounds wonderful!

brighthair when you did the thing like a push up with the weight, did the weights move at all? I tried a similar thing a few weeks ago but was nervous of the dumbbell rolling and me falling flat on my face !

Anyone around still?

It´s a glorious day here, so perfect for a spot of interval training & bodyweight circuit by the sea with a bunch of wonderful ladies :) Some even skinny dipping afterwards...

I did my 2nd day of IF yesterday. It was fine - thought it might be harder after the first one! Especially since we had friends staying over the weekend, with plenty of eating and drinking involved. I even worked out pretty hard right at the end of it, then ate dinner afterwards. Might do it twice for the next couple of weeks as a last ditch attempt to drop a couple of lbs before hols. Beats self up for lack of self control beforehand...

Any chat anyone?

Did bootcamp on Thursday and took my friend (was bring a friend day free)
Hard session! We did shoulder press, bastards (burpees!), squat jumps, press ups, kettlebell swings, plank, broad jumps and a thing I don't know the name of. Basically you were in a push up position with hands on weights and one hand at a time brought the weight up to your chest?
Very sore, mainly my thighs and upper abs sort of near my ribs

Gym was good, and am at the pool this evening for some intervals.

Good luck with the IF sunshine, will be interested to hear how you get on with it. I read quite a bit about it last year but I cannot imagine going that long without eating. I aim to eat in a Paleo-esque manner, but I still love my bread (and cake) far too much which leads to a lot of lapses

Hi sunshine, nice to see you again . Now I need to know about how your fasting works too, be interesting to compare with the carb cycling! I would like to lose a bit of fat too. Probably just cutting out sugar would do it tbh, but it's so hard! I haven't had my body fat checked since about six months ago, but I think it's slightly higher than it was just before Christmas, I am certainly 2-3lbs heavier.

I had a good workout at the gym this morning, this week's routine of gym Monday, rest tues, run weds, kickboxing Thurs and gym again today seems to be much better than my usual week which is similar except for kickboxing Tuesdays. I'm not sure weights followed by a day of punching and kicking works so well as the other way around, makes me too tired!

Gene, just Sleep would be fine! How was the gym?

Heeeellllllooooo! Sorry, I´ve been a bit awol. Hectic..

Sorry to hear many of you have been feeling knackered. You know the difference between not being arsed to go to the gym and being bone achingly tired. If you´re at the bone achingly tired end of the spectrum, then listen to your body and take at least 3 days off. Go for a walk or something or dance about your living room, but lay off the high intensity stuff. The world will not fall apart :)

Funny that you are talking about carb cycling - have also been looking into that. I try to eat Paleo, but with wine :) Doesn´t always work...will I ever be free of sugar cravings? Evil stuff. I love the simplicity of it - eat lean meat and loads of veg. Easy. I don´t miss bread/potatoes/rice etc at all any more (have been doing it almost a year). I have been adding porridge with spiced apple for breakfast for a bit as energy reserves do suffer if you go too low carb.

I need to change things up a bit as I do have some fat to lose to show all the lovely muscles I´ve built, but am totally stuck at a plateau that I cannot get past. Frustrating. Anyway, decided that carb cycling sounded too much like hard work, so have started to try Intermittent Fasting (IF). Anyone done it? There are a few versions, but the one I´m doing is basically fasting for 24 hours once or twice a week. Am going to do twice for the next 2 weeks as am off on holiday after that!

I´m basically going evening meal to evening meal. I did a hardcore cf session in the morning of fasting and it was fine. I had a really busy day, so tbh didn´t really notice that much. I also drank plenty of water :)

Gene - hope you´re back into it by now :) If not, consider this another kick up the arse! Don´t think about it, just do it.

I´d love to try a martial art too, in fact am going to book a Thai boxing session when we´re there on hols in a couple of weeks. V excited!

Hope you feel better soon Rhonda. You've motivated me to give the carb cycling another bash. I definitely need to lower my fat% and have not been eating particularly well since christmas the last couple of weeks.

Run was good thanks sleepwhenidie (do you have an abbreviation for your name?? swid??) and am off to gym in a bit, still not sure about what program to follow so may be a bit random today but I will be there. Am switching to endurance to support someone else in achieving their goals, so all worth it.

Agree with what you are all saying about martial arts basically being interval training just for longer! DH used to do it and whilst it definitely takes time to perfect the kicking/punching/blocking technique wise, the training is hard core from the start.

ah mus' be thinkin' of the more 'zen' style martial arts

Sorry to hear you are feeling grotty rhonda, how miserable , it does sound like you have been putting yourself through a lot. Focus on resting and coming back stronger . I would be fascinated to hear how you find the carb cycling and what the outcome is. Do you feel that you want/need to lose weight, or just reduce fat %?

Loves, yep, I think it would (will, for me) take years of commitment and practice to get good at a martial art but that doesn't make the class less of a workout. I find the hour I do there much tougher than an hour's swimming or running for example. As rhonda says, lots of it is effectively interval training, but I can only speak for the classes I go to

Gene, how was your run? Your gym doesn't sound so great, must be quite frustrating. Why do you need to focus on endurance btw [nosey]?

my point was more that martial arts require more commitment and dedication than types of fitness training which require less skill.
I'm thinking it probably takes several years to become truly proficient @ a martial art, where as if you use the cv equipment in a gym you can pretty much get on and go

Hi everyone, glad to hear you are feeling more enthused Gene. I am sure you'll feel even better after your run. I know what you mean about fitting in workouts you have to commit to such as martial arts, one of the great things about running or getting to the gym is its flexibility time wise. I am lucky to have found sessions that mostly work for me. I have to disagree on martial arts not being best for keeping in shape though, loves. The kickboxing classes I do are usually a killer workout, combining technique and a bit of self defence with lots of punching and kicking pads/bags alongside bursts of push ups, crunches and star jumps touching the floor and shuttle runs. I guess it depends which discipline you go for though, I would imagine some martial arts focus purely on technique which wouldn't necessarily improve your fitness much.

So Rhonda, are you going to share your vital stats before and after the carb cycling? It would be great to know how effective it is.

I can see the benefits of martial arts but I do think it takes alot of time, commitment and dedication to reach any level of proficiency.
If your main goal is to stay in shape and time is limmted then it may not be the most efficient option.

Very disappointing when your gym doesnt have good kit, mine is pretty good but wouldnt it be a dream to train in one of those huge gym with rows and rows of all every piece of equipment there is.

oh well

I've just bought another pair of press up handles (gave the last pair away) they make press ups harder but more effective and easier on the wrists, worth trying:)

Thanks for the kick everyone, will definitely make it to the gym tomorrow, no time today but do have a run planned for this evening. I have cut sugar out of my diet for the last couple of days and it has made such a difference to how I feel.

I have New Rules for Abs and got halfway through it last year but my gym has so little equipment (eg no barbell, no weight plates, kettlebells, steps) that I ended up having to adapt the routine until it was unrecognisable. I have still been following the ab progression side of things, putting those at the beginning of my other workouts.

I would love to try a martial art or something but the time's that I can workout changes each week so there's nothing I can really commit to. I will get back to the weights, this is the first time in 18 months where I have struggled to get back into it, normally I cannot wait.

I think it's handy to have some little tricks that you can use to keep yourself motivated, I dont have any problems with strength training (find it harder not to do it than to do it iyswim)
but cardio can be a bit torturous so I like to mix it up a bit, I also find it handy to use a pedometer and make sure I get 10,000 steps per day

How strange that lots of us seem to be going through a patch of low enthusiasm...maybe it's the time of year?

I still didn't feel like the gym this morning so went for a run instead. It was blimmin freezing but great to be outside having things to look at. First time ive run outside for a few weeks. I'm not a natural runner at all, certainly not my favourite exercise, but for endorphins afterwards and calorie burn, it's pretty hard to beat. I came back vowing to try and squeeze a run in once a week now that the weather is (sort of) improving. Kickboxing tomorrow and gym on Friday I think.

Gene, lovesineffable is right about the longer you leave it the harder it gets. Get off your bum and do something...anything! You know it's true -. Is there a new sport you could maybe try, to mix it up a bit and refire your enthusiasm? When I started kickboxing it changed my (then) slightly jaded attitude to weights and cardio, made it so the latter were helping to improve my kickboxing, rather than just for the physical changes they prompt IYSWIM?

I quite often save my fave podcasts to listen to in the gym..might help? :)

not really sure what to suggest GeneC, except just go there for gosh sakes
the longer you leave it the harder it gets!

I have coming seeking inspiration and motivation please... I have done nearly nothing for the last few weeks. I wasn't well for a couple of them but have no excuses for my laziness now and am struggling to get back to the gym. It doesn't help that I have to switch to lower weights/high reps for the next few months either as I have to concentrate more on endurance and running until June. Any tips or suggestions for a program to follow? I was going to go back to stage 1 of the New rules, but have done that twice now and really want something different to try. It is times like this when I wish I had a training partner to help come and kick my arse out of the kitchen and back into the gym.

Rhonda I tried carb cycling last year. It was really effective and I was probably the leanest I've ever been (compared with where I am now after 3 weeks of comfort eating on the sofa that's not hard!). I did it slightly differently to how you described, I split the week into low, medium and high carb days: 2 high, 3 medium, 2 low. High carb was always on a training day, and the majority of carbs would be consumed pre and post workout to get the most out of them. I would still (try to) stay away from sugar, white flour, but would eat whole grain bread and pasta. Carbs on medium days would come from fruit and and potatoes etc. Low carb days I stuck to basically green veg (apart from peas).

Whilst it was effective I found that when I had PMT I just dived head first into the nearest cake and didn't surface for a few days, so the gains, or rather my leanness, was very short lived. It did teach me a lot about how my body responds to different foods though. I find that wheat has the same effect as sugar, it just makes me feel totally lethargic. Knowing this however does not seem to make it any easier to stay away from though unfortunately

Ha, you sound exactly like me, I keep thinking I must have pms but it's a bit early...I am also a bit spotty and am having a sudden flare of psoriasis, which hasn't been a problem since before first pg....usually stress related but nothing especially stressful going on for me compared to usual. I am going to address the sugar consumption, it is EVIL! Interestingly, I gave up sugar in my coffee at new year, which I had no problem with, but I seem to be overcompensating with cakes and biscuits/chocolate that I could honestly take or leave before, maybe I should go back to my one sweet coffee a day and kill the cravings.

I will be back in the gym tomorrow, bouncy or not, you are right about feeling proud afterwards. Yesterday was a very encouraging first too, there were two other women who put in admittedly brief appearances in the free weights section but whilst there they both lifted proper weights - hurrah!

Hi Rhonda I am feeling the same at the moment, dragged myself through usual gym routine yesterday but felt tired from start to finish, even after two days rest (if crazy weekend with houseful of kids counts as rest .) Felt really tired and achy this morning, so much so that I couldn't even face kickboxing, which I usually love. Don't know why I'm feeling like this, the only things I can think of is either it was giving blood the other week (low iron levels) or over training or not eating enough protein/right stuff after a workout . I am also eating far too much sugar, which isn't like me, possibly also a contributor? Why do you think you are feeling jaded, is your programme maybe a touch too demanding alongside the rest of your life?

Have never heard of carb cycling, is it riding your bike whilst eating pasta ?