Happy New Year to all of my readers. Luckily I am coming out of my post-festive period depression. Most people struggle with the few weeks after Christmas as its so hard to get back to normal. Its been a few weeks of fun and down time with family and friends with lots of food and drink. Then all of a sudden you have to go back to work... what's that about? Why cant the holidays last forever? No, I don't mean that. I actually love January after I've shaken off my bad mood. I write myself a list of goals I aim to achieve by the end of the year as I find this way more productive than making resolutions that I will give up on within a few weeks. Its also really good to sit down and actually look at what I've achieved and what goals I have for the new year.
One thing on my list was to make more of an effort to keep a good diet. Its never been bad but I know it needed to be higher in protein with as much exercise as I do in a day. For my fitness goals a healthy diet is essential and I don't think people realise how important it is. I am not cutting carbs or anything like that, I don't eat bread, pasta or potato anyway so I'm sticking with rice, sweet potato and quinoa as cutting out carbs isn't an option for the intense work outs I do, I would pass out. I believe the secret to a good diet is food prep, food prep and more food prep. I live my life in Tupperware and I love it. I prepare my meals for the week and store it all in the fridge ready to just pop in my bag with some healthy snacks of nuts and two pieces of fruit. I also have a protein bar to have before the gym but then I'm never tempted to snack on rubbish to get my fix of sugar. I do have a soft spot for chocolate but don't we all? I just eat it as a real treat now.
I've been back in the gym as soon as I got over my Christmas illness (the flu which I got on Boxing Day). It feels so good to be back in routine but another thing on my list was to mix it up more and try new things. On Saturday morning I headed down to Virgin Active Canary Riverside to train with my friend and fellow Virgin Active employee, Nick. He's got a lot of knowledge in fitness and nutrition so although it was nice to catch up I also used him to fire my questions at to get some good advise.
He had put together our workout for the day and after some foam rolling and stretching to warm up we hit the squat rack. We started with front squats (amazing for quads and core) which is great for me as I squat a lot but practically never front squat so it hit all new muscles in my legs. We did 5 heavy reps then did one leg squats into a box jump on the same leg, 4 reps on each leg and that really tests your strength and balance. After 3 rounds of that my legs certainly needed a rest.
We then moved to pull ups... my worst nightmare! I hate pull ups, mainly because I find them really hard. We did 6 pull ups straight into 6 dips and rest while the other had a go, again we did 3 sets. Its the perfect example of why I need to mix it up a bit. I know I have a strong back and can deadlift and clean and press a very good weight but pull ups just kill me. Its a goal of mine to be able to complete those sets without any help and I know I will do it.
After some work on chest and core we called it a day and decided the Jacuzzi and steam room were needed. Gradually throughout the day on Sunday I found it harder and harder to walk which everybody knows is a good sign. I'm going to commit to training in different ways and since I work at a gym with so many people to help me out I really have no excuse.
My fitness world is moving forwards and I have a few exciting things lined up but you will hear about them in my blog posts in the near future. I cant wait though.
I would love to hear about everybody else's goals for 2015, hopefully you find the motivation to complete everything on your list. Here's to a great year!
Sarah Victoria
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