As I write this blog, I feel an undeniable sense of smugness. It’s a Sunday which used to mean a lie-in, often while nursing a hangover, a big bowl of delicious/rubbish junk food and the most exercise I’d get in would be the walk from the kettle to my sofa and back again – maybe with a stop off at the fridge!
But I have just returned from the gym, after completing a full month of a consistent (very much the key word here!) exercise program called “Strong Lifts”. Of course I’ve joined gyms in the past; I’ve done ‘Legs, Bums & Tums’, ‘Pump It!’ and ‘Circuit training’ with as much enthusiasm as I could muster, I’ve ran until my t-shirt stuck to me and my face was red and miserable and I’ve taken my place on the rowing machine or lat pull machine, trying not to catch anyone’s eye and reveal that I don’t have a clue what I’m doing or what technique/weight I should be using.
But it’s never lasted. Not surprisingly really as I dreaded going from the very beginning and didn’t know what I was doing so never saw any results. I was embarrassed to even take up space at the gym, thinking that people were watching my thighs wobble, my arms strain and scoffing at the “effort level” on my running machine. All of this was of course in my head – almost every single person in a gym is in their own little world thinking about the next set, or getting through the next 20 minutes as best as they can.
It wasn’t just the gym that I’ve tried. Honestly, I thought running would be the thing for me – I thought it might help me get out of my head and I couldn’t wait to reach this so-called runners high. I never got there, partly due to the fact that I nearly throw up every time I get about 15 minutes into a jog and partly due to the fact that my clumsiness knows no bounds. Falls, trips, bruised knees and twisted ankles… It was time to face the fact that running was not for me.
Zumba – surely this one would work? After all, I love dancing. I feel it in my very soul. And I’ve actually taken classes in Costa Rica, moving to the latin beat and feeling very much as home. But every class I’ve found in the UK seems to take the “exercise” part a bit too seriously… I just want to move to the music, not perform some complicated move over and over again and jump to the left only to find the rest of the room have jumped to the right. If you’ve ever found yourself somehow facing an entire room of sweaty women because you turned the wrong way at the chorus, you will know why I haven’t returned.
But I had an epiphany recently, just after moving to Liverpool. Liverpool is a wonderful city – if you haven’t visited, you really should. One of the reasons being its plethora of great restaurants, bars, cafes, delis… the list goes on. I knew that, to avoid becoming the size of a house, a diet alone wasn’t going to cut it – mainly because my willpower is rubbish but mostly because I LOVE FOOD. I’m not going to turn down brunch, cocktails, Indian buffets, Chinese takeaways or fresh pasta at a little Italian place. I want street food, juices, milkshakes, deserts and grills. I needed to find another way to look after my body – after all, it’s the tool I need to nurture to build the life I want.
So I did some research. How could I spend as little time exercising with the best results? I want to be fit, but I don’t want to spend hours a day sweating away at the gym. I’m a busy women, with projects to manage and a business to grow. My goal is always to work smarter, not harder, and I felt that surely this could be applied to exercise too. And that’s when I found it – compound exercises! These beauties are any exercises that work multiple muscle groups at the same time like a squat which works your the quadriceps, glutes, and calves all at once! They promise myriad of benefits including burning more calories, gaining muscle mass and improving strength, coordination and flexibility.
And so began my journey of strength training. Recommended consistently online, I chose to try out the StrongLifts 5×5 strength training program which comes as both an Apple and Android app. It focuses on just two workouts:
Workout A: Squat, Bench Press, Barbell Row
Workout B: Squat, Overhead Press, Deadlift
And has the very simple rules of three workouts per week, never training two days in a row and alternating workout A and B each time you train. The ap tells you what exercises you do that day, and also what weights to do each time. So far, so simple.
Today marks one whole month of doing the above program and I couldn’t be prouder. Never in my life have I stuck to working out three times a week consistently – I even used the gym during my recent trip to Ireland! Of course it’s hard going, but I feel such a sense of pride every time I work out and seeing the changes in my body. The biggest changes have been mindset however – my goal is now to be strong, not skinny, and I’m so much less focused on what the scales say. It’s also had the effect of me thinking more about nurturing my body with the food I eat, rather than just what tastes good.
I will keep you updated on my gym journey, but I just wanted to get this out there to tell any girls who think they aren’t exercise people – believe me, I’ve been there – that perhaps they just haven’t found the exercise for them yet! Also… I may be a little hungover. Old habits die hard!
