Ask Steph

So Maxine and I are now firm friends , meeting up twice weekly to put me through my strength training paces. And my favourite exercise of the lot is the spider crawl. Hook yourself up to the cable weights machine with a harness right at ground level. Then get on your hands and feet, and crawl forward with opposite hands and feet until you can't go forward anymore ; and then come back in the same way. Sounds weird, and like a bit of contraption, and it is. With some weight attached though, it's damn near impossible to move without working your core ; and it's exactly the same motion you'd make if you were doing bicycle crunches .... just a whole lot more fun. I am so loving my training time with Maxine, that I forget to come home and blog about how much I hate exercise ... Although to be fair the lack of blog posts could be more indicative of my 12 hour days and 7 day work weeks .... possibly. Anyway - back to the point, which is I have lasted since March...

So I never made it to that Body Balance class I was talking about the other day. But that's fine - because I skipped it for a very good reason. I went to a Personal Training session. Lovely young chap called Cory took me for my first 'KickStart Session'. I must be honest , I don't think he's going to have an easy time with me. I have asthma, a family history of cholesterol, I'm currently on 2 different types of medication, I bruise easily , I get injured  easily , I get bored easily, I loathe just about every possible type of physical activity -except yoga ( and possibly now Pilates as well)  . My husband also says I have an attitude ( he's not wrong , it comes out when I'm severely tired or grumpy, or sore) . Oh yes, and I told Cory I want to lose 10 kilos over the next 3 months. 10 kilos. 3 Months. That's what I said. *Smack palm to head* DOH!  It's moments like those that make me wish I had some control over my brain and my mouth. Bec...

Pilates. That awesome mind-body-spirit exercise,  that conjures up images of serene beauties balanced oh so elegantly and effortlessly on big blue balls . People wandering around with headbands and flowers and perfect posture,  bending and contorting like yoga - but more hardcore,  in that special Zen kind of way. Meh -- not so much hey .... I just did a Pilates class - at a brand new gym , that I joined a week ago. My first Pilates class as a matter of fact. I love yoga. I don't get to do it as often as I'd like at the old gym ( they had 1 class a week, which I couldn't always get to because of work) ,  so when this new gym opened up with promises of Yoga, Pilates and the combo special "Body Balance" at least 7 different times a week - that was me , hooked. Today was the first Pilates class ever, for both me, and for this particular gym. I think it went well for the gym. I'll let you know how it went for me,  when my muscles start talking to me a...