End of week 2 progress report

So after my setback when I hurt myself in the gym (I REALLY should know better, but there we have it), I have taken a bit of a rest and my workout week ran as follows:

Thur - cardio & core workout with 6 KG medicine ball
Fri - rest
Sat - 30 mins cardio intervals
Sun - spot of corrective work on my runner's feet
Mon - 46 mins walk & Gym - weights (hurty ones) and bodu-weight resistance training
Tue - rest
Wed - rest

And here I am:

I know it's a bit dark - I didn't think that one through, sorry. But as you can see - there's a definite improvement from the post booze shot and perhaps even a slight bit of trimming round the sides since last Thursday. Since my workout week was interrupted by my stupidity, I had to ensure my diet was right:

Thur: High protien, High saturated fat, 2.5 litres of water, 1 black coffee
Fri: All good until dinner and you've all seen the picture after that night! Dessert and booze...
Sat: Croissant, Parma Ham, Lamb kofta, carrots (raw) Sri Lankan curry. 1.5 litres of water, 1 black coffee
Sun: Bacon croissant, Roast Beef with all the trimmings, Omelette, Chorizo, Ryevita, 1 black coffee, green tea, 2 litres of water
Mon: parma Ham, Salad with beef, chicken, avocado and cucumber, Chicken breast and raw veg, 1 black coffeee, green tea, 2 litres of water
Tue & Wed - high protien high saturated fat cooked breakfasts, organic peanut butter and banana on ryevita, meat and veg dinner, 2 litres of water, green tea.

YUM! :)

Be good to yourself

Good Morning!

After my last heavy weights session in the Gym, I realised I may have overdone it with lifting over my head. I have held tension in my upper traps and across my scapula for some time, but having seen a FANTASTIC Osteopath - Jason Harmer (look no further if you need one), I got a bit cocky and reckless!

Anyway, I can fix it - it just takes time and of course a bit of pain (nothing I can't handle you understand... ;) SO! This post is to introduce you to the importance of taking care of yourself between workouts! You can't continue with your regime if you have tightness restricting functional movement or you may cause yourself a mischief. Now! I have 3 regular friends to help me out in these situations:

1) Mr Foam Roller
2) Miss Tennis Ball
3) Lord Cricket Ball

They all hurt but it's a great DIY deep tissue massage (the main problem is getting round the idea of inflicting the pain on yourself - somehow it doesn't seem right!). So here I am, inflicting pain on myself:

I'm against a wall, applying pressure to an affected area through leaning into a tennis ball. Simple!... ouch. For me, this has to be done on my calf muscles, shoulders, back, chest, thighs.... Back soon with news of my progress... 

Introducing heavy weights...

Started my weight training today. I had to mix it up with some body-weight resistance stuff just to keep me interested: standing around grunting surrounded by the weight-bods in the gym ain't no party! However, it's important I get going with it if I'm going to see some results!

Today, I were mostly using:

Deadlifts and squats, plus some upper body stuff on the cables. Hoping to get some muscle definition in my arms and back too. Watch this space!

Right, better eat something protein rich, see ya!

Quick note:

Quick one to clear up confusion (for the pedantic among us...Chris...) I am obviously not turning actual fat into muscle. When I talk about 'conversion' I mean my body - I will be 'converting' a percentage of my body from fat to muscle through loss of fat and gain of muscle. Not transference of one to another... obviously... OK! On with it then :)

After I posted that picture of me this morning (after the night before) I had a fatty proteiny breakfast, drank 1.5 litres of water and hit the gym. I then caught my sweaty face in the mirror and had to take a picture to show you - THERE'S A VEIN POPPING OUT OF MY HEAD! Hangover workouts - not pretty...

I interrupt this progress with news of sugar-evils!

The idea I originally had was to chart my progress weekly with photos showing my improvements! However, I've taken another picture prematurely (you're not supposed to get an update til thur) however, I went out celebrating with my fella last night and we drank alcohol and ate dessert. Having not yet had the chance to rehydrate, I want to show you the difference sugar makes to muscle definition - scroll down to my previous picture from thurs and then look at this one. I know it's nothing dramatic but there's definitely a softer look around my middle today - water retention! So keep hydrated and lay off the booze and sugar people ;)

Blog Virgin starts with a Bang (heehee)

Hi all!


I have just started an eating and exercise plan to convert some of my body fat into lean mean muscle! I want to feel fitter and better than I ever have and to look fab on my dream holiday in Thailand and on my 30th Birthday (which I will be facing when I return)!


What with being a Personal Trainer and all, I am pretty confident that I know how to achieve this. So confident in fact, that I am going to share the whole process with you! With pictures! (Eeek).


Now! You will notice that at no point will I mention my weight - that is because I am not trying to lose weight - this is a body fat to muscle conversion process and if anything, I will put on weight, which I am down with. 


So, I definitely should have taken a picture before I started... but I didn't. Here's me after week 1.

Because my workout regime began on a thursday my weeks will run thur to wed to here's last week's workouts:

Thur: Gym - body weight circuits

Fri: Boxing

Sat: rest

Sun: rest

Mon: Long hilly walk

Tue: Gym - Cardio and body weight resistance 

Wed: Gym - Cardio and body weight circuit


Food: diet in the last week was a bit off as I slipped up and ate chocolate on 2 days and on the friday I took my friend out for her 30th and we got very drunk, and i had a little bit of bread one day... but other than that, lots of cooked breakfasts (no toast), omelettes, loads of vegetables (raw or close to), lots of meat! Hardly any bread, no pasta and no sugar apart from the aforementioned chocolate... oh and loads of water! At least 2 litres a day, usually more.