Have to give this little timer a shout out again ! LOL It is awesome.

Today I went to the gym, and I did 3 tabatas …

1. 10.5 mph 1% incline

2. 15% incline 5 mph

3. 12 lb wall balls

Before doing the tabatas on the treadmill, I ran 2 miles, I got totally bored going at the same speed so I decided to get the tabata sprints in. After doing that and the incline tabata I thought I was going to die. Of course me being me, I had to take the sprints up to a super fast pace, no point doing it half hearted !

I could hear the beep over my ipod, which is cool, not sure if the beeping was annoying the people around me, but whatever, I was there to WORK !

I basically worked out for 12 minutes, but if you take the 10 second rest period off its 8 minutes.

8 minutes of working my butt off and I am out of there !

Tomorrow I have loads on so I will be working out at home, my plan is to take my kettlebells over to the green space by me and get some interval training in, I do not need to do tabatas every time so I’m thinking of 1 minutes circuits.

I spent longer stretching after my workout that the actual working out. All too often people miss this important aspect out of their training routine and then they wonder why they are getting injured and super sore.

Each time you work out it should ALWAYS have a warm up and cooldown and stretching. Depending on your workout either your strength training or cardio training in the middle.

Well Ive had my Gymboss Interval Timer for a few days now, have to say I love it.

It is simple to use, and has a clip on the back so you can clip it onto your workout clothes. This week I have used it to perform tabatas as well as circuit training.

The beep is loud enough to hear over my ipod, so I still get to listen to my music working out. My girls commented that they could hear it beeping when I was outside and they were in the house ! (the patio doors were open though)

I was thinking about what intervals I could use this for, you can set it to run with 2 different times, and up to 99 sets, so there are endless possibilities.

1. Tababtas (work 20 secs rest 10 secs repeat x 8 )

2. Circuits - you can programme the timer to whatever you like, I set it to 1 minute and 20 sets. I just went from 1 exercise to the next no rest.

3. We run a Martial Arts school, and they do sparring, so we can use it for the 3 minute rounds with 1 minute rest for 5 sets. (Dont think they will like us for this one) Whats great is that once you get the timer set up, and press start you dont have to touch it again, great if you have your bag gloves on.

4. I was thinking about my friend who is learning to run, well, she can set it to run for a couple of minutes and then it can beep for the walking phase.

5. Finally I will be able to run my intervals outside, I always avoided it as I hated having to look at the stopwatch. With this after the warm up, I can press start and then sprint for a minute and then recover for 3-4 minutes.

This tiny piece of equipment really has endless possibilities, it really was the best $20 I have spent in a long while.

It is so versatile, as you can programme it so many ways.

If any of you already use it, let me know some of your workouts.

WOOT

Im getting there, had a much better weekend, still no answers to where we will be living, but have decided what will be will be and no point getting more down about it.

I ran a 5km at the gym this morning, it felt good, I am really thinking about entering some 5km races this year, I need to find a website that has a list of when and where.

Also my Gymboss timer came today, I cannot wait to use it tomorrow. Not sure wether to go with a tabata workout or go for a 5 exercise x 1 minute each for 5 rounds. I am excited to use it and get my kettlebell training back up to speed.

I will blog tomorrow ! :0p

I have been neglecting everything.  These past 6 weeks have been the worst of this year (life).  Not sure I even want to type out everything, as it is so hard to believe.   All I want to say now, is that its time to stop the pity party, find a new place to live, finish my personal training exam and MOVE FORWARD.

Fingers crossed that we manage to find a place that is close to where we live now, I have just got my both of my girls into the same school for the new school year, and I do not want to change that, also we need to live near to the Martial Art business that we run.  Mal has such little time at home at the moment that if we live further away he will not be able to come home to eat before leaving to teach, so that will suck.

I am sure in the next few months I will be able to understand why this happened, and realise that it was for the best, but at the moment I am having a hard time understanding it.

My weight has dropped to 129lbs, the lowest was 125lbs, but I have not been eating so once my appetite is back, im sure that I will be back to 131-133 again.  I have waited so long to break the 130lbs, and it being from this situation does not give me cause to celebrate.

I need to find my focus again, and someone to give me a kick up the butt!  I brought my kettlebells home from the Dojo so I will pick them up a few times a day.  I am planning on taking them to my daughters soccer practice and using the time that shes there to get some practice in.  I really want to get good at the hand to hand exercises.

This week I bought the gymboss timer, FINALLY ! LOL You can set it to run at different intervals, it will beep and/or vibrate so its perfect to clip onto your gym clothes when you are outside.  I have many different workouts that call for 1 minute sets and it is really hard to track the time when you are trying to do the exercises.  Plus think of all the tabatas you can do !!!

My goal for the next week is to make sure I get blogging again, my poor blog is neglected and I have some great material that I want to share.  I need to get back to eating my normal diet again, and not surviving on 3 coffees a day and little else. I will get back into my regular exercise routine.

There’s no doubt about the importance of regular and sound sleep for optimum health.

One of the benefits of regular exercise is the fact that it also helps to encourage better sleep patterns.

By exercising there are benefits such as a reduction in stress levels that will also help you to relax more easily and this in turn will help you to sleep better.

You should not however exercise just before going to bed as the stimulation that you get from exercise can hinder your chance of going to sleep.

The best times to exercise are in the morning or early afternoon.

This is not always convenient and many people are unable to exercise any time earlier than after work. If this is the case then it is still best to exercise as early as possible and allow a little to unwind and relax before retiring for the night.

As your sleep patterns become more regular from the exercise your energy levels will increase from the additional sleep and this in turn will allow you to exercise more often and for longer periods. You should aim to go to sleep and wake at the same time every day, yes this means on the weekend too :0)  Once you have done this for a while you will start to feel sleepy at the same time every day and you will also waken naturally every morning without the need for an alarm clock, you will also waken with lots more energy.

With exercise and sleep complimenting one another you can make quite rapid gains in fitness and overall health provided you exercise consistently.

If you don’t focus on getting good sleep, then there is a possibility you could wind up over training if you are exercising intensively.  Your body needs time to heal and repair and the majority of this is done when you are sleeping.

Give your body the rest that it deserves.

Just thought that I would let you know that I have made a Fitness Chick Facebook Page, so if you are over on Facebook, please check me out.

It is one of my goals to get more videos on here to show you what I do when working out, and also show you all that you do not need fancy equipment or  gym.

Fitness Chick Facebook Page

I hope one day I can make a kettlebell video like this.

Its very cool !!

I live in a city where just lately there have been many muggings and crimes against women. I have been looking around the net today and found this awesome e book. I just had to share it with you.

The best part is its FREE!!!!

I believe its a MUST to download it, the information in it is practical and easy to read and understand.

Heres the link

http://www.fightwize-self-defense.com/Free-Book.html

I hope you find it as helpful as i did!