Enjoyable training....

Hey peeps!!

I never thought I would say this but I am loving training!!

GAA training this year is so enjoyable. Every Monday we do

a strength and conditioning class in Platinum Gym Balbriggan with

one of their trainers Sinead! She is fab a she comes from a GAA background she knows exactly

the type of training we need.

on Monday she changed it up again, it was another level if I'm honest.

We did the below:

1. Gobblet squats with 10kg kettlebell

2.Single arm swings 5kg weights

3.Lunges

4.Side lunges

5. Alternating arm plank

6.Mountain climbers

7.T push-ups

8.Russian twist lunge

9.Bent over row with two 5kg weights

10.Squat with over head kettlebell lift

We went through the circuit starting from the top

each exercise was 1 min long adding the next exercise on each time.

So it went like so:

Exercise 1 for one minute ,then 20 second break

Exercise 1 and straight into 2, 20 second break

1,2,3 then break

and so on adding one exercise after each break and starting at number one each time.

It was tough but I loved it.

Our finisher was the up-right plank.

The whole team paired up and faced each other in two lines.

We had to move into the middle tip our partners hand and move back while staying

in the upright plank position. 10 tips in the middle was the aim. 

I am going to join Iornworx Gym tomorrow I love it down

there!

Anyway time for me to sleep I promise i'll post more

about my training and food over the coming days.

Chow for now

Annie

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One bad week...

Hi Peeps!

I hope you all had a great weekend!

The Dubs sure did! Three wins this weekend with Dublin v Kerry senior footballers, Dublin v Wexford in the hurling and the Dublin ladies beating the kingdom also.

I was in Croke park the weekend to support the boys in blue.

So as you know I have not updated the blog in about a week. So sorry!

I'm not going to lie sticking to plan when I was sick did not exactly happen. All I wanted was energy and I found myself not being as strict with my food choices.

It's also exactly a week since I did any training, I'm better now as it was just a head cold but I didn't want to risk it getting worse and going down into my chest. Hense why I didn't workout.

So today I am back on track. I also have my strength and conditioning class 

with O'Dwyers ladies. I am dreading it as tonight I will see and feel the effects of no training 

last week. I will more than likely be even sorer than usual tomorrow.

Chow for now

Annie

x

The weekend and the week ahead....

Happy Sunday peeps!!

I don't have much to report about the weekend. I can't say I was overly good but I was not to

bold.

Saturday morning I had a one to one session with my

personal trainer Keith. He

really made me work.

My warm-up consisted of a ten minute 

HIIT session on the treadmill ranging between speeds of 5.6 

and 9. I had never been over 8 before on a treadmill.,

This got my heart rate up and down which is great for 

burning fat. 

We then went into my circuits.

 Starting with arms then shoulders and then onto legs.

We then went into 16 reps of each 4 rounds.

Pec deck
Chest fly
Chest press angled

Lateral pull down
Overhead dumbbell punches
Chest fly punch outs

Chest fly extensions
Shoulder press
Dumbell elbow lifts

Leg extensions
Leg Press
Walking Lunges

 It was a really good one hour session and the sweat 

was running off me which was great.

The finisher was ten minutes on the cross trainer.

Doing bursts of speed and bringing it back down to a moderate speed to keep the metabolism up through out the day. I was wreaked!

Myself  before my PT session in my pennys gear.

The week ahead will be hard.

I shall be training five days. four of them being in a row.

Monday - Thursday and then Saturday morning.

Monday - Strength and Conditioning session with my GAA team.

Tuesday - PT session

Wednesday - Pitch training with my GAA team

Thursday - PT session

Saturday - PT session

I will try my best to get out for a 3-5 km run one other day but if I don't 

I won't be too worries as its my first week training this full on in one week.

I am really hoping I start to see a difference soon in my body. I know

it can take some time as you look at yourself everyday...

This is a short post today as I have not really done much else! I did
however master the art of poached eggs!
The secret is add a small bit of white vinegar to your water.
Bring it to a gentle simmer.
stir the water to get a gentle whirlpool.
Crack your egg into a small cup so you
can pour your egg whites first into your pot.
Leave for 3 minutes, they will be perfect!

My poached eggs this morning.

 PS A Big Happy Birthday to Dara!!


Chow for now
Annie
x

Blue Monday and hump day.....

Hey Peeps!

Happy hump day! Boy oh boy am I glad today I took a rest day.  I called for a catch up and a walk with my best friend Andy after work on Monday. He made me dinner which was gorgeous and also healthy. We did a 4/5km brisk walk. After our walk we went into Penny's as I wanted to check out the gym gear.  OMG in love!!!  The stuff they have is Fab roll on payday so I can get more. I bought two tops and two pair of cropped workout leggings in black and pink.

Pennys gym gear

I had my first strength and conditioning class with the girls from my gaa team in Platinum  Gym Balbriggan. It was an intense hour with our trainer who will be with us for the next eight weeks, Sinead.  We did two circuits of ten exercises four times and then an abs blast for the finisher.  I can honestly say I have never sweat like I did on Monday ever in my life.  You'd swear I got caught in a heavy rain shower, only for the fogged up glasses and tomato red face that gave it away U clearly had done some physical workout.  Not only was this class physical but it was mental, a few times I felt like giving up but I had to overcome this and power through which takes a hell of a lot when you can feel how tired your body is.

The class included the following:

Dead-lift 15kg

Squats

Wall sit

High knees

Power step knees

Plank 

Push ups

Mountain climbers

High plank alternating arms up/down on step

Lunge 

Squat jumps

Jumping jacks

Bridge 

Russian floating crunch 

Sit-ups with bar bell

I think there was more....  Just not coming to mind.

Food wise on Monday I had:

Breakfast - 3 Eggs 

Lunch - Chicken breast,salad and cous cous 

Dinner - Turkey stir-fry and veg with noodles.

 I also had 4ltrs of water.

So that was my blue Monday and as you can see it was not very blue apart from maybe my face during that Class gasping for a breath.

Tuesday 

Well the legs were a tad sore after the previous night's class but nothing major. I had another personal session with Keith today.  It was harder than usual because my muscles were exhausted. I found near the end of the class I was not able to lift a 10kg bar bell.  Where the week before I was lifting 25kg! 

We had a circuit training class this evening involving lots of legs and arm work. 

No class is ever the same with Keith which is what I love about training with him.

Warm up x2

Jumping jacks

High knees

Heel kicks

Squats

We then went into our first circuit and did this 3 times. 

1 leg box jump with 10kg Weight

10kg kettle bell swing

25kg deadlift

Trx squats

Bicep curl 10kg barbell

5kg Dumbbell boxing

Then we went into 30/40 seconds of

1 leg squat jumps three rounds.

Second circuit 3 rounds

10kg Kettle-bell lift with squat

Trx pull ups 

5kg dumbbell boxing over head 

10kg weight chest push

Finisher all arms with 5kg dumbbells x3

Arm extensions arms by sides

Over head alternating arm punch

I was done! 

Which brings us to today my rest day. A happy Annie!!

My food today was:

Breakfast - 3 eggs scrambled

Lunch -  2 chicken breast with salad and a bridal and chickpea soup. 

Dinner - steak, carrots, cabbage, sprouts

3ltrs of water today

1 coffee 

1 tea

That's all for now folks.

My bed is calling chow for now. 

Annie Mac

XxX

YAY its the weekend!

We made it peeps!

It's finally the weekend.

What a week its been.

Since my last post on Thursday I have done two more PT sessions.

I am loving it. I have more energy, I am in a great mood ll of the time so much so

my niece Leanne thought I was hiding something on Thursday and was little freaked out 

by my mood. It was quite funny to see her paranoid.

Honestly Leanne I am just happy! LOL

So Thursday session was brilliant here is what we did:

Warm-up: Cross trainer 2 minutes fast pace

All exercises were reps of 12, 4 times.

 Arms: 

Pec deck 

Arm press

Triceps push down

Biceps pull down

Bench (chair) lifts

Weighted row

Lateral pull down

Bicept curls X15 four times 10kg barbell

Shoulders:

Shoulder press

Lateral raises 2.5kg weights

Legs:

Leg extension 40kg Works the hamstrings, quads and calves.

Seated leg press 50kg works the Quads, hamstrings, glutes and lower back.

Food wise on Thursday I had the below:

Breakfast:

2 scrambled eggs.

Lunch:

Chicken breast, turnip, sweetcorn, peas and baby potatoes.

Dinner:

2 salmon fillets with lettuce, tomatoes, gherkin, peppers and onion

with burger in a bowl sauce.

Water intake:

3ltrs

2 skinny fit tea

Snacks: mixed nuts

Friday I has a rest day but food diary is below:

Breakfast:

Special K - not very good but I was in a rush.

Lunch:

Cod, baked potato, sweetcorn

Dinner:

Myself and the other half went out for dinner this evening. 

We went to our local Italian Liberos restaurant.

It was so nice to get out for some nice food cooked by someone else.

I had Crab Claws for starter they were fantastic!

Main I had the chicken supreme which consisted of  Char-grilled chicken 

breast with mash and broccoli. It was divine.

I wold highly recommend Libros for a meal for anyone in

Balbriggan it is right on our door step and a really nice /relaxed restaurant.

Support local :) 

Water intake:

2ltrs and 

2 skinny fit tea

Saturday

Another PT session at 7:30am my god it was cold getting out of bed!

We did a HIIT session this morning.

Gym this morning

Dead lift 25kg

Bicep pull down in squat position

dumb bell open arm hug 5kg

Jump squats with trx straps

Bicep curls with trx straps

Barbel upright row 10kg

lunges with trx straps

Kettlebell swing 10g

We did this circuit 3 times.

Waves with large heavy rope

mountain climbers

mountain climber cross body

We did this circuit 3 times.

floating ab crunches legs and arms

ab crunches

We did this circuit 3 times.

What is HIIT?

High-intensity interval training (HIIT), is a form of interval training, an exercise strategy alternating short periods of intense anaerobic exercise with less-intense recovery periods. HIIT is a form of cardiovascular exercise. Usual HIIT sessions may vary from 4–40 minutes. The short, intense workouts provide improved athletic capacity and condition, improved metabolism, and improved fat burning. This is why I love it. You can really feel the burn and feel how hard your body is working. Not only is your body working but so is your mind, working on your technique is so important. A good technique is crucial for your body to avoid injury.

So after this intense workout I went home and had

breakfast which was eggs scrambled.

I has a shower then chilled for a while.

a 12:30 I went to the local community center where

myself and the GAA team were put through a number of speed and agility tests to set an

 individual baseline performance measurement. 

I won't go into detail as to what we done but I really enjoyed it. In six to eight weeks time we will do it again to see if we have improved our fitness.

needless to say my body is so tired now so I don't plan on doing a hell of a lot 

for the rest of the day.

Well that's me for now.

I hope you all have a fab weekend ;)

Chow for now

Annie

x

Happy hump day!

Hey Peeps!

Happy hump day :)

Were nearly there the weekend is in sight!

Tonight I was joined by two of my friends

Carla & Gráinne for a 25 minute workout.

We did a High intensity interval training session.

Here is what we did:

Jumping Jacks 

Squats with 5kg kettlebell

Chair dips

Plank

Running on the spot

Crunches

Mountain Climbers

Kettlebell swing

Pushups

wallsit/lunges/burpees/inchworm push up (could choose to do any one at this station)

We did 20 seconds on and 10 rest between stations 4 times.

Myself & Carla during our rest period of round 2

Meals today

Breakfast:

Scrambled eggs (3 eggs) with one slice of brown bread

Lunch:

Chicken breast with salad 

consisting of lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, gherkin.

Snack:

Mixed  nuts

Dinner:

t was so late when I got home as I had a meeting after

HIIT that I was not in the mood to cook. So I had a bowl of 

bran flakes. (I know not the best but hungry and in a hurry)

Tomorrow I have my next personal training session and I can't wait.

I'll be sore come Friday that's for sure!

Time for a cuppa and a catch up of Red Rock :)

Chow for now peeps!

Annie

x

Week 1 done and dusted

So week 1 is over and weigh in Monday happened

the verdict is......

that's 3.1 pounds so I am chuffed!!

I trained twice last week and just stuck to slimming world recipes 

for my dinner. The est of my meals were generally high in protein and low in fat. I had hardly any bread for the week and no sweets.

I also had a cheat meal on Friday as we can't go cold turkey on everything!

We are only human at the end of the day. 

It just shows gradual changes to your eating and some training can make a massive 

improvement. This loss has only motivate me to keep on going!

I had my second personal training session tonight and my niece 

Leanne joined me. It's nice having someone else to train with.

My next session is Thursday night and then Saturday morning and I am all ready looking 

forward to them. I am going to go for a walk/run tomorrow eve for about 30 minutes after work.

That will make it four sessions this week of exercise.

Next week will be a whole new kettle of fish as GAA training starts back up.

Monday - Team Gym strength n conditioning session

Tuesday - PT session

Wednesday - GAA training on Pitch session

Thursday - PT session

Saturday - PT session

Rest days - Friday & Sunday

I can all ready feel the burn!!

Yesterdays meals:

Breakfast

Bowl of bran flakes with skimmed milk

1 Americano skimmed milk and sweetener

Lunch

Carrot and lentil soup and a chicken salad sandwich

Dinner

Burger in a bowl (again)

Water intake:

2.2ltrs

2 large mugs of miss fit skinny tea

Todays Meals:

Breakfast

Weetabix with warm skimmed milk

1 Americano skimmed milk and sweetener

Snack

portion of red pepper and tomatoes soup 1 slice

of brown bread

Lunch

so noodles with broccoli beef and peppers

Snack

Mixed nuts

Dinner

Chicken salad, lettuce, tomatoes, gherkin, peppers

burger in a bowl sauce (slimming world style)

Water intake

2.2ltrs

2 large mugs of miss fit skinny tea

So that's it Week one finito,

Lets be having ya week two ;)

Chow for now

AnnieMac

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