Friday 29 May 2015

#Fudgeitfatclub


So Pilates, something I am very new to and have only done three classes. So far I love it! I have shockingly bad posture, which I blame sitting at a desk for, and it is definitely helping me straighten my back. 

I'd heard a lot of good things about Pilates, and seen some great results and I can see why, it is harder than it looks! It's similar to yoga in many ways, there are a fair amount of similar moves, but the difference is you repeat them a hell of a lot more. Again, we have a lovely instructor, Caroline, who is the bees knees at teaching. She's also told us that she's made a new playlist with a bit of Springsteen, I now love her more than ever! 

The most memorable movement so far, the Clam! You lie on your side and repeatedly open and close your legs like a clam, funnily enough. It sounds easy, but when you're doing it for the 20th/30th/40th time, your thigh and bum cheeks are feeling the burn! 

As with every other class there are some absolute delights who attend with us, the worst being the 'power couple'. Yoga and Pilates are back to back classes, and so as we pack up for Yoga, the pilates lot would come into the room and try and get our spots, to the extent where some people actually put their belongings on top of me, cheers for that! Now these two, they come in after doing Body Pump, wanting our spots and then rolling their eyes when they can't have them because guess what, we do Pilates now too, bitches!! During my first Pilates class power couple decided to keep telling me I was doing it wrong. I appreciate constructive criticism as much as the next person, but it is not YOUR job to try and tell me off, especially when the instructor is already teaching me how to do it. It is now an ongoing joke between Anna and I that we are 'doing it wrong'!

I'll keep you posted with my Pilates progress, and tales of the dingbats who join us!

Sarah
xx

Thursday 21 May 2015

#Fudgeitfatclub


Ah Yoga, my favourite of classes of the week! For a long time I was put off Yoga because of the spiritualness of it all, that and the fact that I have NEVER been able to touch my toes, cheers muffin top! One of my goals for the year was to try new classes, queue Yoga! 



The type of Yoga we practice is Ashtanga Yoga with a very lovely lady called Dawn. After catching Anna and I taking photos of each other doing yoga poses last week, she's become interested in how we share our yoga/fitness stories on our blogs, and is helping us to reach our goals. Anna is perfecting her downward facing dog, I'm trying to touch my toes and have flat feet when I also do downward dog. She's an absolute gem and I'm so glad we have her. 




Now for the fun stuff our fellow yogis!! Anna has described them so well here but I don't think these guys can be talked about enough! So here we go..

Farty Pants - it's something we all fear will happen, we clench our cheeks like there's no tomorrow, but sometimes it just pops out. Maybe it was her mat, maybe it was a bum burp, ok it was definitely a bum burp, but she's never been back since!

Captain Breathy - oh.my.god! Unlike Pilates, with Yoga we practice ujjayi breath which is basically deep breathing through your nose, quietly. Simple enough, no? Apparently not for Captain Breathy who sounds like Darth Vader. No matter how far away you are from him, all you can hear is his breath. He's so loud you end up focusing on his breathing rather than your own. And to make matters worse, he tries to show off by being one step ahead of each move. You'll be pleased to hear this backfired last week as we did a different move to normal, resulting in him losing his balance and falling over, it was amazing!! Even Dawn laughed and she encourages us not to have negative 'thought monkeys', in yo' face Captain!!

Pat the Twat - well he's exactly what he sounds, a twat! He's rude and considers himself a professional because he does yoga every day. Well guess what mate, if you're so good instruct your own class, if not then shut up and let Dawn teach us, yeah?

And finally, the new guy! Now I don't want to be rude, we're all there for the same reason, but most of us try and dress appropriately. By appropriately I mean we wear clothes that fit, but not new guy. No I'm pretty sure he shops in the child section because his shorts do.not.fit. In fact we're pretty sure his little friend has been poking out on several occasions. If you ever read this new guy, please buy some budgie smugglers or something, anything, just keep the mouse in the house!!

Here are a couple of outtakes from our pre yoga fun times, you'll have to excuse the blur from our jumping..


Keep an eye out for more yoga stories coming soon.

Sarah
xx

Tuesday 12 May 2015

#Fudgeitfatclub


One of the classes I do every week is Les Mills Body Combat. Combat is a non contact, high energy martial arts workout, so basically 55 minutes of punching and kicking, followed by a brutal ab workout and heavenly cool down. It's fairly brutal and I absolutely love it. 

Our instructor, Karly, is absolutely brilliant and totally crazy. There is nothing like having a woman with a seriously toned body in front of you as motivation, she will not let you slack no matter how tired you are.

One thing I love about fitness classes is the variety of people, mainly women, who go. There are the insanely fit ladies, the ladies there to sweat like mad and see great changes, and then there are the space invaders, the people void of understanding as to what 'personal space' is. Anna, Harry and I stand at the front of the class, not to show off, but because we like to have space (and the breeze from the door), but no matter how far forward we go, Captain Kicky just edges closer and closer. Now I know I may sound unreasonable BUT she starts about 6ft away from us, and within a few punches and kicks she'll be close enough to almost kick you, it drives me bonkers. So Captain Kicky, this is for you...


If you want to read up/watch a few videos about Body Combat you can check out the Les Mills website or look on YouTube, it's so much fun!!

Sarah
xx

Monday 11 May 2015

Monthly Thrift | April

In April I finally got back into the car booty swing of things, even going to three boot sales in one day. I've been trying not to acquire too much clutter until after I have moved, but there were a few things I wanted to get for my new flat and I really hit the jackpot. 

 Hornsea jar | Nina Simone Vinyl | Succulents | 60s vinyl chair

Credenza

Ladybird Books

G Plan Coffee Table

Art Deco Tea Trolley (thanks Jules)

This lot came to a grand total of.... £28.50!! Didn't I do well?

Sarah
xx

Thursday 7 May 2015

#Fudgeitfatclub


 If you follow me on Instagram you'll have seen #fudgeitfatclub appearing in a few posts. So what is #fudgeitfatclub? My lovely friend and gym buddy, Anna, and I were recently winging about how we weren't seeing enough results from going to the gym and were sick of our wobbly bits.


We do a variety of classes every week: Body Combat, Body Pump, Yoga and Pilates, but food is still our nemesis, hello carbs! Forking out for Slimming World/Weight Watchers on op of gym fees just isn't feasible so with the help of Pinterest and motivating each other, fudge it was born. Armed with measurement trackers, meal plans, weekly weigh ins, and My Fitness Pal, our diy fat club is in full swing. 


You'll be seeing a lot more of #fudgeitfat club here on the blog and on Instagram/Twitter. I'm looking forward to sharing my progress with you, and of course the comedy gold that is yoga farts! It's going to be a slow process, but I'm hoping it will be a long term change and improvement. 



You can follow Anna's journey here, along with some hilarious stories of what we get up to at Yoga!

Sarah
xx

Monday 4 May 2015

#Fudgeitfatclub


My second weekly fitness class is Les Mills Body Pump, like Combat it is a 55 minute workout that uses weights and repetitive movements to tone your body. I'm talking squats, lunges, dead lifts, bicep/tricep curls, etc using a bar and plates. 



Each track focuses on a different part of the body, my least favourite being triceps - it BURNS!!! I try so hard to keep going through the pain, but sometimes it's hard to not fall over when you're on your millionth lunge. One thing I can say though is that I am definitely noticing muscle definition, my shoulders are looking leaner and my thighs aren't 100% jelly. 



We've had a new instructor for the last couple of weeks and he is amazing, he loves a good bum wiggle, but he talks you through each step so you know what you're doing 100% of the time. He's fantastic. 

Sarah
xx

Monthly Review | April


Happy Star Wars day folks. I'm a couple of days late with my monthly round up, but better late than never hey! In April I..

Got some new tattoos - a beetle and a bumblebee
Took a trip down to Cornwall to see my Nan
Realised I own a lot of striped tops
Had some me time at the beach, saw some beastly jellyfish & had my first paddle of the year
Bought a load of succulents
Took a lot of fun yoga photos with Anna
Had some great dates with Gaby; and
Got back into car booting with a bang!

Hope you're all having a great bank holiday weekend.

Sarah
xx