Mel

Doing a bit of searching for refreshing the cooking recipes in our household, and found this awesome site:
http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcsite.nsf/pages/bhc_recipes
Realistic recipes which don’t look like they require you to be a master chef. I’ll be using some of these!

Poem I wrote using the “Pages” app on the iPhone

Very frustrated, with being unable to work right now or do any gym classes, I’ve just had the opportunity for a permanent balance class and another balance fill in (but alas, had to say “no” as I’m still injured). I’ve been waiting for the opportunity for a permanent balance class since I returned to Australia, and I’m sure doing more bodybalance would seriously help me get my body back where it needs to be. However, with the disc injury I have right now, downdogs, forward folds and pretty much any stretch is completely out of the question at the moment.

Sigh, well, maybe this “time off” is a lesson in patience or something or other.

And after several months of teaching 2 regular pump classes each week, and the occasional fill in (still working full time in IT aswell), I am now off work suffering from a pinched nerve in my back. After a couple of days in hospital, nights of being unable to lay down and sleep and using strong painkillers to be able to get any sort of rest, I’ve had to take time off work. Due to the pain I’ve lost 5kg in just a couple of weeks (I bet it’s muscle/water loss…if only it were fat loss, sigh).

So it’s lots of rest, and can’t even do bodybalance. Haven’t been able to do a pain free down dog for a while now and doing lots of research on safe exercises. My chiro won’t give me many hints on what I CAN do, cuz he wants me to slow down and rest, lol.

But after 3 weeks rest I can feel I’m starting to feel slightly better if I move, and worse if I don’t move. Can’t sit or lay flat on my back, but apparently gentle walks is ok, and so are “pointers” (the pilates moves on all fours).

I’m also betting on using horse riding as a theraputic tool. I know I know it sounds crazy, but I’ve got my beautiful horse Kira and I know of many people who’ve had improvement from horse riding, including an old friend I’ve recently re-got-in-touch with after many years. She used just sitting on the horse walking, starting with 5 minutes per day and gradually increasing it.

Here’s why I think it’ll be beneficial. Our disc’s in our spine get compressed during the day, and it’s when we sleep that the disc’s decompress and the nutrients are able to feed the discs. Performing traction is the basis of using this principle, opening up the discs, decompressing them and getting much needed nutrients into the spine. I’ve also read about people recommending sitting on a fit ball and gently bouncing to get the same effect (my fit ball is deflated and in a box somewhere after we moved house 2 months ago). So, using this theory I could imagine that the gentle rocking of the pelvis while the horse quietly walks around would also achieve this effect………..as long as I don’t fall off!

I tried this yesterday afternoon, had the second night I was able to sleep through the night (since this has happened) and I only took regular Nurofen Plus for a painkiller. I was still sore in the morning, but not worse.

This is progress.

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Taught for the first time in 3 years at one of my old clubs for a balance fill in, and as usual there weren’t many people I recognised. But I was surprised to see a few participants that I remembered (or remembered me)! It was a lovely class which I really enjoyed teaching, and after the class was totally chuffed when one of the girls told me how she missed me so much when I had left and she was so glad I was back.

I still feel really frustrated at my weight and lack of fitness, so a comment like that helped remind me that “weight” isn’t always everything.

Still want to lose the 20kg though, lol!

Second time teaching BP78 and it was an AWESOME class, for me at least. For the first time in ages I feel like I’m starting to get past the “fill in” instructor syndrome and slowly into my groove, which includes Mel-isms. Anyone who remembers my classes will remember the slightly crazy, slighty……no, COMPLETELY absentminded and “weird” instructor, all complete with random jokes that are not necessarily funny.

Well, I can’t possibly share some of the funny things that happened tonight, it just wouldn’t sound funny written down. But I found the perfect balance of knowing my chorrey, and completely screwing it up, lol. Well, no I didn’t really screw it up, but there was an extra bit of music at the end of the abs track that I completely blamed on the “repeat” function on my iphone.

hey, well people laughed and enjoyed themselves, and that makes me happy

Had my first "little bit” of cardio with the PT. Woah it’s such a different experience pushing yourself from a totally unfit state. No PT or instructor should ever try to assume they know how it “feels”.

After the first 1 min exercise I said to my PT “that’s for that session, that was great, seeya later”. That joke didn’t get me far, 30 secs rest and on to the next exercise. Shuffles while catching a tubey thing (don’t ask me to explain), single arm essentially bicep curls crossed with chinups on a rope thing attached to the wall (again, please don’t ask me to explain). More catching tubey thing, and the for the rest my brain ceased to work.

Followed by feeling sick and then I was unable to do hovers as my diaphragm combined with lactic acid made me too sick to deal with it. Then round 2…

Yep I’m unfit, paying the penalty, struggling like hell and hating it. But I’m determined to get there again.

Oh yeah, my biceps are hurting. And my triceps too, wtf……..I don’t even remember working my triceps????

Taught the latest BODYPUMP for the first time tonight, and my initial impression is that this is a whole lot easier than it looks on paper. It’s at times like this that I regret missing it at the workshop. I always believe that it’s very useful as an instructor to know what it’s going to feel like.

Weights are going up next week by the looks!

oh and in an effort to encourage participants to put their weights up, I’ve promised to put an extra 1kg on my lunge weight for every participant that increases their weight!

It might be leaving it a tad to the last minute, but I’m cram learning BB53, which seems to be the best way of learning for me. That gives me 3 days to learn the new pump release for next Tuesday!

Loving some of this music, standout tracks for me so far are sun sals and balance.

The core tracks look pretty tough, especially with my no so strong core these days. Still aching after Wednesdays PT session too so this could be interesting!

Wooowweeee this has been a big week (by unfit non-instructor standards). Monday night, taught my first pump/balance double in ages, followed by Tuesday with another pump class (I really felt myself weakening here, definitely not the same anymore trying to do pump 2 nights in a row). Wednesday ended up being a tough day with lots of physical work moving laptops, ie. shifted 2 desktops and 11 laptops on a sack truck from Gawler Place (near Grenfell St) to Victoria Square, then helped a courier cart another 5 sack truck loads to his courier van.

So, after all that I am suddenly remembered why I chose to do personal training in the first place. I was knackered and weak, but I was determined (a step up in motivation right there).

Now due to my back/hip problems and weaknesses, at the moment the focus is on core strength, and boy did she smash my core. The personal trainer I have chosen, I used to work along side of, so I know I have chosen someone I will be happy with as I have seen her work. But that happeness also has a not so pleasant side………….it’s called pain {grimace}

I know I know, us instructors LOVE that pain, right? But that’s only when you are fit! Going back to starting from scratch it’s just not fun anymore, but yet there is still that satisfying moment knowing your being pushed to that point you would never have gone on your own.

Trust me, I would have given up on the first hover with my feet suspended in the stirrups, but she wanted me to do 3. Oh no wait, that was just 3 reps…………wasn’t SO bad I guess? Till after the rest I learnt that I was doing 3 sets.

Oh yes, I definitely would have given up a loooong time ago.

It’s been a few weeks now (3 I think?), but I now have a permanent pump class every Tuesday night. Les Mills is a lot harder for me to dedicate copious amounts of time to these days, but it’s good just to be teaching. I can no longer imagine doing the 1-3 hours every night of classes, plus weekends etc. How life changes for ya huh?

Had to start off with pretty light weights (2.5kg either side), as my back wasn’t in the greatest shape following overdoing it at the last launches. I put 110% into filling in several combat classes, plus did the combat launch which proved to “too much” after the fact. But I’m recovered from that now, and I’m back at my regular newbie weights!

Last Tuesday I managed:

warmup: 7.5kg
squats: 10kg
chest: 7.5kg
back: 10kg
tricps: 7.5kg
biceps: 7.5kg
lunges: 10kg
shoulders: 5kg

I know these are light weights for an instructor, but to make things even better I’ve decided on Personal Training for myself as a further kick start. No more messing around for me, overweight and unfit!

почистванеI know it’s been a hell of a long time since I last blogged, but I am now able to blog directly from my iPhone. Hopefully I can now blog while on the bus, or at the doctors, or any other situation when I’m waiting around doing nothing!

In summary:
Missed last Les Mills workshop
Registered early for next workshop
Been teaching balance fill ins
Finally taught a couple of pump fill ins
Have updated groupfitness.org
Now have new mobile version of the site
Started new job job at SA Water in December

phew…….I think that’s enough for one blog!

секцииAfter arranging a babysitter and all prepared for the Quarter 4 workshops, we turned up today on the Sunday, only to find that the workshops had been moved to the Saturday. Although I’ve injured my back so I couldn’t do combat anyway, I was totally gutted that I missed Balance, and Alex missed his opportunity for his first workshop back in Adelaide.

I’m not sure how I feel about Les Mills Asia Pacific’s customer service lately. While I guess the error was my own mistake for going on the wrong day, I feel Les Mills could have done much better in several ways. Apparently Les Mills have started switching between Saturdays and Sundays for the last year, but since I’ve been overseas I have missed this. Previous to this the workshops were ALWAYS on a Sunday with some extra classes occasionally held on a Saturday.

So little did I know, they were chopping and changing it, and when I registered online for the workshop, there was tiny text listing the date below the workshop listing, ie:

Adelaide Super Workshop
6 November 2010

So the theory is, I probably should have written the date down while I registered. Maybe I should have? But I didn’t. Despite this, I feel Les Mills shouldn’t make it so hard for me to find the date and time of the classes in the case that I DIDN’T write it down. I received no confirmation letter of the date/times. Sure, I received a ticket for entry to the workshop, but there was no confirmation of date/time. Why doesn’t LM send out any confirmation of the date and time?

To make matters worse, once online registration has closed, the workshop disappears off the list in the online registration section, so therefore there is no possibility of looking up the time and date. Revolution didn’t turn up till after the workshop, so no help there either.

I posted on Les Mills Asia Pacific’s Facebook wall that I felt LM overall is going downhill in terms of customer service, which a couple of people disagreed. When I contacted LM about it I was basically faced with the answer “bad luck”. Ok, so I didn’t write down the small print at the time of registering, but good customer service in this country generally involves “going the extra mile” even if the customer is not always right.

During our trainings as an instructor LM always emphasise being approachable as an instructor. I’m really not seeing LM lead by example here, especially at the bigger events like Filex where you have to line up to get autographs and photos. I feel LM are trying to make the workshops too “professional” and forgetting about just creating an “awesome fitness class”.

For me, it doesn’t quite feel the same as the old days. I wonder where 2011 is going to take us? I think LM should rethink some of their policies before more competition like Zumba hits the scenes!

I’ve participated in this release 3 times now and I have to say I absolutely love it! This is the most fun I’ve had in pump ever since I last taught in Australia when I was still fit!

I just love the squats, I love the single bottom half pulse in time with the music. The chest track is a little bit more plain, but I love the back track and how it starts off slow and then it kicks off with the faster music. Makes me buzz!

Triceps I can’t really remember, I only remember pain and laying on my back. Biceps is just fun! The slightly difficult timing with the cover music (and seeing instructors struggle with it) keeps me mentally occupied.

Lunges, forget lunges……..I’m totally writing off lunges until I can complete a track. At least my ankle problem is getting stronger now and I put the back of my heel against the step to support my ankle which helps heaps.

Shoulders is awesome but the rotator lifts totally cain! Love the music, it’s awesome.

Abs and cooldown? Can’t really remember by that point, and I’ve worked too hard to care.

Total thumbs up for this release!

I haven’t done pump for a couple of months following being sick and back problems etc and been concentrating on balance instead. So I finally dragged myself to a pump class this morning and was surprised to discover it was the actual launch class.

It was great to do pump again and it was definately easier for me than the last time I did it. Not easier in the sense I’m not lifting enough weight, but in the sense that my muscles felt like they were functioning better. Previously I found that my muscles were so tight and spasming that it was difficult to do the moves at all (mainly squats and lunges) and doing pump was extremely exhausting.

This morning however, it still hurt and it was still hard, but I didn’t feel that desperate exhaustion of feeling like I’d just had open heart surgery (not that I know what that feels like, but you get the idea). It definately helps me to go again when I know I’m not going to feel like that!

Can’t remember much of the music and chorrey (haven’t looked at my own DVD’s), but I do remember enjoying being back in pump, so it must have been good