Strength Of Mind

I have become more and more engrossed with the bodybuilding and fitness industry, and with it has come watching videos of Arnold, discussing his past and how his vision lead him to set his eyes on a goal and never give up- to keep pushing when others told him he was crazy or would never achieve it- and allowed every barrier to strengthen him and fuel his desire. His life is truly inspiring, and his videos are motivating. I would truly recommend watching them all because he is a martyr for setting your eyes on a goal- WHATEVER that may be- and not giving up until you reach it. I believe that is what makes a champion. 

Arnold Motivational Video Link (Youtube)

I started thinking about my own experience and how far I had come. One thought in particular was to do with me being an anomaly of my family- casual thought of the day. Now my great-uncle used to do bodybuilding competitions in Malta (something i didn't learn until recently), now other than that ONE RELATION, no other family member- close or distant- has a faint interest in exercise, nutrition, or having a healthy lifestyle. I come from a maltese family who believe eating in abundance is a sign of health, and gaining weight (albeit not huge amounts) is actually a good thing. My grandma on my mum side loved to cook, and was always in the kitchen setting up 3 course meals for them all, and so my mum recalls this as being the norm. All her siblings are overweight- 2 had anorexia as teens, and the other had bullimia. My dad used to be skinny, but in his 20's was diagnosed with Diabetes Type 2 and thereafter the weight has piled on. This has not been helped by his carbohydrate-laden meals, and sedentary lifestyle.  My whole extended family are sedentary- no exercise AT ALL. Me, my sister, my mum and dad live in England whilst the rest of our family live in malta so i will stick to just discussing us. 

My family  set their meals around eating carbohydrates. The portions are excessive, and it is normal for my dad (who does the cooking) to make huge amounts so that they (i don't eat his food- never have) can go back for more servings. My dad loves cooking- particularly baking and bakes loafs of bread every day including home-made pizzas. 

Now i have always been different. From a young age i took a real interest in health, and wanted to be slim and lean. I loved exercise and i liked looking a certain way. I have always been the anomaly of the house- even in my personality i can often be introverted and after a day out, i do love to have some "me time", so often at home you'll find me in my room with my macbook. Now in terms of eating habits, i have always cooked or prepared my own meals. My family are so amazingly supportive of everything that i do that they never made any comment or anything. In fact my mum would ask me to make a list of "my foods" and she would do the food shopping for "my foods". It was always obvious in the kitchen fridge or cupboard which foods were mine and which was the rest of the family's.

My main point is that despite my kitchen smelling of a bakery 24/7, or the treats that i see around the house i have never been tempted. In fact, it actually fuels my desire because i LIKE and ENJOY being different. I know that my will power is exceptionally strong- always has been. I always did what i wanted- more in a focused way rather than a spoilt-brat/princess way. During ALevels my friends would still go out to clubs etc, but for me and my goals i knew i needed 3As in my Alevels and that meant making sacrifices. I used to have comments made my friends about this but it didn't phase me. I am very all or nothing, and with my 'all' mentality comes tunnel vision 
I do believe if you want something enough, and are in-tune with what exactly is required of you and what you must sacrifice, then temptation won’t phase you. Psychology plays a huge part- i always said "i want to achieve *this* so i must do *that*" as opposed to "i can't do *this* because i have to do *that*". If you are looking for an excuse to break away from a goal- i.e. it is one you don't really care about or that was inflicted on you by your parents, friends, peer pressure etc, then the willpower you can force will only take you so far. 
When people asked me about why i was so healthy and never used to indulge, I found the easiest way to answer that was to tell people i was “brought up around health”. The truth is i wasn’t- my family sometimes resembles "fat families"- as much as i do love them, they have zero care in the world for nutrition or exercise. No one would understand why i made the decisions i did, chose to put workouts as a priority, and chose to ate the way i did, so It was a lot easier to tell that lie, because then suddenly people understood. I think the strength comes from within, because my goals are different to my family's- my vision is to do with turning my body into a personification of my mental strength. I overcame a lot of demons in my past, and each made me stronger. 
I hope this motivates at least one person to stick to their goals and find the strength within. Everyone has their struggles, and not everything comes easily- i would love to have a family that ate the way i did and would even go to the gym with me- but that is life, and you have to face whatever challenges or rocky paths are set forth. They will only build your character and strength, so embrace it and congratulate yourself on your achievements wherever you are in your journey/path towards your goal. 

Exercise: Going Through The Motions

Today i woke up and reflected on the past few weeks of my fitness journey. Ever since stepping into the gym and deciding No More "i wish i could look like this... i wish i didn't have this... i wish i could do this.." i have learnt so many things about my body and mind. It really is a journey. For the past few days i have been daydreaming about the day i have firm glutes. It is my weak spot, so i am going to turn it into my STRONG spot. I started to think "WHY didn't i start doing squats the moment i learnt how to walk as a baby", but in actual fact i HAVE tried to work on my bum in the past. I mean, okay maybe not as hard/many times as i should have but it's not like i NEGLECTED it. Now with my perspective in the incredible benefits of lifting weights i realise my approach to how to use exercise FOR my body was a bit off the mark. Let me explain.

NB: I am going to group Leg/Glute exercises as just 'Legs'

-I was very hesitant about working out my legs because all my life i've had muscular legs. I used to walk for 8 mins up a hill from the bus stop after school to my house, and within 5seconds of this routine my calves were so muscular. My friends all had skinny legs. I used to be so envious, so i used to WANT the muscle to waste in my legs. I avoided going too heavy with weights and using a very challenging gradient/resistance on machines for this reason.

-In August i started to not give a * about other peoples legs, and just focus on mine. Once a week i started incorporating exercises that weren't going to really bulk up my legs, but would work my glutes. I started doing squats and lunges on a bosu ball without heavy weights (8kg if anything), glute bridges, leg bands, squats without heavy weights. And started incorporating the stair/stepper into my workout.

-Overtime, i started to want to use heavier weights, and so began using the Leg Press, Lunges with a 10kg --> 15kg bar, [deadlifts- back and hamstrings but also glutes], Split leg squat. etc. My gym at the time didn't have a squat rack so i couldn't really squat heavy.

- Truth is, i never TRULY felt my glutes working. I did these exercises with the mentality of just going through the motion. Now i did sweat, i did find certain reps and certain sets challenging, and occasionally had DOMS the next day, but i just assumed that by doing these exercises, i was inevitably working out my glutes. 

-This isn't the case. Anyone can pick a weight that's really heavy. Anyone can walk up high gradients on the treadmill, use the stair machine.
I realised that i used to get the ache in my Quads. My Quads had built up over time because even when i was doing exercises to target my glutes, my quads fully took over. Now even now when i work with my trainer i feel it in my quads aswell, but i ALSO feel it in my glutes. I have never really felt it in my glutes before. My quads are strong, which means any stress on my legs, the quads are quick to take over. Even with squats and leg presses, my quads would take over.

Tips

-If you want to work a muscle, you need to FEEL the muscle working. You have to put it under stress. This means using the correct form and using a weight that feels challenging. I think when people say "lift heavy" it actually is confusing. Like people used to say this to me, and i used to think WHAT IS HEAVY. what do they MEAN. To make it simple, just lift a weight that feels like its a challenge. That makes you breath out and sigh and even make funny faces after a few reps.

-If you want to grow that muscle, you need to repair the damage you've done to it by putting it under the stress of the exercise. This means eating enough protein. The recommendation to build muscle is 1.5g protein per kg of body weight per day. You are NOT going to get big and bulky. TRUST ME. Muscle takes TIME to grow. And if you are getting bigger, then it's most likely fat gain, so reassess your net calorie input (i.e. are you eating more than you are burning off).

-I almost... ALMOST.. put the blame on genetics. i thought WHY WHY can some people work out less hard than me, or even actually have the same approach and just go through the motions, yet still reap the benefits. But genetics or NOT, it's not an excuse. Your attitude and consistency will ALWAYS triumph genetics. 

-If you are like me and your quads take over your glutes, 'Pre-fatiguing- the quads before you start your glutes-focused exercise help. This means doing heavy and high rep training of an exercise that will just work the quads, till the point where they feel weak. This will help prevent them from 'taking over' when you move onto exercises for your glutes.

-FEEL THE MUSCLE. This may mean doing a more focused exercise routing with fewer exercises. This may even mean dropping the weight to a lighter one so your form is perfect. This may mean squeezing at the top of an exercise, or keeping the muscle contracted by doing pulses/half reps. This may mean using a machine and instead of strictly obeying the picture drawing/instructions it has on how to use it, and tailoring it to how it works for YOU.

I hope this helps, because i really wish someone told me this sooner. Just saying "lift heavy" means nothing. Stay focused, and keep your eyes on your goal. Don't give up, you've got this 

Review: Bikram Yoga

Bikram Yoga

My first ever experience of Yoga was when i was about 14 years old, and all i remember is feeling like it was an hour of my life i had wasted and was never getting back. Since then, i was skeptical about yoga and pilates, even though people would RAVE about it and it always seemed to be discussed in magazines, keeping up with the kardashians, miley cyrus being papped walking out of pilates classes, and of course being known as the reason Madonna has a body 20 year olds are jelous of. SO WHY DID I ALMOST FALL ASLEEP DURING MY EXPERIENCE. Well, i think- like a lot of gym classes- it is very dependent on the instructor and who they are tailoring the class to. I admit, i was the only person below the age of 150 in the class, so that was probably why the instructor spent the hour going through positions best for SLEEP.

I tried Pilates during my third year of university- admittedly because my flatmate had shown me a link to Blogilates.com and the instructor who was teaching it looked JUST LIKE HER so i thought it HAD to be good. And it was- but i looked at it as more of a post-hardcore-gym-workout-might-aswell-go-to-pilates-and-stretch-my-muscles-out sort of thing.

['"Okay shut up, i just want to know about Bikram Yoga goddammit"]

SO WHY DID I TRY BIKRAM YOGA

one reason and one reason only. It featured on The Only Way Is Essex and said it burns like 1000 kcal in one hour, so HELL YEAH that got me curious. Oh and my posture was atrocious- i have rounded shoulders which has been pointed out by a guy at the gym, a spinning instructor, and my sports masseuse.

Now after my first session of Bikram Yoga, i feel as though the "raving" regarding Bikram Yoga is that you push your body into a zone which cannot be emulated by a gym workout. The lighting is dim, you are surrounded by half naked people sweating, deep breathing and extremely focused. And your body becomes so focused on mantaining certain positions, and pushing through the discomfort/sea of sweat that your thoughts become silenced/peaceful. At the gym i model a "IM IN A ZONE, I GOT MY DRE BEATS ON, LEAVE ME ALONE; ANYONE TALKS TO ME I WILL SCREAM" look because i'm just a really friendly person. ehem. and i consider the gym to be my therapy because my music is so deafening that i can't process my thoughts even if i tried to because Kanye West is screaming in my ear, and the buzz of the gym doesn't allow you to process your thoughts. Now i have slowly over the years realised i do suffer a bit from anxiety- i worry about things that aren't in my control and may not even happen, and it was only since Bikram Yoga that i have been able to silence these anxiety-fuelled thoughts and worries and find inner peace- even if it is for just 5 minutes.

I had bought a 10 days course for £20 with the intention of only using it twice during my exams (because 1 drop in session was £17 so it worked out cheaper). Now that was my intention, but in reality i used it 5 times, and i would have used it more if my uni schedule/my own gym routine had allowed me to.

Now i try and go once every 2 weeks to help with my posture and enable me to relax and work on finding peace within my (improved) anxiety.

Tips for newbies:
* Nike pros/shorts and a sports bra is ideal if you dont want sweaty clothing on you; some people obviously don't want to have their stomachs/legs on show and do wear leggings/gym gear, but personally i don't really care about the nakedness, and being bare actually makes me feel like more natural
* Waterproof mascara and no facemakeup. Its dark and noone cares.
* Hair up in tight bun on the top of your head, so it doesn't act as a pillow when you lie flat on your back, and so when you bend over (you will A LOT) your hair doesn't smother your face. If you have a fringe, clip it back. I tried to work this "fringe out" look, and i ended up almost ripping it off my face + it was dripping wet. Sexual.
* This is something guys and girls do. My classes were 60/40 Female/Male. 
* If you're going to focus so much about what you look like/ what people are thinking then i would advise sitting further back in the room (i.e. away from the mirror), as it will distract you from working on your INNER mind and body.
* Sip water throughout, but because i live a clean-gym lifestyle i need to pee 24 times an hour, so personally i can get by sipping only 2 sips throughout the class because any more and i wet myself.
* Bring a towel to lie over your matt. It will be soaked after.
* Some say don't eat before, but personally if i don't eat before i'll end up eating my arm because i have the appetite of a teenage boy going through puberty. I eat 5 meals a day and will end up having 1 meal around 30mins before i leave my house to go to the class, and 1 meal when i get home.
* BRING WATER for the journey home. You will be so thirsty after. And if you're not, force that h20 down you because IT WILL HIT YOU. AND YOU WILL BE DEHYRATED
* This tip isn't for everyone, but it is a lighthearted one because of my experience of practicing yoga next to someone which did ruin it for me: BRUSH YOUR GODDAMN TEETH BEFORE YOU GO. DO NOT EAT GARLIC. IF YOUR FOOD HAS ANY DISTINCTIVE SMELL. THROW IT AWAY AND COOK SOMETHING BLAND.
* Don't let being intimidated by other peoples flexibility/lack of your own flexibility be a reason to not try it. You can sit some things out/do an easier level of the exercise
* I'm immature in some ways and in some classes they like you to do the whole humming thing, which cringed me out at first. But embrace it. By the end i was probably humming the loudest.

That's all i can think of for now
I personally don't think you burn 1000kcal. Definitely give it a go, because i was skeptical and it not only proved me wrong, but converted me, and i now REQUIRE it in my life for personal reasons.

Hope this helps!

Sweatayyy

(P.S. i took photos this time purposely for the blog)