Tuesday, 11 February 2014

Simple, easy ways to add exercise to your everyday life

 
Not everyone is lucky enough to have the time to spend hours in the gym every day (like certain lucky celebrities!) or the spare money to pay for a membership, so when I was doing a business admin 9-5 job around a year ago I used to spend my lunch time googling & researching simple, easy ways to add exercise into a busy lifestyle as I found it hard to fit in a gym session around work.
This post is going to be on my 6 favourite ways of adding in exercises into your day which are so simple & easy to do! You have no excuses!

 
1. This one is my all time favourite. Every time you go to the toilet during the day, do 10-20 squats before you leave the bathroom. This is sooo easy to do & only takes an extra minute to do. So if you go to the toilet maybe 5 times, that adds up to 100 squats! If you're like me & drink insane amounts of water throughout the day, you'll know the annoying feeling of needing to pee constantly so the squats will all add up! After a while doing this became as much of a habit as washing my hands!


2. Similar to the bathroom one, whenever I found myself stood waiting for the kettle to boil or even the microwave to ping, I'd do calf raises or hold a wall sit. I was once caught at work doing squat jumps while the kettle boiled, I got a very funny look & the guy backed out the kitchen but soon everyone got used to walking in on me doing weird things like that. Don't know whether that was a good or bad thing haha. I sometimes use the microwave timer to do 30 seconds knee highs/star jumps/tuck jumps etc then 30 seconds rest & repeat until the timer stops. Simple easy way to add in some exercise while you make your tea!
 

3. Now this is probably the easiest way ever to add more movement to your day. Forget the lift or escalator, always take the stairs. Instead of waiting to go in a cramped lift, run up the stairs. You'll boost your metabolism & probably reach your floor faster than the lift users anyway!
 

4. Another simple, yet effective one is to park a few streets away from your work. Or at least the far end of the car park. This gives you that extra 5 minutes walk before work to get some fresh air, clear your head & stretch your legs before you have to sit behind a desk all day. Doing this every day will add up to 10 minutes extra a day, totalling 50 minutes per week of extra exercise you wouldn't normally have got. Remember, even though they may seem small & simple; the little things all add up!
 
5. I always used to do this one tip at work & I recommend people do this regularly through out the day. I used to set an hourly alarm to go off which reminded me to take a quick break & walk around the building. This helped stretch my legs & get a well needed break from my computer screen. I found doing this helped my aching back from sitting all day & it gave me a little boost of motivation when I sat back down with my work. This can be applied to any ones day, make sure to take regular breaks from whatever you're doing to stretch your legs & clear your head. It can help de stress you & when you sit back down you can have a fresh view on your work.
 
6. Lastly, instead of sitting at your desk on your lunch break & wolfing down your food. Make a conscious effort to get out of the office, even if its just for 10 minutes. Take your lunch to the park down the road or go sit in a cafe instead; similar to the above idea; helping give you a break from the work atmosphere, de stressing you & giving you a chance to clear your head. You might even bump into some cool new people, or a potential partner! You never know sitting cramped up in the office all day!

I hope some of you find theses tips useful, as I can totally understand with peoples hectic lifestyles it can be difficult to fit in some exercise around your other priorities. Even though I have gone back to college, I still regularly do number 1 & 2 every day. I even caught my mum holding a wall sit the other day while she boiled the kettle!
Yes they all might seem very little, simple things. But remember they all add up!

Until next time
Love
 

Friday, 7 February 2014

My Perfect Imperfections TAG

 
This tag is always one of my favourite to read as I am a big believer in loving yourself as everyone is beautiful. No matter what imperfections or flaws you think you may have, they are
what makes you unique & they are seen as beautiful to many other people. This tag sort of forces you to think of any bad points you see in yourself; but then turn them into something good & positive. Something you should love & embrace! So here are my 3 imperfections and my 3 perfections.
 
Imperfections
1. My Smile:
I used to hate my smile when I was younger. It's always been so big & sort of takes over my whole face. I can't smile with my mouth closed as I just look very constipated (Sorry!) so it's either no smile or full on teeth & everything smile. However it's the one thing people always comment on first about me, 'my beautiful smile'. Apparently it goes right up to my eyes so as I've got older I've grown to like my huge, crazy smile. Smiling in general boosts my mood & I always make sure to give strangers I see my biggest smile to maybe boost their mood as well haha I get some 'she's insane' looks but mostly I get some lovely big smiles back. So win for my crazy lady smile! :D
2. Wrinkles:
I have the worst smile wrinkles around my eyes it's unreal. This links in with my smile imperfection as when I do smile, it creates all these little wrinkles around my eyes that could rival my nans, seriously! I was so self conscious of them as I am only 20 years old & getting wrinkles this soon surely isn't a good sign?! But if I ever feel conscious about them, I just think well they're there because I smile a lot. I would 100% have my smile wrinkles than a frown line. It just shows I'm obviously an overly happy person!
3. My Wonky Teeth:
All my imperfections seem to link in with my smile & this one is my wonky teeth. This was another reason I avoided smiling when I was younger as I hated my wonky teeth. I had a lot of over crowding with my teeth when I was younger & was forever in & out of the dentist. (Probably why I hate them so much now! The smell :S) They removed 5 teeth over all & the bigger teeth did grow in more straight but the bottom set are still over lapping & slightly wonky. They aren't that noticeable to other people but to me I can see them in every photo, like my eyes are drawn to them first. But when I get asked if I'd like a brace to fix them I always say no for some reason. For all the complaining I do about them, I secretly like them as they give my smile some personality & uniqueness. If everyone had the same straight white Hollywood smile then the world & especially the dentist occupation would be a more boring place.
 
Perfections
1. I'm Small:
I see so many people complaining they hate being small but I absolutely love it! Yes it can be annoying when I can't reach the higher shelves or if people make the obvious 'wow you're small?' comment but I generally like being small & petite. I like how I can curl up into small spaces & fall asleep, like on aeroplanes or in cars. Everyone else has to suffer with leg cramp & no room but I can curl up into a little ball & sleep in comfort. I also like having small feet & hands, I think they can pull of the anklet & dainty bracelets/rings quite well. However my favourite reason I like being small is purely for being the little spoon haha
2. My Hair:
Me & my hair have a love/hate relationship. I hate it when it need washing & it just gets in the way all the time, strangling me in my sleep. Arghh but then I love it as it's long & it's sort of like my safety blanket. I'd be lost without it. I can't imagine not having my long hair, twisting it round my finger is sort of a subconscious calming method for me & I like spraying my perfume in it so when my hair moves I always get a hit of my perfume. I'm quite lucky as no matter what damage I've done to it with heat/bleach, it's always stayed shiny & fairly strong. So hair, you annoy me so much but I love you deep down! <3
3. My Fitness Level:
The reason I love this so much is it's something I have worked my ass off to improve. I used to have terrible fitness levels just over a year ago. Running on a treadmill for 5 minutes killed me & I'd ache just walking up some stairs, but now I can do intense exercise without any fatigue or loss of breath. I can run for hours, do hard aerobic exercises without getting tired & I love it! Sometimes it's annoying if I want to get my heart rate to a certain level & I have a real struggle but it just means my amazing body has improved so much & is running so efficiently now that I can't really complain. I'm so proud of how much it's improved & hopefully it'll help me if I teach classes & need to keep my breath when talking/explaining moves to clients.
 
So there we go, my perfect imperfections! I hope this post helps at least some of you realise that those flaws you see in yourself are actually beautiful & make you who you are. That freckle on your nose you hate? Your ginger hair? Your appalling singing voice? All beautiful! <3
 
Until next time
Love
 

Tuesday, 4 February 2014

I'm back!

So it's been well over a week since my last post (Sunday aches & pains) & I feel like I've been neglecting my blog & not putting the same focus into it as other things in my life at the moment. It need some loving!
I've been so busy with college & course work this past week & brace yourself, I have somehow acquired myself a boyfriend (What!? I know haha) so I have been fairly distracted/busy this week. But I am back & feeling motivated with so many new ideas for this blog so keep your eyes peeled for my new posts!
 
A quick update on my last post regarding my running pains. My feet arches thankfully no longer hurt so I am able to exercise now without having my feet in constant cramp which isn't nice, trust me!
However my hip flexor pain keeps rearing its ugly head so I think I am going to have to go easy on that to let it fully heal. It'll start to get better & the pain will fade but then it'll flare up again if I put to much pressure on it. So any long distance/sprints are out for now, I'll be sticking to just slow steady paced runs for maybe the next month & see how my hip feels. I'll be gutted if I have to cut out running again after I've only just rediscovered my love! But I think there is a fine line between dedication & pushing to hard where you just end up causing damage, something I really want to avoid!
 
Until next time
Love