Here’s the lovely GoGo Suicide as Tank Girl:
xoxo
Aaaaaand… A Suicide Girl for good measure :)
February 9, 2010 · Leave a Comment
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Suicide Girls
Tagged: gogo suicide, Suicide Girls, tank girl, zombie gogo
BIG NEWS! + The importance of stretching
February 9, 2010 · Leave a Comment
WOW! It has been an insanely busy past few days. Working Sunday’s is really making me appreciate full weekends lol.
School is already getting busy which I’m happy about. I can tell it’s going to be a really hectic year…
I have some really exciting news!!! Secondary schools around New Zealand have been offered the opportunity to go on a NZ Army Careers Experience trip.
I’m not sure if any of you know, but my other option aside from Massey University would be to join the NZ Army and get my Personal Training qualifications through that.
It would be an excellent choice because I would gain so much knowledge, I’d be at the peak of my fitness, I’d get PAID to be there and have all other expenses paid for me, I’d be under strict discipline (which I actually enjoy), and I’d always have a job there in the Army if I wanted it. Also, If I went on to study something outside of the Army at University later on, they pay my uni fees! SWEET DEAL!
On February 25th they are holding the fitness test to see whether I’m fit enough to qualify for the trip (I’m pretty confident I’ll pass, I had a test today which I’ll talk more about later in this post), it consists of a 2.4k run, press-ups and sit-ups. I’m not sure how many, but I’m keen to take the challenge. I can push myself to do amazing things when I want to.
I handed in my completed form to the careers advisor today and now I simply wait to see what will happen next
Today I had my “Fame” audition!! I Shall now reveal what song I sang….
I know right, anyone who knows me will be absolutely blown away by this lol. But hey, what can I say? She’s got a good voice! haha.
Moving on- Today I had my fitness assessment at the gym. I decided to get a training plan put together for me so I know what I’m actually doing and don’t injure myself with any of the strength moves…
IT WAS SO INTENSE! The trainer was awesome 
He was a real cool guy and we got along famously. I pushed my muscles harder than they’ve ever been pushed before, and boy HOWDY am I now feeling it!
I feel like jelly all over. Moving anywhere takes an enormous amount of effort.
I learnt something awesome too! It made my entire WEEK I swear haha! Part of the evaluation/assessment is to bike solidly for 10 minutes at varying levels of difficulty, staying between the speeds of 57-61 (which is a lot harder than it sounds) and they machine measures your heart rate. I found out that my cardio levels are pretty much excellent The trainer told me that he was very impressed and that they were pretty much the best you can get. I was SO happy to know I hadn’t lost my cardiovascular fitness and I was keep in great shape.
At the end, another of the trainers helped teach me this ridiculously painful stretch to stretch my Iliotibial Band (the muscle in your outer quad which is what is causing my knee pain, mine is too tight and doesn’t get stretch properly or often enough). It was so sore, I was yelling in pain most of the time (the guys found this absolutely hilarious lol), but I seriously felt so much better afterwards.
I must remind you all that stretching is SO SO IMPORTANT!! Never skip stretching just because it’s “boring” or “painful” or you “can’t be bothered”. Stretching is an excellent way to help your body recover from physical activity and help prevent injury. It’s tedious and usually painful at the time, but you come out so much better off. I’ve never finished a stretch feeling worse, I always leave feeling loosened up and more relaxed.
To get in a decent stretch, it usually takes around 15-20 minutes. Well for me it does anyway, because I tend to work my entire body during a workout and so I like to stretch as best I can. Each stretch should be held for 15 to 20 seconds, any less than that and it won’t have any effect. It takes the muscle that length of time to actually respond to the stretch.
Here are just a few of the stretches that you can do after a workout:
Honestly, if you skip stretching your muscles will get so tense and so tight, it will feel horrible, painful and can cause injury. Releasing those muscles is such a painful process (by process of deep-tissue massage… NOT FUN) that after you’ve gone through it, you wonder why you didn’t just bother to stretch at the time.
One of the main factors of my knee injuries is because I never used to stretch properly. My Iliotibial band and hamstrings got so tight that now they’re pulling my knees out. Every physio session is spent enduring a 40 minute deep-tissue massage which is so ridiculously painful it’s hard to hold a conversation, and acupuncture, which despite what you may have heard, HURTS!!!
Anyway, I hope that helped you understand how important stretching is… in other news!
Last night I had the biggest workout at the gym. I wanted to imagine I was in Triathlon conditions, so I biked on the Stationary bike for 30 minutes, RAN for 15 minutes (happily without pain!), did a few press-ups as per Army preparation, then swam for 30 minutes.
It was one HEARTY workout and the swim felt great to be honest. I’m stuffed today though!
I participated in P.E today and did the most running that I’ve ever done in the last 2-3 months since my injury.
I was taking it easy and jogging, I wore my running shoes and it really helped that we were on the grass because there was less impact. I was doing interval running for about 40 minutes before… the most unbelievable, unfortunate thing happened…
MY LEFT HIP GOT SORE. As in, the way my RIGHT hip was :/ I’m so annoyed at myself… when I was rehabilitating, I concentrating solely on strengthening my right side because I’d never had problems with my left side, now my left hip is sore and I’m back to square one 
Time to haul ass and strengthen those glutes ASAP!
I stopped running and sat out for the rest of the session. I did some hip stretches which gave instant relief but now my hip is hurting again :/ I’ve been stretching it a lot and it’s really helping, but I’ll just need to rest it for a couple of days and then get straight into working those glutes to fix it the way I did my right.
Anyway, I’m absolutely stuffed, my muscles are like Jelly and the season premier of Greys Anatomy is on in 25 minutes I’m so excited! Last nights repeat of the previous season finale was so sad it made me cry. It also made me want to ring up all my loved ones and tell them just how much I love them and they mean to me. I can’t wait to see tonight’s episode
Have an excellent night!
xoxo
p.s- I’m sorry I haven’t been posting pictures lately. I’ve been so crazy busy that I haven’t really had the chance. I’ll try and get you guys visually up to date asap There are BIG things happening this weekend which I shall be snapping up.
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Fitness · Health · Injury · running
Tagged: high school, strength training, Gym, Injury, Fitness, swimming, running, stretching, jenny likes to run, hip, knees, busy, FAME, triathlon, NZ Army, Army, Demi Lovato, Camp Rock, Jonas Brothers, Iliotibial band, P.E, Physical Education, Assessment, pictures, Greys Anatomy, Audition, jogging, cycling, cardiovascular
Motivation
February 6, 2010 · Leave a Comment
I get asked a lot about how I manage to stay motivated to exercise daily and eat well, I thought I’d address this now in a blog post
When I started running, it wasn’t a decision that I mulled over for a long time, it was practically a random, instantaneous decision when I was having a bad day months and months ago. I was feeling really bad about myself with my self-esteem in the dirt, and suddenly something in me clicked and I decided to stop whining and do something about it, so right there and then I went for a run.
This should’ve set me up for failure really, because normally decisions like that don’t last. However, from that day forth I made a promise to myself that I would get in shape and STAY in shape. There were many times when I’d gone a health kick and it would have lasted a maximum of one month and then I’d go back to my old habits.
Motivation had been the only thing standing in my way, there would always be a point where I’d lose my motivation and the point of going for an evening walk would seem less and less important.
To be perfectly honest with you, and this is something I don’t think I’ve actually ever told anybody, in the beginning something that kept me going more than anything was to get back at an ex-boyfriend for making me feel so worthless. I wanted to prove to him that I was fit and able and I WOULD lose the excess weight he’d so carelessly pointed out to me. Anybody close to me knows that once I set my sights on something, I’m practically unstoppable.
That was the motivation in the beginning, but after about a month I started to feel better about myself, it wasn’t about the ex-boyfriend anymore, in fact I’d forgotten about him completely. It was just about me and my health. Running was the only thing I’d ever been able to find that truly helped me relieve stress, I’ve always had issues with stress and running helped me manage and deal with it in a healthy, productive way. I was reaching that ever-famous “hump” I guess you could call it… It’s the time in a new change you’ve made where you either get bored, give up and go back to your old habits, or reach the “tipping point”, in which the want for change and new habits becomes unstoppable, you overcome the barrier and are set into a new routine.
It got to that point, and I totally surprised myself by continuing on with my routines. They say it takes 15 times to start a new habit and 20 times to break one.
I loved the feeling of being healthy and in control of my body, I was beginning to see physical changes and that was the best motivator of all.
Fast forward a few months and here I am, still working up a sweat at least 4 times a week. Although I’m currently not running, I do other forms of exercise such as biking, swimming, rowing (on the rowing machine), elliptical, strength training and anything else new, fresh, and exciting that I’m capable of.
The truth is this: it’s simply become a routine to me, a habit, it’s programmed into me now to exercise and I’m one of those weirdos that love it. I love routine’s also, and I tend to find that when I don’t exercise (unless it’s a rest day), I feel lazy, “blobbish”, unhealthy and guilty for not doing something good for my body. Also, I don’t know what to do with myself! On a regular day, exercise can take up to 2 and a half hours for me, that’s a lot! When I’m not doing that when I should be, I wander around like a zombie, bored stiff, wondering what to do with myself.
A good tip for maintaining motivation is to set a challenge for yourself. A proper race or event is a good one because if you enter and pay the entry fee, you’re less likely to drop out. Knowing that you have a race hanging over your head is an excellent was to get out there and get your booty moving. The possible embarrassment of coming last is sure enough to get me out the door!
For example, today I needed to go for a swim because I have a triathlon on the 12th and because school swimming sports is fast-approaching. I HATE swimming, no kidding, it’s probably my least favourite form of exercise, and I’m sure everyone understands how hard it is to muster up some motivation to do exercise you don’t enjoy. I did go for my swim and it was actually a great swim and I’m thankful I did. It took a lot to convince myself to go though, I knew I had to go because I haven’t swum in a couple of weeks. I started by getting myself ready, even though I didn’t want to, and I ate my high-calorie pre-workout meal because I hate eating it and then not having the chance to use the protein/carb/fat stores it gives me.
Then, I just left. I didn’t want to, but I did because simply, YOU GOTTA DO WHAT YOU GOTTA DO! And this is what I needed to do.
(I’d just like to clarify exactly what it is about swimming that I dislike so much: I need to wear earplugs because otherwise the water hurts my ears and I get bad ear ache. When I’m swimming I constantly need to stop to readjust them to prevent the water getting through, which is real annoying Also, I put oil on my skin before hand because the chlorine dries out my skin horribly, it’s very very time consuming and feels disgusting. My goggles always fog up and then when I take them off to clear them, from that point onwards water always manages to get through. That’s pretty much it.)
But I’m just going to repeat this, it’s purely a matter of getting yourself into a routine. If you can do that, then it always get easier. It just becomes a part of who you are. Healthy eating seems to go hand in hand with exercise too. I found that when I started exercising regularly, the food sorta just fell into place.
Getting over the tipping point is hard too, for help with that I suggest you read these blogs: Healthy Tipping Point, Graduate Meghann, Chic Runner, MegaNerd Runs, Oh She Glows.
These girls know what is up with healthy living! Reading their blogs (particularly race recaps) are great motivation and hugely inspiring.
Hope that helps!
Have a great night
xoxo
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Body Confidence · Fitness · Health · running
Tagged: Body Confidence, change, changes, chic runner, eating, graduate meghann, happiness, Health, healthy living, healthy tipping point, life, meganerd runs, motivation, Nutrition, Oh She Glows, positive, running, tipping point, tips, weight-loss
