I hope it hasn't been as depressing as it's supposed to be... even if you just remembered you have another whole week until you get paid...Lots of snow here still today (by English standards) which always causes a lot of fuss and disruptions. Let's hope this was the last of it for this year!
Now ladies (and gents I think you'll enjoy this one) before you go on, please watch this video - or at least some of it.
This people, is CrossFit. CrossFit is essentially a brand that have their own gyms opening up & down the country. It's aimed at both men and women and offers a HUGE spectrum of exercises, that's the selling point. Here's a quote from their Website: "CrossFit itself is defined as that which optimizes fitness (constantly varied functional movements performed at relatively high intensity)."
This video features weights but its not all weights! You can be doing box jumps, hitting cinder blocks with a hammer, climbing over walls... But you don't have to be a member at a crossfit gym to reap the benefits, the website kindly features a Workout Of the Day (WOD) everyday.
So the reason I asked you to watch this video at the beginning was so you could see the amazing bodies and strength these women have. I want to banish the mindset that lifting weights will make you look like this:
Admit it. We've all seen images like this and been terrified that lifting weights will leave us looking like the ladies above...(if you want to look like them then great - each to their own!) But you would have to be eating a serious amount of calories and taking a lot of supplements to promote this kind of muscle mass! The reality, which I'm very happy about, is that weights (combined with a clean diet) will have this effect on your body:
In order to strip my belly fat, I have cleaned up my diet, upped my exercise & specifically, decided to give weights a go. So this weekend my boyfriend set me up with his weights and
If you don't know what any of these are, there are usually good youtube demonstrations - but I will take photos of my workout later in the week to demonstrate the moves myself. As for jump lunges... you only have to see me on a dance floor after a few vodkas to know what they are.
I was in AGONY and after 1 day's much needed rest, I did my first crossfit session. So here's how I spent my Sunday:
Dan found me a WOD which consisted of 3 moves, dead-lifts (above left), cleans (above right) and chest presses. The dead-lift should have been completed with weights that were 1.5 x my weight which would = around 75kg &the cleans should be completed with weights that are 0.75 x my weight. Seeing as I have NEVER lifted like this before I stuck to 20lbs. The routine went as follows: 10 dead-lifts, 10 cleans, 10 chest presses, 9 dead-lifts, 9 cleans, 9 chest presses, 8 dead-lifts etc. etc.
Well... All I can say is thank god I didn't use heavier weights because I am aching big time. I know it sounds completely stupid and ignorant but I had absolutely no idea I had so many muscles in my back! But I'm already etching to do my next session - no pain no gain & all that... I did the above workout in just over 15 minutes and I had to stop and rest, now I want to do it again and kick my own times ass!
Where else can you get such an intense workout in such a short period of time? So go on people, get on the crossfit website and have a browse through their WOD archive - which dates back to 2003. Try an find one (that requires no equipment if you don't have any) and start competing with yourself. I dare you!
Workouts like this can get your heart rate up and are sure torch calories and fat & promote muscle growth. The more muscle we have, the more calories we burn so it's a win win situation!
I hope maybe I've changed some opinions about ladies lifting weights here today, now enjoy this video of both sexy & strong women lifting some big ass weights! I could spend all day watching Crossfit videos (men & women) some of the stuff they're capable of doing is off the chain and such an inspiration/motivator!
Much love
Minnie
xxx
