FST Academy

...and a few other bits and bobs!

We'll start with my session at FST Academy, I got talking to Danny who runs FST Academy after the Carat Blog Shop event (write up still in draft form.....). He offered to assess my running technique and give me some pointers on improving it. I jumped at the chance, I've always been interested in having this done. I went down to the gym on Friday and was really impressed with the set up. First off the gymnastic rings... We'd hardly been talking for 5 minutes and I was like a kid in a new park... Oooooh they look fun... Can I have a go! Well.... not sure fun would be the right way to describe them... but they are a new challenge... one I intend to master!! Well.... not sure I'll manage to master it but I'd like to be able to do one!

Anyway back to the running for now, incidentally, if you like the facebook page there are instructions on there how to get a free assessment, not limited to people in Manchester. Well worth it in my opinion. His advice was a lot to take in even though he did keep it simple... sometimes the simplest things are the hardest to get right.... It made a lot of sense though, I can just see it being hard to put into place as it's basically altering something which is very drilled in to me as I'm sure most of you will be able to relate to.... He showed on the slowed down video just how much my trainers compress when I heel strike and also explained cadence and showed how I could better angle my legs and where my feet should strike for more running efficiency. It was really interesting, hopefully I'll manage to put it into place.

We also had a really good general chat about goals and fitness, he gave me some advice on my clean and press..... not sure I can call it technique as I now realise watching him I've not been doing it right at all. I was really impressed with his knowledge and attitude and decided to join the gym to do twice weekly strength routines. I feel I need to add that is not why he offered me the running assessment I just felt really at home there and as the weights I used to use were Mike's I no longer have weights to use at home and chatting to Danny I felt like I could learn a lot from him and also that we had similar opinions regarding training and goal setting. I'm really looking forward to going on today fine tune my goals, get some measurements done and hopefully start seeing results. (ETA this post has been in draft for too long, I went first on fri, back yesterday for a chat and I'm starting today... Sorry for any timing miscrepancies, I've probably forgot to edit some!!)

Right back to my workouts for the week! I had a pretty good week! I went boxing Monday, Tuesday and Thursday... The hill sprints on Tuesday battered my shins a bit and I felt like it was a bit risky to run on them again so I didn't do any separate running... So I've not exactly stuck to my plan but I'm pretty happy with my activity lessons since the gym sessions were really full on sessions and I'm still easing myself back in a bit!

I had some rest over the weekend my shins were still feeling a bit battered and both wrists, especially my right one were really sore... not sure why, maybe it's my tendons just getting used to the boxing again.. I did end up having an unplanned drinking sesh on Saturday.... Thanks vodka for reminding me how much I hate you, and hangovers!!

As I feel my diet needs some work I started doing a food diary on Saturday, with my past history this is something I'm going to be really careful with. I can find food diaries triggering but I think at the moment the potential gains from doing them outweigh the negatives, if they become triggering I will stop them straightaway. I'll have to be careful to look at the whole picture with the food diaries, I was disappointed that I'd had a bad day on Sunday... too many calories including crisps and chocolate... I completely ignored the fact that most of my food on Sunday had been quite healthy, if a little calorific, and that I'd majorly under-eaten on the Saturday due to ending up drinking instead of eating... I had also super-compensated for my perceived bad day on Sunday by not really eating enough on Monday... it had started to slip in today too and my calories weren't quite enough so I've just had an extra protein shake!

I had a really proud moment yesterday too :-) While I was chatting to Danny about my goals so he can write my plan up he told me I was the only non-professional athlete he's worked with who didn't have weight loss as one of their top three goals! I'm really mega pleased with myself about this, especially since I am the heaviest I've been in a long while and really feeling quite uncomfortable about my weight... It just shows how far I've got in recovery. I care about my performance and I know my weight will end up in the right place for me to perform best once I'm back into a fitness regime!

I'm going today to get measurements done and a few other assessments and start my program. We had a chat about whether I wanted measurements done and my body fat percentage done and I decided it will be a good thing to monitor it. Danny said I might gain weight as my muscle increases with the program so I feel like it's going to be a good thing to have that backed up with hopefully seeing my BF decrease so I can think logically about any potential weight gain and justify it. Also, I can't see this happening right now, but if my BF becomes too low I'll be under strict orders to go eat some cake.... and that seems like a win/win situation to me!

After I left the gym I popped back to town to get a gumshield (lost my old one then bought an unsuitable one.. ooops) and ended up spending far too much time (and money) in SportsDirect... Went in for a gum shield, came out with a new sports bra, 2 new tops, new running shorts, some capris, some compression socks and a pack of cards?! I am hopeless keeping hold of my money... I just love shopping.... I also bought some heels, a skirt and 3 new tops in Republic, spent £40+ in Boots on various essentials such as hairdye and a sandwhich... and spent a small fortune in GNC! Somebody take my card off me!

So anyway, you can imagine, I ended up in an absolute mad rush to get to the boxing gym! I had a pretty good session, we worked on technique alongside some explosive 20-30 second all out sprints on the bag and some freestyle rounds... I felt tonight like I'd forgotten how to box, it wasn't coming together very well and I felt a bit clumsy but I think this often happens when you deconstruct something and concentrate more on it... kinda like with the running.... Hopefully it will all click back together soon... halfway through when I was suitably red and sweaty I had some pictures taken by a reporter and I've forgotten what for now but she's ringing me for an interview to accompany them so I'll know then haha... you get quite a lot of attention being a female boxer and I always try and promote it as I think it's a great thing for women and girls to do for fitness and confidence so I like the opportunity to show there are girls out there in the gyms and let people know they're friendly places.... Anyway, I've digressed (again)... We finished the session with a rather brutal circuit!

20s press-ups (done on knees as speed was the aim)
20s boxers squats
20s burpees
20s tuck jumps
20s squat thrusts
20s sit-ups

x 3 rounds

The coach timed us for 6 seconds after each round so we could take our pulse then times by 10 for an estimate of our bpm, mine came out at 200, 210, 200.... Yep, it felt like that too..... I did a quick plank before I left then walked home.... oooooh the nights are getting cold... must bring more layers!

*Disclaimer... I've given FST Academy and Danny a glowing report, he has not paid me, and I will be paying my own gym membership there. All the opinions stated above, and in further blog posts, are my own!

Also a quick note to say my blog is hungry and it's eating the comments so if I've missed a comment I'm sorry, I usually get an email then it doesn't show on my blog... I'm working to get this resolved, I'm using intensedebate atm, any suggestions?