Having started running in 2013 to try and help me with some issues I was having with my mental health, I ended up with an injury and enforced break in 2014. In May of that year I kicked out my then-partner of 12 years and started doing basic HIIT routines at home. I lost a little bit of weight and got bitten by the fitness bug, but failed to take it further.
Then, in April 2016 after a period of bad life luck, I lost my oldest cat unexpectedly. Feeling bereft I spent three days sat in my pants weeping. By the end of day 3 I decided to pull myself together, to be strong. Mentally I was a wreck, so knew that I would have to be physically strong instead. I called a local free weights gym and went over for an induction session.
As of 2024, I have run several marathons, I'm a national medal winner for patterns (tul) in ITF taekwon-do, I strength train at least 3 days a week and I’ve competed in a handful of powerlifting competitions.
In addition to these regular sports, I have spent time learning to pole dance, play netball and generally move as much as possible. As an unexpected side effect my mental health is better than it’s ever been and I’m well equipped to deal with everything life throws at me. Never underestimate the power of strong!
Warning: this entry contains pictures of me in my pants. Sorry about that. I started this year sober and motivated, with the lofty goal of attending the gym consistently. Gaz’s generous gift of a year’s gym membership for my birthday in early January was going to be the catalyst for improvement in my strength and… read full entry »
In May of this year a friend asked if I monitored progress of my back, and I realised that I hadn’t been, so I had my husband Gaz take a picture. In July I then had him take a follow-up picture, having specifically increased my back workouts and generally put in more consistent effort in… read full entry »
Half marathons, that is. This year has unintentionally turned into the “year of the half marathon”, with one done (or planned) for almost every month so far. I didn’t start the year intending to run so many races, but I did want to get my running mojo back on track. Here’s a quick rundown (geddit)… read full entry »
1. Find a reason A reason that isn’t just “being thin”. Not that there’s anything wrong with losing weight if you feel your health and wellbeing is negatively affected by your current weight, but a lot of people make the mistake of deciding they’ll lose some arbitary amount of weight and then find that when… read full entry »
Diet plans, that is. Last week, I decided to get a head start on the January fitness rush by getting a “customised” nutrition plan from a personal trainer through his website. I have done so much reading on fuelling my workouts and weight loss, weight gain, maintenance etc that it took several weeks of convincing… read full entry »
I started this week on a fantastic high. After having cracked squatting my bodyweight earlier this year (roughly 72kg give or take) I had been struggling with improving my squats further. Marred by dodgy knees, skipped gym sessions thanks to a chaotic schedule and over-indulgence on food & drink, it’s my own fault. Still, this… read full entry »
I posted this picture to instagram at the end of May: The general gist of the caption was that, while I don’t agree on everything my mum says & does, I did appreciate her “don’t give a fuck” attitude growing up and it helped me develop a similar approach to society’s pressures to look a… read full entry »
I have spent a large part of the past few weeks jumping from one ‘chaos moment’ to another (as per usual) and I was sat on the toilet recently wondering… is this it? Is this what adulting is about? Just about hanging on while you ride the waves of life? I’m being melodramatic — I’m… read full entry »
I recently supported a short instagram campaign by the UK Fitness Bloggers highlighting the dangers of so called ‘detox teas’ and their call to use “teas for biccies, not weight loss”. Here I am post-run and covered in sweat, enjoying my ‘biccie’ (admittedly I had a cup of coffee, not tea, but the sentiment stands):… read full entry »
What a month. WHAT A MONTH. Is it just me, or is May easily the busiest month of the year? (It probably is just me.) The end of April (that’s basically May, right?) saw this blog – well, domain – reach 15. FIFTEEN years of dodgy web design, blogging about everything from poop to programming,… read full entry »