2018: The Year It All Clicked

I don’t think it’s possible to have a perfect year. 12 months / 52 weeks / 365 days: all too big a time-span to guarantee 100% wellness and positivity every hour of every day. Nonetheless? 2018 has been “my” year. I’ve not avoided conflict and drama. People close to me have still suffered pain, been… read full entry »


And so it begins… Training for Edinburgh Marathon

Today officially marks the start of training for my first marathon in Edinburgh at the end of May 2019. I’ve entered a marathon before, and predictably had to pull out after zero training, which basically sums up my running ‘career’. I have historically failed to train for any race, winging it on the day. I… read full entry »


The BTF Birmingham Open

After having taken part in the BTF British Taekwon-Do Championships in June of this year, I wasn’t sure if I’d compete again despite coming away with a bronze medal for patterns (Yul-Gok tul). Despite enjoying my twice weekly taekwon-do lessons, I found the experience of competing quite overwhelming; putting myself out there caused my anxiety… read full entry »

How to work out when you don’t want to

I haven’t been feeling great this week. Nothing physical, it’s all in my head; although knowing that rarely makes it any easier. I’ve just ended a bad cycle (menstrual, not bike) and my mental health was in the toilet on Monday. I skipped the gym, I avoided responsibilities, I ate my weight in chocolate and… read full entry »

Food.

Content warnings: sexual abuse, eating disorders, loss during pregnancy I wanted to create a witty or poignant title for this post, but nothing I came up with seemed adequate. So here we have it: Food. For many of us, our relationships with food are complicated. From birth what we put in our mouth is mired… read full entry »

5 Protein Foods Taste Tested

I generally consume at least 150g protein per day, as per the maintenance macros on my diet template. That can mean a lot of chicken if I’m feeling lazy. However, variety is the spice of life, so I try and break it up with other high protein foods. Here are 5 ‘high protein’ labelled foods… read full entry »

Knowing When to Rest

I have knackered my shoulder. I did it at pole last Wednesday, dropping too much into a move when I should have had my hand further up the pole. Rather than doing the sensible thing and resting it, I then proceeded to attempt to pull 100kg deadlifts again on Friday. Unsurprisingly, I couldn’t get it… read full entry »


10 Reasons You Shouldn’t Exercise for Weight Loss

“What?!” I hear you exclaim. “Of course you should exercise if you want to lose weight!” Bzzzt, wrong. Here are ten reasons why you shouldn’t exercise for weight loss (and what you should do instead): Exercising for weight loss turns it into a chore By choosing exercise purely as a means to reach a weight… read full entry »

Fighting the Fear at Storm the Fort

I often find myself getting nervous before races, even courses I’ve run before, including at distances as short as 5km and 10km. However, you can imagine my surprise (and annoyance) when the week before my Storm the Fort endurance festival half marathon I started getting MEGA NERVES. I put the nerves down to feeling under the… read full entry »


My Christmas Fitness Wishlist

The shops are full of mince pies and Christmas sweets and have been since early September. I project outraged feelings of “commercialist nightmare!” and “Christmas should be celebrated in December!”, but the reality is I’ve been thinking about what to ask Santa for since about May. So, what am I going to be grovelling for… read full entry »