A gloomy New Year's Day - 2012 is the year of changing up my exercise
I’m a creature of habit. I love being able to run a distance, say 10kms, and then run it over and over and over and over again. I like being able to predict my highs, when my calves will get stiff. I like knowing how awesome I’m going to be feeling at the end of it. And at the end of it, I like knowing that I’m going to do it all again soon, and then allowing myself to stuff my face because 10kms means I can consumer 700 extra calories (let’s talk prego rolls at AndUnion, or Miss K cupcakes, see below).
nom nom
This enjoyment of doing something over and over isn’t all bad – it’s pretty much how I got myself to run in the first place and to push my distance further and further. The thing is, you do this for 6 months, and your body stops responding (so annoying! but anyway). Running 10kms becomes the serotonin-drenched equivalent of lying on the couch, as far as your body is concerned. Sure it keeps the weight off and it makes you happy and clear-headed, but it doesn’t make things tight and ripply. I have no desire to have a super muscled body-builder’s physique, but I like being able to see a little bit of definition when my body moves. This is what I call tight and ripply.
An average day running on the promenade. Not hard to see why one would want to repeat it.
I’ve recently been convinced by James, the owner of Roark Gyms to change up my exercise program and see what kind of results I’d get. So I threw in some kettle bell, and cut my traditional cardio (running / spinning) from an hour to 30 – 40 minutes. I added some wall balls (throwing and catching a weighted ball against a wall, throwing it out of and catching it in a squat position), and a lot of air squats (squatting with my hands above my head). 15 – 20 minutes of this 3 times a week and I saw a change in my body after three weeks, without changing my diet.
The biggest breakthrough for me this past year is realizing that squatting (with just your hands up or with a weight above your head) is like the Mr Muscle of training movements. It flattens the tummy, helps make a small waste, contributes to the development of a Beyonce bum and nicely shapes out your thighs. You can make it more hectic by increasing the weight you hold over your head, or running between sets. Of course, creature of habit that I am, I now just want to do squat-based training all day every day, but I will diligently push through this urge and find news ways of pushing my body. More coming soon.
So Vida Camps Bay were the victors the 5-aside finals that took place on Sunday. It was super exciting – made even more so by the fact that Santos star Ryan Harris joined to give the guys training tips and let them test their skills against him (pictured below)
Here are some snaps from the day
And Camps Bay emerged victorious. Was so much fun, although I was personally rooting for Wembley (my Vida ‘home base’). Well done Majimbos! X
If you’re in town this weekend, you should go support your favourite Vida baristas as they take part in the 5-aside tournament this Sunday. Final round is next Sunday.
Starts tomorrow at Gianluca Vialli Soccer Point in Sea Point from 2pm.
Matches will be about 10 minutes long each.
The tournament will wrap up at about 6.30 with a short and sweet prize giving.
See you there!
Just getting in the mood for joining PD in St Tropez. Pretty hey? It’s called a Riva. And they’re handcrafted pieces of beauty.
Mmmmm. Leather seats, lacquered, hand-worked wood… Nice gift for a dad who’s already got the bottle of [ your premium whisky brand here] yes?
Super pretty. Below is Bridget Bardot taking ‘the junior’, one of the smaller models, for a spin.
All images from designboom.
Click here for the Riva page. Click here for more images from designboom.
Saturday was a bit chaotic. We started off at the rugby at Newlands. LAJenks had her Rugby Girlfriend vibe on bigtime. Legitimately – we were there to support her boy Bash and the Stormers. Happily they won! Big smiles.
We then swung past The Vibe party, which was a good five hours underway. At this point battery had died but LipglossGirl has written an hilarious and accurate account of much of it. Please enjoy it as if it were my own. Click here for more VIBE pictures.
LipglossGirl pictured left
We also managed to fit in dinner at Hudsons, and a full-blown post-rugby braai. Madness. Good times.
I started riding horses at the age of 7. I’ve been bucked, thrown and I’ve even slid under a horse on my saddle because I forgot to ‘tighten my girth’. I’ve also been chased by a pair of mating ostriches while on horseback, and I’ve ridden bareback, without a saddle or proper reigns, farm style. I’ve mucked out stables, I’ve filled nose bags and I’ve picked out hooves and I’ve even burnt a horses mane (because that is the best way of trimming it without making it go poofy – fact). And I learnt all that at horseriding CAMP. Safe to say, I like horses, and I love riding, even though I haven’t ridden in years. This week’s dealio deal – a 2 hour outride at beginner level for R180 - has inspired me to book myself an outride, for posterity’s sake.
I’m not alone in my love of riding. France’s first lady, Carla Bruni, is a huge fan, as is royal Zara Phillips. If you’ve never ridden, this is a great way to try it. Riding is also great for the buttocks and tummy as it combines clenching with sitting up straight.
You gotta love Polo. I certainly do. Men riding horses swinging sticks chasing a ball. There’s almost too much muscle to comprehend. It can be quiet dangerous, causing all sorts of injuries – stiffness in the neck at craning to get a better view of the men, stiffness in the back as a secondary injury due to craning to get a better shot of the horses, stiffness in the hands from clapping them eagerly together every time a man or horse or both comes near.
It’s not about the goals – it’s about the action in between them. Anyway you’ll be THRILLED to hear we beat India 10 – 7 on Saturday at the BMW International Polo Series this past weekend, which means we’re on a roll as we beat Italy last year too. Fab news. Were you there?
If you follow my twitter you’ll know that I like to run, but I am by no means a competitive runner. Just the opposite, in fact. I run because it makes me feel good and it lets me eat what I want without getting too porky. I started off running for 1 minute at a time, working my way up to twenty, and right now I’m doing 10km runs in a bit over an hour, but not because I want to ‘beat my last time’. I do it because the fitter I get, the longer I can run, and that means even more enjoyment.
I loved Born To Run because it’s all about running longer rather than faster. It also raises some controversial topics, namely the fancy running shoe debate. McDougall says the rise in running injuries has strangely coincided with the invention of the expensive running shoe. He maintains the best way to run is as close to bare foot as possible, or in your oldest, most beat up trainers. There is a rough plot – the author was told he could never run again due to a running injury, so he embarks on a journey to find out why these random running injuries occur, and in the process ends up researching ultra marathon runners, the least injured group of runners in the sports world (even though most of them have terrible diets and run for 5 days at a time). I found Born To Run super inspiring, and made me reconsider what my limits are.
Read this book if:
- you want to start exercising but can’t bear the thought of ‘punishing yourself’
- you already run but struggle to stay motivated
- you like exercise because of how it makes you feel
- you already run but are struggling to get better at it
- you suffer from some form of running injury
Did you know that running is the only sport at which you constantly improve? Every other sport sees your abilities deteriorate with age, while it’s the exact opposite with running. Fascinating hey? Get Born To Run here.
