Yoga Series!

I have never been a big fan of yoga, I tried one class at my local gym and found it very slow, boring and I wasn't too keen on the chanting, however after being inspired by Charlie from The Runner Beans 21 day yoga challenge I gave another class a go and was instantly impressed by the girls ability to just casually sit in the splits and hold different poses in handstands. After trying this class I thought the benefits would be great for both the aerial stuff I do and running so I've decided to do my own version of the 21 day yoga challenge and do a yoga month series of posts on my blog.

My aim is to practise yoga at least 3 times a week for the next four weeks so expect plenty of class reviews, yoga related posts, maybe even a special competition and to round it all off I've taken some pictures of myself in basic poses and at the end of the month I will take pictures of myself in the same poses to see how much I have progressed.

Are you a yoga fan? Any class suggestions are always greatly appreciated because I'm so new all of this. Bring on the yoga!

Blog holiday

Hello!

So you may have noticed the blog posts have been few and far between, I'm very sorry for this. Sometimes life likes to hand you lemons and you have to make lemonade instead of writing blog posts. I do feel very guilty though for not having the time or energy to write so I just want to say I am sorry and I've made the decision to not write until I am back from Japan at the start of April. I'm hoping I will come back refreshed and full of blog posts, I'm already excited about a potential yoga series I'm thinking of doing! I'm also planning some tips for those of you looking to start pole/aerial arts.

To those of you who have stuck with my blog, thank you, I promise I will have some decent content soon. I will leave you now with a picture of me doing the flag on the hoop, for no apparent reason other than I like this picture.

Trying out spinning at H2

My first time trying spinning was at Boom Cycle in Holborn, and much to my surprise I instantly fell in love, unfortunately at £16 a session it’s just a bit out of my price league which is when my quest to find a suitable alternative started and how I found H2.

H2 is only around the corner from where I work which is very convenient, and at only £12 a session it’s a bit more suited to my budget.

Unfortunately I think trying out a Boom class has ruined spinning for me because I can’t help but compare any class to theirs, and nothing seems to come close.

The class was fine and the instructor was good, but unlike at Boom where you are in a closed off dark room, this class takes place in a studio that is dimly lit with a glass partition that looks into the rest of the building so people can see your lovely sweaty red face as they walk by.

The bikes also don’t have any digital displays so you can’t see your RPM. I think this meant I didn’t push myself as hard and I didn’t know how fast or slow I should be going, in Boom’s class the instructor tells you what sort of RPM you should be aiming for as all the bikes there have digital displays. The studio does however allow you to hook up your heart rate monitor so you can see on a screen at the front of the studio your heart rate, this is a cool feature but depending on your personally it can be a good or a bad thing, I like to compete against myself, no one else so I can sometimes find things like this discouraging.

I just didn’t enjoy this class as much as the Boom one and it didn’t feel like I worked out as hard. Being super picky now but I also didn’t enjoy the music that much, it wasn’t as motivating, but then what’s motivating to me might not to be others.

Before the spin class I was greeted by a very lovely receptionist who gave me a locker pass. The changing facility’s are great and very clean, however half of the lockers don’t work and I had to go outside to ask the receptionist, a different one to the one I originally dealt with to help me and she didn’t seem all that happy about it. I also asked this same receptionist after the class if we could talk about membership options and she told me that all the information is online and that’s how you join, I appreciate everything is online but clearly I wanted to ask a few questions and this comment confirmed that I definitely won’t be coming back.

H2 itself is a pretty cool place. If you cycle to work you can keep your bike locked up here during the day and it’s only accessible to members and there is CCTV monitoring at all time. There are also the shower facilities that I mentioned earlier so you can lock up your bike and freshen up. As well as the spin studio there is also a gym that looked pretty well equipped. H2 spin classes are absolutely fine and fairly priced, but it just wasn’t a stand out class for me.

Review - Go Nutrition Go Whey Protein 80

The aerial and Crossfit classes I take are very intense on my muscles, so to help me with recovery I always drink a protein shake after taking a class. I used to use MyProtein whey to make my shakes, so when I was contacted by GoNutrition, the new business set up by the founder of MyProtein and was asked if I wanted to try out their protein I jumped on the chance.

I have been trying out the Go Whey Protein 80 in the flavour vanilla ice cream. I personally like whey as I find it makes a great tasting shake, some proteins powders, pea protein I'm looking at you! do not go down so smoothly... With 19.5g of protein, 1.2g of carbs and 96 calories per serving it's very easy to fit into my diet requirements. I also find whey quite good for cooking with (protein pancakes!) which is also why I went for the vanilla flavour because it is so versatile.

The protein itself blends really well, no choking on lumps of unmixed powder! It actually tastes really good too, this is definitely the nicest tasting vanilla protein I've tried, some vanilla protein shakes just taste like you are drinking sugar water or are very artificial tasting, but this shake actually tastes quite creamy and vanillary without feeling like you are downing a shake full of chemicals.

The protein also comes in lots of other delicious sounding flavours that I would love to try such as chocolate peppermint snaps and maple syrup & pancakes, yum! At just £9.99 for 500g this really is a great tasting affordable shake that I would recommend to anyone who is looking for a protein to help them with recovery.

Trying out spinning at Boom cycle

Spinning is the one class I never thought I would try because the thought and look of it truly terrifies me, people come out of those classes dripping in sweat and so red faced, but when the hip new spinning studio Boom offered free classes to celebrate the opening of their Holborn studio I jumped at the chance to try it, got to love a free class!



Boom is very easy to locate, it is only a couple of minutes away from the station and has a great big sign outside to make finding it easier.
It's quite space age-y inside, with it's white walls, iPads for checking in and blue LED ticker tape, and it also has the slight rubbery scent that I associate with squash courts, very upmarket and so far so good.

After checking in with the lovely receptionist who explained everything to me and the friend I had dragged along, we got changed and headed to the class where our spin instructor for the class, Alex, patiently showed us how to clip ourselves into the bikes and what height everything should be at. Both the receptionist and Alex showed amazing customer service, something I always value highly.

The spin studio itself had about 30 bikes in it, all squeezed pretty closely together but all facing the instructors bike so you could see what is going on. The studio itself has black walls and the lights are turned off when the class starts, this and the loud dance music definitely gave the class a rave-y feel. I was a bit apprehensive about so many people squeezed into a relatively small space, but the air conditioning system worked really well.

Like with most exercise classes, this one started with a warm up. I actually thought I was going to die during the warm up and didn't know how I was going to handle a full class, but I did and I loved every second of it! The class was so varied, sitting, standing, increasing the resistance to stimulate hills and full out sprinting followed by a nice cool down. The fact that you could set your own resistance meant that this class is accessible for people of any fitness level, you follow along with the instructor but you can take it at your own pace.

I enjoyed this class so much more than I ever thought I would and came out so high on endorphins. I haven't been able to run for about three weeks now thanks to various injuries, so it felt great to be doing some cardio and I really pushed myself during the class. Everyone was provided with a clean towel to use, and you will definitely need it, I was dripping with sweat after the first five minutes. This is also the first class I have ever left and thought "I need food now", normally I can wait until I get to home to have my dinner but I didn't feel like I would've made it that far, luckily Itsu had just started it's daily half price sale, a free spinning class followed by half price sushi? AMAZING.

I think Boom have created a great spinning studio, and I would absolutely love to do it again, but unfortunately at £16 a class, I just can't afford it. I definitely understand why they charge that price, it's is a 1st class spinning studio with all the luxuries that go along with it such as REN products in the toilets and showers, individual showers and changing rooms (I love this, I'm a total prude), clean towels provided for everyone and even hairbands at reception available for those who have forgotten theirs, but I just don't get paid enough to be able to afford the classes which sucks.
If you can afford it, I would defintiely recommend taking spin classes here, I will keep my eyes open for any other offers that crop up because I am dying to go back, they have a garage class that I would love to give a go!

Through the postbox

It's been a while since my last through the postbox, so I've accumulated a lot of stuff to share with you today. If you haven't read one of my through the postbox posts before, basically I write about all the stuff I have received through my postbox that relates to fitness somehow. I personally love this style of posts because it always gives me ideas of new stuff to buy, although thats not necessarily a good thing...

First up we have some Jimmy's Iced Coffee. They were lovely enough to send me out a few cartons after I reviewed them on my blog, they know the skinny one is my favourite!
This iced coffee is so good, Starbucks quality at home and I can't recommend them enough.

 Oh gosh I didn't realise how blurry this photo was, I'm sorry! Hopefully you can see how awesome these leggings are though. For Christmas I received a lot of money so I decide to splurge and get a pair of super nice leggings. I went for the diamond cut pair from Gymluxe and it was definitely the right choice. I love how they look, they perform really well and they are so comfortable. Beth Tweedle is currently sporting them in her training videos on Dancing on Ice!

 As you probably know by now, I pole dance, but I am so inflexible so my moves don't look as nice as they should do. Alethea Austin is one of my favourite pole dancers, she just oozes sex appeal and her flexibility is amazing. I read a lot of reviews for her DVD, she also has a pure splits DVD which I was tempted to get because I'm desperately trying to get my splits, but I went for her Stretching For Pole instead because she has a lot of back flexibility training in there too, and surprise surprise, my back is stiff as a ironing board!

 Go Nutrition offered to send me a product from their range and I went for the Go Whey Protein 80 in vanilla ice cream. I always use whey protein because I find it goes down quite easily and the nutritional values for this protein are pretty spot on for what I look for in protein. They have some amazing sounding flavours, I would've loved the maple pancake flavour but I went for vanilla because I can use it easily in baking.

My friend Emma posted a picture of her neon pink Smart Shake protein shaker and I instantly knew I had to get one. My current shaker is awful, it doesn't blend well and it leaks everywhere but Smart Shake's have great reviews, and it's bright pink, so the fact I got new protein meant I had to get a new shaker right? I also got some bright pink Kinesiology tape. This has been recommend to me by other runners to help with the pains I get in my IT band, I need to practise my taping technique but hopefully this will help me avoid too much pain at the Brighton half marathon.

And lastly we have some race numbers! The top one is my Brighton half number which I was so excited to receive, the fact that I'm in the pink group makes me so happy! Pink just means I'm aiming to finish in the 2:15-2:30 mark. Getting my race number definitely makes things feel a lot more real!
The second number I got was my Race for Life number. I am running this with my mum and it's not until July, but I'm very excited to be number 8!

That is everything I think, and hopefully I won't be doing another one of these posts for a while because I am meant to be saving for Japan! Although I'm sure there will be a few hiccups...

Strawberry and Banana Oatmeal Casserole

Breakfast is such a important meal, but I don't always have the most time in the mornings and I was getting a bit sick of eating the same thing every day so after a bit of research into recipes with oats and a bit of experimenting I finally ended up with this recipe. It's great because it tastes a bit cakey and I can cook a batch on Sunday and it will see me through most of the week and I can stick a portion in the microwave for 40 second and have a nice warm breakfast!

Just a quick note, in this recipe I use agave nectar, you can substitute this with honey but I've used agave because it's slightly sweeter and it's runnier which makes it easier to mix with the milk and eggs. I got mine from Sainsbury's!

Ingredients 

1 egg
1 cup skimmed milk (or whatever milk you prefer)
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp agave nectar
1 cup of oats
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup of walnut pieces
2 ripe bananas chopped into slices
1/2 cup strawberries chopped in half
1/8 cup of chocolate chips (optional)

To Make

1. Preheat the oven to 180
2. Layer a ceramic cooking dish with the bananas, cinnamon, half the strawberries and a tbsp of agave nectar. Cover with silver foil and put in the over for 15 minutes.
3. Whilst the bananas bake, in a bowl combine the oats, walnuts and baking powder.
4. In a separate bowl whisk the milk, egg, vanilla extract and 2 tbsp of agave nectar.
5. Remove the bananas and strawberries from the over and sprinkle the oat mixture on top as evenly as you can then pour the milk mixture over the top, once again trying to get a nice even layer.
6. Sprinkle the remaining walnuts, strawberries and the chocolate chips evening over the top.
7. Put back in the oven and bake for about 30 minutes.













Makes 6 servings.

Per serving:

216 calories | Carbs: 29g | Fat: 5g | Protein: 5g | 5 Weight Watcher Pro Points