BOTN Training - Week 1

And So It Begins
Gasping for air and slightly bruised ego, the start statistics for shape training have hit me hard and I haven't even began! I knew I was out of shape but this is the biggest I've ever been! I don't even feel that big? For some reason I thought I looked bigger back in 2007 the first time I was ever considered obese, I could have sworn I was bigger? After the initial shock, came the unwanted photo op. excuse the untouched, unmadeup, unflattering photos. I still feel I don't look 203lbs, do I? DON'T answer that!

Ralph had estimated he was around 13 or 14 stone, which I laughed at as I thought I was around that mass and I knew I was bigger than him. But he was right. To be honest it will be a lot easier to turn the small amount of weight on him that is fat into muscle. His leg's are rock solid, any more and the veins are going to pop out with muscle on muscle. The great thing about Ralph is if he wants to lose weight all he has to do is think about it, as most men seem to do, but muscle building might take a little longer than a few bitstrips in his head. Still he'll accomplish it before me, down to science and that the fact that when we met his arms were bulging! So they are used to being worked, even if they haven't been worked in awhile.

Back in 2007 I reached just under 200lbs, I was 5ft.2inches, which is why it might have looked heavier then than it does now. I started running, and when I couldn't run I used an elliptical machine in front of the television at least once a day for an hour or more. I ended up bring down my weight to 120lbs (8.5stone). Then in December 2011 I found out I was pregnant with our beautiful son Rohan. After he was born in August 2012 I managed to get my weight back down to 12stone having gained quite a lot during the pregnancy, which is around 160lbs. But something happened, without being allowed to exercise due to an unforeseen high risk labour and emergency c-section, I was left for a year without being alble to do anything but walk for exercise. This through me into a depression, which as anyone knows doesn't help with losing weight, or you do the opposite and lose too much weight, which wasn't in my case. I switched, as some of you who follow the blog will remember, to a gluten free and veggie only diet. This was brilliant, I made it down to 11 stone after all the up and down fluctuations and managed to hold it, until I decided to go back to meat in my die. The holidays hit, so it was fat and sugary foods which I normally wouldn't eat thrown into my daily routine also and BAM! here I am at 14.5 stone! Something I really let slip even though I was supposed to be training for Team Scotland's first tournament in the Battle Of The Nations 2014!

Week one training was designed for someone of our weight and height, and to hit the area's of the body that need a warm up to ease them into the next week of training. Saying that, this doesn't mean you are not going to be sore throughout the week, after all, that means it's working!

Week one consists of
Situps
Leg Raisers
Pushups
Squats
Walking
Planks
Dumbell Lifts

I will go over what needs to be done to do these for someone who is very out of shape like me and someone who manages to push through them like Ralph.

Situps - As the name suggests is where you sit on the floor and sit up. BUT if you're not used to this you may need some assistance, yes it's fine, like I said, it's warm up week.
Lay on the floor and have someone kneel on your feet while pressing half their weight on your knee's. This will help keep your feet on the ground as you sit up as you may find your legs are raising. If you can't find a partner, hook your feet underneath a sofa or another heavy piece of furniture (that is not going to fall on top of you when you sit up) this will help you pull the upper half of your body up while also keeping your feet on the ground. Once you've gotten used to these you will be able to do sit-ups without any assistance.

Leg Raisers - Lay on the floor with your legs flat, hip width apart and your arms by your sides with your palms facing the floor. Raise your right leg to the ceiling, hold for one breath then lower just above the floor, hold for one breath. If you find you cannot do these just yet, lay on the floor as if you are about to do a situp, have one leg flat on the floor and the other in an arch (like you do with both legs on a situp). Lift the flat leg up in the air, while using the other leg to hold you in place and take some of the weight. After one breath bring the leg almost to the floor (no touching), hold for 1 breath and repeat. Then switch legs.

Pushups - Pushups are harder for lady's to do, due to those two things attached to our chests, they make us off balanced when lying face first and lifting in a plank position, causing our body to arch during a pushup, which you DON'T want. Your body should be straight, give or take a few, and this should not hurt your back, if it is hurting your back or ankles your are probably arching your body too much and putting too much strain on those two area's. If this is the case, put your knee's on the floor, lift your feet so you make a V shape with your legs, this will help take some of the strain off when your do a pushup until your upper body becomes strong enough to hold your weight.

Squats - There are two types of squats listed in week one, regular squats and wall squats. Regular squats start in a standing position with your legs hip width apart. Bend your knee's keeping your upper body straight, until you can bend no more, then raise your body back into standing position. You can even hold the squat for a few breaths before you return to standing position, if you find this hard then you maybe bending your knees too far, or you're either standing too far apart, or too close together.
The wall squat is one of my favourites. Place your back against a bare wall, and slide your back down the wall into a squat position, hold the squat for 50 seconds. The lower you squat the harder this will be, but it works your thighs and bum to it's max while keeping your posture in check!

Walking - Do I really need to explain this? Go outside, even if it's just in the garden doing some gardening for an hour. Take the dog for a walk (which I hope someone's been doing already!) Or get an elliptical/treadmill machine and place it in front of the telly if you really are not an outdoor person. And don't even make the weather excuse! If it's cold, it turns out you'll burn more calories than if you went for a walk in warmer temperatures, but don't forget to bring fluids either way!

Planks - Are not my favourite. They hurt like hell, and my body hates them! The only way I manage planks is combing them with leg raisers. Week one has both planks and leg raiser planks. A normal plank is where you lay on the floor either on your belly or back, with your feet and hands pointing outward. You then slightly raise your legs and arms off the floor and hold.
Leg Raiser Planks are where you lay on your back with your feet slightly apart and your arms either pointing outward or by your side (of you need a little help keeping steady). Raise both legs to the ceiling then back down above the floor (no resting them on the ground). Repeat. These work your bum, back, thighs, lower and upper stomach muscles.

Dumbell Lifts - Always start with the lower weighted dumbbells if you haven't been training in awhile or at all. If it seems easy, then add a little more weight on, until it seems like you're lifting a bag of sugar in each hand. If it's a bit heavier that will give you better results but it shouldn't be hard to lift, remember it's just warm up week. 5lbs-10lbs is usually a good starting weight. If you find you are getting blisters on your hands you may want to try some weight lifting gloves or liquid chalk.


How We Got On - Week 1

Ralph - Stuck to the routine loosely as he has not long had knee surgery for the second time and is waiting on a ligament reattachment surgery. So his week consisted of his regular knee physio and focusing on his upper body. He has done a lot more weight lifting than was on the Week 1 training plan, and sit ups. He even managed some squats, which I was impressed with due to his knee! See, I told you he'd have no problem with this!
Holly - I started off very well, some exercises I found I needed to do the assisted version due to lack of muscle strength from not having used them in so long. I'm also suffering from hip and back problems at the moment, which I'm hoping will lesson once the muscles in my body get stronger as it will help put less strain on those areas. I have stuck to my usual intake of food (without picking more than usual) as we are easing into training and establishing a diet. By the end of the week I fell ill with a stomach flu like bug and ended up being bed ridden which is why this has been posted on a Tuesday rather than the passed Sunday I originally wanted it posted. Which means I've gone backwards, lost vital fluids and nutrients from not being able to hold food down or eating. Hopefully Week 2 will be better.

All in all it's been an interesting week. I have already seen results, my legs feel stronger and I did have more energy before I caught this stomach bug. Week 2 will focus on keeping up a schedule so your body starts to feel more comfortable with the routine a long with figuring out what kind of eating plan works best with the workout you are doing.