Fortunately though, my first session wasn’t that bad – it was pretty bearable actually. The hour was spent doing health and fitness assessments, pushups, sit-ups and a 12-minute motion test that entailed running (but mostly walking!) around an indoor track as fast as we could. By the time I left, I was feeling pretty confident that this was all going to be a walk in the park…

Wednesday, 1 February 2012
Wednesday morning arrived and it was time for my second session. I woke up, made a pot of personality, had three cups and off I went to what I thought would be my second easy session. My adrenaline was pumping by the time I got there and Lezandre (she WILL have a nickname by my next post, by the way) started us off with laps around the field. I was so high on caffeine that I was convinced I was Caster Semenya at one point. The laps were a breeze until Hell descended upon us in the form of circuit training. This included weights, lunges, shuffling, skipping, ball sit-ups – just writing about it exhausts me.

I assure you none of this was a walk in the park and all I kept thinking was, “Bless the guy who discovered coffee!” However, as tired as I was by the end of the session, I did feel like I could suddenly take on the world and I was convinced that I was at least 3kg lighter. I’m on this whole “You are what you think you are” vibe, so it worked.

Friday, 3 February 2012
Getting up this morning was a struggle. I dragged myself to the kitchen, made a pot of personality and watched a spot of TVnews while I waited. Three cups of coffee later I was ready to rock. I arrived at the field feeling super-amped; the breeze and gorgeous mountain background just added to my mood.

Lezandre threw a spanner in the works and requested that we get into groups. I was allowed to pick a team and so did a fellow boot camper. I chose my team randomly, as we had no idea what we were about to do. We were then further split into two teams that would compete against one another. The game: SOCCER. I mean I’ve watched the game before but I’m certainly no Beckham!

The game kicked off well, my personality fix was doing wonders for my form, my teammates were fantastic and I was certain that I was playing better than the legendary Ronaldo. The score ended in a draw. 

We were told that the next game we were going to play was netball. Having played at school, I just knew that this was going to be an awesome game. My team was quick, defence was tight and we were having a good game. I don’t recall the score but I’m almost sure we won. We were, of course, the best team!

After netball, Hell graced us with its presence once again, only with more and tougher stations. I must admit I wasn’t my best when it came to that. My back was aching and I was out of breath from giving soccer and netball my all. I decided to take it easy and just go at my own snail’s pace. Some of the workouts felt like a dream within a dream. Kind of like an Inception of some sort; only thing is that you are caught in a dream where all you do is exercise. At one point, I was just fighting to wake up, but alas!
I’d made it through the third day of Boot Camp and, as I lay on my mat while I stretched and gazed at the clear blue sky, feeling but NOT looking thin, I thought, “Well done, T, you’ve made it through the first week!”
One down and seven more weeks to go. EISH!

Few things make me feel as smug and virtuous as getting up and exercising outdoors at 6 am.

Let me just say, in case there is any confusion, I am not one of those “exercise people”, you know, the ones who run at 5am every day and think hiking up Lions Head is a fun way to spend Sunday morning (I’m looking at you, Bianca!)

I am an exercise attempter. I have tried to do the morning workouts with the fitness zealots many, many times. And I have failed many, many times. Until now that is.

I signed up for the SISSA Boot Camp programme, enthusiastically choosing the morning slot because I need to prove that I can do this, and perhaps because I am a tenacious fool of a woman. Either way, this fool managed three 6am boot camp training sessions this week. And today I actually enjoyed it.

Working out in a group, going through obstacle courses, and playing netball and soccer (this morning) is actually a whole lot of fun. Yes, fun, the missing component in my previous attempts.

So as I jumped rope this morning on Westerford High School’s sports field, appreciating the fresh air and the view and feeling all self-satisfied and grateful for that mountain, I wondered if this is the start of the new me…
“Could I get up early on Tuesday and Thursday morning as well? I could go walking outdoors. That would be awesome. But I’d be alone. Could I be one of those people who do things on their own without looking like a creepy social outcast?”

My thoughts were disrupted by trainer and biokineticist (and woman of steel) Lezandré prompting us to move to the next station. Sjoe, close call, I almost did that thing where I get all fanatical and become too ambitious for my own takkies.

Working out in the morning will do that to you, you feel all strong and amazing and awesome and ready to take on the world.

So here’s me looking forward to my next session!

x
Ash

Follow me on twitter: @Ashlinsimpson

As you can probably tell, I’ve started with my new trainer, Simone Jacobs. I am now realising that it’s not always a very good idea to share your vision, or sporting history with a personal trainer. My secret fitness wish has always been to have that line/indentation defined on the side of the thigh, as well as that ‘V’ in the front of the thigh like professional sports people have. Sharing these secret desires I’ve found, gets them excited and they get all sorts of ideas of how we can get there, which in turn makes me wish I were a tortoise with a shell to hide under!  Oh well, I guess I just need to put my big gal panties on and get on with it. Unfortunately unlike fat, which can be liposuctioned, or wrinkles which can be botoxed – there’s no shortcut to getting those legs! sigh… 

 I’ve just finished my second week with Simone and I must say that while her style is slightly different from Metro’s, my body is certainly challenged by every gym session! I’ve started to swim again and I must say swimming still remains my favourite form of exercise. The difference now, is that with a trainer it is no longer a haphazard exercise but structured and focused. We’re correcting strokes and fixing years of bad habits but getting the necessary work done as well. Best part is that it still doesn’t feel like much work – make no mistake I still get the workout I’m meant to – but I enjoy myself too and it makes me want to mimic movie stars when they say: ‘ I  can’t believe they pay me to have fun’.

 Our main focus now is to work my core muscles so I can strengthen my back as well. The bigger picture is still to expedite weight-loss and get my fitness levels up, It’s a long way to go but hey, with a 17kg, 2.5year old boy that suddenly wants to be piggy backed at every opportunity, I’d best get my act together and quit whining!

Now it’s into Week 2 and I look forward to burning some calories. Although I started off well, my dedication to my eating plan has come undone – I blame it on all the parties I’ve been attending! Arrggg!!! I’m so angry with myself for not sticking to the plan, but I’ll try extra hard this week.

Kitted out in my New Balance-sponsored kit (check out the t-shirt), I’m feeling ready for action. I got to my first session earlier than expected, so I thought I’d cycle a bit on the stationary bikes before the session started. So there I was, warming up, when in walked my biokineticist, Bevan, who told us to warm up on the bikes for 10 minutes! In total I rode 20 minutes. All I could think was “I hope I survive this!” and “Where is the stretcher?!”

I went on to do 25 minutes in total. It felt awesome. This was followed by strength exercises with a theraband, working the biceps, triceps, hamstrings and glutes. It was tough but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Next came an introduction to Pilates, which, surprisingly, I enjoyed. I have never liked Pilates before.

On Thursday, we will have our weigh-in and our 5-minute one-on-one session with our dietician. The aim of this is to establish if there are any problems or challenges with our diets. I will definitely ask her advice on “party food”, and what the healthy alternatives are.

Well that’s it for this week! Check out my blog next week for my update.

These are my target areas

In the past few summer months I haven’t been to the beach. Not once. The silly season left a silly amount of weight on my body. My tummy is a little bigger, my thighs a little more wrinkly and my face (sigh), growing a double chin. I haven’t been to the beach because next to my naturally slim friends – I’m the beached whale.

That’s why this year’s New Year’s resolution is to slim down and tone up. I’ve signed up for the SSISA 8-week Go-4-It programme, and for the first two weeks I get a biokineticist to devise a workout plan to target my “problem areas.”

…And they’re a BIG problem for me; slowly knocking my confidence bit by bit and forcing me to convert my clothes from fabulous to frumpy.

I attended my first training session last night with my fabulous trainer and biokineticist Natalie MacRae. We focused most of my training on my lower body:

Wall ball squats	Track running	Step/ leg lifts	Thigh machine	Elliptical machine

I’ve only done one session so far, with another at 7:30 tomorrow morning. Let’s hope I can make the early calling time!

Exercise tip:  It’s easy to forget to stretch. It’s often overlooked because the results are not as visible as lifting weights and squatting – or so you thought. Stretching can lead to better posture, fewer aches and pains, greater confidence, and a cheerier outlook on life. Add a 5 minute stretch routine before and after your workout.

My inspirational quote for the week: The secret of getting ahead is getting started– Mark Twain

Follow me on twitter @Sara_Mould

Look out for my blog update every Thursday

There are several fitness falsehoods out there – like when an instructor says “come on, this should hurt!” (it shouldn’t) or “squats blast thigh fat” (nope, but they strengthen your thighs…) Here, trainer Kim Lyons weighs in on these and more workout myths:

You can target specific areas

“Don’t buy into the myth of spot exercising to reduce fat in a particular area,” Kim says. “While it’s true that strengthening exercises will target specific muscles – for example, crunches strengthen your abdominal muscles – no exercise can burn fat in a specific area.”

Exercise should hurt

Whether you’ve been told “No pain, no gain,” or that you should “feel the burn,” the reality is that exercise doesn’t have to be painful to be effective. “In fact, pushing yourself too hard, too fast will most likely lead to an injury – not a fit physique,” Lyons says.

If you strength train, you’ll get bulky

“While resistance training helps you maintain your lean muscle mass, building substantial amounts of muscle is very difficult, especially when you’re losing weight,” says Kim. “Unless you’re a bodybuilder following a programme designed to increase your muscle mass, you won’t bulk up.”

There’s a quick fix

“Don’t buy into advertisements that promise certain fitness equipment or activities will get you in shape quickly or with no effort,” Kim says. “When it comes to fitness, slow and steady wins the race.”

If you exercise, you can eat whatever you want

“While exercise does burn kilojoules, what and how much you eat still matters – a lot,” Lyons says. “For example, a 1.5km walk burns about 400kJ – so you’d have to walk for 15km to burn off the typical 5 000kJ fast-food meal of a hamburger, fries and a soft drink!”

It’s Week 2 of our SSISA Healthy Weight programme and the pace has definitely been stepped up. Due to deadlines I had to go to a later class with the much-feared Sergeant Shredder on Monday evening but I am glad to report that I survived and actually enjoyed the class. We kicked off with a warm-up on the stationary bikes, followed by strengthening exercises using dumbbells, focussing mainly on our triceps, biceps, quads and abs. As trainer Bevan Matthews explained to us last week we are trying to strengthen our core muscles, and as this is the area that I would most like to tone up, I welcomed every pain-inducing crunch. On the up side, I find that exercising in a group like this is a great motivator and somehow it makes the time fly by.

Dietitian Elienna Horwitz gave us a handy list of easy-to-prepare meals, which has really made a big difference. When we started off we were given a very broad list of ingredients and proportion that we could mix and match but having specific meals set out cuts out any guesswork, and also makes my cooking time faster, especially when I get home in the evening, starving and exhausted.

I must point out that work commitments have been much more demanding this week than it normally is. Not only were we on deadline with the March issue (which in itself is a huge stress) but we also shot not one but two potential covers (which brings an entirely different level of stress). So I was stretched in all directions and could feel it in my energy and motivation levels. But as I said, having the set eating plan has been an enormous help in keeping me on the straight!

I’m looking forward to the Wednesday Pilates class – one step closer to my toned, trim middle!

Rubi & Diego

Taking our dogs to the beach became my only priority, and my only “exercise” encompassed catching a few small waves at Muizenberg, or the odd mountainbike downhill session in Tokai Forest on weekends.

But increasingly, I found myself feeling very tired and as though my body belonged to someone else. All I want to do is go for a long run but because I’m so unfit it feels like such a massive task, so I just get despondent and head for the beach again.

Enter the SISSA and their “Shaping up SHAPE Challenge”. I opt for their Opti-Fit 10km running programme over 12 weeks. Suddenly there’s a light at the end of the tunnel for me – no more excuses, just excitement about the challenge ahead.

We’re lucky because before we start we get to attend a running shoe assessment with SSISA podiatrist, Chris Delpierre. He gives me some vital pointers about the correct way to place my feet while running, as well as a list of the best running shoes should my running career really take off. For now though, I’m sticking to my comfy pink New Balance 870’s, which New Balance kindly sponsored the whole SHAPE team with for the programme – he says they’ll work perfectly.

Push-ups on assessment day

DAY 1:

Rushing off after a SHAPE cover shoot in my brand new kit, I brave the traffic to Newlands and meet the rest of the group for our first session on the stunning fields of Westerford High School.  I was up at four in the morning as we had an early call time for out shoot, so by 5:45pm I’m pretty knackered… but I’m still ready for whatever our group leader, Maryse Pretorius, has planned for us.

The first session was pretty easy: we walked around the field for 15 minutes, then jogged for a minute and walked for two minutes for another 30 minutes, and then finished off with some stretching.  I felt great and relaxed after our session and energized the next morning.

We’re going to be meeting for three sessions a week and, once we’re fitter, we’ll be meeting on Saturday mornings for longer runs. Our first mini-marathon fun run (4.2km) will be on the 10^th of March, and even though I need to attend a wedding that weekend, I’m going to try to run it as it will be a first for me.

Think before your first bite

When co-workers bring in treats, the office can become a fat trap. Stop, get centred, take a deep breath and focus on your health goals. Which is better: the taste of a muffin or the feeling of reaching your goals?

Don’t be fooled by juice

You may think that gulping down a glass of OJ is a great way to start your day, but many store-bought varieties are packed with sugar. A healthy serving of orange juice is about as much as you could squeeze out of one orange. A better idea may be to have a glass of water and eat the orange itself: Whole fruit offers you all the vitamins and minerals of the juice, along with tummy-filling fibre that can help tame hunger pangs until lunch.

Fill up… the healthy way

Pancakes and waffles are a no-no for breakfast, especially when accompanied by sugary syrup. Instead, try a whole-grain cereal or toast, and try to get some protein in the form of low-fat or fat-free yoghurt, lean meat, or egg whites, you’ll feel fuller for longer.

You give in to temptation

Breakfast pastries are delicious, but when you’re faced with treats first thing in the morning, try your best to resist. Sugary cereals, toaster pastries, bagels, and cinnamon rolls are tempting, but they’re likely to cause a spike in blood sugar, followed by a low-energy crash and hunger, which can cause a snack attack by mid-morning.

Don’t rule out coffee

You don’t have to give up your morning cup of Joe, even if you’re vying for a healthier diet. Unless you have sensitivity to caffeine or a medical condition that makes it unwise to consume it, coffee can be a delicious and natural way to boost your mood and your brain function. If you need more than a cup or two to get going in the morning, you may be sleep-deprived. Coffee is not a substitute for actual zz’s.

Be ready when hunger strikes

If you’re often in a rush to get to work and skip breakfast, stock up on healthy snacks. The key to healthy eating is planning ahead. It makes sense to keep nutritious, non-sugary pick-me-ups in your desk drawer or in the office fridge.

Stick to one serving

A serving each of low-fat protein, whole fruit or vegetables, and whole-grain bread or cereal is a great way to get your body and mind prepared for the demands of your day. However, you need to make sure that the number of kilojoules you take in at breakfast works within your overall daily kilojoule target.

Don’t discount vending machines

Although they’re high in fat and kilojoules, a handful of peanuts from the vending machine will at least give you some protein and fibre, which will keep you feeling full longer than a doughnut, will. If you can, skip out to a convenience store and grab fat-free sugar-free yoghurt, a whole fruit, or a small protein bar.

Be ready to face a buffet

You can still enjoy a satisfying meal without stuffing yourself silly at the weekend brunch buffet. Just avoid items like muffins, fruit juice cocktails, and sweets. Start with eggs, lean meat, salmon, fresh veggies, and fruit.

Remember this mantra

There’s an old saying that goes, ‘Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper”. Keep this quote in mind throughout the day, and you’ll be on your way to healthy weight loss in no time!

Don’t rely on breakfast bars

Granola and breakfast bars often serve as quick on-the-go meals, but many of them have as many kilojoules as dessert! Most commercial granola bars are basically oatmeal cookies in disguise, with a lot more sugar than you need. A little natural peanut butter on a folded slice of whole-grain bread is better. Make a couple of these mini sandwiches in advance and keep one in your fridge at home, and one at work.

Add a glass of h2o

It’s always beneficial to include a big glass of water as part of your breakfast. Water will hydrate you and help you feel full and satisfied.