Lita Lewis & Simeon Panda's UK Bootcamp

Saturday 27th September 2014 was an amazing day!!!! I had the pleasure of being put through a workout by two of the most amazing fitness icons @simeonpanda and @litalewis.

The bootcamp took place in Clapham Common park at 10:30 am.

Before the session, we were given a brief introduction as to what the session entailed. The rules of the session were that every routine was completed twice and you were not allowed to stand still throughout the session- the recovery position had to be active e.g bouncing on your toes.

The session lasted for about an hour and consisted of a range of high intensity plyometric exercises. If anyone had a #LegDay the day before, they were definitely feeling the burn. 

The session was followed by prize giveaways, a photo session and a 30 minute question and answer session. 

Overall, the event was amazing. It felt so good to be in the presence of like minded individuals who shared the same passion I did. I was so taken back by how humble Simeon and Lita were. They were extremely friendly and willing to answer any questions anyone had.  

It made me fall in love with fitness all over again and I can only hope to be as inspiring as them in the future. 

Im not sure when the next event will be but I will definitely let you guys know.

If you attended the event, let me know how you found it by leaving your comments below. 

G 

Can you increase your breasts through exercise?

Recently, I’ve had a few comments from several people about how small my boobs have gone ...and on reflection…its true eccckkkkkk

I blame the cardio to be honest, because when I first started working out, I was a 32DD and now I’m a ...never mind! But anyway, I’ve done my research and I have good news and bad news. I’ll start with the bad news first…

Unfortunately, breasts do not have a lot of muscle tissue in them, so they are not like your glutes, where if you were to go crazy on the squats and lunges, you bum would get bigger. Your breasts are pretty much made up of fatty tissues and the size of your breasts depends on how much fat your body stores in certain places. This is based on things like your genetics, weight, health and age. So, in my case, my fat stores in my stomach, legs and bum. However, although breasts have limited muscle tissues in them, the muscles that lie underneath your breasts (your pecs), are responsible for the ‘perkiness’ of your breasts.

The good news is you can make your breasts more predominate and “perky” by increasing the size of your pecs, which in most cases, should make them appear bigger.

How can you do this? Simply by doing the exercises and eating the specific foods I mention below.

Exercises

Dumbbell Chest Press

Using two hand weights, lie on a mat or stability ball or incline bench. Your knees should be bent at a 90-degree angle. Hold dumbbells next to your arm pits with knuckles facing forward. Count to three as you push the weights up away from your chest, until your arms are almost straight above you. Slowly lower back to starting position using the same number of counts.

*At an incline, the chest press builds the top of the chest directly underneath the collarbone. This pulls skin upwards, causing the breasts to be lifted.
  

 

*At a decline angle, the lower part of the pectoral muscle is worked, which is directly under the fullest part of the breast tissue. The extra muscle depth provides structure underneath the fatty tissue, pushing it both forward and slightly upwards.

Dumbbell Flys

Lay in the same position as you would for a bench press. Instead this time, place both hands above your chest with arms straight, elbows slightly bent and knuckles facing out to the side. Open arms out wide and lower your arms until your elbows are in line with your shoulders, taking three or four counts. Bring back to starting position using the same amount of counts.

The dumbbell fly works the centreline of your chest, which will give you the appearance of more cleavage.

Isometric Chest Contractions

Stand straight with your knees slightly bent. Grab each end of a towel and hold it straight out in front of you at shoulder level. Now pull the towel at opposite ends at the same time, using small pulsing motions. Try to keep the towel taut in between pulses. Continue for one minute, repeat three times.

Push Up

Lie stomach-down on the floor with your arms bent at your sides and your palms flat against the floor. Push up with your arms to raise your torso, keeping your knees straight and your toes on the floor. Continue pushing up until your arms are straight. Lower yourself slowly back to the floor, then repeat.

This provides almost the exact same benefit as the flat chest press, except many more muscle groups are engaged when you do this bodyweight exercise. Your abdominals, hip flexors, lower back, quads, triceps, calves and obliques all have to pitch in to complete this motion.

Food

Estrogen is the main hormone responsible for breast growth and development. This hormone helps females to get right body curves and also plays an important role in breast growth. By eating foods higher in Estrogen, you will boost your natural Estrogen production, which should help your breasts grow.

The recommended foods are:

• Apples
• Plums
• Peppers
• Cucumber
• Beets
• Rice
• Barley
• Wheat
• Sunflower
• Parsley
• Clover flax seed
• Soybeans
• Kidney beans
• Peas


Please remember, like any other fitness goal you are trying to achieve, results are not gained overnight. It will take hard work and consistency, but if you stick at it, you will get there in the end.

G

Impossible is Nothing

I can't believe its 2014 already! I guess it's time to reflect on last years achievements and assess what changes you want to make in the New Year. Don't be discouraged if you didn't achieve all your goals, use this year as an opportunity to prioritise the goals you didn't achieve last year. 

However, be realistic when goal setting. Sometimes we aim to accomplish 101 things by the end of the year, without assessing whether this is even feasible. I mean there's no point completing the year having completed all your goals half heartedly. 

As the year was coming to an end, I got a bit upset that I didn't get to complete everything I set out to do. Nevertheless, I realised that there was a reason for the delay and it just wasn't the right time.

However, I have so many things to be thankful for that I don't even know where to begin. I'm not going to list all of them, because you probably don't want to hear them lol, but what I will say is, blogging has shown me that nothing is impossible.

Blogging was one of my resolutions last year and within a year I've had over 30,000 views. Anyone who knows me personally knows that I was very nervous and scared about blogging. I put it off for the longest time. I was scared that no one would read it or that it would be rubbish. To some people it may be just that, but my hits tell me I'm doing something right. I have had nothing but positive feedback and I would just like to say a big thank you to everyone that has followed me and supported me on my journey.

Your support means a lot to me and is the motivation I need to keep doing what I'm doing. I know I've said this before, but when I first started my journey it was all about me. I wasn't doing it to benefit anyone else and it was all about my personal gain. I was just a girl who liked posting gym pictures on Instagram, but I soon came to realise that I was beginning to inspire those around me without even noticing it, and for those reasons, I won't stop doing what I'm doing.

My advice for this year would be set yourself realistic goals that way you’re more likely to stick to it. If your goal is to finally get active and lose weight, instead of it being a resolution, why not have it as a change in lifestyle with the intention of it lasting a lifetime. As I've said before, fitness isn't a destination but rather a journey. It’s much harder to maintain your results once you've reached your goal.

I would suggest creating a 2014 vision board and placing images and words of all the things you want to accomplish this year. Have this board in a place you will see everyday. This should keep you on track and act as a constant reminder of your objectives for that year. Sometimes having your goals on paper, is what you need to take the steps to make it a reality. 

Let's make 2014 a productive year and focus on making those dreams a reality.

G