Sunday Funday

The weather wasn’t too bad on Sunday, so after church I decided to have a little workout in the park with my cousins. It was a short session which consisted of bodyweight exercises.

Bodyweight exercises are so convenient. You don’t need equipment, you can workout literally anywhere and all you need is your body! 

What I like about these types of exercises, is that they require more flexibility and balance in order to perform reps, in comparison to weight training. Because you have to use your bodyweight to adjust the difficulty of exercises, you learn how to make use of your entire body in any given movements.  

It's all about becoming one with your body because you’re literally working with what you've got and your body HAS to tone itself because it’s naturally being conditioned to the same weight all the time. Not only that but, you can workout towards your own strengths and weaknesses, as through doing certain exercises you'll be able to learn what muscles are stronger/weaker.

There is an ongoing discussion about Bodyweight Training vs Weight Training but that’s a different blog post. Personally, I like them both and think when combined together you get good results, but that’s just my opinion. J

But yh ...since the weathers getting better now, I plan to do a lot more training in the park on weekends…so anyone interested let me know and lets do this!

G

You're More Beautiful Than You Think

I was inspired to write this blog post by the recent Dove Real Beauty advert. For the few that haven't seen the advert yet (click here) , a FBI forensic artist is behind a curtain and draws the individuals portrait by their own self description. The artist then draws a second portrait of the same individual but this time the drawing is based on a strangers description of them. 

When the two portraits are compared, the portrait based on the individuals own self description was very unflattering and miserable. However, the portrait based on the strangers description of the individual was more softer, more realistic and somewhat - happier.

It highlighted that these women had self distorted images of themselves and did not realise how beautiful they were. Whilst watching the advert I got quite emotional because I know for a fact I can relate and a lot of people I know can relate too. It just goes to show that we are all too consumed with a perception of what we think we should look like, when really we should just embrace the way we are.

Not too long ago my friend who works in a school, asked me to come and workout with some of the year 11s, so I did. When I met them we discussed their goals and why they wanted to start working out. Sadly, their responses were "I want a body like Beyonce and Kim Kardashian".

It made me realise that the majority of us, and when I say us, I'm referring mainly to those in the black community, are obsessed with the image that the perfect body is a slim waist, thick thighs and a big bum. These girls were only 15/16 and already they were worried about getting big hips and a big bum. I had to remind them that they were only young so there bodies had not even fully developed yet.

But lets be honest, a lot of females decide to start working out because they are trying to achieve that same "perfect" body. My opinion is, if that's your only motivation to work out, then your doing it for all the wrong reasons and your motivation to workout probably won't last that long.

Personally, i'm working out to improve my fitness and although looking good does come into it, it isn't my main goal. Some of you are probably rolling your eyes because I'm talking about not being obsessed with having wide hips and a small waist but these are features I possess so I can say this, but through working out my bum and hips have got smaller,  but these are sacrifices I'm willing to make in the hopes of becoming fitter.

But yh... the advert got me thinking and made me realise that what most people see as negative features and flaws - they blow it out of proportion, when really they are actually positive and beautiful qualities. The moment we stop pressurising ourselves to look like others and conform to an idealised beauty and the sooner we start being happy within ourselves,  we will start enjoying life a lot more.

Next time you find yourself having a stand off with your mirror don't focus on the new flaw you've discovered, focus on that flawless beauty that it yet to be re-discovered again!

Stay beautiful.

G

Meal Prep

Im a busy body- I leave my house at 7:30am and don’t usually get back home until 9/10pm everyday. Getting home around them times to now start cooking my meals is even longer than it sounds…so what do I do? I meal prep!

On Sundays, I cook enough Protein, Carbs & Veg to last me for the working week (Mon-Fri), put them into individual containers and keep them in the fridge. There’s no need to put the meals in the freezer because the food will still be fresh by the time Im ready to eat it.

This saves so much time and money as it allows me to avoid eating rubbish, spending money on food or skipping meals when I’m out and about during the week.

I just grab a container and ‘voilà’ …Im good to go.

Try it….meal prep for a week and see how much time and money you save.

G

Oat, Banana & Strawberry Smoothie

So I'm feeling really under the weather, to the point where I'm too weak to chew my food *sigh*

So i'll be having smoothies and soups until I feel better.

For breakfast why not try an Oat, Banana & Strawberry smoothie.

I usually make this when I don't really have time to make breakfast and it doesn't take longer than  3 minutes to make.

You will need:

1 sachet of oats

1 banana

2 tablespoons of plain Greek/ natural yogurt (optional)

1 handful of strawberries

180ml of rice milk

Teaspoon of peanut butter

Then blend all the ingredients together...and yes it is as nice as it sounds.

G