My first customer..

I just have to say one thing about my very first customer... I am so proud of her... she's lost 4 kilos so far (in 5 weeks), but more importantly, she is finally learning how to eat properly and not starve herself in the vain hope of weight loss. She's gone from thinking 1000 calories a day was okay, to 1600 calories a day - which was a huge mind shift for her.
I can see such a difference in the way she looks and she seems so much more confident now.

So rewarding!

The 'competitors'....

Now, in my area, there is one quite large personal training/group training business that operates during summer in my location, but all year around further South closer to Wollongong.
I have made sure that the place where I do my sessions is not used by any other groups or trainers, and have ensured that I am quite away from 'the competitors'.

Lo and behold, this morning, 'the competitors' popped up on 'my patch' LOL I felt like saying 'it's okay, I'm not even targetting the same customers as you'.

Funny. Mind you, I think it geared my group up to work that bit harder & faster through their circuits.

..and another week flies by!

Well, it's been very hectic this week...to recap :
Saturday - 6 hours kettlebell workshop. This was excellent. I'm so glad I went, as many of the pieces of material that I have on kettlebell form highlighted a slightly different form to the one that Steve Cotter uses. I like the form that Steve uses, it's more fluid and natural - and boy, if you want one hell of a posterior chain workout...grab some kettlebells and get going! Now, I have been 'pussying' it in my KB workouts - or so it seems, given that I fall victim to the 10, 12, 20 etc rep mentality - we were doing 10 minute sets.... yowzah. Definitely brings new meaning to the term 'fatigue' - but targets muscular endurance in true style.
Sunday - rest.zzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Monday - am / group session pm / group session
Tuesday - am / 1 hr walk with puppy
Wednesday - am/ group session pm/ group session
Thursday - am / half hour one on one with new client, followed by one on one with first client! pm/ group session
Friday - am group session - this was boxing / kickboxing and making use of the facilities ie bars that we could do inverted rows (they growned) and benches for step ups and one legged get ups - a great precursor to one legged squats! - try this at home: get up out of your chair using one leg only! not easy.

Tomorrow will be another 1 hour one on one, followed by a 1 hour massage with my osteo! LOL I need it - Given that I still work my full time job in between those sessions... tiiiiring, but I feel better this week and think it should ease out nicely.
I have to say, I am glad I discovered a jar of L Glutamine caps in the cupboard... nearly ready to expire, but I've been chugging down a couple a day to help with recovery. Given how well I recovered from the KB workshop, I can only say...they work.

Sunday will be a well earned rest day.

Oh... for any of you who have drooled over Kek & Liz's posts about kokoblack and wished you were in Melbourne to sample their wears.. I noticed that they now have an online store!
www.kokoblack.com

Warning: Ecstatic dog photo coming

Jemima on holidays in Narooma.

aaah that's better...

It's amazing what a half hour massage with your osteo can do for your soul...and body!
My back feels...almost normal....
Ready for tomorrow's punishment!!!

Nicer than a gym

Check out where we worked out this morning. Here

*yawn* I'm tiiiiiiiiiiiired

Hopefully my body will get used to this new form of punishment and new routine soon...
so far this week:
Monday: am group session then pm group session
Tuesday: me time, so I did soft sand (fool) and kettlebell circuit at home
Wednesday: am group session; pm group session - which I participated quite readily in
Thursday: am one on one - more soft sand and firm sand, jogs, fast runs, sprints in both as well as stairs. This afternoon is a one on one.. I will be gentle with him :-) (for my body's sake!)
Friday: am - more soft sand with our boxing session on the beach!
Saturday - omigod 6 hours of kettlebell mania - then I have to drive back from Five dock to Wollongong!
Sunday - if I can get off the bed I will be surprised

This will either:
a/ kill me; or
b/ make me stronger, fitter, leaner, happier.

Of course, I'm gunning for the latter.

I am really enjoying the work though... if only I didn't have 8 hours of hell in between sessions! ie, the thing that pays the bills.

Workout frenzy!

Wow, with all this 'group session' stuff... I am finding it increasingly difficult to concentrate on my real job... I have all these sessions to plan now! hehe.
Friday morning is going to be : Fight Club Friday in the Fand (yeah, okay so sand didn't quite fit) but you get the drift! Boxing circuits on the beach.
There's also a nice set of stairs handy to throw in and then some picnic tables up the top for dips. Yes, they will kill me I am sure.
one cheeky one said the other day.. oh, we should do a 'train the trainer' session like they do on biggest loser... yikes. They would be brutal I am sure!

Week 2...

Well, week 2 of the morning sessions has begun - with 5 minute madness!
You have 5 stations - all 1 minute each - the 5th being a nice 'rest' station. do that 3 times.
I also introduced them to the magic of the kettlebells! fun :-)

Tonight starts my evening sessions - I think I am going to be tired ;p

My first group!

I'm going through a world of firsts now....
this morning I had a nice group of 4 women - so we did a bit of fitness testing, shuttle runs, situps, pushups, then into boxing technique, proper boxing.
fun!
Have another group scheduled for Friday morning, then next week I start M, W & F evenings as well :p
Hopefully I can cope!! Sheesh.
Now that Melbourne Cup is out of the way - which I didn't even see on tv as we were off in 'la la' land down the coast - it's the slippery downward slope of lots of Christmas parties, lunches with magazines etc... I shall have to be on my guard!!!!!
this week I have lunch today (happy birthday to me for Monday :p) - lunch on Friday as our 'post colour launch' thing...then next week another magazine lunch, and one two weeks after.

But... in between times... I have the Steve Cotter kettlebell workshop on 22 November. That should kill me, or at the very least..burn a bit of flubber :-)

I'm baaack!

Well, what a fantastic break that was.
Our puppy is still moping a little about being 'home' - she had so much fun up in the mountains and on the beaches (not that she doesn't have beaches to go to at home...) - she scurried around eating native animal 'delights' :-p
Obviously the possum 'biscuits' at home just don't do it for her anymore..not when there's wombat, kangaroo etc...

I have still been training my client - she's now lost 2.5 kilos in the 2 weeks so we are happy!
I have a group training session starting tomorrow... eeeek ....
It's all slowly coming together :-)

blink and 5 kilos gone

well, thanks to Precision Nutrition - slightly modified pour moi, some good honest workouts, the couch to the 5km program (still haven't finished week 5 - got the first 5min run/3min walk x 3 session in, then training client began!) and kettlebells...
5 kilos have dribbled off of my frame.
Hallelujah.
I feel human again.

Two training sessions down!

Well, I'm really happy. I'm finally doing what I have wanted to do for such a long time.
I can't wait to make the transition from (as my manager says) "corporate whore" to 'self employed business woman'.

:-)

Have had two training sessions (tuesday and today, and then we are up for another tomorrow)
Then I have a whole week away from work - we're heading down the coast to a spot called "Brogo" - it's in the mountains half way roughly between Narooma and Merimbula.
And..it's dog friendly (rule number 1), so we can have a nice family trip away for a few days.

Will be nice to chill out, head to the beach, walk around the countryside... fab.

What a weekend

Well, Saturday dawned bright and beautiful, so I took jemima off to obedience training. She's just getting so good... she just can't quite allow herself to 'stay' when I turn my back on her. But.. she is just the best dog in the world.
Anyhow, got home, had a quick read of the papers, noticed my horoscope said "there's money out there to be made, if you stop spinning your wheels and just do it" hmmmm does that strike a chord ? hell yeah. Went up to see the horse, who appears to be coming down with another foot abcess. Seriously, if it's not one thing, it's another with him. The past two years have been total crap. I am thinking seriously of just getting rid of him.... a notion I never would have entertained in the past... but..when you fork out $120 a week for nothing... you start to get a tad p*d off when you can't even have a nice ride.
Not much to ask really.
So, got home, did a little more on my website, then we went out for dinner to Bistro 345 - which as usual was fantastic.
Sunday dawned just as beautiful, so we met up with friends (and Jemima's best buddy..see photo below) to go for a walk on one of the dog friendly beaches in Austinmer. Our girl behaved impeccably amongst so many people and dogs, it was a pure delight.
The dogs down there were also all so friendly and well mannered - so it made for a really nice morning walk.
Then I headed up to check on the horse - no change - grrrr and we had decided to meet up with our friends again at Stanwell park to attempt to do some kite flying.
We drove our little 'snotmobile' up - perfect weather for an open top! the wind 'toyed' with us a little and we did get some kite flying...but it was nice just to hang out and chat - then we heard someone say there were whales off the beach - so we ended up going and checking those out. We could just see them about 1km off shore - obviously just following fish and having a good feed!

Then... I get a phone call from someone who has seen my website..so I have my first 'real' client on Wednesday morning at 6.15.. cool!!

The way to keep the weight off

Katie wrote a great post Over here: http://thin-enough.blogspot.com/2008/10/diet-or-lifestyle.html it's definitely worthwhile reading for those of us who struggle with the maintenance thing.

nasty virus be gone!

By the afternoon yesterday I was starting to feel decidedly average...by the time I'd cooked dinner ( a nice pork fillet marinated in a tbsp of hoisin, honey & soy seared 1-2 mins in pan and then in oven for 15-20 mins) with mashed cauliflower, & tbsp sweet potato - what a distinct lack of colour! Must get more veges today.
anyhow, I was feeling like something was going on in the throat/back of nose ... I went to bed at 9pm after swallowing an echinacea/zinc & vit c and set the alarm for 6am - I didn't think I'd venture out for my run as I thought I was going to be sick.
Anyhow, woke up at 6am feeling quite chipper.... maybe I've kicked that virus away for now. I opted for a quick walk with the dog, then worked on my VMO..... so I did wall squats with a swiss ball with a towel in between my knees - try it if you are lacking VMO (vastus medialis oblique) that works properly or is weak & non existent - it works.
Then I did some leg extensions & lunges that are only 1/4 lifts from the ground - this really works the VMO.

What things look like food wise for Kristy

Breakfast:
Norganic 9 wholegrain cereal with Metabolic Drive chocolate protein shake/skim milk

Mid Morn:
25g cheese & strawberries or
Precision Nutrition bar (made from peanut butter, protein powder, flaxseed, almond meal, egg, pecan meal)

Lunch:
is usually leftovers from the night before, so could be:
Chicken & vege stirfry with small amount basmati rice
Grilled chicken & salad
Grilled Moroccan lamb & salad
Fish & salad or green beans / broccoli etc

Afternoon:
Always the same
Natural yoghurt with frozen berries & spoonful of muesli on top

Dinner:
Like lunch

Evening:
If i am peckish I'll have a bit of Precision Nutrition bar or something like that.

I eat on plan Monday - Friday lunch. Friday evening will have some wine & we may have some nibbles.
I eat on plan Saturday - may just have wine on Sat night & maybe some Lindt Dark Chocolate Orange
Try and eat as much to plan on Sunday

Freezing and Raining

This weather is just downright bizarre. The last two mornings it's been freezing and pouring rain - certainly not ideal for me to jog on the bike path!!! So yesterday morning I opted for a full on kettlebell workout and this morning I trained upper body - with pushups, full pushups with mountain climbers, some boxing moves, then with DBs - then DB chest presses, reverse situps off the bench.

I'm tired.... I hope I am not coming down with something...

Maybe it's just the weather! I hope. Still I chucked a multivitamin down this morning as well just in case.

My weight & size continue to decrease - I think I've dropped a size! 3.5kg.

Hopefully the weather will be a bit kinder and I'll go for my day 1 of week 5 run session! Going to have to do them back to back and do one again on Saturday morning too - Sunday will be my rest day - we're off out to Bistro 345 again for a friend's birthday dinner.

Jemima and her best buddy

If you can make out the t-shirt..it's a custom design... it says

mmmmm mima licky...

yes, jemima just loves giving little eva lots of kisses ;-)

a long weekend

We had the absolute fortune to have a long weekend this weekend - our work has a 'picnic' day which we had yesterday.

Having a three day weekend makes so much difference - you feel so much more relaxed, not racing around trying to fit everything in over the two days. I actually had time to do a bit of a 'spring' clean around the place too - safe in the knowledge that I still had Monday to just do 'stuff'.
As such, I slept in - well, 7am is a sleep-in compared to 5.30am.
I had breakfast, then took Jemima down the bike path for a walk, then got home..and got changed as yesterday was a scheduled run day - my last week 4 run. I struggled a bit - most possibly because we'd had a barbeque and friends over on Sunday afternoon - which went late - and a few wines were consumed. Have found a nice white - T'Gallant - Pinot Grigio. If you like a Sauvignon Blanc, you'll love the Grigio - but don't do the Brown Bros version - not good. I foolishly purchased 2 bottles, but..don't like.

The T'Gallant version from the Mornington Peninsula is, however, superb. Actually, the first one I'd tried was the Rosemount version also - that was pretty good and what sold me on the type.

Anyhow, enough of alcoholic beverage speak!!!

So.. I went for my run - the last in the run 3/ walk 90 / run 5 / walk 2.5 x 2 - and yes, struggled ... but it was pretty warm and I was doing my best beetroot impersonation by the time I'd finished - plus I'd had breakfast. I suspect, given that I am so used to doing my runs first thing in the morning on an empty stomach, this seems to suit me.

Then last night was our netball final... we were fairly slaughtered. Somehow we'd been put up in this comp to division 1 - we were in 3rd place, but after last night finished the comp in 4th place. Not bad for such a pro division! LOL

Tomorrow morning is supposed to be cold and rainy - it's pretty cool today - and marks the start of week 5 - tomorrow will be a run 5 / walk 3 x 3 - must put the iPod on for that.

This morning I did a bit of a kettle bell workout - it's bizarre how quickly one can get one's heart rate up and break a sweat with a little piece of roundness like that!