Sorry about the lack of posts this week...

My sincere apologies for the lack of posts this week - it has been one of those weeks.

Everything has just got away from me.

I hope to get back in the swing of thing tomorrow with a Fan Friday post - although I haven't decided what to do it on yet :).

Many thanks for continuing to visit and I hope everyone is well.

Small Childhood Traumas - How They Shape Us #ThinkyThursdays 8

Small Childhood Traumas

How They Shape Us

Now I'm not talking about big things like personal tragedy or abuse when I say "childhood traumas" because I'm not qualified to talk about such things. What I mean is the little things that stick with us and have helped shape our personalities.

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This post was inspired by the fact that I walked out of the bedroom this morning to see slug trails all over the old dining room carpet (brought in by a kittie we suspect). Rob found and removed the offending creature for me, because I absolutely hate them. I had to turn the light on in the bedroom to make sure it hadn't made it in there, I was that paranoid, even though the trail went round and round in circles three feet from the doorway.

Now I have always disliked slugs and snails, but the total paranoia comes from an incident when I was small. We used to stay on my aunt's farm for summer holidays and we would always leave our wellies outside the back door. One day mine had been knocked over, but I thought nothing of it. Then I put them on and they rattled - cue the screaming.

What you have to understand is that, at the time, I could not get off the boots by myself. Thanks to my ankle condition, wellies are really hard for me to get on and off, even harder than for an average person. So I was stuck until an adult could help me. Yes, the rattling was snails that had taken up residence in the dark of my boots.

Ever since then I have a totally irrational dread of slugs or snails coming anywhere near me. Once when I was at school I rubbed against a branch and ended up with the tiniest one on my knee (I mean less than half a centimetre long) and queue the freak out dance. Y'know the one - hands flailing and yelling 'get it off' loudly at anyone who will listen.

My mother has a standing on chair level of fear when it comes to mice because she sat on a nest of baby mice in a haystack when she was a child.

Small encounters can leave a large effect.

I find the human psyche an amazing thing. A lot of the time it protects us, but sometimes it just messes with us too :).

So there you have it, my Thinky Thursday, brought to you by the number 1 and the letters S L U and G :).

Do you have any irrational behaviours brought on by something small that happened to you as a child?

Listen to Your Body - It Knows Best - #TipsTuesdays 10

Welcome to Tips Tuesdays, where each week I impart some wisdom I have picked up over the years, or maybe just yesterday when I read an interesting article online :) Today I wish to talk about listening to what your body it telling you.

Listen to Your Body - It Knows Best

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The human body is an amazing thing - it has early warning signals for so many occasions. Unfortunately the human brain is able to override these signals or ignore them completely and sometimes that is a very bad idea. The first section of my post today is about something that happened to me recently which launched this topic in my head, and the second section is more general things that it is always good to look out for, especially for we computer users.

The Wall

So I had a new experience on Saturday during my session with my personal trainer Steve. For the last few days I have been suffering with an inner ear imbalance. Unfortunately it happens sometimes when I get a mild cold it doesn't come out as sniffles, it goes to my sinuses and my ears and sets off my balance. Every time I change aspect from vertical to horizontal or vice versa the world spins - lovely!

I thought I was fine apart from that and went ahead with my session anyway. My warm up felt a lot harder than usual, but I thought it was just because I was having to be careful with my ear.

Steve was incredibly good after I told him, he made sure to pick exercises where if my balance went it wouldn't be a problem and kept making sure I was okay and taking it easier than usual. He passed on the immortal words "Remember it's your body, no one else can tell you if you're okay to keep going".

I should have listened to my body.

There was this one exercise in the new circuit which is a compound exercise. These are exercises that use lots of different muscle groups and are very good for keeping the heart rate up during a circuit. The only snag is I couldn't do the easier one Steve wanted me to try first because it required balance and ankles that work better than mine. We tried adapting it, but it was no go. So the only one I could do is really hard: 1 push-up and then stand up and then down and back into another push-up. This is difficult because it sends blood flow all over the place and makes the heart work hard.

The first go through I managed 12, but I had to sit down afterwards for quite a while. I should have known then it was time to stop, but I pushed on.

On the second go through of the circuit I did 1 of those (Steve had told me I didn't have to do any if I couldn't manage, but I was trying to be stubborn) and when I stood up I was suddenly very short of breath. This was not because I was winded, it was because I was suddenly trying not to cry. You know when you want to sob and you're trying to stop yourself and you get all short of breath - it was that. I burst into tears for no reason my brain could fathom. I wasn't sad or anything, but I went from normal to a shaking, blubbering wreck in the space of a few seconds. It was thoroughly bizarre.

It seems I had pushed myself too far and maybe the virus setting my ear off was affecting me more than I suspected. I didn't listen to the warning signs and my body finally went 'NOPE!'

Don't worry, I was fine after a warm shower and a nice cup of tea, but I have to say that was one of the strangest experiences ever. It's really weird to be crying your eyes out for no reason you can fathom.

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I must stress, none of it was Steve's fault. He kept asking me if I was okay all the way through the session and encouraged me to rest when I needed it, I was just determined and my body wasn't up to it.

From now on I will listen to what my body is telling me. I knew all the way through my session that something was up; it wasn't the normal 'oh this is hard, but I'm actually enjoying it' - every exercise was dragging me down. I should have paid attention.

Some More General Indicators to Look Out For In Other Situations

So it isn't just exercise that causes reactions in us that we often choose to ignore.

• Are your shoulders tense? Have you been sitting in front of the computer too long?
  Get up, walk around a bit, shake the tension out of your shoulders, your nerves will thank you for it.
• Is your wrist aching when you use your mouse?
  You might need an ergonomic mouse of some kind which puts a lot less stress on the wrists and fingers. Normal mice cause the wrist to twist, ergonomic mice do not.
• Do your fingers and hands ache?
  This could be early signs of tendinitis or carpal tunnel - when my husband had this problem our doctor told him to get a large ball - basket ball or soccer ball - and then toss it around a bit every time his hands started to ache. Because the ball is large it causes the hands to stretch and keeps the tendons mobile. This youtube vid gives some more exercises that help:
• Are your eyes tired or do you have a very mild headache? Have you looked up from the computer in the last hour?
  Your eyes need to rest and looking long distance helps - just stare out the window for a few minutes. Do this every twenty minutes or so to give your eyes a break. If you are getting prolonged headaches when doing computer work it is probably a good idea to have your eyes checked - you may need (new) glasses.
• Are you feeling hungry?
  Try having a drink of water or a nice cup of tea - sometimes the body confuses thirst with hunger and you could be slightly dehydrated. If you are still feeling hungry, congratulations, you actually are, so go eat something - preferably something good for you. Remember as well to eat slowly - the body knows when it's full, but it takes time for the signals to get through to the brain, if you eat slower you will eat less.

The human body is pretty brilliant, but I think, sometimes we forget to listen to it.

Do you have any tips on listening to bodily warning signs? Have you ever had an incident like I did?

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Still pimping out the Share a Scare Halloween Blog Hop. It will run on the 31st October as you would expect, but now is the time to sign up.

Have something a little bit scary to share? All bloggers, authors and artists welcome. Just click the link to see all the details:

Share a Scare - A Halloween Blog Hop

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And here's another wonderful blog hop all you authors might be interested in. The Trick-or-Treat blog hop is run by the lovely Patricia Lynne and the idea is to give away free books to trick-or-treaters visiting your blog.

Trick-or-Treat Blog Hop

The Rules of Creating Your Own Workout Circuits

So I had another session with my awesome personal trainer Steve (InterSEPT Fitness) yesterday and I didn't learn any new exercises this week, but I did learn how to put them together.

The Rules of Creating Your Own Workout Circuits

One of the really great things about Steve is he doesn't just give me exercises to do and let me get on with them, he explains what each is for and which muscles are in use etc. As he puts it, just doing the same routine over and over again can become really boring and get in the way of motivation.

This week he started to teach me how to properly create my own circuits so I can use everything he has taught me to exercise to my full potential. So far he has been teaching me lots and lots of exercises and I've been mostly following how we did them during my sessions when I worked on my own. Now I know how to put them together myself ... kinda :).

There are two simple rules:

1. Work from the large muscles to the smaller ones.
2. Keep in mind which supporting muscles are being used as well as the main ones you are exercising and don't do exercises to wear them out first.

These rules are very straightforward and are there to make sure you do not tire out the muscles you want to use in the next exercise so much that you can't do your reps.

Steve didn't tell me the rules to begin with and asked me to come up with a circuit of five exercises, after which he told me where I went right and where I went wrong. After the first set, which I got mostly right, purely by accident ;) he gave me the rules and then we worked on coming up with circuits for different parts of my body where he would let me come up with the ideas, trying to use the rules and he would correct me, or alter the choices slightly, before I did them.

Here are some examples of how to implement to rules.

In my leg routine I picked some exercises for my glutes (see below for list of exercises to choose from) and sits to stands for my quads (these are a kind of squat, but using a chair because I can't do a regular squat without ending up on my bottom as I over balance). Now the glutes and quads are both pretty powerful muscles and the trick to deciding which order to do them in is the second rule - the supporting muscles.

Sits to stands use the quads most, but they use the glutes as supporting muscles. If I were to do the glutes exercises first this would tire those muscles out and make the sits to stands much more difficult. Hence do the sits to stands first.

Another example, upper body this time, shoulder presses (dumbbells lifted up directly above shoulders) and triceps kickbacks. In this case the triceps are supporting muscles for the shoulder presses and if you tire them out doing the kickbacks first you're going to be in trouble trying to do the presses themselves. Hence do the shoulder presses then do the kickbacks.

It all makes perfect sense if you think about it, but I wouldn't even know what muscles the various exercises are working if Steve hadn't given me a good grounding in what each is doing in the first place. It's when trying to come up with your own workouts that all this information is important.

A good idea of how the supporting muscles come into play was part of a routine Steve gave me to try out. It involved doing 10 bench presses, then sitting up and doing 10 shoulder presses, then repeating another two times. The bench presses work your chest muscles and the shoulder presses work your shoulder muscles, but after doing the combo my uppers arms hurt the most. This is because my upper arm muscles were the supporting muscles for both sets of reps.

We did circuits for upper body, lower body and whole body and core. The thing you also have to remember is that you'll be using your core no matter what else you are doing, so never start with a core workout and move on to something else or you'll find you've made it very, very hard for yourself :).

We did a core circuit last and boy was it hard, because when concentrating on core you never really let up on any set of muscles, you just use one set a bit more than others. Hence a round of core, especially after 45mins of the rest of the workout takes some stamina. I fell in a heap when doing Russian twists because my core just went, nope and I had to regroup and try again :).

Glutes routine mentioned above:

• 5 toe taps (leg straight out the back so your toe is resting on the ground, lift up the leg, without twisting your body, then lower back and tap the ground - this is one rep)
• 5 kick backs (leg bent at the knee, bring it up to the chest and kick backwards, straightening the leg, without twisting your body, then bring it back in)
• 5 leg cocks (this looks just like a dog cocking it's leg, bend your leg at the knee then lift it up to the side as if you are looking for a lampost before bringing it back down again ;))
• 5 side kickbacks (bring your leg up to the side like the previous exercise, then push it back until it is straight before bringing it back to the original position - this one is the hardest)
• repeat for second leg

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Still pimping out the Share a Scare Halloween Blog Hop. It will run on the 31st October as you would expect, but now is the time to sign up.

Have something a little bit scary to share? All bloggers, authors and artists welcome. Just click the link to see all the details:

Share a Scare - A Halloween Blog Hop

Motivation in Organisation - #ThinkyThursdays 4

So for Thinky Thursdays 4 I have decided to muse on the topic of motivation, since I have had a few problems in that area lately.

Motivation in Organisation

So for a few months I have felt as if I was in something of a rut. I published my last novel back in March and I had all these plans to get more out really quickly and none of them panned out.

Same with my blog, everything was really great during April for the AtoZChallenge and then I had no ideas.

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Well I think I've figured out what I need to stay motivated: organisation.

I know that may sound weird, but it seems to work for me. For example, let's look at my blog. I was ticking away with the odd post, but nothing really special and then the idea for Monster Mondays hit me. It's a regular post on a regular day with a theme. What's more I think I've only missed one, possibly two, since I started it.

The fact I had a schedule motivates me.

That the posts have a style and a layout, motivates me.

In fact it worked so well I had the crazy idea of adding a theme to all my other work days as well. Now I have:

• Monster Mondays - posts about my favourite monsters be they human, alien or supernatural
• Tips Tuesdays - posts with tips from recipes to how to format eBooks
• Writerly Wednesdays - posts about writing and publishing including guest posts/interviews from other authors and bloggers (if you would like to take part, please fill in this form - I have lots of spots available and would love to host you)
• Thinky Thursdays - posts about whatever happen to cross my mind during the week
• Fan Fridays - the day I get to geek out about something I love

Now I don't force myself to do a post for every one each week - but I will not go less than three out of five unless there are exceptional circumstances. I really think it's the organisation of having themes and knowing what my schedule it which has motivated me in this area. My blog seems to be flourishing thanks to it.

Then there is what started me thinking about this today in the first place. I mentioned on Tuesdays about the new novel writing software I found called yWriter (Finally Found Some Wonderful Novel Writing Software I Like - yWriter - #TipsTuesdays 6). It has helped me organise one of my current work in progress and my productivity is through the roof.

It took me a couple of hours to add in all my characters, locations and items as well as putting in the existing text. Since that point I have:

1. Organised the whole novel, deciding what scenes need to be added in and where, so I now have a (almost) complete scene and chapter list. There is just a little bit right at the end to decide about. 
2. Finally figured out the two major plot points that have had me stalled for months.
3. Written 9000 words in three days on scenes that have been bugging me for months, and they just flowed.

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I honestly think this is all because I organised things. For some reason having everything modularised and laid out motivates me. I am having a ball. Once I have finished this novel all the other WiPs are going into this program too. I think the act of doing the organisation actually stimulates something in my brain. It probably has something to do with why I actually enjoy categorising and alphabetising our DVD and Blu-ray collection and our library of books as well :).

Do you find organisation helps to motivate you? What are your strategies for staying motivated?

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Still pimping out the Share a Scare Halloween Blog Hop. It will run on the 31st October as you would expect, but now is the time to sign up.

Have something a little bit scary to share? All bloggers, authors and artists welcome. Just click the link to see all the details:

Share a Scare - A Halloween Blog Hop

Endurance - The Punisher Ep 6 or My Personal Trainer Tried to Kill Me ;)

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I'm joking of course, I just feel as if Steve (InterSEPT Fitness) tried to kill me, even after two and a half glasses of wine (it was my parents' wedding anniversary today and we all went out to lunch, hence the wine). I drank water with two of those glasses though, so I'm not tiddly ;)

Today was ENDURANCE DAY and boy, was he serious (yes, it requires the capital letters :P).

I literally could not have done this without Steve there to encourage me and help when I was flagging. This morning I did 460 reps that involved five different exercises. I feel the large font is entirely necessary since I was amazed.

Apparently we all have different types of muscle fibres and endurance is designed to work the slow twitch fibres. Work them it does!

1. Raised elbow rows - 100 reps
   I did these using our new functional trainer (FT1 Inspire - we used a windfall from badly sold PPI to upgrade our old weights machine), but you can do them using a resistance band as well. You stand or sit (I sit since I am unstable standing) and with your elbows up parallel to your shoulders pull back and squeeze your shoulder blades together.
   
   With endurance you also don't have to do it all in one go, you can stop. I think I did it 15, 5, 5, 10 etc until I got to 100.
   
   It is very hard and having someone there to encourage you on is a must. Also to help count :).
   
   ~*~
2. Bench Presses - 100 reps
   I used a bar with 5Kg weights on each end for this one, but you press whatever you're comfortable with. Again I did this in stages - the max I could do was 10 at a time and a lot of the time I was doing five. The important point is doing all 100 in the end.
   
   ~*~
3. Arnie Presses - 100 reps
   Yes, this is named after Arnold Schwarzenegger :) and it is like a normal shoulder press, but instead of starting with your weights at your shoulders and going straight up you hold them in front, inside of fists facing you. Then you lift up twisting until you're at full extension with your fists facing forward. Watch the Youtube vid at the link above to see.
   
   As ever this was done in stages and I started with 2Kg dumbbells and ended up with 1kgs for the last 20 reps. If you have to go down a weight, do so, just complete the reps.
   
   ~*~

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4. Ab Crunches on the Ball - 100 reps
   You lie over the stability ball, then curl up and go back down and repeat. I did all 100 of these without stopping :D
   
   ~*~
5. Raised elbow rows - 15 reps
   We upped the weight for this one and then I did 15 more reps. I managed all 15 without stopping.
   
   ~*~
6. Bench Presses - 15 Reps
   Again we upped the weight to 6.5kg on each side of the bar. I did these five at a time and Steve had to help me for the last couple by taking some of the weight.
   ~*~
7. Arnie Press - 15 reps
   I did these with 3kg dumbbells and had to do them in stages. My left arm really did not want to play ball :).
   ~*~
8. Leg lifts with weight - 15 reps
   Steve said I did the ab crunches too easily so I had to pick a different core exercise :). For these you put a dumbbell between your feet and lift your legs to just off vertical, then lower, without touching the ground and repeat.

Then I lay on the carpet for a while after that, just breathing and wondering if my arms were still attached ;), before stretching out my shoulders. The new FT1 makes doing some of the stretches easier too because I can use the weights to help. After that I did 5 mins on the bike and 5 mins on the vibration plate machine to warm down.

I actually enjoyed the session, even though it felt like torture at times :). The sense of achievement was huge when I actually did 100 reps. It was exhilarating.

I hope everyone is having a good weekend.

Session for Core - A Really Punishing Workout

So yesterday I had another session with my great personal trainer Steve (InterSEPT Fitness) and he left with the parting words: "Enjoy tomorrow." All I have to say is ow. We were working on core and from my shoulders to my hips I hurt :). However, I also have to say, I really enjoyed the session, even though it was the hardest one yet.

Steve taught me a new circuit and then made me do it all over again a second time. The second time was really hard, but so worth it.

The first section of exercises are for the sides the most, using twisting motions to exercise the muscles.

We started with high to low resistance band pull with straight arms - so it looks like part of a hammer throw, but much slower.

1. First step is to pass the band around something solid and high.
2. Stand/sit at an angle to where you have put the band, with you hips not quite at 90 degrees to it. If you are at 90 degrees the bands with get tangled with your body.
3. Hold both ends/handles of the band in both hands - your arms should be straight and your hands should be above your head.
4. Pull the bands with straight arms down over your opposite hip in front - make sure you are using your trunk not your hips to twist.
5. Repeat 10 times, then swap sides and do the same in the opposite direction.

You should really feel this one in the muscles at your sides in the waist area. I can still feel them :).

I did this exercise while sitting down, because it does take stability and sitting down it actually made it easier to make sure I was using my trunk not my hips to do the work.

Now we did the opposite one, low to high resistance band pull with straight arms. You could probably do this sitting down, but it might make attaching the band harder.

1. Attach the band to something sturdy and low - I used the bottom holes on a Reebox deck, but anything strong and not going to move will do. Be warned, if you are using a bench, you will probably need weights on it to stop it moving.
2. Stand at an angle to the attachment point that is close but not quite 90 degrees. Steve said it was the first time anyone had ever used a cat scratcher in one of his sessions - we have a sturdy square one and I used it gripped between my lower legs so I could balance and stand to do this one.
3. Hold both ends/handles of the band with both hands.
4. Pull from low to high with straight arms using your trunk to turn not your hips.
5. Repeat 10 times and then swaps sides and do the same again.

The next is actually a very small looking movement, but it is very good for the core.

1. Kneel down and sit back on your heels. As with the last session - if you have trouble with this position like I do because of an ankle condition, pop a rolled up mat or cushion under your lower legs to make it more comfortable.
2. Attach the band at a height close to where your hands will be if your arms are at your sides and your elbows are at 90 degrees.
3. Lock your arms at your sides and your elbows at 90 degrees.
4. Hold both end of the bands in both hands.
5. Without moving your arms or your hips, twist and pull the bands. You probably won't be able to twist too far, don't worry, it's not a huge movement.
6. Repeat 10 times and then swap sides and do the same again.

Now we move to the floor for Russian Twists. I use a ball between my hands rather than a weight to do this unlike the video and you can do this on the floor rather than on a bench if you want to. Repeat the exercise 20 times the first time through the circuit and 10 times the second time through.

Then on to Knee to Elbow sit-ups. Do not worry if you can't get your elbow all the way to your knee when you start like the flexible gentleman in the video, just go as far as you can. Also, if you get too tired and can't do the whole movement, do your best to do all the reps, but drop the elbow part and just cycle your legs. For this I did 20 reps for the first go through the circuit and 10 for the second.

Next we are on to working on the six pack area of muscles. I have to admit I laughed when Steve mentioned a six pack, because I am so far from having one of those that it was hilarious, but it illustrates which muscles are being exercised.

Now I must warn you, the next exercise is really hard - I mean really hard, and doing number 10 of 10 reps was the toughest thing I had done to that point. I was so incredibly happy when I made it. You need a bench or something that is inclined, because the next exercise is inclined sit-ups. For the first try, Steve held my feet down as I did the sit-ups and he allowed me to, what I can only describe as flail, to sit up. As with all exercises, if doing them totally properly is impossible (and trust me, for me it was) a little cheating is okay as you work up to doing it correctly.

For the second time through Steve figured out how to let me do them on my own using our weights machine. I can use two weights on a chain to help with the arm positioning - the idea is not to use the weights to sit up, but to make sure you don't get stuck, so the weight should not be enough to pull you up. Then I tucked my feet under the bar on the machine to give me some leverage.

Next an old favourite, sit-ups on the ball. When I do this I can usually get into a kind of trance, but not in this circuit because my muscles were already tired :). I do 20 of these and I love the ball because it's nice and easy on my back.

After this we moved on the leg lifts with a weight. 

1. Lie flat on the floor with a dumbbell weight between your feet - I used a 1kg weight.
2. Lift your straight legs up to shy of vertical. Don't go completely to vertical because then you risk the chance of dropping the weight on you.
3. Lower your legs back down.
4. Repeat 10 times - if you can't manage all 10 with the weight then drop the weight and just do the leg lifts without it.

Okay, so I thought the inclined sit-ups were bad, but the next exercise, which is for the lower abdominal muscles, is utter torture. These are hip lifts.

1. Lie flat on the floor like before.
2. Lift your legs straight up as if you are doing a leg lift and hold them there.
3. Now lift your hips off the floor. I kid you not!

Don't worry if you can't actually get off the floor - I think I managed about a millimetre or two at best if I managed it at all. Doing the movement will exercise the muscles and as they get stronger you'll actually be able to lift off the floor.

Finally for the circuit is a barbell exercise. I did it with 2.5kg weights on the bar.

1. Lie on the weights bench. Make sure your head is supported, the first time I tried, I didn't lie in the right place and it was impossible.
2. Hold the bar with straight arms directly above you - use a grip where your hands are above your shoulders, not a wide one.
3. Now lower the bar backwards over your head as far as you can with straight arms. Don't forget to breathe.
4. Bring the bar back up to directly above you.
5. Repeat 10 times.

This isn't technically a core exercise because you'll feel it in your arms and your shoulders too, but it will stretch all the abdominal muscles you have been using. This is an exercise to do at the end of a core circuit.

If you're doing a long workout, don't forget to go back and do the whole circuit again, but you can just do one if it's a short workout.

We then did one more exercise, which I nicknamed Tragedy Flat On My Face :).

1. Lie on the floor on your front.
2. Hold your arms up near your head with your hands near your temples (this is why the nickname - it looks like the move to Tragedy by Steps ;)).
3. Lift up your arms and your legs at the same time.
4. Repeat this 10 times.

This works your back very well.

I also learned a new stretch which is good for stretching out your sides.

1. Kneel - you can sit on your heels or kneel up for this one.
2. Keeping one hand at your side and lifting the other over your head, reach down and bend over.
3. Hold for 20-30 seconds.
4. Roll out of it - roll forwards and round so you don't reuse the muscles you've just been stretching out.

Other stretches I used after this workout were:

• Lie on front and push up with arms and hold.
• Lie on back, keep one shoulder on floor while pulling same side leg over other with knee bent. This is good for glute stretching if you keep your other leg straight, but I have a nerve that catches in one leg if I do, for after a core workout, bending the other leg up as well it okay, because it will still stretch your side muscles.

Steve also told me to do 10 mins on the bike after he was gone. He usually tells his clients to go for a walk, but walking and me don't go together so he suggested the bike. He said it should be no effort, but I needed to keep the motion going. This makes sure that all the fats and fuel released into your blood during the workout is used up rather than going back where it came from.

So there you have it, my latest session with my personal trainer. I really enjoyed it, but, boy can I feel it today :). Rob did a similar work out, although more intense, last weekend and he ached a lot too even though he's been doing the personal trainer thing for over a year. I'm glad I'm not a complete wimp ;).

I really love how good Steve is at helping me adapt normal exercises that I can't do. He proves there is hope for those of us who aren't completely able bodied.

If you have any questions about what I've written, please feel free to ask in comments :).

Smile, Even If You're Faking It (and Film Rec) - #TipsTuesdays 2

Smile, Even If You're Faking It

Did you know that just faking a smile can make you feel happier and less stressed?

Now, this is not to suggest that if you're in a terrible situation you should grin and bear it, but various studies, some involving botox users have shown that faking a smile can have beneficial reactions in the brain.

One of the first ground breaking study into this area was published in 1989 by Robert Zajonc where participants reported feeling happier when making facial expressions like a smile. Fast forward to 2009 and psychologists at the Uni of Cardiff found that people who couldn't frown because of botox were happier, on average, than those who could frown. Then in 2013 two researchers, Tara Kraft and Sarah Pressman had people using chopsticks in their mouths to form smiles and neutral expressions with the same outcome.

So we smile when we are happy, but smiling can also improve our mood. We frown when we are sad or stressed and frowning can lower our mood.

I did my own little experiment the other day (yes, I know, complete lack of scientific method, but I'm not trying to prove anything :)). In my personal trainer post this week I think I mentioned that ever since I was unwell a couple of weeks ago, I have been having a little more trouble with my exercise routine. So, last time I used the exercise bike, when it was feeling like a hard slog, I made myself smile inanely for a while. It helped! I actually felt better - I mean, not suddenly Wonder Woman levels, but I felt happier and less 'OMG I can't do this'.

Try it yourself. If you are feeling a little blue, or a little stressed, give a huge smile, with the crinkly eyes and everything and see if it helps.

We're also social creatures and seeing a smile causes mirror neurons to fire in other people, so if you're out and about you might even be helping those around you too :).

If smiling doesn't help, I recommend cat videos on Youtube!

~*~

Film Recommendation

And to finish off, a film recommendation that I have been meaning to mention for a while. If you like action movies where the lead is not superman and has weaknesses, but still takes names and kicks butt, this is the film for you. There is also a really interesting set up with the whole hit-persons angle. I really enjoyed this film when I saw it and the blu-ray is definitely on my wishlist for when it comes out in Sept. I am very pleased there is a sequel in the works.

John Wick (2014)
Rating: 15 | Length: 101 min | Action/Thriller
Staring Keanu Reeves
Legendary ex-hitman John Wick comes out of retirement to track down the gangsters that took everything from him.

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Have you tried the smiling technique? Does it work for you, even a little bit?
Have you seen John Wick? What did you think?

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Also, it's Tuesday so it's Drabble Cascade day over at FantasyBoysXXX - two lovely drabbles about fantasy boys to read. Prompt word of the week is 'saline' and we welcome everyone to join in if you want to. Only rule, drabble or flash fic must be inspired by the prompt word - any genre, any rating, including fanfic welcome :).

The Masochist in Me Loves Fitness Sessions ;)

I had another personal trainer session today with the lovely Steve (InterS.E.P.T Fitness) and I ache now, but I feel very satisfied :).

Sorry I didn't post about my last session, but it was the same day I went down with the stomach flu that laid me out until the following Wednesday and I didn't have the energy.

We started off today with me showing Steve how I had mastered the advanced plank with ball, where mastered means I did not fall flat on my face as I did the previous session where Steve first showed me it. Rather than being on the floor for this one, your hands are on the floor with straight arms and your knees and lower leg are on an exercise ball with the rest of the body completely straight (it's a great exercise for core and abs).

When Steve first showed me this one there was much hilarity as I kept collapsing in a heap just trying to get into the initial shape. However, this week I figured out how to do it by coming from above the ball and moving across into the position rather than trying to lift up from the floor.

To make it even harder you then sway your legs from side to side to your tipping point and back up - this uses all the muscles down your sides (I can do between 4 and 6 of those before I end up in the aforementioned, hilarious heap :)).

Then we moved on to the real workout. Today we did something of a circuit using the exercise bike for legs and to keep up my heart rate and then exercises for my upper body in between.

1. 1 min on the exercise bike - not flat out, but keeping the heart rate up.
2. 10 pushups (Steve's choice - I only do them from my knees because I can't get my feet in the right position to do full ones - here's one of Steve's tips, if you are finding them impossible, stick your bottom in the air and partially bend from there - it will take off some of the pressure, but allow you to still do the exercise and you can use the proper form once you are strong enough)
3. 1 min on the exercise bike
4. 10 Russian twists (My choice - I use a ball between my hands rather than a weight and I sit on the floor - you need to remember to keep good posture for this one because it twists your back and you might hurt something it you aren't holding yourself correctly)
5. 1 min on the exercise bike
6. 10 in front and behind head lifts with the barbell. Steve's choice - I'm not sure what this one is called precisely, but you sit with your back straight (I was on the large exercise ball so it was working my core for stability too, but a bench or chair would be fine) you use a wide grip on the bar and you push up, then bring the bar down behind your head to the level where there is the bobble on the back of your skull, then push it up again (don't let it go lower or it puts too much pressure on the back of your shoulders). This is one rep.
7. 1 min on the exercise bike
8. 20 crunches on the exercise ball - my choice :)
9. 1 min on the exercise bike
10. 20 seated rows using resistance band (Steve's choice - I actually had the band on our Reebok bench rather than my feet, but it looks like the same movement in the linked vid)
11. 1 min on the exercise bike
12. All of the exercises back to back without the bike in between (this part is evil ;))
13. Few minutes on the exercise bike at a gentle pace to bring the heart rate down slowly. This is important because if you just stop after keeping your heart pumping fast, the blood vessels that have all opened up thanks to the exercise remain open, but there is less pressure so you can become light headed as the blood stops pumping as fast. If you ease your heart rate down gradually the vessels contract as well and you won't find yourself with a need to put your head between your knees :).

Next Steve, the gem that he is, has figured out a way I can do deadlifts. As I mentioned before, me doing a tradition deadlift is likely to end up with the barbell somewhere it was never meant to be and me sprawled across the room :). So Steve has come up with an exercise which uses the same muscle groups, but has me kneeling.

Now the basic movement without weights is great for the quads. You kneel on the floor and sit back so your bottom is on your feet. Now for anyone like me who has fixed ankles, this might hurt a bit, or put too much stress on your tendons - fear not, pop a partially rolled up yoga mat or towel or cushion under your lower legs to relieve the pressure.

Keeping your back straight use your legs only to come into an upright kneeling position. The instinct will be to bend forward and use a rocking motion to help - DON'T, this is cheating :). Your legs should be doing all the work.

So this is the basic motion and then Steve gave me two dumbbells to hold with straight arms while doing the same exercise. You are allowed to rock forward a little when doing it with the weights, but always remember to keep your back straight and at the end of the motion push your chest out and your shoulders back to complete the movement, before lowering back down again.

Following this I was delighted (sarcasm ;)) to discover I have been doing side leg lifts wrong my entire life. I have been exercising the strong muscle at the front, when in fact I want to be exercising the small, underused muscle on the side.

However, it is easy to correct. You have to make sure your hips are thrust forward as you lie on your side so your body is in a straight line, then you lift your leg in a scissor action. You can tell you are getting it right because you will feel the muscle you never realised you had as you lift your leg, go 'ow, you silly arse, what do you think you're doing?!' ;). Your hips will want to slide backwards, so clench those bottom muscles and keep them thrust forward. I did 10 of these for each leg.

Next came the joy of the glutes combo - oh how I love this one ... NOT! :) Ladies, you will be glad to hear we are usually better at this one than the gents at first go. I mentioned this in my previous post, but I will mention it again for clarity. Start on your hands and knees:

1. 5 toe taps (leg straight out the back so your toe is resting on the ground, lift up the leg, without twisting your body, then lower back and tap the ground - this is one rep)
2. 5 kick backs (leg bent at the knee, bring it up to the chest and kick backwards, straightening the leg, without twisting your body, then bring it back in)
3. 5 leg cocks (this looks just like a dog cocking it's leg, bend your leg at the knee then lift it up to the side as if you are looking for a lampost before bringing it back down again ;))
4. 5 side kickbacks (bring your leg up to the side like the previous exercise, then push it back until it is straight before bringing it back to the original position - this one is the hardest)
5. repeat for second leg

Steve also adapted one of his other exercises for me. You need a chair or something of a similar height for this one.

Normally you stand and bring your leg round, up and over the chair (stand back from the chair - you don't actually have to be in range, it is just so you can judge your leg sweep), just letting it tap the ground before you do the same again. You do this 10 times for each leg.

You can also do it sitting, just aim for something or relative height. Your aiming for a circular motion to exercise the whole hip area.

We moved on to some boxing next and I have finally finished my first boxing set. I have just had to send Steve an email to make sure I am remembering it right because I was an idiot and didn't write it down straight away, but I managed it during the session :). Boy, hitting things can be fun ;).

Then we did lots of stretches to finish up - so important to make sure you stretch out the muscles. 20-30 secs per stretch is what's recommended by Google, but I just did them for however long Steve told me to :).

• shoulder stretches (put your arm across your body out straight and pull it towards you, keeping your shoulder down)
  
• shoulder stretches using ball (put your arm across the ball, brace your other arm on the floor and lower your body until you feel the stretch in the shoulder)
• leg stretches with bent knee (lie on your side, grab your foot and pull it up behind your leg)
• triceps stretches (lift your arm above your head, reach down behind your neck and pull on your arm with your other hand)
  

So there you have it, my personal fitness session today with my awesome personal trainer Steve (InterS.E.P.T Fitness) :).

When I started the session I was feeling somewhat apprehensive because I'm still suffering the after effects of the stomach flu, in that I can't quite do as much as a I could before, but Steve is wonderful. He made sure that everything was set up so I could push it as far as I wanted and pull back if I needed to. By the end I felt so much happier and confident that I can actually do this. I ache now, but it is an accomplished ache.

I think this is one of the reasons that a personal trainer is so useful. I've been feeling less than top form all week, even though the symptoms of the bug I had are gone and exercising has been hard and a bit soul destroying. I wouldn't have bothered today if not for my session, and now I feel so much better about it all and raring to go again. The fact that I told Steve I was having a little trouble and he said it was perfectly normal after an illness like that was exactly what I needed to hear, even as he still showed me options to push on.

Do you ever look at a sport or exercise and wish you could do it, but are afraid to try?

Second PT session - Steve is now known (in my head) as The Punisher!

So I had my second session with my personal trainer Steve today and it was great, even though I am now mentally referring to Steve as The Punisher :). We're still in the try new things to see how I do stage and it's so much fun. This post is for my reference as much as it is to share the joys of exercising, so it's quite detailed.

I cannot stress how different it is working out with someone there to push you on. I had no idea until I tried and it is an entirely different experience from exercising alone. If I could afford it I would have Steve there every day, but I'll only be able to do that when I finally have a number one best seller on my hands ;).

First of all a little tip for the ladies - a sports bra is awesome. I've been doing most of my workouts with just a normal bra until today, since I only just purchased a sports bra this week and it came on Thursday. It is perfectly possible to exercise with a normal bra, but it was so much easier with the sports bra as it keeps everything tucked in. Mine is a New Shock Absorber Multi Support Sports Bra S4490 (eBay) and it is brilliant - for reference I am a 40GG and they go up to HH. Very comfy and great support, but you might need help getting into it :).

We did glutes first with some floor exercises, which is nice since they are on hands and knees I can do these just like your average person. First of all there was the straight leg toe tap. You settle on your hands and knees, stretch out one leg so you toe is just touching the floor, then lift that leg up without twisting your upper body. Next was the kick, same position then you bring your knee up to your chest and kick it back to straight and as far up as you can, again without twisting your body. The third Steve elegantly described as a dog cocking its leg :) - you take up the same initial position again and this time lift your leg out sideways until level with your body keeping your knee bent at 90 degrees and your lower leg level with your upper leg. Finally is the hard one, you stretch your leg out backwards again, then bring it in so it comes to the same position as the dog cocking leg, out the side.

Steve said normally you'd do 10 each of the first three and 5 of the last, but I was only doing 5 of each for speed. Once you have done one side you then do the other.

Then we moved on to hip thrusts on the small workout ball - which involved some hilarity because you put your feet on the ball, roll it so your feet are flat on it, then lift up your hips off the floor, trying to make sure the ball does not tip you sideways. I think I acquitted myself okay ;).

Yes my glutes are now letting me know they are there.

Steve has been really good about adapting exercises for me that I can't do because of the my disability (talipes - club foot, both feet). For example today we were looking at straight leg dead lifts, which of course you're supposed to do standing up. If I tried lifting weights standing up, at best I would end up on my rear, at worst there would be a rep bar through the window and I'd be sprawled across the weights machine :). My balance it not great because I walk on my tippy toes and my ankles don't move. Straight leg dead lifts exercise your hamstrings and Steve figured out how I can do them sitting down, using our cable weights machine (the poor thing is getting more of a workout these days than it has in all the years we've owned it ;)).

We purchased a rep bar and weights recently and it arrived last week, so it was the first chance I had to use them. Steve adapted the clean and press (good for everything :)) that is also done standing up, so that I can do it sitting down. I don't get the full benefit of the exercise that someone would normally get, but I do get a lot of it, so yay!

Next we did some bench pressing: flat, ascending and descending - we have a Reebok Deck which is so useful (a little while ago Amazon had them on sale and Rob snapped one up :)). I've never done bench pressing before and Steve is very good at explaining proper technique and why it is important. If you hold it wrongly you can put terrible strain on your wrists.

Then we moved on to triceps (since we did biceps last time). OMG, ow! I had no idea they are called biceps and triceps because the bicep has two heads (the end of a muscle at the site of its attachment (origin) to a bone or other fixed structure) and the tricep has three. The second head in the tricep is the strongest and so you have to wear that out before you can really exercise either of the others properly - so you do exercises that work the second most to begin with and then do others. I never knew any of this.

So we started with dumbbell overhead extensions - you hold a dumbbell above your head then lower your hands behind your head keeping the upper arm vertical. This one I have done before with a 7.5kg dumbbell and had to be rescued from it because my arms gave out. This time I did it with 5kg and it worked really well. Elbows in is important or you start brining in muscles that are not just your triceps.

Then we did the kneeling dumbbell kickback which really, really hurts. It's very hard to explain this one, so just go look at the video :).

Then we moved on to the delightfully titled skull crusher :). You lie down like you're going to do a bench press, but you hold the bar at shoulder width, keep the upper arms at right angles to the body and then bring the bar down towards your forehead. The trick is not to hit yourself in the face :P.

Finally there was the worst one of all! This one is the 45-degree lying tricep extension and boy does it hurt! You cannot do this without two people! You hold the bar shoulder width apart again and while lying down on the bench, put it behind your head, then push out at 45 degrees and repeat. I could do five!

We finished off with boxing and stretches. I love boxing - it works the heart and all my upper body and don't let anyone tell you it can't be done sitting down, because it can. Steve has been brilliant adapting his usual sets so I can do then from a chair, rather than standing up. Maybe one day I will have enough core strength to counteract my lack of balance, but until then, I have my bum firmly parked on something solid.

So there you have it, my Punisher session for this week. I really enjoyed it and I look forward to my next one. My only problem now is deciding what to do each day during the week since after my first session I just did all the exercises he had shown  me - now I know too many :).

Do you exercise regularly or play a sport? What is your favourite?

My Awesome New Crutches and Personal Trainer

So I have some new crutches and they are fabulous. This is them:

They are called smartCRUTCH and they use the whole of the forearm rather than relying on the wrist or underarm to take all the pressure. Like so (BTW, this is my husband's arm, not mine, since he was taking the piccies for me :)):

The knob you can see there allows them to be angled anywhere from straight down like a normal elbow height crutch to 90 degrees so you can pick whatever is the most comfortable. They are also padded all across the inside and for those with long arms, the handle moves in and out too. The height adjusts like a normal crutch. They are very comfy and come in snazzy colours as you can see :).

I've only had a chance to use them a couple of times, but they really stop the ache in my wrists (and they also look like they should be able to shoot lasers or somthing ;)).

The websites for most countries have the crutches, but the UK site doesn't seem to have any in stock, I bought mine from CareCo, who have them in stock and the £79.99 is for a pair even though there is only one in the image :).

Official websites: UK | US | South Africa | Germany | Australia

I have also had my first session with my new personal trainer and he is brilliant. I know I mentioned another one previously, but his car blew up and he had no transport so he couldn't come out to our house any more so I only ever had the one session. The new chap, Steve (InterS.E.P.T. Training) is great so far. Rob and I are alternating weeks to have sessions on Saturdays now - so much easier than random times, and he emails - yay!

We found him though a friend, Ben, who has been using him since October.

He seems very good about dealing with my disability and the first thing he did was ask us both a whole load of questions about what we were trying to achieve and if there was anything he needed to avoid and things like that. He also explains what each exercise is for and what is good form and what I should be feeling when I do it so I can be sure of getting it right. It means I can put my own circuits together if I want to :). Definitely knows his stuff.

I've only been doing the new exercises for a week and the bit I want to shrink are already doing so :D. He also does boxing and he puts together little sets, which are so much fun. It's a bit harder with me because I have to do it sitting down (not stable enough standing up), but he seems very good as changing his usual sets so I can do them too.

Wish me luck, it's personal trainer day :)

If you are here for the AtoZChallenge, today's post R is for Raiden is here.

I'm sorry if I didn't get to your blog yesterday - I had an absolutely horrible headache in the afternoon and nothing I did would get rid of it, so I went for a lie down. It means I didn't get to visit as many AtoZ blogs as I wanted to.

I'm feeling much better today :).

Which is a good thing because I'm having my first session with a personal trainer today. Wish me luck.

James has been Rob's personal trainer for over a year and has helped him a lot. Rob originally decided to get one because he has hyper-mobile joints and he was having a lot of problems with his back and hips. James had helped him come up with exercises to make sure his joints aren't forever trying to pop out. Rob feels so much better these days.

Hence my decision to see what James can do for me. :)

You see I have talipes (club foot) in both feet. This means my ankle is virtually immobile and I cannot put my heels on the ground (I walk on the ball of my feet and toes all the time). When I was born it was much worse, but I had operations at 7 and 8 to lengthen tendons and reset all my toes to straighten my feet (I think they treat earlier and differently these days, but this was back in the 70s) - back then I walked on the side of my feet, which was worse (see below). My cousin once asked me how I walked without snapping my feet off when we were small before I had the ops.

I can't jump or run (never have been able to - when we were kids in the playground and used to play jumps the only way I could get over anything was to throw myself over it bodily - scared the crap out of a couple of teachers ;)) and these days I can't stand for huge amounts of time, which, as you can imagine, makes the job of a personal trainer harder. I'm also not great on balance because I'm standing on my toes and my ankle doesn't move to help me maintain my centre of gravity. James is willing to have a go and see if he can come up with an exercise routine that I can do, so yay! :) You'd be surprised how many professional don't have a clue - I've taken classes and things before and been looked at blankly when requesting an alternative to something I simply can't do.

He's coming at 12 after he's finished with his other clients at the gym. I am very lucky that we have space in the library so I don't have to go embarrass myself in front of lots of other people for my first session ;)

If I don't reappear after that it's because I've been put through my paces and I can't move! ;)

Have you ever had a personal trainer? Did they help? If you haven't would you ever consider it?

NaNo Win! and the study is almost complete :)

So first we have this *points up*. There were times this month when I really didn't think I was going to finish. It was right down to the wire.

1. I had a really nasty cold, which, I kid you not, turned me into a zombie for about a week. I barely managed to write a couple of thousand words.
2. Last Thursday, just when I was trying to get back on track I fell over in the shower and bruised and jarred my left side which made sitting still and writing somewhat fun for 2 days.
3. My parents-in-law rang up and asked if they could come for the weekend. Don't get me wrong, they're lovely, but that meant most of the weekend was spent with family rather than deep in novel land.

Hence by Friday evening I was pretty sure I wasn't going to reach 50K and I almost gave up, but then I decided to give it one last go. It's funny, my stats on the site make it look as if I wrote almost 20K yesterday, but it was actually just that I was so disappointed that I might not finish I stopped filling it in until I was almost there :).

I'm pretty sure half the stuff I wrote yesterday is crap and is coming straight back out again or being heavily reworked, but at least it's in the machine :).

Well done to everyone else who finished too.

The Study

Our study is very nearly finished. The only things left to do are the hearth in front of the fire, for which we have all the bits, Rob just needs to work his magic, and half the door frame which had to be filled so didn't get painted at the same time as the other half.

This is a panoramic view of the end wall and the right side. You can see how it lays out, but unfortunately Rob's phone couldn't get the whole walls in :). Click to see it bigger.

This is of the end wall so you can see the cupboard, which was the final part we put in. We have always had a cupboard on that wall, but it was old fashioned and too shallow to be of any use, so we have extended it outwards using the same system as the shelves (they have an amazing catalogue).

This is what it looks like in daylight and looking at the end and left wall.

This is standing in front of the bookcase looking back at the doorway. That stylish picture on the wall came from Range - was £12.99 ;).

And finally for the room, this is the view of the corner along from the door. As you can see we need to put something on the walls :) It's the exercise corner.

Of course it wasn't quite complete so we also bought a rug and a bean bag chair (which is remarkably comfortable :)). We just need to get some anti-slip for the rug because it tends to move, although we could not have found a better size if we had custom ordered it.

All that was left was something for me to be able to reach the top shelves and Rob found these on eBay :)

The steps are made of yew and the frame is made of pine and they were hand made in the east end of London 40 years ago. They have been living in a dry cellar ever since. As you can see Rob has cleaned the top step just to see what colour it would come out, but the rest still need doing. I have tried them out and they are awesome - just high enough, but not too high so that unstable me can fall off and do some damage :).

This has now become my favourite room in the house. Book! :)

So who else has finished NaNo? How do you store you books these days?

D.I.Y. Update - Shelves with books!

So most of the books are in now. We have discovered we need to add another section of shelving for the big books, but that will have to go on the other side of the room near the door. We ran out of space :).

All of my art books and a significant number of history books do not yet have a home. You can see them stacked on the floor in this photo:

I have left the images large, so if you want to click on them all and judge me for my taste in books you can ;)

The paperbacks are all in sections and alphabetical, but the hardback and extra-large books in the two left hand sets of shelves are somewhat random.

In this piccie you can see the corner shelf properly too and Rob has kindly moved the ladder.

D.I.Y. update - New Shelves! :)

Do our new shelves are up. Can't compliment the company we bought them from enough:

• great service (we ordered them Thursday and they had them with us by Friday lunchtime even though their delivery date said Monday - we rang them up and asked nicely and they were so helpful and got everything done for us).
• Easy to assemble, we put ours up in a couple of hours
• Very stable and strong

Only down side - definitely not cheap. 

shelvingsystem.co.uk

This is our study as of last night:

We have been filling it with books since. I'll post another piccie when we've put everything in it :)

In case you are wondering that's 3m wide by 2.4m high. The shelves to the left of the picture are 30cm deep, the second bay is a 30-18cm transition and the last two are 18cm deep shelves. You can set the shelves anyway you want at 5cm intervals.

The right most set is for normal paperbacks, the middle for bigger paperbacks, the transition for all the hardback fiction and the 30cm for all the really big books.