Motivation - what get's me going when I don't want to go?

I've been training 10-15h a week on average - come rain, come shine - for the last two and a half years if not longer. I usually do a session in the morning and one in the evening. This led to some seriously confused faces, especially during times when I had loads of stuff on plate, like uni, work, internships etc. One of my friends straight up asked me, how I am able to deal with having no spare time at all. 

The secret is: sports and training to me are spare time. Quality spare time to be honest. Whenever I got a crazy schedule, the first thing to go is tv. Now, I don't even own tv (I got a tv, with a dvd-player, that's not hooked up to satellite or anything), so if I watch tv shows and movies, it's after a longer period of contemplation of what I could watch. If I have no time, well, then there is no tv. You got no idea of the amounts of hours one can while away by just hanging around in front of a tv (or mindless surfing on the internet for that matter), even though there isn't even anything interesting on. So, there's a goldmine of hours you can potentially use for exercise. 

After useless time in front of the tv is gone, I start to plan my days more effectively. There've been times where my life was scheduled down to the minute (well, 15min intervals to be exact).

Me this morning at 7am waiting for Body Pump class to start.

But why would I do all that for... exercise? 

Because training to me is a habit that helps me deal with stress, is fun and lets me interact with people. I don't even think about it any more, I have a routine and I stick to that routine, sometimes for months. There are days when I don't even think about it anymore, the act of packing and shouldering my gym bag being so natural that I might find myself at the gym at the time I've always been there, without even noticing it. 

There are times when this is more difficult, though.

When I am on a really tight schedule. I plan ahead. I write down every single engagement and meeting and then I fit in the classes or the exercise I can do around them. Sometimes I also make appointments according to my workout schedule (actually I do this as far as possible).

When I am exhausted or my muscles are extremely sore. But. That is actually a sign to consider. If I'm so sore that getting out of bed in the morning seems like a daunting task, then I know I should consider a rest day. Mostly I get up, stretch a little, do some light sun salutations and evaluate the situation again when I got the morning stiffness out of my limbs. If it feels okay, I go, if not: rest day (or some light alternative exercise like Body Balance or Yoga) it is.

When I really don't want to go to training. Well, that happens rarely enough. And if it happens then it is mostly a certain kind of training I am not particularly interested in at that moment, which may be due to having done too much of it for a prolonged amount of time or just not wanting to do it at that moment. Mostly I just try to figure out what my problem is exactly and then see if I might be interested in another way of training or another class. If this goes on for a prolonged amount of time, I try to get behind the reasons why I don't like to do that right now and why I started doing it in the first place. Right now, I'm a little stuck with MMA, because spring has been pretty rough and full of major and minor disappointments, plus I trained a lot in spring, sometimes just forcing myself to train because "I have a match coming up and I have to go". In addition I wasn't allowed to do any submission wrestling for a few weeks because of my neck-shoulder-condition (that starts getting better) and my work schedule has been pretty stuffed. So, I decided to not feel guilty about taking those few weeks off, because afterwards I can go back to training for the fun of it. 

When I'm feeling generally uninterested in anything. That's when I just kick my own butt to the gym, because I know that afterwards I will feel better. It helps that many of our instructors at my gym are just great guys and gals, who I really enjoy seeing/meeting. Plus, normally, I love MMA, submission wrestling, Body Combat, Grit, bouldering and Body Pump. And maybe that's what's most important: finding a sport or class you love to go to. Finding a way of training you enjoy. And once you've found it, it's like I said in the beginning: training is quality spare time. 

MMA and Grit Strength 13 - or: Hearteyes, baby

Yesterday, I had a more relaxed training day, after Monday had been kind of rough. And by relaxed I mean... only 2,5hrs training. MMA and Body Balance. After Monday MMA was hard; we did a lot of hooks and upper cuts and my shoulders were sore from Body Combat and Body Pump the day before. Now, our coach always likes to send us back into the world with a grueling last exercise, yesterday it was jab-cross-tabata. We did jab-cross-combos (either fast or heavy) for a minute and got 20sec rest. Then again combos and rest. We did five rounds of that. Our coach actually took a video from that last set. I'm back there in the white Bad Boy-shorts and my technique is way off, I'm so tired. I wasn't even able to raise my hands properly:

MMA training

But. Today. I finally got to try Grit Strength 13 and I loved it. I did a "light" Body Combat class before and was already pretty done with the world, but I had to prove a point. To myself. Best decision ever. 

I love the new choreo. There's a new move in there: 

New Move

And it's coming up in Track 2 already. As always, track 1 is warm-up. Track 2 is 3 sets of two different moves you do for 30sec first. 3sec break. 10sec reps. 3sec break and a last 10sec rep round. The first move is squat to push press with a bar bell, the second is this new move. 

Track 3 is fun, because you get a little movement into the otherwise static set up: you have two teams facing each other, one does high knees for 30sec, the other upright rows to shoulder press. Then the teams change moves. After two rounds, the teams get new moves. Team 1 does jumping lunges (if there's anything I hate more than burpees, it's jump lunges...*sighs*) and team 2 moving press ups. 

Track 4 was 45sec for each set, first set 7 upright rows and 7 rows, as many rounds as possible. Second set 7 burpees (aaand there they are) and 7 press ups. After you're through with both sets, you do the same, but the rep count goes down from 7 to 5. 

Track 5 was the one minute challenge, where you took your weight plate, did a squat and one squat jump. Then one squat, two squat jumps and so on for - as the name of the challenge says - one minute. As many rounds as possible. I got to 7,4 today. 

And then it's core. And let me tell you, after these last few days, my core was incredibly sore. Actually, I can feel the muscles moving beneath the skin these days, which feels a tad weird, to be honest. I have never been an athletic child, so being an athletic adult still feels strange to me. 

But that's it, that's the new Grit. And I love it, because you can really push yourself to your limits (especially after a Body Combat-class). Came close to barfing today. But that's also the fast level changes, when doing stuff in an upright position and then going down to do a press up or sth of the sort. Does anyone of you know the feeling? It's not even being exhausted, but the fast level changes. 

And tomorrow my best friend is coming to visit for my graduation ceremony and we'll have a blast. She'll be here all weekend, so you'll probably not hear from me in a few days. Have a nice one, guys! :)

New Les Mills releases and a great weekend

June is already almost half way done. But that means that the new Les Mills choreos, the ones that will be with us all summer, have been released at our gym last weekend. On Sunday, to be exact. 

Saturday, to me, was a forced rest day, because I was at work from 7-16, and afterwards I visited a friend for her belated b-day bash. And seeing that we are both that breed of couch potato that does not appreciate wild parties and even wilder outings in town, she decided to bake muffins and pizza for the two of us and make it a movie night. We haven't had movie night in a long time and I haven't had pizza in a long time. For good measure, I also brought a packet of biscotti, and the DVDs: "Man of the Year" with the late Robin Williams and "Johnny English 2", mostly because I've been missing London these last few weeks months.

Home-made pizza!!!

But that's just how I spent my one rest day of the week. Sunday came finally and brought with it the new Body Balance and Body Combat releases (for me, that is). 

The new Balance was different. I find it hard to really judge a choreo after the first time around and with Balance, I'm almost always like... "Meh" after the first try. This time I liked the moves alright, but I wasn't too much into the music. Especially the first track didn't really get me into that "Balance"-feel, you know? 

The sun salutations are nice and I really liked the balance track, but the pilates core training was a bit... I don't know, boring? Plus, it went more on my hip flexors than into my core, but that might also be because my hip flexors are pretty tense most of the time. If it doesn't change, I have to ask our instructors for advice. 

The savasana at the end is great, though. Great music, you can follow along the piano melody lines into relaxation and calmness. And it just sounds pretty. Today, I will be trying Balance for the second time, maybe my feelings toward it will change a little.

In the afternoon I went and tried the new Combat, in which they changed not only the music, but also the lay out/concept of the class. Combat Class feels much fiercer now than it did before and the music reflects that as well. Instead of just being an interval class, it is now a high-intensity interval class, you might also call it HIIT. The first track already differs from its predecessors, even though the first Combat track might remind you of some of the ones that have been done before. It feels incredibly short, though. The first power track is already taking you to a different intensity if you roll with it and the second Combat track, track number 4, is conditioning as it already has been in 63. Number 5, the second power track is reminiscent of GRIT Cardio, with short intervals of hard work and a few breaks for your heart rate to come down. Track 6 killed me, though. I don't know if I ever mentioned that I hate - HATE - lunges. And track 6 has a lot of them. My legs were burning after that and the thought that there were still 2 aerobic tracks to go, one of which Muay Thai, was not a nice one. :D But Muay Thai is great!!! There's power and there's pain in this track and I just love it. You can really play yourself tired in this one. And then there's your basic track 8. But after that choreo, the basic track 8 feels hardcore, too. Conditioning and stretching are fine, there are only so many core exercises you can do and if you've been to a few CX classes, there are few things that are new. 

But after that class, I was done for the day. Really and genuinely done. 

After Body Combat 64. Lower right corner 30 seconds afterward, upper left 30 minutes after, when the endorphins started kicking in. 

Yesterday I did Combat again and afterward (and after a short break) I tried the new Pump. Lots of tension being built up and a pain in the ass. Or should I say a gain in the ass? The squats are okay if you do them so-so, but really engage in the track and shoot, you get your legs to shake. 

Chest hurts like hell with the right weight, I guess, yesterday I took it a little easier because my chest was already done in from the Combat conditioning and I did not know what was coming up. I loved the back track, which was really efficient in building strength and raising heart rates. The triceps track was okay, it was pretty similar to the one in 93, only the dips were a little nastier. Same with the biceps track. That one maybe let me down a little because I had heard beforehand that this one was reeeeaaal tough and then it was... well, I liked the one in 93 better and I got a better burn from it, but let's see what happens, maybe I get to add some weight... And then, lunges. Again. I did them without additional weight because my form goes way off, when I'm tired and doing them with weights. Also, I did not want to and could not find it in me to convince myself as my legs were already close to giving out. And it was good, because it was a lot of bottom ones. The track name "We Make It Bounce" is not a joke, I tell ya. The shoulder track. was. sick. I loved it. It burned and hurt in all the right places! And then there was core and stretching and we were done with that class, too. I liked it. In hindsight, I think I liked it a lot. 

I also kept working on my spine flexibility and yoga over all, after attending a class on Friday, where we were shown a pose called "Bird of Paradise", I made it my mission to perfect that pose. It looked so impossible at first, but actually it's quite easy. And it's a great stretch for your shoulders and legs. 

Bird of Paradise

Also, my hair has been growing so much into an emo thing (with it falling into my eyes all the time), that I have to take it together into a small "pony tail" these days. It looks ridiculous at best, but it is damn practical.

gym "bunny tail"

And now I'll put my hair into the bunny tail (because pony tail is just an exaggeration) and leave for MMA. For the first time in ages. Happy!!!

What's Love Got to Do With It - Body Combat 60

Well, just about everything, if you ask me. I don't think I'd be able to drag myself to the gym or to MMA training if I did not love the feeling. And I'm not only talking about the feeling afterwards, but I'm also talking about the feeling you have while working out. The burning in your quads when you're doing the last reps of a squat track, the burning in your lungs when you're going as fast or hard as you can, or the moment you realise that you are able to do something better now than a few weeks ago. There's just so many things in sports and fitness that make it fun and enjoyable that I seriously cannot understand how there are people who don't like it or even worse have never even tried it.

But back to why I wanted to write in the first place: Yesterday I managed to try out the new Body Combat 60, and well, I did not love it right away like the last release. Sometimes the tracks just felt, I don't know, too short. Just when you get the hang of it and really want to go at it, the track is already over. But this is something that will probably get better as soon as I don't have to think about the choreo anymore. The music was okay. And that was another factor why I did not feel as blown away as I felt during earlier releases. Hit Me With Your Best Shot was kind of cool and took it away from the start, but... I never really liked Roar and it did not help that it has been overused in other group fitness classes, so that was a downer. The combat and power tracks were pretty basic, no big surprises there, but track number 6 was fun. A little karate in track 6 again and back kicks. I kind of miss the old back kick heavy sixes. Still, up until then, I wasn't really exhausted (maybe because of the aforementioned problem), BUT: I loved, loved, loved the Muay Thai track. Which has not always been a given during the last two years, but this releases number 7 is great, exhausting and really takes you to the edge. Oh, and your abs are going to thank you, too. Especially during the toning track :D Yesterday I actually achieved muscle failure during the last few reps of toning. Nothing that happens everyday.
So, Body Combat 60 is a solid, pretty basic release using mostly basic moves (except for the stance switch, even though this, too has been seen in earlier releases, and the superman punch) and probably pretty good for newbies as you can hone your upper cut technique and perfect your hooks. A long set of roundhouse kicks in the warm up lets you work on this technique, too. If you have been waiting for a good release to start your Body Combat career with, take the chance and stay with the fight, it's only getting better from here :)

Bright Stars and Book Hangovers

Ever suffered from a book hangover? A book hangover is the inability to start reading a new book because you are still living in the last book's world, feeling or grieving for the last book's characters, mourning the last book's characters, still in love with one of the last book's characters (mostly this is the case with me) or still suffering from the emotional trauma the last book you read caused you (so much the case right now). 

I just finished reading "Clockwork Princess", the last book of the Infernal Devices series by Cassandra Clare and I really don't know what to do with my life right now. It was such a great story and the characters were so lovable that it is really hard to part with them. I suppose I'll go on reading Insurgent next, or I'll read the whole Mortal Instruments series again... But reading Insurgent would make more sense. Seriously though, Clockwork Princess left me a little emotionally scarred. And I don't know, but Cassandra Clare is really good with quotable lines. One line in particular that I loved is the following:

"Bright star" [...] "Those of you who are mortal, you burn so fiercely. And you fiercer than most, Will, I will not ever forget you." - Magnus Bane.

I try to live my life this way. I try to burn as fiercely as possible, do everything I can while I can and not have regrets when I leave this world. This has been my goal from a rather young age onward. You never know when Death is gonna get you and you don't want to go with a long list of unfinished businesses. This is why, these days, when I want to do something, I just go and try it. This is why I tell people openly when I like them. I want to burn as fiercely as possible without exploding. I want to live life to the hilt, I want to taste it, feel it even if it hurts sometimes. What is life, if you don't even have a few scars to show for it? What is death if you haven't tried to make your life what you want it to be? I can tell you: a waste of time.

Mixed Martial Arts

So, yesterday our trainer let us try out everything we've learned so far in action. He gave us three times two minutes, during which we were supposed to just try everything to get the other guy to give up.

The other guy? Yes. I seem to be the only girl left standing in our course. Well, maybe the other girl that started with me just has to work, but she's missed about one third of our training sessions up till now and last I talked to her she was having problems cutting her nails short (which is a must due to safety reasons when you're doing martial arts). So yeah, seems like MMA is a rather manly sport (even if she continues it's 2-24). But anyways, where was I?

Yeah, right: training ground techniques and actually using them. It was about the hardest experience I've made so far in martial arts training, but it was also the most fun I've had during training since I can remember. The fact that most guys are stronger than me and I really have to go to my physical boundaries, just makes it more interesting and I do believe that should I decide to really compete at some point, it will come in handy that I am used to guys taller, stronger and much heavier than me.
But how does it feel? Well, you have to somehow figure out how to do your thing and to get a good grip on your "opponent" to get him to give up or disable him. Now, your opponent does his thing and makes it rather hard for you to get through, because let's face it, he too has been training and he knows what you're up to. So, while you're trying to figure out a way of getting the upper hand, your opponent does the same. And most of the time you're in a tight clinch and wrestling hands and arms and legs and you try to get up with all your might, but you can't or can and you're using every single muscle in your body. So, you're pretty done in for the day afterwards. But the feeling is just ridiculously great. I really love this and I love the fact that it's hard and tiring and that I still have a lot to learn. This is so my thing, and it is great to have finally found it. Thai boxing was great, yeah, but it doesn't compare to this rush. This is so much more hands on, down to business. I'm in love. I'm in love with a sport and the great thing is that as long as I stay healthy, nobody can take this away from me.

So, try to find your thing, try to find out, what makes you tick. I realised now, that everything I've done up to this point makes sense right now. My physical fitness is at a level it has never been before. Without this, I'd be like a dead fish trapped under a blue whale during these ground fighting sessions we've had. I also know, that I could be a much better version of myself, if I only learned to eat right and train more efficiently. But I'm getting to it. I started clean eating a few weeks ago when my favourite instructor left, but for entirely different reasons (yeah, wanting to make some visible progress within four months is a nice goal), now I only have to get it to point. At the moment I still have my problems with portion size and peanut butter (don't even ask), but I will get a grip on that, too, because now I have sth to work for. There is this guy at our club, okay, he's a professional, but it would be just great to get to the same level of functional fitness as he. I would really love to make my body functionally strong, so that it works for me. Even if I won't compete ever, I'd love to know, that I could, that my body could do it. So, here's what makes me tick.

Half-marathon, or: Who does this for fun?!?

I finished my first half-marathon today. And it will probably be my last. I don't know. Maybe I'll get the crazy idea to try it again sometime when my body stops aching. 

Rewind. On Friday, a friend of mine asked me if I was competing in the half-marathon through our little city, the Tampere Puolimaraton. 21km, no training whatsoever, no mental preparation whatsoever, no idea if I was even able to run 21km (seeing as I've never done this before): of course I said yes and signed up for it after a few more hours of re-arranging my Sunday shift at work. 

Then I started thinking about it and got a little scared. Then a friend told me that it's only 21km, nothing to worry about. Wait, what? The longest distance I've ever gone was about 12km, and that was with a few walking breaks, you see? And yeah, GRIT did a lot to improve my fitness and my VO2max, but I wasn't quite sure what my body would say to a 21km run. So I decided for myself that I could always walk if running started to get impossible, and I assembled an incredible playlist for the whole thing.

Yesterday I got my start number (1304) and all instructions needed and today, with shaking fingers, I pinned the start number to my chest, placed the tracking chip in my shoe and tied my shoes. I met a few friends at the starting point, but I was calm. I was surprisingly calm. Then the whole thing started and I was off to a rather good start. That's what I thought. You never know, because there's just so many people and you never know if the people you're overtaking are actually far behind. But well, I just did my thing (Luke Bryan's "Doing my Thing" was in my playlist) and ran. It felt really good after I had got going, especially kilometers 3-8 were just great. Then my friend, the one that got me into the whole darn thing, showed up beside me. We ran side by side for about one kilometer when he mentioned "Whoa, we haven't even made half the distance.". I told him to just go for it and run and tried to keep him in sight. Which did work out for about 3km, then I lost him from view. Anyway, I was in this for myself, not to prove a point or impress a friend (if you need to impress your friends, you should probably get new friends, that just as an aside), so again I listened to Luke Bryan singing that rain was a good thing and Papa Roach telling me to not keep quiet. Lovex spurred me on, telling me that I should push my mind aside and let my body decide and to get it on. Finnish rapper Cheek sang that there's no shortcut to happiness (oh, how fitting) and the Sick Puppies said that one of us was going down. Concentrating on the music, my body did the dirty work and just kept going. My thighs started to ache like hell on km 15, on km 18 my hips started to tighten up painfully and on km 19 my butt decided to cramp. But it was already km 19. And even though I wanted nothing more than just stop and walk (or actually lie down and die), I knew it was only 2 km to go. I could do this. 2 km and 15 minutes unil two hours were up. 

I kept on running. I asked my body, I pleaded, to make it to the finish line and my body said "okay, let's do this". For real, it sounds strange, but at one point, I almost started to cry because I was so grateful for the things my body was able and willing to do for me, even though it was hurting and feeling like it was being tortured. km 20 went in a blur, but then I saw the bridge that led to the finish line and I gave it the last of my energy reserves and I crossed the finish line at 1h53min brutto, 1h51min netto. Not only has this been my first half-marathon, no, I also made it in less than 2 hours (without even training for it). My friend ran 1:47br and 1:45 net. Which is about 0.5km/h faster than me. 

Anyway, after crossing the finish line, it was hard to even walk straight, oh, let's be honest, it was hard to walk - Full Stop. My thighs were cramping, my butt was cramping, my calves were burning and my feet hurt. Fortunately enough, I have no blisters at all and no chaffing and no nothing. My muscles are aching, but that's it. Oh, and my head was swimming and I was seeing a few stars. I had a banana, a cuppa coffee and loads of water. And I swore, I'd never - ever - do this again. 

But right now, as I am sitting here and thinking the whole thing through... how about trying again next year? Trying to beat 1:45? No. It would be...but why not? :D 

I'm torn. It was a great experience. A painful, but great experience. It was fun. It hurt like hell and it really cost me some self control not to give up. Let's see, what happens. Go with what feels right. 

But one thing I can tell you: I am physically unable to run a marathon. I'm not an endurance athlete, I'm better at short distances. And my body would not have been able to take more. Or maybe it would have been, but this is the moment where my soul tightly hugs my body and tells everybody else to go away and leave the poor thing alone*. Which is why I will get some sleep now. Happy as a clam and tired as hell. Good night.

* (please humor me; today I really felt like my body and mind are two entirely different entities, bound together, but not the same. strange feeling)

MMA - hell, yeah!

So, on Monday my MMA beginner's course started off with the demonstration of the several martial arts the club I'm training at teaches. There were so many people there that wanted to get in shape, wanted to start a new hobby, liked martial arts and it was just great. It was great that there are so many people out there that like this stuff, too. Nice to see that you are not alone with something, that you are not the only one.

I've been doing Muay Thai aka thai boxing for the last two years, but due to several changes at my old club and the training getting a little out of hand (at least that's how I felt), I lost interest in it. Or rather I started to fear training more than I looked forward to. Timo, our main/responsible coach at my new club, came to give an intensive course on different distances in combat one weekend. I learned more in those few hours than I had in the months before during regular training; he was the first one to say that you should never ever hit your partner with full force. I really started to like that guy as a trainer. So, when I heard that his club was moving from the outskirts of the city to the city centre (about 800m from my apartment), I decided to give martial arts another chance. But the fear/tiredness related to Muay Thai had grown too big and I decided to try out another sport in that field: Mixed Martial Arts. I always wanted to try it out, but...I feared my body couldn't take it. But these days I've become quite muscular and strong (and confident in what my body can and can't do), so I thought now was just the right time. This is how I ended up at the demonstration/introduction.

During the application process there were three other women applying for MMA (most females signed up for thai boxing). Today, at our first training session, there was only me. And about 20 guys. Whoohoo. Another male dominated sport I do. But it was fun and the guys were great. Plus, everybody knew me in the end, since I was the only girl. And who's to say I don't have a place in this world of fighting? There's a few women in UFC, Gina Carano or Ronda Rousey.

And not only are they good fighters, but they didn't lose their female charm and sexiness, either. They are cute, but pretty good at beating other people up. I think this could be me, too. Okay, I might be a little old to go pro, but at least I can overcome myself and prove to myself that I got what it takes to survive. I wouldn't be the first to die in the Hunger Games :D

Oh, and the best part? I really feel at home at my new club. The people there are so welcoming and nice and open that it's easy to feel at ease. I stopped worrying about all those things normally going on in my head, like: what if no one likes me? what if no one wants to be my partner? what if I'm all alone in this? The moment I stepped into that gym, it was just...fine. And it doesn't hurt that our club's secretary is rather sexy. :D just kidding. No, not only, he's really good looking, but that's besides the point, he's actually really nice, too. And that's what counts.
So, I guess thanks already for a great first training and a successful introduction to my new club MMA Team 300.