Joslyn's Blog Spot - Ouch!!!

First of all, a huge thank you to all of you for sponsoring us in the crazy task of hauling ass up the gherkin!!! We've been in training for four weeks for it and yesterday we did it!! We were all feeling pretty good beforehand but remained slightly dubious about just how long it was going to take!! Some people were making wild claims about four minutes to the top, whilst others who train regularly seemed to have completed it in fifteen minutes!! We just didn't know! Anyway, I'm sure all of the guys will give you their individual accounts of it...here's mine.

*First thoughts on Sunday morning - 'this was a crap idea!!!!!'
*2 hours before the climb - fuelled with carbs and hoping to digest them properly with the nerves
*45 minutes before the climb - feeling emotional with the team, just feeling really proud!!
*30 minutes before the climb jogging to the gherkin - that building looks (bleep) massive...back to 'this was a crap idea' thoughts!
*20 minutes before the climb - speaking to NSPCC about nearly reaching our fundraising target...positive thoughts of 'this is bloody worth it'
*10 minutes before climb - final nervous wee!
*30 seconds before the climb - cheering Jamie and Mike as they go off first
*GO!! - first few flights feeling good
*Flight 5 - why are my legs already tired?...crap!!...these stairs are taller than the ones we've been training on!!
*Flight 6 - oh pants...am I gonna walk this??
*Flights 7-20 passing people, trying to be supportive with you can do it remarks etc...
*Flights 20-28 Combo of two-steps walk and pull body up by bannisters, and single step jogging...more of the former...
*Flight 29...10 more to go...legs burning...heart racing...pass more people...
*Flights 30-37 nearly there, God this hurts, nearly there...
*Flight 38...thank (beep) for that!!!!!
*Two minutes post-climb...get papped...not really feeling in the photographic mood, breathing is a challenge!!!



*Five minutes post-climb...can string small sentences together
*Thirty minutes post-climb...realisation that we haven't had our complimentary glass of champagne
*Thirty minutes and one second post-climb...sprint up to top floor for glass of bubbly
*Thirty five minutes post-climb...happily nibbling on free mars bar from goodie bag
*Forty minutes post-climb...blaming mars bar for the fuzzy feeling in my head and not...erm champagne!!

It was an awesome day, and weirdly...I'd do it again!!

Good bye cyber food!

Well oh well, after 3 weeks of torture I entered the transition period. Not quite like Jamie as I am not fully back to normal food. I am now having two meals a day instead of one. How I missed having breakfast is simply unbelievable ... It's been purely blissful experience over the last few days having been able to finally taste and chew a solid meal every morning. Eggs, smoked salmon and a small piece of rye bread, some veggies (tomatoes and mushrooms) in addition ... mmmmmmmm!



So how did I find it you may ask... Well as I have been talking to some of you, my body got much leaner! I think I can say that I have not been that lean before. However I would never ever recommend it to any of you (I've said it before and will if I am ever asked again). Purely because it has not been designed for ordinary training people wanting to lose body fat. Simple! It's being used by body builders to strip off that fat before competitions. And if they want to go through it, fair play to them but the side effects are nasty and you need to be VERY strict and stick to it (including diet plan, workouts and transition period). Hormones are all over the place as even though there are fats included in the plan (fish oils and, flax seed and peanut butter) there is no cholesterol which is a very important building block for hormones, including testosterone and serotonin (feel good hormone) to name but a few. My body just not felt right. Terrible mood swings, elevated stress levels and I have not been sleeping very well either. Even though training has been going strong I could not continue for much longer. And to be honest there is no need to. Don't get me wrong, I am happy I did it. As I said it's been a great experience in getting to know my body even more so I can share my experiences with you wanting to get rid of some lipids happily living around your hips and waist.



Saying that there is no need to carry on I mean it!! You need to understand that in order to lose body fat, appropriate nutrition is key. Exercise will keep your metabolism going, start the process, make you feel better and make your body more capable, but if you train hard for an hour and then go and have a nasty take away for lunch what is the point in the first place? I am ranting on again, I know but food is responsible for 60-80% of what you are going to achieve trying to change your body. And as I said last week it is entirely up to you what you are going to do with it. And really there is no need to go and buy your lunch in a local caff or have cereal for breakfast to save time. Making decent brekkie in the morning will not take more than 10 minutes and healthy lunch and dinner could be anything between 20min up to an hour (and that is when the chicken sits in the oven and you can do whatever you want while it roasts). Enough for today. And I know what I am going to do next week ... look out for some simple, natural and really yummy ideas for breakfasts, lunches and dinners ... next Thursday ... watch this space :)

Have a wicked weekend and think about us on Sunday as we climb up 1037 steps of the mighty Gherkin ...


Marta :)

Thoughtful Tuesday - 23

So this weekend I stopped my semi-liquid diet and reverted back to normal eating. I'm still going to have a shake in the morning and probably one more during the day. A couple of reasons for this is that I want to ease myself back in to things and also well it's just nice and easy to have a shake! I have really enjoyed not spending money on going to places like Eat, I end up spending a small fortune each day which is silly. So I've decided to bring some things in. So seeing as I love my eggs I thought I'd find a way of having them. What I've got is very simple and straight forward. All you need is one of those cup cake baking trays, you know the ones with about 12 scoops in them. Then you need to lightly fry up some spinach, add some garlic, onions, whatever you want really. Once they are done you need to pile them up in to the baking tray scoops. Then whisk up some eggs and pour the eggs over each of your vegtable mixtures. Place the tray in a pre-heated oven and leave them till cooked. How long I'm not sure as I'm going to try it out tonight so will let you know, but it won't take long! Then you'll have lots of nice little frittatas to take to work to snack on during the day!

On another note, as I'm sure you know we are running up the Gherkin for the NSPCC this Sunday and would be very greatful if you could sponsor us if you haven't already.

Thanks!

Joslyn's Blog Spot - Would you do it for your kids?

Happy February everyone! I trust you all got the year off to a good start and for those of you that train with us to lose weight, I hope you are riding on the coat tails of losing a pound or two in January!

I came across an interesting article in a January issue of Time magazine about how human evolutionary changes can can be passed from one generation to the next and not over many generations, taking millions of years. This means that we need to be a lot more conscientious about how we treat our own bodies as it may be passed directly onto our children.

So how come all of a sudden we can appear to be able to change genes overnight? Well the genes themselves don't change, however genomes can. A genome is all the genetic material contained in an organism, including its chromosomes, genes and DNA. Are you still with me? Just a bit more science. Attached on top of genomes are epigenomes, and these have the ability to tell your genes to switch on or off. It is through these epigenomes that environmental factors such as stress and poor diet can be passed from one generation to the next.

Let's have a look at what can happen. A paper publised in 2006 in the European Journal of Human Genetics noted that of 14,024 fathers in a longitudinal study tracking parents and their children, 166 of them started smoking before the age of 11. In turn, their sons had higher body mass indexes than other boys by the age of 9. In the Dutch journal Acta Biothoretica Dr. Lars Olov Bygren writes of the Swedish town of Overkalix during the 19th and 20th century. Boys who enjoyed the fruits of overabundant winters, going from near starvation to gluttony, produced grandsons who died on average 6 years before those that endured poor harvests. When socioeconomic variations were taken into account, the difference in lifespan jumped a whopping 32 years!

Both of these epigenetic changes resulted from extreme environmental stressors: boys smoking before the age of 11; and excessive food supply in the case of Overkalix. Once again, it's important to note that these changes don't change genes, but merely send a message that switches them off. If the environmental stressor is removed, the DNA will revert back to its original code. Lasting change, it is believed for now, takes place slowly over many, many generations via natural selection. And so the epigenetic change is a temporary one, albeit long enough to affect the life of your child and your grandchildren.

For us, this means that our current health isn't just about us risking our own lives. Our poor health habits can be passed directly onto our children, and their children. I can't think if a better excuse to ensure that you keep yourself in good health, as we have more than just ourselves to answer to.

Exercise of the Week

Inverted Rows

Inverted rows, modified pull ups or fatboys as we sometimes them call in the studio are one of the best back exercises that will build excellent strength in the major muscles of your back along with your biceps. They're also a great postural exercise as they, like all horizontal pull exercises, work to strengthen the muscles around your scapula which often become weak from poor posture.

To perform inverted rows set up a bar in the squat rack and lay under it. You want the bar to be inline with your chest at a full arms length away. Place your feet on top of a stepper so that when you grip the bar you body will be completely horizontal.

Grip the bar with a wider than shoulder width grip with your palms facing your feet. Begin lifting yourself by bending at the shoulder and elbows until the bottom of your chest touches the bar. The aim is to keep you body as straight as possible during the entire movement. As your chest touches the bar breathe out and squeeze your shoulder blades together hard. Focus on keeping your body as straight as possible, contact you abs and don’t let your hips drop.

If you're finding it to difficult to lift yourself or keep your body straight you can regress the exercise by performing it with knees bent and feet flat on the ground.

Next week: Power Cleans.

Mike.

image courtesy: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_gEyOuw7eZkA/SAVMyva1aEI/AAAAAAAAAEU/c11OiJCzZkY/s1600-h/inv_row.JPG

Getting thrown around like a rag doll!

I have a mate who runs a the strength and conditioning at a Brasilian Jiu Jitsu and MMA (Mixed Martial Arts- if you've been watching Big Brother it's what Alex Reid does but isn't apparently very good at?!)gym in North London. The day started off with 'some conditioning' which consisted of a progressive warm up including jumps, press ups and burpees, followed by the conditioning component which was 4*6minute rounds of pain!

The 6 minute rounds were made up of 6stations where you just moved from one station to the next. The stations included:
- Bulgarian Bag Swings
- Heavy Bag Slams
- Barbell Wood Chops
- Band Pulls and Rotates
- Overhead Ball Throws
- Med Ball Pres Ups
There was no rest between the stations and each took a minute.

I was knackered by the end of the first round, by the fourth I wasn't sure if I was going to pass out, throw up or both. It took my 15minutes to regain composure, which was fine because this was when the No Gi (no pyjama suit) class started. This consisted of practising certain techniques against an opponent. This was quite advanced for me and I kept tying myself in knots.




After 30minutes of the technique session it was time for 4 rounds of sparring which were 5 minutes long each. I did OK in two of the rounds, in the other two I got thrown around like a rag doll. One of the guys was the world No Gi champion and he just easily disposed of any attempt I made to exert any type of force on him.

Overall I had a completely knackering yet enjoyable experience and I will go back for more!

I CAN DO IT ...

This week I found myself, yet again, thinking a lot about how our brains and minds work in terms of achieving what we want to achieve and getting where we want to get. I also spoke to some of you about how powerful thinking about those things is.

Thinking differently is what sets the human race apart from the rest of the animal kingdom. Frontal cortex in the brain allows the capability for finding new pathways of experience. The size of the human cortex is also the largest out of all mammals, therefore offering the mental powers of self observation and contemplation.

Now, what does it actually mean? It is pretty simple and obvious, however really hard to acknowledge for some 95% of the human population ... WE ARE ALL SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR OUR OWN DECISIONS. And even though there are certain circumstances in life such as accidents that we are not in total control of, the decision of whether we are going to live a decent life is purely down to us. And by living a decent life I do not mean being able to splash out a small fortune on things we don't really need but actually being in sync with our own bodies and minds, knowing our abilities and being aware of the fact that no one else but us can decide how we feel and what we do each day ...

It may be high time for some of us to contemplate some of the negative thoughts and pre-programmed patterns we are carrying around with us. An important thing is that SELF has no negative thoughts about ITSELF. All thoughts and feelings of anger, sadness, fear, guilt, hate etc, are past perceptions and projections of experiences we went through in our life ... it almost looks like a magic trick that whether consciously or not other people can play on us, keeping us from realising how powerful we really are.

A really important thing to realise is that that neurons that fire together also wire together creating patterns. A real life example will be if we're constantly thinking we are unable to do something, eventually our bodies will believe in that seriously limiting our abilities to achieve what we originally wanted. Second but even more important thing is that the human cortex CAN re-wire creating new wiring patterns. What that means is that no matter what you think we are able to break the pattern and start acting/thinking differently. Remember my very first blog I posted back in October when I joined ONE? There is a way of breaking the vicious circle some of us tend to get stuck in. We just need to accept that this is entirely our decision that we are 100% responsible for!

Have a look at this video and even though some of it may sound a bit like preaching, what I would like you to have a look at is how the neurons actually work, and how they can re-wire to change the old patterns.



Think about it over the weekend ...

"EVERYTHING CAN BE TAKEN AWAY FROM A MAN ... EXCEPT THE ABILITY TO CHOOSE ONES ATTITUDE IN ANY GIVEN SET OF CIRCUMSTANCES"

Viktor Frankt (holocaust survivor)


Till next Thursday

Marta :)