What major hurdles have I overcome?

I tried to give this blog a festive theme, but only really because circumstances exactly 5 years ago are my most major hurdle really.
I was out running the coastpath with a friend, training for an epic 103 mile run for charity. It was touch and go as to whether we should go because the conditions were awful. Ice everywhere, hard to imagine that now.

We set off from Dartmouth and about 3 miles in I skidded on an icy tree root, turning my ankle over and face-planting on the bank. My lovely friend (he's a bit hardcore) didn't accept that I had actually really hurt myself and made me run a few more miles until I was almost crying in pain. He finally agreed to head back and headed straight for the pub, where I took off my sock to find a football-sized ankle.
The run was only in May and training at this stage was vitally important, but I had to rest and recover, which set me back around 6 weeks.

To be honest, for that to be my biggest hurdle I think I've done alright really, but I have seen others struggle, more mentally than physically.
Women who can't go into the gym for fear of embarrassment, or they won't go into an exercise class for the same reason. Us women are difficult creatures and our fears and tensions often seem unreasonable to others, but I understand.

Is your biggest hurdle like this? Do you really want to get motivated but cannot find the right class or gym to train in?
Here's my suggestion - bring a friend! Then we get 2 new women exercising instead of 1. Have a look around at different venues, try a few out. There are even some 'women only' gyms, my Mum attends one and she loves it.

Whatever your hurdle is, there are people out there (me) who can help advise you. No excuses, let's all get moving in 2016.

What are the worst bits about being active?

I have loved 'being active' my whole life, right from when I was 3 years old, doing Ballet.
I do though remember my first negative thought about exercise, and it was way back in middle school and cross-country in the rain.
I loved cross-country running club, but, one winter I found it hard to be enthusiastic about going out in the cold, dark and wet weather.
Once out though, it was fine, it was that initial push out into the cold that was so hard.You run faster in those conditions to keep warm, and get back faster to get dry!

I think a lot of people find it hard to be motivated to get out and exercise outside in the winter. I think the same applies for them getting back out in the evening to go to the gym, when they have been safely tucked up in their warm houses.
Of course, the opposite applies in the summer, when (occasionally) it's too hot to go for a run.

Losing motivation for exercise is definitely one of the worst bits. I always find that if I get bored with something, mainly for me, going to the gym can become tiresome, I simply stop, do something different and find a new sport or exercise to be motivated in.
Plus, mixing it up is better for your body, repetition doesn't always get results, keep your exercise interesting. If you hate running, don't do it, find something that you can really work hard at that suits you.
Keep changing, finding new ways to keep active and you will never lose momentum and motivation.

How does my activity make me feel?

 For this blog, I am changing activity!

Last time I spoke about Kickboxing and Martial Arts, and, to be honest, I covered some of the above in that blog, although from a more personal and mental level.

So, I shall speak of the physical, mostly this time, and with that, there can be only one activity I do, to talk about.
Insanity Live!

In the summer of 2014 I qualified as an Insanity Instructor. I was told beforehand that the class would, 'suit my personality' and other than feeling 'slightly hurt' about being called 'Insane', I did a little research and booked myself onto the course.

So, how did 'Insanity' make me feel that day?
The following words I find the most prominent looking back to that day.
In no particular order....sick, sweaty, sick, hot, nauseous, tired, pained, flushed, sick, excited, rush, sick, hyper........Insane!

You may see that there was a little repetition , but it's necessary to describe the feelings you go through when doing that class.

We were a room full of fitness instructors, all working hard to be our best, but I will be honest, I didn't like anyone else going faster, higher or further than me. My competitive spirit made me push much further.
I guess this is how people feel when they come to my class, except that I'm there encouraging (some may say shouting) from the front of the class, to get the best from them.

The final feelings that Insanity gives you, these are pride, achievement, adrenalin high, buzzing, wired and fit. And no matter how tough it was, you cannot wait until the next time to feel it all over again.
And the best thing? It's a class for most levels and abilities. It's only as Insane as you make it. Work at your own pace and level and get the most from it.

What are the 'best bits' of my chosen activity?

Another interesting and thought-provoking blog title for this week.
I may have to pick just one activity though for this, and because I am focusing mainly on Kickboxing for my own training at the moment I shall choose that.

When you take on a martial art, you don't just take on a physical activity, and so on the very top of the 'best bits' has to be friendship.
Whether it's at Tora, where I train, or one of my own 2 clubs, we have a close-knit and supportive Kickboxing family. You will never feel alone and have like-minded friends.

This is a big thing when wanting to get active, and for a lot of people they are scared to go somewhere on their own for the first time, but you will find that a lot of martial arts clubs are full of friendly and genuine people. Therefore I would recommend a martial art to someone who wants to make friends and get fit. There are many styles and types out there so you will need to find one that suits you, so maybe go and try a few? A lot of clubs will give you one or two sessions free so why not find a club and have a go?

After the 'friendship' side of the best bits, there comes fitness, muscle strength and toning, and at the same time, punching and kicking is a massive stress-buster!
You learn respect, discipline, and of course, learning to fight.
You don't have to be a violent person to practice martial arts, in many ways the people who do it are very calm and friendly, quite the opposite of what you may think.

So why not give it a go?

Who do you like being active with?

Well, being the 'Queen of innuendo' this blog title has made me giggle a lot, but that aside, I shall put on my serious face and discuss this in an appropriate and adult-like manner!

Again, these blog titles are challenging to my little grey cells, although I do like a challenge. When I blog usually it's about something I've done, or want to do and so it's easy.

So.....who, actually do I like being active with? I know who I used to love training with, and that was my Dad, so when I've been running in the past, and in particular for challenges I have tended to choose a man to run with. This may have been subconscious, but my lovely friend Rob Starbuck has been a great running buddy, and actually my friend Steve ran the Dartmoor ultra-marathon with me, even though we were both feeling ill and tired that day I was happy with his company.

Aside from that I much prefer to train on my own, BUT, I am very self-motivated with exercise, and I think with this title I need to go with what most of you would want to read about.
How do you get active with others?
Easy!

Go to an exercise class....... they are the absolute best, not only for fitness, but for social and making new friends, and most importantly....keeping you going time and time again.

I love taking classes, I do a Boxercise class once a week as a private session, straight from work the South Hams Council crew turn up and get ready to punch out their day's stress. Its awesome!

The biggest for me is my Insanity classes, I love it, it's the best class I have ever taken. People love to hate it, they turn up, it's social, it's amazing and they leave with relief that it's over, but still wanting to come back again.
It's not so social as Boxercise, or Zumba, mainly because you can't talk! But the same people come back time and time again and I can see the results.

I guess, I'm a little selfish with my exercise, but I do love to share my dog walks on the moor or the beach, with whichever of my friends wants to come join me, remember, exercise is about movement, no matter how much you do, a stroll on Slapton on a Sunday afternoon is still movement, it's still activity.

Have a think...if you don't exercise but want to, what would you do, and who would you like to do it with? (sorry, I'm still giggling, it's too funny!)

See you next week :)

Debbie

What is my active goal?

Hi again everyone. Well, the topics for these blogs are certainly challenging for me.

What is my active goal?

This is completely dependant I think on age and circumstances and also ever-changing depending on the day, week, month, or even year!

So I shall talk about me, because that's what is wanted from these blogs, and currently my active goal is very focussed on my Tora Kickboxing grading.
I have stopped long distance running for it, included major stretching work into my exercise timetable and also cut the endurance work right back.
Being flexible and strong for this is key so I have completely re-designed my training schedule and so far so good!

Ask me this question again in another year and it could all change again, I will be a year older, my body is changing, my goal may well be just to keep taking classes without illness or injury.

I certainly won't be gunning for PB's, but may still be training those guns! I think it's good to keep changing those active goals, you can only improve by mixing it up a bit, plus, with an attention span like mine, I can't stay doing one thing for long.

So.......what is your active goal?

What barriers have I found in my life to keep me from being active?

Welcome to my 2nd 'official' blog...........
The title of this one threw me a little, because I am one stubborn woman when it comes to me getting what I want, and pretty much, not much is going to stop me.

I thought though, for a very long time at my history of sport and exercise (it's a long history) and came up with the following as examples of what has held me back with my goals in the past.

So......this is the BIG one, the one that very active people can't help but suffer from at times, and that is INJURY!
I've suffered small breaks of toes etc.during Kickboxing, nothing that held me up too much, but I do remember when I was training on the coastpath for my 103 mile run, one Sunday with my friend and I skidded on a tree root and turned my ankle over. My friend is a hardcore policeman and didn't want to hear my moans about the pain I was in and made me keep running. Eventually he realised that I had really done some damage but by then, it was too late. I had a really bad sprain that kept me off training for weeks. It was awful.
At the same time the other thing that has prevented me from running also hit.....ILLNESS, I got FLU!

But, funnily enough, the enforced rest I had by having flu for a week gave my ankle good quality time to heal up, so it was probably a blessing in disguise!

I guess a problem that lots of us have is TIME, or a distinct lack of, but I have recently found a way with clients that they can train in just 7 minutes if that's all they have. It's a new approach, I always thought that 20 minutes was a minimum, but, pushing it for 7 minutes is a great way to do something, so really, there are no excuses.

What has kept you from being active? Can you share similar stories, or are there other reasons that you have?
So.....you have 7 minutes.....get out there and do something!
See you next week.
Debbie :)

What motivates me to get active?

Well hello there, my official first blog, a brief introduction to who I am...although, the more you read my blogs, I am sure that you will easily get to know me!
I'm Debbie Miller-Wright and for the past 4 years I have run my own fitness and Martial Arts clubs, called, Fighting Fit Devon. I started this business after being made redundant from another job, I basically turned what was my hobby, into my business and life.

I guess, from that introduction and the title of this blog, 'what motivates me to get active?' that it should be fairly self-explanatory. The thing about this blog and this campaign, it's about us girls, and we are far from simple to understand! With our wonderful feminine creative personalities there is way more that motivates me than just my work.

I started Ballet at 3 years old, basically I was uber active from young. How you are now has a lot to do with how you were brought up, and how you were as a child.
I was active, excitable and my parents encouraged this in me with dance lessons, music lessons, Brownies, Girl Guides, after School sports clubs. They supported and encouraged me and with this it inspired me to be a 'do-er' from a young age.

I lost my lovely Dad to Cancer when he was just 54 years old. This life event changed me, in that I realised that life, could very possibly be short. Life had to be lived, but healthily.

So, what motivates me to get off my butt and go to the gym, to Kickboxing or even for a long walk with the dogs on the coastpath?
The fact that I am alive, and I can.
This Girl Can, so, the question is.......can you?

Not long to go now......

Good morning everyone,

This is a new blog for me and it was set up for one purpose, and one purpose only....to share the word about the amazing #ThisGirlCan #Devon campaign that will be launching in January 2016.

Why are you starting so early? I hear you ask....well, my lovelies, that is because you don't just start it on  January 1st without any prior promotion. Very soon everyone is going to be obsessed with Christmas and the festive season and all of their exercise hopes and dreams will be going out of the window...well, not on my watch it isn't!

I was lucky to be chosen as one of the ambassadors for this campaign and I am going to take my job seriously. From November 1st I will be posting a weekly written and video blog that I hope you will share amongst your female friends and family, and in particular those who don't do much exercise, but keep on that they should do, or want to.

I am serious about this campaign, but I am serious about sport, exercise and fitness for life, so don't forget, check back here on November 1st for the first installment of 10 weekly blogs, and don't forget....Fitness if Fun, let's keep it that way!