Fitness Tips

Seeing as it’s that time of year when the sun comes out a little bit more (hurray for spring!) and I’ve recently started taking exercise a bit more seriously, I thought I’d share some of my tips for things that have improved my performance over the last few years. I’m by no means a pro, but I enjoy going to the gym and being active, it makes me feel a whole lot happier and I find it a good way of dealing with anxiety. I’m currently focussing on trying to get my 5K time down from 28 minutes to 24, so any training tips would be more than welcome!

Music

Personally a good playlist is my main motivator. If I’m not enjoying the track I’m listening to it will distract me from my run, and annoy the hell out of me until I change the song. I like listening to music that makes me laugh or want to dance. I once had a playlist with ‘It’s Not Unusual’ by Tom Jones which came on whilst I was plugging away on the cross-trainer. I’m glad I didn’t have my contact lenses in that day, no awkward eye-contact after pissing myself laughing. On my own. With headphones in. At a busy gym full of students. But it was a fun workout, and it certainly energised me.


Current favourite running tracks:

• Lethal Bizzle - Police On My Back (you can pretend you’re running away from the police)
• The Streets - Fit But Don’t You Know It 
• Outkast - Bombs Over Baghdad (instant energiser)
• TRex - I Love To Boogie
• Fatboy Slim - That Old Pair Of Jeans
• Mark Ronson ft. Amy Winehouse - Valerie 
• Desmond Dekker & The Acres - Israelites
• Jay-Z & Linkin Park - Numb Encore 
• Foo Fighters - Wheels
• Hot 8 - Sexual Healing

A decent sports bra
Enough said. Any ladies will know how much of a difference a bra that fits you just right can make to any given day. Same goes for exercise: I want something that will keep them in place but not restrict my movement or cut off blood flow to my tits. I currently own a really comfy and relatively cheap Nike sports bra that does a mighty fine job. 


Wiccy Magic Muscles
Since I've started running more, this massage bar has become my new best friend. The clove oil and cinnamon really gets to work stimulating blood flow, and the peppermint oil has a lovely cooling effect on well-used muscles. The brown bits in it are aduki beans, which also give a nice texture to massage with. And it leaves my skin feeling soft and moisturised. Yes please. 

Variety
I’m very much a routine kinda gal. I like the comfort of repetition - it makes me feel less anxious knowing that I’ve already done what I’m doing before, and therefore the chance of something going wrong less likely. (I know this might sound crazy to some people, but it is how it is!) But I also get bored easily of a routine. Over the last four years I’ve done various classes and activities: running, yoga, belly-dancing, cardio at the gym, hulahooping, weight training (small weights mind!) but I tend to do one at a time very rigidly rather than mix it up. I know this isn’t effective. At my peak of physical fitness I was doing a combination of small weights, cardio and hulahooping, and it was varied enough to keep me focussed and happy. I’m trying to get back to that happy place, where I’m doing several different activities a week to help my fitness progress, without losing interest in what I’m doing.

#daretobare

I’ve decided I’d rather not do the no make-up selfie, no offence to those who chose to partake, or to those who have nominated me. 

I’ve already signed up to Race For Life for the third year running, and I don’t see how baring my naked face will really make that much difference. This morning I ran 5k in preparation for said race earlier today, and I feel like that was more productive than the whole photo thing. I’ll donate to charity as and when I choose, not because I want to join in with a trend. Being charitable should be about giving to causes you respect, or doing something awe-inspiring to raise money for a charity that personally resonates with you. It shouldn’t be about vanity, or about saying ‘Hey look at me! Aren’t I great because I’m giving to charity!’ It makes me feel a bit uneasy. I know the selfie idea was simply a quick and easy way for people to encourage others to give, but I feel just as cornered and pressured to donate and join in, as I do when I walk down the street and am approached by six charity-muggers in a row trying to get me to sign up for this that or the other. 

Being charitable is also just about being nice to other human beings. Why don't we all try to do a bit more of that?

Don't get me wrong; it’s great that the social media stunt has raised over 2 million for Cancer Research UK amongst other charities, but part of me wishes the idea wasn’t centred around women being ‘brave’ for baring a face without makeup. Fighting cancer and illness is brave. Wearing no make up simply goes against our modern conception of beauty, which also makes me feel queasy. Women, just like men, should be able to paint and clothe their skin however they choose. It shouldn’t be considered an act of bravery to do so. In this day and age it makes me feel pretty sad that we are so stuck in this bullshit sexist mindset.

Growing up with a mother, who I have seen wear make-up maybe three times in my life, who I have never doubted was the strongest, bravest woman I know. It feels like I'm betraying everything she taught me about beauty, self-worth and being a courageous independent woman (cue sassy Destiny's Child music.)

Please leave your thoughts in the comments, I know this has been a bit of a controversial subject on Facebook & Twitter so I'll be interested to see what you think. 

An amendment to the previous post, added Sunday 6th April 2014 


After a bit of feedback I just wanted to reiterate that I'm not condemning people who have chosen to do the selfie. It has undoubtedly brought a lot of money to a lot of brilliant charities. That is completely undeniable. And there is a sort of 'all us girls together' camaraderie, which again is by no means a bad thing. If we can all join together to do something positive then great! 

My issue isn't with people wearing makeup, or not wearing makeup. I made it clear in the last post that I think men and women should be able to paint or clothe their bodies however they so choose. If you feel comfortable wearing or not wearing makeup, fab. Don't feel like you have to wear makeup if you don't want to, and vice versa. I did mention my own mum as a personal role model, who happens not to wear makeup. I also happen to have loads of other role models who do wear makeup. That's not the issue. My issue is with the word 'dare' in 'dare to bear'. Daring connotes some kind of risk, an ergo bravery to post a picture of us without makeup. Will we be taken more or less seriously when we take off the war paint?  Will we been seen equal to men?  

On a side note I’m kind of curious as to how many people who donated or took a selfie, actually checked their breasts after doing so? 

Top Five Lush Favourites

1.Eau Roma Toner Water 

I never really understood the point of toners. What is toning? Why is it something I need to do? I figured it was another bullshit marketing ploy. Boy was I wrong. Lush's toner waters are blended with essential oils; Eau Roma Toner is blended with lavender and rose oil. Rose - if you didn't already know - is great for reducing redness (which I have lots of... Thanks for the genes Ma & Pa!) and lavender is great for healing scars and balancing oil production. So it makes my skin feel lovely jubbly. Toners act as a moisturiser for the deeper layers of the skin, and help prepare new skin so it grows lovely and healthily. These are also wicked for the summer, simply to cool down your skin whilst adding lots of minerals and nutrients. Delicious!

2. Twilight Bath Bomb

I always thought I didn't like lavender that much. It reminds me of older ladies, and those scented bags you get to put inside your pillow. But the lavender in Twilight is blended with Tonka (comes from the same family as vanilla) which gives it this lovely sweet edge, and kind of reminds me of malted milk biscuits. Plus it's a beaut in the water, you can’t go wrong with a nice hot bath. 

3. HQ perfume

Simple. So I can smell like Lush all day long every day. This is a limited edition perfume that I got from the pop up perfume gallery in London last year which was AMAZING. Unfortunately there's no link to prove this one's existence as it's only available from the founding Lush shop in Poole.

4. Ultrabland/Herbalism

I've slightly cheated by putting these two together as they are indeed separate products… but I love them equally, and on a daily basis I rarely use one without the other. 

Herbalism doesn't smell great, if I’m honest. It smells medicinal which I think the rice vinegar and witch hazel have something to do with, but it works wonders on my skin. I tend to get a lot of spots on my chin so I need something to maintain healthy oil production and prevent breakouts. On the whole the rest of my skin is fairly dry, so i do use a really creamy moisturiser after this (Celestial if you’re interested.) Initially I had reservations about using Herbalism because I thought it was mainly for acne-prone oily skin. But I love how clean it makes my skin feel, and generally my skin is a lot clearer these days. Nice one Herbalism!

Ultrabland is a really simple concoction of beeswax and rose infusion amongst other lovely ingredients. I tend to use this one to take off my makeup at the end of the day, as I wear a heck of a lot of eye makeup and need something heavy duty to take it off. It feels quite oily, sort of like rubbing butter on your face, but if you take it off properly with hot water and cotton pads or a flannel it shouldn't make your skin greasy.

5. R&B Hair Moisturiser

I'm not going to lie, when I first saw this I had two reservations. One being the price tag, and the other being that I don't have afro-carribean hair. However I sampled it after how much everyone else raves about it, and I was rather impressed.

R&B smells absolutely delicious, and you only need a teeny tiny weeny little bit, so actually it isn't that expensive when you consider how long a whole pot will last - my sample lasted me weeks! Bear in mind it's also not a product you need to use every day. It helps with managing the amount of hair I have, and tame my curls when they escape. 

So what have I learned from my Lush fave's?  Try things even if you're not sure that they're made for you. I'd gotten so used to boxing myself in my different skin/hair types - because that's how lots of shops market their products, e.g. " This conditioner is for dry hair. This moisturiser is for sensitive skin." Try breaking away from those constrictions, as you might find something you really like. Also skin and hair constantly change with weather, hormones, diet, stress (the list goes on!) so it's difficult to pin yourself down to one particular type; I think that’s why we end up saying ‘combination skin’. But everyone is different, and don’t knock something until you’ve tried it!

It's The Magical Mystical Kind

Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeroes 

Dublin, Olympia Theatre. Sunday 9th February

Wow. What a blur. What a magical evening. 

Watching the warmup, I'll be honest, I wasn't too sure. It was made up of a guy called Harper Simon with some friends. There was a cello, a violin, a guitar, a clarinet and a French horn (I think). They played well enough, but it was a bit wishy washy and drowned out in the bustling chit-chatting crowd. It got a bit more exciting when a few of The Magnetic Zeroes joined them on stage, but it was all a bit too samey for me. 

And then the calm before the storm... It seemed like an eternity between the warm up and the main show, with all the excitement I had brewing in my stomach. In the boxes on the right of the stage I swear to god I even saw a lady on the balcony knitting whilst she waited.

I tried to get a photo of the knitting lady but you can't see the needles... and the photo quality is shocking. Sorry internet.

Alex from ESATMZ is famous for saying they never have a set list, and true to his word he asked the audience what they wanted, and played whatever he heard the punters shout. They obviously did the big ones like 40 Day Dream (now featured on a snazzy car advert, you'll probably know it even if you think you don't) and Home, but they also did quite a few I'd not heard. This was largely due to the fact that I've only fully listened to their debut album  Up From Below, and need to catch up on what they've done more recently. But it was all wonderful. 

Jade was beautiful, she wore a mid length dress with beautiful detail, it looked a mauve colour under the lighting but I can't be sure. She smiled like a child the whole night, so pure, it was mesmirising. Alex commandeered the stage, a true frontman for the band. And I got to know a few more of the ten strong band, though names escape me. There was a percussionist/other vocalist who was amazing. He took the centre stage for a song called Motion Animal, and it was absolutely electric. Wikipedia (reliable source) tells me his name is Christopher 'Crash' Richard. He was so talented, as were the whole band in their own individual right, but I guess because Alex and Jade speak to each other in Home people tend to know them the most. 

Speaking of, when they got to the instrumental bit in Home where on the recorded track Jade and Alexander have a conversation about the time Jade fell out a window. I was curious as to how they'd play this... And they didn't disappoint. They asked one another if either had a story, and then Jade told the story of the first time they'd visited Dublin, then they asked the audience if anyone had any stories. Obviously they were restricted to the first few rows, but they handed the mic to one lady who said, "Joe if you're here tonight, I am so sorry. I love you and I am so so sorry." It wasn't so much a story as a public apology, but it was sweet and everyone was so caught up in the moment. We didn't find out if their story had a happy ending, but it was still sweet. I wonder what she did in the first place...

And hallelujah they didn't do an encore. And I didn't want one. Me and Toby are forever going to gigs and saying that we wish they'd just stay on rather than doing the whole, 'We're going, oh no we're not!' pantomime-esque camaraderie, and finally a musician with some sense! I had a listen to the Jo Wiley ESATMZ show last night, and Alexander said they didn't do them because that way you get to play for longer, and I suppose it's probably easier than getting 10 band members on and off stage then back on for another 10 minutes. I was very grateful for this development.

Would I see them again? Yes, in a heartbeat. I feel like I fell in love with each and every one of them, along with everyone in the crowd whilst I was in that room. In a word: magical.