squats

oh jeeze, oh lord... OW!

i've mentioned in my Zumba posts about the dreaded squats, and i just thought I'd give it a go again thinking 'surely it isn't as bad as I remember it being?!'

it is.

i lasted the best of 3 seconds before my legs began screaming at me 'no more! no more!'

so it's true what they taught us in psychology: that if there's someone of authority telling you to keep going with something even if you find it painful/unpleasant, you are more likely to keep going than if left to your own devices... just instead of men in white coats with their electric shock boxes, it's Lyna with the dreaded squats!

how the hell I managed to do it for any length of time in class though is absolutely beyond me!

sociology

I will be so glad to see the back of this module. it's no-where near as bad as when we first started and I've really learned a lot from it which I think will be invaluable in practice.... but I will still be glad to see the back of it! lol

oh I got 68% for my 2nd workbook by the way - mucho chuffed was I! 4% increase on the last one :)

I am now just over 800 words into my essay which is due in on tuesday, I'm aiming for approx 1000-1200 for the main part of the essay, the whole thing is to be between 1200 and 1500 so I'm right on track... I'm doing it about inequalities in health between the genders, it's all about how the health between the genders isn't biological, it's sociological. it's quite interesting really, but I'm starting to run out of material without making my essay so much longer and so much more complicated.

I only need a pass in this essay to pass the module. even if i just scrape a pass with the essay (35%) I will still finish the module with 48%, which is a pass. I've got no intention of just scraping a pass, but it does take a wee bit of weight off the shoulders when you know everything isn't riding on passing this one bit of work. I'd rather keep my summer free thanks very much, no re-sits or re-submissions of essays for me thanks very much!

frustrations....

i am getting a bit frustrated with myself in Zumba class.

a lot of the moves i can do - some i feel i can actually do quite well and I think I put a lot of effort into - adding that little bit more rhythm (yes that might surprise some but i do have a sense of rhythm!) or hip wiggle to, but there are some moves....

there's a couple of moves we do, usually towards the end of the hour, which involves the arms being flung in one direction and the legs going in the other, when I watch Lyna and the others in the class do it, I can totally work out in my head what my limbs should be doing, but for some reason my limbs just don't want to co-operate! either my arms will do the right thing, or my legs, but rarely both at the same time. it's SO frustrating! but thankfully i know when to laugh at myself rather than get worked up about it :o) but it's frustrating none the less...

but to end on a more positive note, I'm dead proud that when we touch our toes right at the end, after the 2nd breath in and out - i can get my forehead to touch my knees! and no my knees aren't bent either! :o) for a size 16 and well over a stone overweight, I've still got a fair amount of flexibility!

zumba class #4

well, I survived :o)

it's quite some miracle really, considering the amount of teasing that has been going on lately between me and Lyna on facebook.

it all started after my first zumba blog entry, Lyna saw it and said kissing ass wouldn't make her go any easier on me - the opposite in fact! and well.... once a snowball starts rolling down that mountain there's not much that's gonna stop it. I really hadn't written it to kiss-ass, but hey ho - no-one believes me so i've stopped trying to convince them!

it's a great laugh, I tease Lyna, she threatens to make me feel pain at the next class, Lauren adds to it by joining in not only on FB but also by stoking the fire at her class on monday too, I survive my tuesday class (mainly coz it's SO busy!), I tease Lauren, Lyna sees it and threatens me with even more pain on my friday class...

Mel really loved stirring the situation even more by saying right at the beginning that I'd been disappointed we'd not done squats at the tuesday class, in fact I think Mel is trying to get me killed and is using Lyna as the weapon - I'm not sure why considering I'm her lift in....

it was a wee bit busier today, so I had better chance of hiding, but she still got me a couple of times . To be honest, i walked into the class quite scared of what Lyna might do (or make me do!), it wasn't helped when we were getting ready to start Lyna asked the 2 girls who had been to the class the previous night if they were sore at all - they said no, Lyna put on that wicked grin of hers and said "wrong answer!"I think it was then that I really knew we were for it!

but it was ok in the end - but I did push myself really hard today in the hope that if she saw me really trying she might leave me alone! when we left, we were dancing down the street (well, I was anyway - with my hoody slung over my head going along looking a bit like batman) and I said to Mel "I know I need help, but I have this urge to post up on Lyna's wall 'ha! is that all you've got to throw at me!'" - why am I doing this to myself?!

and so comes the end of another week of zumba for me, but I'm sure much teasing will continue - Lyna did say to me half way through class to watch out on FB... I'm nervous. she's a scary woman - why the hell do I keep poking the lion when I know it's gonna be let loose on me?!

but no matter the teasing and the treats of pain, I am still thoroughly enjoying going to zumba classes, we have such a giggle while having a great workout - i'm back to having a 32" waist ya know! it really is so addictive, I go bright red, which i HATE - i wiggle my numerous wobbly bits about along with everyone else, but I don't care how I look coz I'm feeling fab!

and just for the record - i have NEVER said Zumba is easy! lol

volcanic gunk clouds...

... are hanging over our house just now, really dark muddy brown coloured things mixed in between the normal white fluffy ones. they do look a bit like storm clouds, but tinged brown - it's kinda annoying coz it's hard to judge just by looking out the window what the weather is going to be like, are they really heavy rain clouds or just the gunk clouds?

we've already got a layer of grime on our cars already, and we've only had light spitting so far... it's similar to how the cars looked when the rest of the estate was still being built, but this time there isn't any building work going on anywhere near us - strange to think that grime on our cars has come such a distance!

to sleep perchance to dream..

another benefit of Zumba is that it's been wearing me out so much I've been sleeping REALLY well.

i've always been one of those people who takes forever to fall asleep, I'm a real night owl as it is but even when I'm tired it usually takes me a good hour to fall asleep. now I'm getting tired far earlier than i ever used to and actually falling asleep quite quickly too!

paul came to bed and got up again with me being none the wiser, had to quiz him once i got up as if he'd actually even come to bed!

ZUMBA!

I am sure a lot of you will have heard about Zumba, it's been around for a while now, even I remember seeing the corny american ads on TV years ago and just passing it off as another american craze which us stiff upper lipped british would just laugh at.

but OMG how wrong was I?

one of my sister-in-laws, Gemma, who lives down south, told me she had been going to her local class and that I should really think about going too, she raved about how much fun it was and the weight she was losing, she dug out a link for me for my local class "Zumba with Lyna" so I though, why not?

I posted up on FB and twitter that I was thinking about going and Melanie showed interested in going along too. She doesn't live too far away from me.

So last tuesday, off we went for our first class.

It was busy, REAL busy.

I was initially quite worried that this would be one of those classes where it'd be full of 19 year old supermodel type girls, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that it really was just 'normal' women! all shapes and sizes and levels of fitness.

and so, after paying our class fee, we started.

I'll tell ya this now, when they say take a towel and water - TAKE A TOWEL AND WATER (and plenty of it! 1 bottle is NOT enough!) they will be your best friends in the class! take a fun loving attitude too ;o)

oh and if you've got boobs any bigger than about a B cup, you'll need a good sports bra! you have been warned!

the music is fast paced, the moves are hypnotic- they look complicated but Lyna builds them up in easy stages (they really don't expect you to come to the class knowing how to dance like this!), you work up such a sweat and you have GREAT fun! it doesn't really matter if you can't quite get the moves or can't do them quite as well as Lyna, we all go at our own pace, though Lyna is always pushing us to do the best we can, to accentuate our moves that little bit more, to squat that little bit lower....

We do 2 routines and then take a quick break to grab some water and towel ourselves down, you get to the stage where you feel your legs are going to fall off but you keep going because the music is just so infectious, your body wants to move even if you don't!

and so came the end and the cool down, I was quite surprised how flexible I still am when we were doing our stretches :o)

they talk about the "zumba afterglow" and it's quite true! you're left feeling amazing, on this almighty high and you can't help but smile and laugh :o)

I wont kid you, the next day i was sore.

Melanie had already decided she wanted to go to the class on friday afternoon too but I wasn't too sure, I was still pretty sore, but I kinda thought 'i have to go into Ayr anyway for the health library, I may as well, I'll just take it a little easier', so on friday mid-day, off we went again!

Class was much smaller this time, which we had anticipated, got chatting to Lyna and a few of the other women who were taking the class along with us.

and so again, we began.

routine was slightly different, my co-ordination was all over the place compared to Tuesday which annoyed me somewhat, as my co-ordination on tues had been really good (considering I've not danced since i was about 10, i was quite chuffed!), but I still had an absolute blast!

we left at just gone 2pm absolutely buzzing and feeling quite amazing that we'd got through another class!

last night, yet again, I was quite sore - my legs especially, but after having a soak in a bath and a nice long sleep, I woke up this morning ready for more and was actually quite depressed when I realised that I'd have to wait until Tuesday for my next class!

I'm nuts, I know - during the class I am sure Lyna is trying to kill us through dance, and yet we still go back for more! I feel so amazing within myself for going to these classes, it's too early to see a difference in weight or the way my clothes fit, but within myself, I am feeling great!

There's a Zumba beach party in Saltcoats in July, I am absolutely desperate to go! I am on my final 1st year nursing placement then so i wont know until a lot closer to the time if I can go, but I think I'll buy a ticket anyway, just in case.

bring on tuesday!