Kat’s chats – July 2010

Hi to my loyal readers,

I appreciate you! Sometimes we can feel alone in our journeys despite being with people constantly. Lately I’ve received some lovely emails and encouragement – so thank you to those people, you know who you are
Particularly this week I’ve had a few emails come in with people telling me different ways I’ve inspired them – those things can really lift our spirits! How great to build one another up in our pursuits – especially as the world can seem to want to pull us down at times and can sometimes make us feel like our dreams are too big or too crazy!

I’ve been listening to some fantastic audiobooks lately – it’s my new obsession. I listen to them while I walk to the train and home, and I also go for a power walk every afternoon with Brian Tracy, or Jim Rohn, or another guru. It totally motivates me and gives me s regular burst of energy and inspiration that I’m finding invaluable in improving my life. (I get mine from audible). I just finished one called ‘Getting things done’ – amazing, and I’m currently listening to ‘The Power of Less’. Highly recommend them both! I’ve realised how much I’ve been trying to cram in to my life and doing waaaaay too many things and having waaaay too high expectations of myself. I’m now focusing on doing only a few projects at a time and doing them well.

My main focuses at the moment are of course my Personal Training clients and their own achievements and motivation, training for a figure competition in September, running a Nutrition seminar and then regular workshops, and now studying (a Nutrition diploma online).

It still sounds like a lot; but before I had over 10 projects I was trying to work on – including a recipe book, a video-log, a podcast, writing my body transformation book, doing more coaching study, corporate health packages, writing more regular articles and group training – all of which I’ll do in the near future, but one thing at a time!

My training is going fantastically – I’m doing cardio every morning – either an outdoor run or a high intensity cardio session in my lounge room. I need to find some good aerobics/dance DVD’s – if anyone knows of any, please let me know! I get an achy hamstring if I run too much so I like adding lots of variety in my workouts.
I’m doing weight training for an hour every night plus 10-15 minutes of stretching and foam rolling – including the splits which is one of my goals. I’m about 5cm away – it’s painful but doing it every day is so great. I close my eyes and it forces me to breathe and switch off.

I’m also incorporating more relaxation into my life – things like a weekly massage, and trying to stay present and in the moment more, walking daily and sitting in the park and eating my lunch without multi-tasking etc. I feel a lot more relaxed!

The 12 week challenge with my clients is going really well – everyone is pushing themselves to achieve and improve. My clients inspire me – especially when I see them incorporating new disciplines into their lifestyles and sticking with them – and reaping the benefits. Sacrifice now – rewards later. Always.

Hope you’re all having a great week and looking after your most important asset – your body.

Kat

Kat’s chats – New Motivation and what I’ve been up to

Hi Everyone,

Well, I have decided I definitely want to hit the stage again this year, so have started to map out the details of proper diet and training timing. I find all this stuff so exciting! I enjoyed my muscle building phase and I have been training HARD and building some muscle size, but now I’m really looking forward to dropping my calories back again so I can start to see some new lines and cuts! (I LOVE NEW LINES!)

The BEST feeling is when you see the results of all your hard work and effort paying off – I love it so much. It’s a great reward for all the hard work. It’s not so much a ‘looks’ thing that drives me (although as a figure competitor, this is what I’m judged on!), but I more than anything love the feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction of pushing my personal limits – and seeing the changes is a great reward. Anyone who has made changes in their body shape will know what I mean!

Whenever I start to see a new line somewhere on my body (my favourites are the ones on my abs and down the side of my thigh) I feel unstoppable – as though NOTHING will tempt me (food wise) and NOTHING will stop me training as hard as I possibly can! I quite like putting myself in some tempting situations sometimes – and winning – it makes me feel tough! (I do things like have a ‘staring competition’ with a piece of cake, thinking ‘I don’t want you, I don’t need you, you’re not going to beat me!)
Or I walk past Greggs bakery – which I do every morning and take a HUGE breath and say to myself “Ahhhh, the smell of a fat a**” ha!!

I’ll be sharing several months of physique and performance training with you all. Not only is it important to me to reach my physique goals, but it’s very important to maintain and improve the way my body moves — to function well and feel fit, strong and healthy. I did a body balance class today which reminded me of the importance of this (especially balance!)

Hope you are all improving, and going for your goals and dreams!

Kat

Kat’s Chats – Goals and stuff!

Hi All!

I really enjoyed the 8 week challenge! I didn’t spend as much time thinking about my own goals, as I’ve been thinking a lot more about my client’s goals to be honest! And there have been some great achievements made which I will be sharing in the next few blog entries. So some of my goals were an epic fail! But that’s ok – we can learn from our failures! And better to aim for something and learn what doesn’t work – than aim for nothing!

Ok, to summarise my goals -

#1 – To get 60+ points on my daily success chart
This was a very challenging goal! I averaged around 55 ticks per week so didn’t quite get as high as I’d hoped.
Some weeks were around 40 – eek! Those were when I was away on the weekends so I really need to plan better to have my own food, as it’s a lot harder to eat within your plan when you’re on the go, although you can make the best possible choices of course! I recall one time when I was in a gas station after the Fitpro convention and literally the healthiest option was a sandwich. Even after I threw out most of the bread, the chicken was mayo-drenched – yeccchhhh…

Healthy muffins – so healthy they unfortunately don’t keep long!

Needless to say I was hungry on the train home but luckily I found a shop that sold beef jerky – at least got a bit of protein in! Mostly I carry protein shakers and powder everywhere and take my own home-made muffins, as well as raw nuts and protein bars. Once these were gone and there were no supermarkets or Holland & Barrett or Wholefood shops in sight, it really did get tough!

No excuses though, and my next set of goals will include ‘chart ticks’ – because they are a really good way to stay on track.

Mini Goal 1 – Perform a 1,000 rep leg workout every week
Yep, got this this goal! Initially I was going to do 500 reps the first day, then build up by 100 reps each high-rep legs day. But then on the 2nd day I did 600 reps, and I just decided I may as well keep going to 1,000. It was actually not too bad! Tough of course – I was red, hot and sweating a LOT – but felt awesome!

So I repeated that every week at least once. Well, there was one day when I only got up to 825 reps. I was really going for it at the gym and loving it, and started my jumps onto the bench and must have been overly fatigued for this exercise (lesson – do the bench jumps nearer the beginning of the workout!) and I missed the bench somehow with my feet and landed on my shin. Instant bruising and swelling, tried to keep going (lesson, don’t try to keep going) but was too painful. There was no ice at the gym (?!?!) so I put a cold protein drink on it, and humphed home. So I finished my 175 reps the next day.
I totally enjoy these workouts – as hard as they are (there are strict rules I follow, such as every 100 must contain at least 40 high-intensity jump type exercises) and I also included burpees and lots of lunging and really felt my fitness improving every week.

Mini Goal 2 – Improve muscle definition in arms and abs – 15+ parallel bar triceps dips – unassisted / 25 straight leg V sits
I think I have increased some muscle definition (quite a subjective goal). The scales at the gym say I’ve increased muscle, but I prefer to go more on pictures (although, we all have ‘skinny’ and ‘fat’ photos depending on the light and angle!) The mirror is another good guideline. I’m seeing my abs more, but I’m still talking to them regularly – encouraging them to come out of hiding – hibernation is over girls! Come and see the light! I just clicked the other day that I haven’t had summer for a year and a half, since I had 2 winters in a row. So my 6 pack family have had plenty more reasons (excuses) to stay tucked away out of sight under winter clothing. But enough is enough!

Parallel bar triceps dips – yep I got 15 – woohooo!!

As far as V sits, I had to abandon this goal, as I’ve decided against any crunching type movements until I sort out my super-tight hip flexors. Will reset a core goal instead.

Mini Goal #3 – Improve big compound movements (with set weight targets)
As far as improving my big compound movements – yes I improved, but hitting the numbers I set … not quite. (I always aim a bit too high). My focus has been less on strength lately and more on metabolic conditioning and fat loss, so while the numbers have increased, I don’t want to compromise my form or goals. I’m up to 7 pull ups and I got 50kg bench press for a good 8-9 reps (slightly assisted so it’s hard to say how much is true strength).

I did win a bench press competition at the ‘Seni show’ on the weekend (a martial arts show with a bodybuilding event that I worked backstage at – but there were only 3 girls that tried it, haha… Did 40kg for 18 reps – was a bit shaky with nerves with people watching!

I’m currently on 65kg deadlift so 5kg off my goal, but I’ve improved my form and I know I’m really engaging my glutes more, rather than using my lower back. So I’m happy with that, and will continue increasing as long as I can keep my form good.

Squat-wise – I got to 90kg for 6 reps, which felt good, but scary! I have decided to improve 1 legged and bulgarian squats, rather than go to heavy on back-squats.  I’m currently on 35kg for bulgarians (1 leg behind on a bench) so am aiming to improve that, more functional and less risk.

Will post new goals next blog and look forward to hearing from you all about your new ventures and plans!

Kat

Kat’s Chats – My 8 week goals

I’m so excited about the new 8 week challenge! I can feel and hear everyone else getting excited too – as the thought of baring our bodies is getting more and more real! Especially now that the weather is getting warmer and we approach Easter and Spring holidays.

I have really enjoyed planning my goals and have thought a lot about them. My main problem is always that I have too many of them. So I’m trying to follow my own advice and limit my goals to 3, with #1 hefty one.

Ok, here are my goals -

#1 goal - To get 60+ ticks on my daily success chart for at least 7 out of 8 weeks

This is quite a challenging goal for me as I currently get anywhere from 45 – 54 points at the moment. I keep the sheet in my locker at the gym and tick it off every morning and night. It’s basically 10 tasks that I need to complete each day, and includes  things like stretching for 5+ mins, drinking 8 glasses+ of water, eating 5 small healthy meals, getting 5+ veges/5 protein serves in per day etc. I think 60 points is realistic but tough. It’s averages getting around 8-9 ticks every day – which will still give me good results, without having to be totally perfect. Ideally I’d like to get 10/10 at least 3-4x per week. But if I get 60+ points per week for 8 weeks (and beyond) I’ll be pleased.
If you’d like me to email you a copy of a chart you could use for yourself, please email me http://mailto:info@katmillar.com

Mini Goals -

- Perform a 1,000 rep leg workout every week

Before you say ‘yeah whatever Kat’ – hear me out! This workout will consist of things such as mountain climbers, walking lunges on the treadmill, jumps onto the box, high kicks etc. – so it’s easy to get to 1,000 reps! Have tried this once and it took me about 45 minutes. FUN! Bring on toned legs!

- Improve muscle definition in arms and abs – 15+ parallel bar triceps dips – unassisted / 25 straight leg V sits

At the moment I can do 10 tricep dips, so this goal is definitely realistic, but still will take work and effort to achieve. I like putting a ‘+’ after my goals so I’m not limiting my brain to go lower than my potential – but telling it I demand at LEAST that amount – if not more.

- Improve big compound movements – Squat 90kg for 8+ reps/ Deadlift 70kg for 8+ reps / 8+ chin ups unassisted / Bench press 50kg – 8+ reps

At the moment I do 75kg squats for 3 sets of 10,  I deadlift 60kg for 3 sets of 8, can do 4 chin ups (definitely need to improve these!) and can bench press 50kg for 3 reps. So I think these goals are achievable, while challenging me. Hopefully they are ‘Smart’ and will be tough (to stretch my limits) but not so crazy that I may injure myself. And most of all – they excite me AND scare the life out of me – as all worthwhile goals should!

I also have a personal aim to complete 100 training sessions in 8 weeks. Initially this may sound a bit crazy and ridiculous – which is why I’m not listing them as ‘goals’, because I want to listen to my body and be sensible, but it’s realistic, while still challenging me. The workouts I do are not always long – sometimes 30-45 minutes, sometimes 60 minutes. They are mostly very intense, but some are more ‘steady state’ if I feel that’s what I need on a particular day. If I average 2 workouts per day – which I normally do, I will get my goal – since the challenge is for 50 days.

It will be good to see if I can workout (having light/medium/heavy days) almost every single day for 8 weeks – including those weekends I go out socialising. It has always been my main downfall   So if I need a rest day I’ll take it, but I’ll need to train 3x on another day to make up for it. So I’ll try and get ahead of myself some weeks by doing more during the week and if I need it I might have a Sunday off. I usually just keep training until my body tells me I need a rest – sometimes I hit a wall and then I take a whole day off (which kills me mentally!) but I know is very beneficial for my body.
I feel so much better training than not – so I am careful to monitor my intensity so sometimes it’s lighter and make sure I’m getting plenty of good nutrition and enough sleep and water. I also take certain supplements, as I believe they are a part of what is making me feel amazing!

I also want to get to 17% or less body fat and 36%+ skeletal muscle. I haven’t set this officially as a ‘main goal’, because I want to focus on performance in this challenge and I know that if I complete my 3 mini goals, then the result of doing those things should produce this changes in body fat and muscle. The percentages are based on using the using the scales at the gym, which aren’t always a great indication, but can give a general idea on changes. I’ll also buy some body callipers to get a more accurate reading on the body fat.

My goals for January and February were more strength based. From now on I’m focusing more on increasing the reps slightly and hoping to continue to build muscle, while dropping body fat. It’s obviously harder to put burn fat AND put on muscle when you’re in a calorie deficit, but I’ve seen it be done. Never an easy task – but I’m always up for a challenge! My ’6 pack’ usually starts to appear at 15-16%, (4 pack a bit earlier) so if I can get to there I’d be even happier of course! I’m trying to be realistic (R of the ‘SMARTER’ goals acronym). I fit my clothes a whole lot better as soon as I get under 18% so I’m really looking forward to buying some shorts and cute skirts for the summer in a size 10.

Look forward to sharing the journey with you!

Kat

Kat’s Chats – Lovin’ the weekend, and 8 week challenge info!

Don’t you love a weekend with nothing planned where you just do what you feel like? Ahhh, ’tis bliss.

This morning I made some muffins (oat/egg white/berry/date syrup – even flatmate approved!) and talked to my mate in NZ who turned 61 today. He was a client who trained with me for 4 years and is still going strong. He went to the gym on his birthday, what a legend! He’s survived a heart attack, which prompted him to get healthy, and I think that going to the gym has literally saved his life. He even ended up competing in 5 bodybuilding competitions since I met him. He’s an inspiration! I hope I keep up my training well into my 60′s, if not 70′s and 80′s!

This afternoon I hit the London wall gym for -
Squats – 4 sets, 65kg, 12 reps
Deadlifts – 4 sets, 55kg, 12 reps
Lunges – 3 sets, 40kg, 20 reps
Step ups 20kg, 20 reps – 3 sets superset with
Incline crunch bench – 20 reps – 3 sets (we don’t have this bench at our home gym so I like getting on it when I’m at a different gym)

After the gym I went and bought faaaaaar too much stuff at Whole Foods (I LOVE that shop!!) and Holland & Barrett – another shop I spend too much money in! 21kg worth of stuff later, my arms were just about falling off when I got home!

I made a huge pot of vege soup, which should last me about 2 and a half months. Stewed 500g of rhubarb for my ‘desserts’ for the week (I mix it with gelatine and protein powder), plus grilled a load of veges, turkey breast, AND made a stir fry! Marathon cooking today! I feel very organised for the week. Very important if you want to have great energy and train hard!

Tonight I went to the movies with my flatmate and didn’t feel in the slight bit tempted to buy any ‘treats’ (cheats). I usually take my own food like snow peas or cherry tomatoes, but I’m so determined to achieve my goals I have no desire to eat any junk food at the moment and ruin all the hard work I’m doing in training. I want to put on as much muscle as I can, so that if I decide to do another competition, I’m ready. And I have lots of fitness, fat loss and strength goals too. The problem is trying to do too many goals I think!

This week I was pretty proud of my exercise efforts. I trained twice on Monday Wednesday and Friday and 3 times on Tuesday and Thursday. They weren’t all huge or long workouts, but more like mini workouts split up. My goal next week is to do 3 outdoor runs – only did 2 this week, an 8.5km and a 5km, but made up for it with circuits and boxing cardio, plus 6-7 weights sessions and boxing, sprints/treadmill lunges and jumps and lots of foam rolling. Can’t get enough of it!

Ok, to update you on the ‘Countdown to summer challenge’ …

Well, the excitement is building!

I have taken many people’s photos this week in preparation to compare with the ‘after’ photos on the first week of summer!

Thanks to everyone who has responded and emailed or told me their goals. I look forward to helping you achieve them!
Goals are the starting point. If you don’t know what you want – by actually sitting down and planning it out specifically, it’s like starting to build a house without a plan of what you want the finished product to look like (thanks Jim Rohn for the analogy). Building your body is worth taking some time out to think about.

Every week I will be emailing all participants quick tips and tasks to make it easier to get the body you really want.
This information may be life-changing and applying it may literally make a difference between success and failure.

It’s tools that I’ve learned from the 6 years as a Personal Trainer working with a range of successful – and not so successful people. This, as well as the 10+ years I’ve been gym training, has taught me a LOT about the difference between people that achieve their goals and those who don’t – what makes the winners win, and failures fail.

The principles I will be sharing with you will help you to -

• Burn Fat and increase lean muscle
• Achieve your specific goals
• Discover why your goal attempts may have failed in the past
• Build mental strength
• Get motivated and stay motivated

These principles will be the main focus of my emails and blog until June 1st, so if you don’t email me back to be included, you’ll miss out.

Remember, taking part is FREE!

You could be paying mega-bucks to achieve the kind of results you can achieve by taking part. And it’s as simple as emailing me back to be counted in.

Don’t miss this opportunity!

TODAY IS YOUR DAY TO TAKE ACTION!

Ready to get you looking better naked and feeling amazing,
Kat

Kat’s Chats – Leg combos, I dare ya to try!

Hi everyone!

Wow, what a gorgeous day I’m sipping my coffee and looking forward to a run along the Thames in the gorgeous sun.

I love weekends! I usually run, cook all my meals for the coming week, and generally get myself all organised – it’s a great feeling.

This week’s training I tried 2 different days of high rep legs -
Day 1 – Started with 550 walking lunges on the treadmill. I broke it up into sections, starting with 120 lunges, then walking at speed 6.5 for a bit, then 110 lunges, more walking, 100 lunges and so on down to 80 lunges. Instead of timing my walk between lunge sets, I just walked until I felt ready to lunge again – and clocked in the 550 lunges at 13 mins 49 secs. You can break it up however you want. I like the numbers reducing hence why I did 120, 110, 100, 90, 80 = 550.

Dare ya to give it a go and see how long it takes for you to get 550 lunges. I’m going to try and beat my time this week as this was a bit of a trial and I know I can improve on it.

I then followed this with 500 box jumps, broken down into sets similar to how I do my walking treadmill lunges.
I use quite a low step and just bounce up and down. Some sets i do forwards, and some sets I straddle the step and jump up in the middle – like a star jump.

In-between sets I did ab crunches with my legs hooked over on the Lat pulldown machine. You can lean right back and towards the end of the set I got a nice shake going on in my abs.

This week I did 120 jumps, 25 crunches, 110 jumps, 25 crunches, 100 jumps and so on down to 80 jumps at the end – making a total of 500. Next time I’m going to repeat it as it’s quick to do. I’ll probably time it too and try to beat it. I love beating things!

After this was powerplate combos with kicks and lunges. I really like high rep legs, you get a great burn as well as a good sweat up!

On other days I did my usual weight training nights, plus an outdoor run on Tuesday (from the Millenium Bridge along the Thames) and boxing Friday – I LOVE the boxing bag at the gym

Next week I’m doing a new plan of doing 3 part splits instead of 5. I’ve been doing 5 or 6 part splits now for a while now (don’t we just love our favourites!) and I want to get comfortable with the uncomfortable – so it’s time for a change! (The best workout you can do is the one you’re not doing!) I try to also apply this principle to my Personal Training clients.

So this week it’s -

Mon – Am. Outdoor run / Pm. Shoulders, arms, core

Tues – Am. Legs / Pm. Cardio

Wed – Am. Chest and back / Pm. Boxing, abs, powerplate

Thurs – Pm. Shoulders, arms, core

Fri – Am. Legs / Pm. Boxing, abs

Sat – Chest and back

Sun – Outdoor run or walk (depending how the bod is feeling)

Can’t wait!

Bring it on!

Kat

Kat’s chats – 20th Feb

Another week has slipped on by!

Spring is on it’s way – only a week and a half away (officially)

I’ll pound straight into my week recap…

Mon – Did back biceps and abs. Can do 5 pull ups on my own now and did 3 sets wide but with assistance. Felt good though! Still feeling my lats and it’s Friday

I don't usually do the smith machine but didn't have a spotter on this night

Tues – Did a morning circuit with sprints on the treadmill – 30 sec sprint, 30 sec walk x10. Each minute the sprint got faster until I hit my P.B – 20 kph for 3 of the minutes – felt amazing! Man my legs were gunning it! Have lost my Ipod so cardio is not so fun at the moment. Need to buy a new one a.s.a.p as I know it makes me go a lot longer and harder.
Marcal, one of the Personal Trainers at the gym gave me a circuit afterwards with lots of lateral leaps, jump lunges, ab circuits – I felt so alive! What a great start to the day!
At night I did a circuit of high rep legs and abs with power-plate, more plyometrics and walking lunges plus some chest.

Wed – Cardio in the morning – was so bored without Ipod after 10 mins running so I jumped on the rower for a change. Got bored with that after 10 minutes too so I decided to do more box jumping. Set a goal of 500 jumps and split it up with farmers walks, kettle-bell swings, high-rep biceps and calves. I did 10 lots of 50 jumps and got a mean sweat up. Loving it!

Trained with Hani in the evening – shoulders and triceps. I lead the session (which are always the best sessions of course ;-0) and we did DB shoulder press, 1 arm upright rows, military presses, rear delts on the cables, dips on the machine, narrow press ups, and cable kick-backs

Thurs – Cardio morning, PM – Heavy legs session. 80kg squats – am really into squatting at the moment. Will be

adding front squats and overhead squats to the routine soon for a change.

I love kettle-bells

Fri – Sneaked in an hour of ‘play’ training between clients (sore muscles). 10 mins hill walk on treadmill, 10 mins recumbent bike I’m reading a lot about lactic acid training for G.H – Growth hormone – apparently helps target belly-fat. Some new research done about whether ‘spot-reduction is a myth’ is actually a myth. Well, at least whether it’s that ‘cut and dried’. Apparently the recumbent bike (incorporated into a decent program) is good for lactic acid training because of the angle of the legs. Interesting. Also did some swiss-ball, foam roller mobility, lower back strengthening (it needs work)

Then after clients I did another 1/2 hour session of box jumps, press ups and bits and pieces. Tomorrow I’m going to the Canary Wharf L.A Fitness gym for chest and back. Hoping to run in the afternoon also if it’s not too rainy.

Goals for next week – 3 morning sessions, 2 lunchtime sessions and 5 evenings. Plus 1 on the weekend. I usually like doing around 11 sessions per week it’s not too little or too much for me at the mo. My focus will beto do more body-weight resistance, more stretching and to try and increase the weight on every exercise. Plus do 1,500 jumps onto a box throughout the week (it’s a lot easier than it sounds, it’s quick to get out 500 so I just need to do that 3x this week). Want to focus on plyo’s for a while – they’re fun. Beats boring machines any day in my opinion!

My food is still very clean, but with this ‘muscle mass’ phase I’m doing, I’m feeling quite full on the amount of calories I’m having to put on some decent muscle. It’s tricky finding the good balance. I’ve never really done a proper mass building phase with higher calories, so it’s interesting and will be worth it if it makes a difference.

I’m looking forward to cutting down a bit next month. Loving feeling strong, but not loving feeling bigger. I’m burning quite a number of calories during the day though, with doing a lot of boxing sessions and also getting more involved with some of my client’s workouts. I find it very un-motivating if a trainer just stands there and counts reps, so I try to get as active as I can with people if it’s going to help them push themselves more.

I’ve been getting up at 5.45am most mornings this week and still at the gym until at least 9.30pm is a long day, although I get a nice long break in the middle to sit in cafes with my laptop, which I love doing. Some days I have 9-10 or more clients, but I’m not getting tired. Clean food, decent carbs and keeping active during the day helps me stay awake and feeling energetic and alive!  (I’m sure it’s not the triple-shot americano’s from Starbucks – surely?!)

I have a lot of new people that have signed up recently and I’m so looking forward to working with everyone towards some great goals.

Until next time, I’ll leave you with this thought -

Know clearly what you want to achieve. See it, feel it, go after it!

Kat

Kat’s Chats – Training and cooking fun

Friday already! The week’s are flying by!

It’s been a busy week at the gym.

For the next few weeks, I’m running a small challenge with my clients – the ‘Bodyweight 200 challenge’
See – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wvz8yckjLLo

It’s a fun way to test your muscle endurance and there’s a bit of healthy competition going on! My goal is to get everyone doing it in under 13 minutes.

I’m also testing a lot of my client’s P.B’s (Personal bests) and aiming to get people squatting and benching with their best effort. I’ll post some pics soon.

I have had a GREAT week of training!

Monday – Legs were still smoked from Friday’s heavy session of my P.B on the squat (80kg, 4 sets) so I did some cardio during the day to loosen up, then at night trained with Hani – Chest and arms.

I hit a P.B of 50kg on the bench press for 5 reps – WOOHOO! Have never done near that weight before, and what a feeling! I was Soooooooooooooo very very happy.  I love love love love feeling the strongest I’ve been. Totally love it. Can you tell I’m excited about this?
Ok there was slight ‘finger-tip’ help for the last 2 reps, but apparently it was ‘all me’ (you can never be sure).
I usually jump up and say “Did you help me much??” and hopefully get a “Not at all!”

Tuesday I got to bed at 1am but managed to get up at 5.30am and get to the gym for a 7.30am kick-boxing class. I loved it!
It’s a new class at the gym, similar to Les Mills Body Combat. The instructor is a Capoeira teacher at LA Fitness, Bayswater. I’ve recently got a new client who I’m training to get fitter for Capoeira so it was great to talk to him about what’s involved and try some of the moves myself. I like the basic dance moves, very graceful. Some of the hand walk stuff is SO tricky!
Check out this clip for an advanced version. It’s a beautiful way to move your body!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwG7JwXtUSI&feature=related

Wednesday – Did a back workout at lunchtime which I really feel now! Spent 5-10 minutes rolling on the foam roller at lunchtime today to ease some tension (although it’s a really nice sore of course). Then at night I did high rep/endurance legs consisting of -

- 20 mins on the power plate – mainly single leg squats, lunging combinations, jumps on top, runs on top, glute squeezes etc.
- Walking lunges – 150 (6 sets of 25)
- Jumps onto the bench – 100 (4 sets of 25)
- Squats on the swiss ball (did 40 in a row and actually could have easily kept going but got bored!)
- Single leg press

My legs were like jelly, walking up the escalators at the train stations afterwards was a laugh!

Last night was shoulders and abs, I did a lot of heavy 1 arm work and kettle-bells. I love the power stuff. Plus weighted crunches of all variety. It hurts to laugh today

This morning I did heavy legs again – my favourite! Bulgarian lunges and step ups with the olympic bar loaded up, wwwhhhooooooohhhh…. Quads were on fire!

My whole body feels quite spent but lovely and achy, with training hard twice a day, late nights and early mornings, so I’m looking forward to a quiet weekend.Have been unwinding a lot on the foam roller so I can recover quicker. Was nearly in tears doing my I.T bands this morning.

I’m cooking for my flatmates on Saturday (they groaned when they heard it’s going to be healthy, but I’m going to prove to them that healthy can be yum!)

Food is on track although it’s quite a bit, I feel I need the extra calories at the moment with trying to put on more muscle. It’s all clean food. Haven’t touched any packet food all week, just fresh and homemade from my big cook up on Sunday – Stir-fries, soups etc. Actually, I’ve had some wholegrain rye bran crackers but they’re 100% natural – with nut butter – delish!

I bought some flaxseed meal which I’ve been sprinkling on my porridge, I like the texture for a change and it’s keeping me fuller a bit longer as I’m normally hungry 2 hours after porridge but it’s lasting me about 2.5-3 hours now.
Need to cut down on coffee, had 5 yesterday – oops, but normally it’s 2 a day max. when I’m not having such long days, and have been having herbal tea at night.

I’ll finish with a great quote -

“I’m not out there sweating for three hours every day just to find out what it feels like to sweat.“
Michael Jordan

Until next time, stay sharp, positive and focused on your goals

Happy Valentines Day for Sunday! I hope you will be celebrating love (single, in love or otherwise!)

Kat

Kat’s chats – recreated in London

Me at the gym about to train - where is everyone?

Hi All!

I’m re-creating Kat’s chat’s and I’ll do my best to keep it updated!

Basically, being a person of ‘high standards’ (some say perfectionist, but I don’t like that word because it implies I do things perfectly which of course I don’t!) I at times ‘put off’ writing blog posts because they literally take me HOURS! I like making sure the sentences sound semi-logical, that there are some pretty colours, and where possible some pictures.

Hence, with setting up a new business in London and having most of my focus on that, I haven’t had a lot of extra time to write regular personal blogs.

Long story short, Kat’s chat’s are going to be a bit more regular (but they will probably be a bit more bland, colour/picture-wise).

They may not all make perfect sense, because I’m just going to ramble, so please forgive me

I’ve had a lot of emails now asking what I’m up to, and people saying they miss hearing about my own workouts and nutrition tales! Awww, thanks guys!

Ok, I’ll try and keep this brief.

Where to start! Ok, here goes…

I felt I needed more photos but don't have many recent training ones sorry, only party pics! :-*

Goals –
I’m focusing on putting on muscle at the moment (but hey, when am I not??!), but this month it is definitely more my focus, even if it means I’m sacrificing having more body fat to pack it on.

There are pro’s and con’s of course.

Pro’s – I feel the strongest I’ve ever been, particularly in my upper body. I’m hitting PB’s (personal bests) most weeks and really loving the feeling!!!

Con’s – Pull ups, push ups and pretty much all body weight exercises, as well as running, are definitely harder having a few kilo’s extra on my body. Also, my clothes aren’t fitting as well as I’d like! But it will be worth it when I lean down again and get to see some of the results of the extra muscle. I’ve gone up 2kg of muscle in the last month so I’m pleased with that

Training -

Mainly doing heavy weights (well, heavy for me anyway!), lower reps, big compound moves. I’ve also been doing a lot of 1 arm stuff and really feeling a difference in my core strength because of it.

I’m training with a guy, Hani at my gym at the moment, most nights and sometimes on the weekend at Canary Wharf, and we kick each other’s butt! (When we’re not arguing about the best exercises, technique, training styles etc.)

I’ve cut back on the cardio – just 3-4x a week now. I mainly do sprints (how hot are sprinter’s bodies!), an 8km run along the Thames once or twice a week, blast it on the X-trainer randomly whenever I get a spare half hour or so at the gym, and have also added another high rep leg day with walking lunges and plyometrics/jumps, usually every Monday or Friday – generally around 3 days after my heavy leg day.

My flatmate has dumbbells so I do a bedroom workout if I ever can’t train for some reason. It’s rare, but occasionally I crank some music, open the windows and turn down the heating in my bedroom and work up a sweat with an intense circuit.
The dumbbells are the ‘load yourself’ ones and they only go up to 16kg between the 2, so I normally stack up one of them and use it for 1 arm stuff. There’s so much you can do with 1 dumbbell!

My bedroom workout usually consisting of step ups (my computer chair’s a bit rickety but does the job) jump lunges, Rows, moutain climbers, burpees, V-sits, 1 arm snatch/clean and press, press ups with feet on my bed, around the clock lunges (for all different part of the quads) etc.

My energy is amazing! I very rarely get tired. I’m training at least 6 days a week, with 4 days a week doing 2 sessions in a day. I used to train 2-3x per DAY and didn’t realise how much it was limiting my intensity in my weights sessions because I’m sure I was severely under-recovered.

Because I don’t have a specific competition coming up, I’m really enjoying cutting my training back but making each and every session REALLY count. Not that I ever make it a habit of wimping out or making any excuses! But I feel totally even more in the zone than ever! If I need extra motivation, I go watch some bad-ass training clips and get all hyped and itching to pump some iron! (Love love LOVE it!!)

Nutrition –

I’m eating a lot of protein (sometimes I think too much) – mainly chicken breast, sometimes haddock (yum!) egg whites, fresh and canned tuna, salmon 1x a week, steak 1x a week. Also lots of cottage cheese. I will drop this at some stage but for now, I’m loving it as a post-workout dessert with Quark, cinnamon and berries at night for the slow releasing casein protein into my hungry muscles

I’m also eating much more carbs than I used to, but all clean – Mainly oats, sweet potato, brown rice, and experimenting a bit with legumes, plus fruit and loooooads of fibrous veges. I cook a lot of food on the weekend! Mainly grilled veges, soups, stir-fries and healthy muffins.

Once a week I have a good night out and a cheat meal, which is fun. But this will definitely be reduced soon (after the Waitangi day pub crawl probably, which is this Saturday!). But I’m not beating myself up over it. I’ve only been in London less than 5 months, and I’m a bit of a party girl, so of course I have had to check out the night life here!

Supplements –

Sticking to my staples that I always take – Vitamin C, Zinc, Magnesium, Fish oil, B12. I’ve added BCAA’s, they are great.

Currently on an 11 week cycle of Creatine, which I started last week and I’m loving. It was worth the initial bloating. Definitely feeling stronger because of it. I will add L-glutamine when I take cottage cheese out of my diet. Lots of green tea and black coffee!

Picture is dark sorry, taken from a colleagues phone

Goals for this month -

Training

- 8 unassisted pull ups
- 25 tricep press ups with perfect technique
- 50kg bench press – 3 reps / 45kg bench press – 10 reps
- 25 straight leg V-sits – perfect form
- 80kg squat – 10 reps
- 9 workouts per week (5-6 weights, 3-4 cardio) Will increase next month
- Stretch properly and use foam roller every day

Nutrition –
- 95% clean food (non-processed)
- 8-10 glasses of water per day
- Add up calories daily (helps keep me in line)

Other
- Take my supps at the right time every day
- Get to bed before midnight at least a few times per week!
- Read my goals often
- Blog more regularly

This year’s goals –

Physical –
Do a group fitness class once a week
Try some new fun things – dance classes/kick-boxing
Obtain and maintain my ideal body shape

By end of year –
12+ unassisted chin-ups
12+ full hanging leg raises (feet above head)
100kg squat – 10 reps
Run 5km in less than 25 mins
Run some 10km events
Be the strongest and fittest I’ve ever been

Other –
- Help as many people as possible to achieve their health and fitness goals
- Meet lots of people – learn, grow, challenge myself and others towards constant improvement
- Maintain a healthy work/life balance
- Read and upskill myself for at least 3 hours a week
- Visit 5 new cities
- Read my goals once a week / Review my goals once a month
- Do my ‘A’ tasks first (urgent) – before the fun tasks!

(I have many more goals but thought I better not overwhelm you with the rest!)

Look forward to continuing to share my journey with you

Any comments welcome!

I’ll post some pics sometime, it just takes a while, and I already go to bed way too late as it is!

Kat

Kat’s Chats – Sep 2009

Hey All!

Long time no hear from me!

I am packing up and heading off to London – the time is flying! Have had all sorts of delays with the NZ embassy and my visa, but it’s all sorted now and I leave in a few weeks. Has been a mission that’s for sure, but nice having some extra time with my friends and family

6 week challenge

Was a great success! A lot of you made some great progress and either came close or reached your goals. Thanks to all those who came along to the final wrap up!

We had a great time together and I really enjoyed celebrating with everyone!

I’m sure you all inspired and motivated each other with your stories

getSlim

We had a great, relaxing final weigh in with healthy snacks and drinks and a chance to kick back and reflect on how far you have all come. Keep up your fantastic efforts – you are all stars! And I’d love to continue to hear how you are all doing.

‘Strengthen your mental muscle’ seminar

We had a full house for both seminars and a great time!
Thanks to everyone who came along and for the positive feedback following.
I hope you were inspired!

No excuses cardio blast 2

Thanks and WELL DONE to everyone who turned up on a cold, rainy Saturday morning and got HOT!

YOU ALL DID FABULOUS! Was really proud of you

Well done on your pain and effort!

Special mention to Nilesh Bhuthadia who got the best distance. Congrats!

Newsy Stuff -

Training –

Guess What! I forgot to let you know that I finished my 1000km’s in a year goal. Seems like only a few months ago I set that goal!
I ended up getting a bit over 1,200 kms and it didn’t feel hard at all – maybe I need a heftier goal next time! It was quite an easy goal to complete. In one year, not a week went by without a run. I mostly ran 5 days each week so I’m stoked I set that ‘big picture’ goal cos it felt great to tick it off

I’ve been LOVING winter – especially training. It’s so nice to be able to push myself that bit harder to warm up rather than be bright red and sweaty after 5 minutes! The other day I didn’t warm up much and got home from my 8km run still with freezing cold hands! But I much prefer that as it makes me run faster
Feeling pretty strong in the weights too although there’s always room for more improvement!

Achievements -
80kg squat! Woohoo!!!

Food of the moment –
Easy protein dessert  treat– Egg whites and protein powder whisked together with a tsp of desiccated coconut, microwaved til it’s big and fluffy – mmm! Not to be had too often!

Also quite into Low carb protein bars at the moment from Pt Chev Low carb shop – but have to watch I only have them occasionally as they can be too more-ish.

Drink of choice –
PVL Whey Gourmet Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein shakes – only $4 (have with water) at Club Physical, Margan Ave – yum!

Latest goals to keep me motivated each week…
25km a week running plus lots of X-trainer whenever I can. Doing mainly outdoor running
Lots of crunches – just cos they burn and make me feel hardcore lol
Yoga or body balance every week – such a nice end to the day! Must do!

Thanks so much to everyone for your kind words and well wishes about setting off on my big O.E

I’m really going to miss you and Les Mills, New Lynn – my second home!

I started as a member at that gym when I was 16, so it is quite bizarre moving on after all that time! But it just feels so right, and perfect timing to be taking off on my big life adventure

I plan to return with more knowledge, skills and experience to enrich the health and fitness industry with when I get back to NZ.

I have really enjoyed getting to know you all!

I will email from overseas with a travel blog once I set one up if you’re interested in staying in touch. Would love to hear from you, so please let me know how you are going

All the best with everything!
Keep striving, keep positive and of course keep going hard!

Kat