Thursday 30 October 2014

Ballroom Dance Style Faves

3. Waltz
A beautiful dance of romance and love. The Waltz is a relatively simple dance to learn and when executed well, is truly amazing.

2. Argentine Tango
A technically very difficult dance, but visually stunning. The emotion in this dance is usually sexy and powerful, combined with magically complex footwork.

1. Quickstep
As you can probably tell from the name of the dance, the Quickstep is the fastest Ballroom dance around. To effortlessly glide across the floor at such a speed whilst being technically perfect throughout is difficult, and this challenge is something that makes the dance even more enjoyable!

Sunday 26 October 2014

#sundaysayings (treize)

"A good head and good heart are always a formidable combination. But when you add to that a literate tongue or pen. You have something very special."


- Nelson Mandela

Saturday 25 October 2014

Fitness Age - Fitness Test

Women's Health recently posted on their website an article and fitness test based around your fitness age. Norwegian researchers created this test that asks you a few questions to determine whether you are healthy and fit for what your average age fitness should be.

The article is here: http://www.womenshealthmag.co.uk/fitness/fitness-blog/2019/whats-your-fitness-age-this-simple-test-will-tell-you/

(The link for the test is about halfway down the page of the article)


My results are shown below!

VO2 is how much oxygen your body uses during exercise and how fit you are. This result is important, as it could be 'a matter of life and death'. If you are unfit for your age, your life expectancy decreases dramatically.

If you have average or above average VO2 levels, your chances of dying prematurely are at lower risk and your chances of getting cardiovascular disease are much lower too.

Fortunately is you score is bad for your age, by increasing your fitness levels, your fitness age can reduce!

Well... let's see how I get on when I reach my 20's!

Jas' Fitness Journey - Weeks 5 to 8

After a hectic and very stressful 3 weeks, my fitness journey still continues.

At the 4 week mark, you're meant to see a change in yourself - something which I saw at the 3 week mark. At the 8 week mark, others are meant to start noticing a change in your fitness - something which is still yet to come for me! However, different people's fitness levels change at different rates and after progressing quickly at the start, this section of my fitness is probably just a slower phase, so only time will tell.

Exercise:
My exercise has increased from what was originally about 3 and a half hours per week to 6-10 hours of dancing per week combined with a short circuit training session.

Over the next few weeks I plan on increasing the number of hours I dance even further and doing an additional circuit training session too. As anyone who dances knows, it is a very intense form of fitness, albeit very fun too. It is a great way to build up your muscles and cardio without you even realising!


Food:
My healthy eating has gone downhill a bit over the last 3 weeks. I still eat healthily most of the time, however those few too many meals out and take-aways have definitely been holding me back from reaching my full potential at this stage of my fitness journey.

Over the next couple of weeks I need to knuckle down and hold back from buying that ever so delicious Snickers bar, or that tantalisingly tasty Domino's pizza.


Progress:
On the upside, much progress has been made! Even though I have eaten a pile of junk food as well as healthy foods, my body is getting there. My fitness has burnt off more than my food intake - the vital element that helps you lose body fat. For me, this is good, as I have also put on muscle.

With muscle weighing more than fat, this effectively means I have put on weight - but it's all a good and positive thing and putting on weight in this way is always a good thing!


Progress Images:

Week 1                                          Week 4                                                Week 8







     Week 1                                     Week 4                                              Week 8