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!

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

Jas' Fitness Journey - Week 4

As week 3 of my fitness journey comes to an end, week 4 begins. Apparently it takes 4 weeks to notice a change in your own body and at the end of my third week, I can see a change already. I have lost a bit of fat and gained a lot of muscle, especially in my legs and core. This is due to a combination of increasing how much I exercise and important changes in my diet.

Such a change to my lifestyle has changed how my body looks - but whether it's overly noticeable, you could question. So, here is one of my progress pictures so far:


PRE-FITNESS JOURNEY

END OF WEEK 3 OF FITNESS JOURNEY

So as you can see, the lighting is slightly different in the photos, which could be a little deceptive - although, at the end of week 3 it looks like I have lost muscle. BUT, what has actually happened to my body is, I have lost a layer of fat, hence why I have smaller 'love handles' and my stomach muscles have come together and become a more dense and ultimately stronger.

From here, I need to keep up the exercise, healthy eating and hard work in order to build up my muscles further and to make them more toned.

Jas' Fitness Journey - Week 3

It's the start of week 3 and having taken part in my fitness journey for nearly a month, I am slowly but surely making progress. Today, is a a quick progress update - if you missed last week, you can view that HERE.

Little steps, but we are getting there:

• I have started working out once a week. 
• I have started drinking lemon water (one of the best drinks for you!)
• I have exchanged unhealthy snacks for healthy snacks (although I did have a sneaky chocolate bar for the first time in ages!).
• I am back dancing again - Yay!
• I am still battling, but I am eating 3 meals a day more often that I used to.
• I feel much healthier in my body, even if I can't see any physical results yet.

My Healthy Lemon Water Instagram this week...

Jas' Fitness Journey - Week 2

So after a great start to last week, this week is filled with even more fitness, healthy food and energy!

My last post was written on a Tuesday and involved how I started the fitness journey, you can read more about that HERE. So what have I done since?

Wednesday and Thursday - I went food shopping! 
This involved buying plenty of fruit, healthy snacks and substantial meals that I know would make me want to eat the full 3 meals a day instead of skipping meals here there and everywhere. It sounds pretty awful that I skip meals, but with a busy lifestyle and being used to not eating breakfast most days, it has become a truly horrific habit. Especially considering breakfast is considered the most important meal of the day.

Friday - Intense 20 minute workout
This involved a whole long list of exercises:
Jogging (on the spot)
Heel Flicks/Butt kicks
Jumping Jacks
Cross Jacks
Back Lunge to High Knee
Skater Kicks
Full Body Bridge Raises
Single Leg Bridge Raises
Boxing Jabs and Kicks
30 Second Plank
Mountain Climbs
Leg Raises
Burpees
Squats
Lunge with Twist
'Inchworm' Press-Ups (on knees)

..... I did say it was a long list!

Saturday, Sunday and Monday - I saw lots of family and moved the rest of my stuff (basically everything), into my flat!

Tuesday and Wednesday - FOOD!
The last couple of days, I have been focussing on making sure I have been eating 3 meals a day and I have been getting in the routine of taking supplements. Not any old supplements and not to replace meals, but because I need to make sure my body is getting the right nutrients. As a result, I have been taking multi-vitamin and mineral tablets daily and Spatone, an iron supplement daily. This is because a crappy student diet doesn't fulfil everything that my body needs.

As a result, this has actually stopped me feeling as drowsy during the day and has meant that my body can last from when I get up until I go to sleep without wanting to fall asleep at several times during the day due to lack of nutrients!

Thursday - Today...
I have been in a meeting pretty much all day - I had an early start, getting up at 7am and I will be off to dance and do some choreography for a couple of hours soon!

Jas' Fitness Journey - Week 1

So I started my fitness journey yesterday and did quite a small workout, consisting of:

5 full press-ups
10 press-ups on knees
10 sit-ups
10 crunches
10 bicycle crunches (per leg)
1 minute of mountain climbs

After the workout I felt normal and the next day my shoulders were aching slightly (I think this was also due to moving into my new flat recently!)

Then a few hours later I went to the dance studio to do choreography and danced for 2 hours and ended up walking with friends to Wetherspoons and the shops. Without a doubt, straight after dancing, the pain of exercising has hit me all the way through my legs - I feel like a penguin that is trying to walk like a human! My legs will most likely feel like jelly tomorrow and the day after, but I will keep pushing on to try and improve my fitness levels.

However, even if my fitness improves, to meet my goals (HERE), I need to eat healthier and more regularly. To start this off, I bought lots of fruit as snacks, porridge for breakfast and I have given up alcohol again at uni (yes, I managed to do this last year too!).

To help me keep track of my workouts and how well I am doing, I downloaded a fitness app called Fitocracy. Here, you simply record what exercises you have done in your workout and gain points for everything you record. The more points you get, the higher the level you attain and so far I have managed to reach level 3 already! Great motivation to continue exercising!

The Health Mission - Kenny

Dear Jazzypzazzy,

               As you may well remember I wrote a piece a month or so ago, illustrating and explaining the transformation I made, when I lost 5 stone in body weight.  Having read one of your latest blog posts, I have decided to write back again to give you my opinion on the use of supplements, and whether or not the media pushes the public to be skinny rather than fit and healthy.  Please be aware that these are my opinions, and that others reader can challenge these opinions as they see fit.

First of all the use of supplements can have both a positive and negative impact.  People use supplements to enhance muscle growth, and to also help muscle recovery times.  Supplements can also be used to increase carbs into the body if the person cannot eat full meals at regular times.  

Before I joined the British Army I worked on a building site and relied upon whey protein and carbs supplements to ensure I performed my best at my gym classes. However on social media sites such as Facebook over the last few months, adverts for supplements such as Juice Plus and Herbal Life have been increasing. 

Fundamentally people who are ignorant to these supplements believe that these are easy weight loss techniques that require little effort except to drink these shakes. Although, truth be told, in order to get fit and maintain a healthy diet and lifestyle requires dedication and determination. Having these shakes may make you lose weight but you are essentially starving your body and any weight you lose will come back on when the person starts to eat normally again - you will not get any fitter without working out.

Getting fit is the person’s prerogative and this will only happen if the person puts in the time and effort.  There is no point wasting your money on a simple solution that people believe requires no effort.  

Kenny.

The Health Mission - Ellie

Hiya everyone, I'm Ellie, a 19 year old, curvy, 3rd year student and I wanted to share my opinions on health and fitness and feeling good about yourself.

The "perfect body" is defined by the media as tall, skinny and tanned, but is this really healthy?

Does it really matter what dress size you are or is it more important to be healthy an active and happy in your own skin? I personally think that being skinny is far too overrated and people should feel beautiful no matter their size or shape!

As long as you aren't putting your health at risk, what is wrong with being curvier?!

The media is constantly posting pictures of the "ideal" body which in reality is often not healthy. Models put themselves through hell to be skinnier and spend dangerous amounts of time on sun beds topping up their tan, which can often lead to serious conditions such as anorexia, bulimia, malnutrition and skin problems including premature ageing and more seriously, skin cancer!

I definitely think we all need to be aware of what is healthy to eat and how much exercise our individual bodies need to stay fit. Magazines and websites at the moment seem to be obsessed with "magic foods" like acai or kale, and fancy exercise like different kinds of yoga and variations of Zumba etc. whilst these may work for some people, they can be expensive or hard to get to and often not great for busy or low-budget student lifestyles. We all need to be reminded that "normal" fruit and veg and just going for a walk or jog is great too!

So everybody in the JazzyPzazzy blogosphere, eat good food, have fun exercising and most of all love yourself for who you are!!!

Ellie xx

The Health Mission - Intro

I recently came across an article (HERE) about the most photoshopped celebrity pictures, in which some photos really shocked me! I noticed in a lot of the photos, celebrity's muscles had been gotten rid of in order to make them look slimmer.

These videos show you what the power of photoshop can do to both men and women:

With the media pushing forwards a particular image for both men and women to aspire to, I want to promote a healthier, more positive image for society to adhere to. Not one that will lead to negative routes to get what is desired, such as magic foods, crazy diets, food supplements and medication/drugs that aren't good for you! 

So there will be a few guest posts over the next couple of weeks featuring my 'Health Mission'.

Thank you to everyone who takes part!!!