Escaping to Dartmouth + a HIIT workout

Last weekend I was in Dartmouth with my best friends from Bristol. It was so nice and chilled and an absolutely perfect weekend.

You know one of those weekends that makes you feel teary on the Sunday night when it's back to reality?

The weather was far from beautiful... (it was so windy we couldn't even go for a walk on the beach, cheers storm imogen) but the wind and rain didn't stop us from having a good time. In fact it made it even more cosy to hear the wind howling outside with a glass of prosecco in hand...

The highlights of the weekend for me were spending all of Saturday afternoon in a spa (with a HIIT session, pool and sauna), cooking up a few recipes from The Body Coach for dinner, and brunch at the cutest French restaurant, Saveurs.

When I was (sob) back at my desk on Monday, I received an epic delivery from Holland & Barrett full of 'heart healthy' products. As February is heart health month, the idea behind the campaign was to showcase the food that can contribute to maintaining a healthy heart, along with a cardiovascular workout for you guys, to get your heart racing.

I was thinking about where to get inspiration from for this particular workout and I decided to share the HIIT session I did with the girls last Saturday.

There are three parts to this workout, and you'll need a treadmill for part B. If you don't have access to a treadmill you can cycle through and do the body weight HIIT three times, rather than twice. I've also included weighted squats, so if you don't have a kettle bell or dumbbell, just do air squats.

This is a longer HIIT workout, and should take around 40 minutes to complete.

The Dartmouth Heart Workout:

PART A

Complete each exercise for 30 secs, doing as many reps as possible, with a 20 sec rest in between each set

• Burpee tuck jumps
• High knees running on the spot
• Mountain climbers
• Squat jumps
• Upper body get ups (moving planks)
• Jump lunges
• Weighted squats
• Push ups
• Scissor split planks (plank position, jump your legs in and out in a scissor like motion, keep your bum low!)
• Leg raises

PART B

Treadmill sprints

• Jog for three minutes
• 45 seconds sprinting at your max speed (I'm on about 17.5 at the moment)
• Jump on to the sides of the treadmill (safely, obviously), and rest for 30 secs
• Repeat until you reach 18 minutes
• Jog for two minutes

PART C

Repeat part A, all over again!

*NB as you all know I'm not a PT, all moves in this workout are moves I personally do - make sure you've warmed up properly before this, some of the moves are quite explosive - I'd do a 5 min jog on the treadmill. 

It's a killer whole body workout; perfect for blowing away the cobwebs for five girls who had spent a day having not left the house, fire on and wine in hand.

What are my favourite 'heart healthy' products from this delivery? 

So, I've been trying out some of the products Holland and Barrett sent me, which included:

• Rude Health spelt flakes
• Rude Health puffed brown rice
• Raw Health Flaxseed crackers 
• Flaxseed oil
• Oatwell crispy hearts 
• 'Seeds for Sunrise' - breakfast mix of dried fruit, nuts and seeds
• Roasted and salted pistachios (because who doesn't love pistachios)

The crackers are a definite firm favourite. Prior to tasting, my initial thoughts conjured up a dry, tasteless brown slab - but they are gorgeous! A lot of flavour - nutty and garlicky and would be perfect with hummous. Studies have shown that flaxseed has the potential to help reverse cardiovascular disease - these little seeds also contain omega 3, fibre and lignan (which can help the cardiovascular system).

I haven't tried the flaxseed oil yet, but I'm intrigued. I think it could be nice over a walnut and feta salad.. so maybe when the weather is a little warmer.

Another winner has to be the spelt flakes; I've had them before and love how 'light' they are. Spelt can also contribute to a lower risk of heart disease. They go really well with the puffed brown rice cereals (hello adult rice crispies (without all the crap!)) - brown rice is high in selenium which can reduce the risk of developing heart disease.

For breakfast over the past couple of days I've been having oats, spelt flakes and puffed brown rice topped with a fruit and nut mix and a bit of honey, with almond milk. It's delicious, and a much healthier alternative to artificial sugar laden granola.

As well as feeling physically invigorated and rested after the weekend, it definitely did my heart and soul the world of good to be out in the countryside having a laugh with some of my nearest and dearest.

If you give the workout a try let me know how you get on!

Holland & Barrett sent me these products for free (cheers!) but naturally all opinions are my own!

What I'm Doing Wrong On Rest Days

Whilst I pride myself on (and genuinely enjoy!) doing some form of exercise most days, I'm well aware that I don't use my rest days as effectively as I could do, and I really want to do something about it.

On a typical week, my workout schedule looks something like;

Monday - Gym
Tuesday - Bootcamp circuits
Wednesday - Yoga & or gym
Thursday - Bootcamp circuits
Friday - Gym
Saturday - Bootcamp circuits and / or a decent run
Sunday - Rest day

By the same token, my social schedule usually looks something like;

Monday - nothing. at. all. zzzzz.
Tuesday - nothing, don't be silly
Wednesday - still nothing, don't be silly
Thursday - cheeky glass of red with friends?
Friday - chilled night in
Saturday - usually travelling to some other part of the country after bootcamp to see friends or family, most usually a night out or a meal out... 
Sunday - hangover / seeing friends / seeing family / travelling / eating out

Another thing I do is track macros every weekday, usually on a Saturday but most likely never on a Sunday. Which is coincidentally the day I'm really lax about my diet, more likely to be hungover and eat crap *and* it's the day I choose to not do any exercise - WINNER, not...

Of course, some Sundays I'll just fancy blasting out a run, or a big walk will be planned in, but as a general rule Sundays are my day off.

Why are rest days important? 

I've been doing a bit of research into using rest days more effectively; why we need them and the benefits they have so I can try and get the most out of them!

We need rest days for muscle repair, for the body to repair, to prevent injury and to help with sleep, but as well as physiological benefits there are psychological ones too, like preventing burnout and boredom, as well as helping to keep a healthy balance (good article on 6 reasons that we need rest days here).

Rest days help the body cope with the stress of exercise, to replace energy stores and help repair tissues. There's a really useful, comprehensive article that goes into more detail on this on sportsmedicine.about.com, which has strict verification from a medical review policy. The article also highlights the need for sleep in aiding rest day effectiveness, which is also something I know I need to work on...

All in all, the fact I eat more and move less on my rest day probably isn't the best. I'm all for cheat days and 'refeeds' but when this is consistently happening on a rest day, it ain't gooood..

With this in mind, I'm trying to be better. Committing to them most importantly, but also learning how to use them effectively.

My rest day goals:

• Try to incorporate rest days into a day of the week where I'm not eating out / drinking / out of a routine.
• Track macros on rest days.
• Improve my sleep pattern (blog post to come)

Do you have any rest day tips I can incorporate?

My Protein: #GIRLSONLY

Last Saturday, the girls at My Protein invited me and a load of other gurlz for an afternoon of protein, HIIT, and a bloody good natter.

The HIIT class was taken by none other than MyProtein ambassador and #GirlGains co-founder Vic Spence, aka @healthyfitvic and my GOD, it was a tough one (I'd been for curry the night before, so to say I was feeling a little 'heavy' is an understatement!)

We did three rounds of three exercises, forty seconds on ten seconds off. Each round focused on different body parts and there was no one move easier than the other; it really was a killer... sweaty, hilarious photos below to document...

How nice are Vicki's yellow & green leggings?! 

You know you've probably overdone it on the naan bread front when Vic singles you out, laughs and congratulates you for being so sweaty - a high point in my gym life, I will admit...

Once we'd sweated out shed loads, it was time to refuel and dose up on some serious 'gAiNz' in the name of salted caramel protein shakes and a mountain of MyProtein treats, nut butter and some amazing CAKE from Heebs:

We then had a bit of a q&a with Vic about her training regime, general fitness advice and how she found competing, and before long, all of us were sat cross-legged on the floor, eating treats and having profound conversations.

It sounds stereotypical, but the 'sleepover' feel to this part of the event was by far my favourite (over a post-curry HIIT session, really?!). It was so nice to feel comfortable and chatty with a bunch of like minded girls. We discussed our issues with the health industry, the perception of perfection in our social media saturated lives and the concerns around influencers preaching knowledge without the right qualifications (bloggers, aka me, included - I won't ever pretend to kid anyone that I'm a dietician or PT; I just eat and exercise what I feel works for me to stay healthy and happy!). There was no judging, no competing, just a group of girls putting the world to right!

It was such a refreshing, chilled afternoon, so massive thanks to Sarah, Lucy, Hebe and Laura for organising it.

They're also offering a cheeky 20% off all products on the site for the next month with the code: GIRLSONLY - so feel free to pop this in the checkout!

Sweaty Sequin This & I

DW Fitness - 40 days of fitness challenge

DW Fitness Clubs have challenged me to 40 days of fitness, which starts today and runs up until the 5th April.

They want to inspire as many people as possible to strive to improve their fitness levels, and for those who are already trying to be fighting fit and healthy, they want us to shake up our fitness regimes to keep it fresh and interesting.

They've got PT Lee Pickering, a personal trainer at DW, and Courtney Berlin, a certified health coach on board to keep us all motivated and inspired.

The challenges are fitness and food related (how could I say no?!), and today's challenge is;

In my personal workout plan for today, I'm already going to be doing 20 minutes of HIIT interval training on the treadmill as well as a cross fit style class that my gym puts on, so instead I'm going to opt for a 20 minute walk on my lunch break - it's far too easy for your lunch hour to slip away from you whilst you burrow away at your desk, and I'm definitely guilty of taking one look at the grey clouds outside and staying in - even though I know that getting some brisk fresh air really does clear my head and rejuvenate me for the afternoon!

Hopefully by making myself get off my arse and outdoors, I'll feel a lot better for it!

I'm going to be posting quite a bit about this challenge, so check back here to see how I'm getting on - or if you'd like to join in, get in touch with me and I'll share that days' fitness challenge! I'll aim to post the challenges on here once a week so you've got them for the week ahead. You can adapt them to make them as hard or as easy as you need, depending on your current fitness level and workout schedule. The most important thing is that it gets you consciously thinking about getting fitter.

Here are Thursday and Friday's challenges:

When I squat I usually use a 20kg barbell, but tomorrow I think I'll challenge myself to go heavier..

The hashtag to follow is #FitnessRevolution, and keep your eye on their blog for more on the 40 day challenge.