Fitness & Building My Strength
(Leggings – Exact, Top – Exact, Shoes – Exact)
This is a different type of post and one you haven’t seen before. I’ve done a few posts over the last 6 months or so about healthy eating and lifestyle changes, but one of the things I adopted as well was fitness. I’ve had a lot of issues with my joints and muscles in the past (not something I’ve really gone into on here) and part of my physiotherapists recommendation was muscle strengthening to help make my joints stronger. I used to be extremely active and addicted to fitness when I was younger, I would spend entire days outside, sometimes playing 3 hour football matches with friends and doing athletics, but unfortunately all that changed when I was 13/14 when I got a chronic illness. I’ve always kept that side of me quiet as it’s not something I wanted to be judged on as sympathy votes are not my thing, so I like to try and make it on my own. However, the illness has played more than a huge role in my life and it made my joints and muscles extremely weak, so that’s why I now love to try and strengthen them.
I started out lightly just doing my exercises without any weight and on a minimal amount, even using my exercise bike (recommended again) and slowly it’s been helping me. I was then able to start doing my routine with a 0.5kg weight, and now I can use a 1kg weight for my movements. I do find that heavy sometimes on days I’m not doing too well, but I know it takes time to properly strengthen up your muscles to help improve your stability. You may think that my biceps are large and it looks like I lift weights properly, but I honestly don’t. I have muscular arms and thighs as part of my genetics and from the fact that I did gym and activities which made them grow as a kid, so they haven’t really ever shrank. Despite them looking bigger, they are not strong in the slightest because of my joint issues so I am hoping over time it will all fix up!
So, what routine do I do? I do reps of squats, lunges, bicep curls, arm raises, shoulder lifts and tricep toning. I also use my exercise bike lightly when I can, I try to strengthen my core with a different and easier ways of doing sit ups (as I can’t have pressure on my head) and I do various movements to tone my butt. I try to do my routine about 2-3 times a week and I do enjoy it as I can feel it helping and working. I think health and fitness is extremely important as without it, you can’t function correctly as you aren’t getting enough nutrition into your cells for optimal brain and bodily functioning as well not keeping your heart, lungs and general organs healthy. It’s a huge part of my life now and as I get better, I know I need it more to help me improve.
My outfit that I am wearing here is from Sweaty Betty. I’ve got the Level Workout Leggings in grey with the workout top in red. I love their workout clothes as they are so soft, comfortable and stretchy, plus they don’t seem to stretch out so it’s no wonder everyone adores them as well. For my shoes, I just wear a pair of my New Balance trainers which I got a month or more ago. When I feel ready as well, I’ve thought about joining some of their fitness classes that they hold. Have any of you been to one?
On a side note, if you would like to know more about my illness and what I have been through growing up in my teenage years, I would be happy to share that with you now as my blog is over 4 years old, if it’s definitely something you would like to read. I know that I belong to the fashion bloggers side of the blogosphere, but since I do class this as my personal blog, I think sharing with you that side of me as well will be a nice change. I do enjoy doing different posts like this and I would love to know your thoughts on them too. I do remember that you liked my initial one on getting healthy. Comment and let me know!
