The holiday season is over, which meant that I had go back to university :D. Yes, I was smiling this morning at the thought of returning to my lab. As much as I have enjoyed the past two weeks holiday I was really missing the routine that working brings. Got to love a routine! On some occasions I didn’t actually know what day it was. But now I definitely know it is TUESDAY!
And it wasn’t a bad Tuesday at all…
This morning after a humungous green smoothie I left the house early so I could sign up to the gym…
This almost reached the rim of the bowl. I mixed handfuls of spinach, one banana, one pear, pea protein, chocolate soya milk and Acai Berry Juice, topping it with almonds, cranberries and cinnamon roasted pumpkin seeds. So delicious!
I certainly had a spring in my step as I walked across to the gym. It’s something that I have been excited about for a while. After signing up I had a look around my new playground and was quite impressed. The reason I had discounted the uni gym before is because I was expecting a small box room with some run down equipment with a weight room, at a push.
How wrong was I? Ahem. Very wrong indeed!
The gym is really big. There is the usual fitness suite containing the usual cardio and resistance equipment, a swimming pool, a weights room, sauna, games hall, indoor basket ball court, a climbing wall and a aerobics studio…phew! There is also lots of different classes to try. Thank you all for your comments on my last post. It looks like spinning and body pump are the most popular classes. The have both of these at my gym:
BODY PUMP: An over all body workout using a barbell with adjustable weights to tone and condition your muscles.
PURSUIT CYCLE: The ultimate indoor cycling class. Cycle along with the instructor changing gears and positions.
SPIN CORE: A fusion of pursuit cycle to get that heart rate rising followed by a core workout to challenge those abs!!!
These descriptions are from the gyms timetable. Do any of them sound similar to the spin and body pump classes at your gym? I think I am going to start with the Pursuit Cycle classes first to see what I think and then add another class into my routine too. 😀
Back to some eats…
For lunch I had some quinoa spaghetti with some cherry tomatoes and spinach, mixed with some of my Almond and Piquant Pepper Pesto. I also ate two clementines and an apple. My boyfriend thought it would be fun if he took some pics. He was going for the arty look…
😀
I have literally just shown him this draft for my post and he responded with: “it looks beautiful!” I’m saying nothing…;D
The pesto was really delicious and the piquant peppers added a little heat. They are super cute:
Ingredients
- 1 cup of slivered almonds
- 1/2 cup of piquant peppers
- 50 ml of canola oil
- 1/2 of a clove of garlic
It was just a case of blitzing it all up in the food processor. I can’t wait to try this on some roasted vegetables, salads or corgette spaghetti…yum!
My afternoon snack was a selection of sliced fruit with cinnamon and some Wonderful Salt and Pepper Pistachios.
Before dinner I fitted in a hour of some abs and arm muscular structure work…which hurt may I add! It is all for a good cause and they do say “no pain, no gain.” Today for dinner I cooked a vegetable stew served with some millet seeds flavoured with cranberries and almonds:
I’m going to spent the rest of the evening relaxing and sorting my bag out for the gym tomorrow morning.
Have a lovely evening everyone! x
I’m not a massive class person, but Body Pump was by far the most fun (and hardest!) class I’ve ever tried. I couldn’t straighten my arms for about four days after the first class I attempted! I think you are quite a bit ahead of me, strength and fitness-wise, so I’m sure you’ll cope better thank I did, but I know that the class pushed me far harder than I’ve ever pushed myself in the gym. Good luck with it 🙂
Thanks Joanna I can’t wait to try it!!!
That pesto you made sounds amazing, I really think I need to get myself a blender. All I have is a TescoValue one which is a handheld, it barely manages with soup!!
My uni gym has some awesome classes, including pole dancing. But you have to pay extra per term, around an extra £35, which I think is quite a lot on top of what you have to pay per year for my gym, and I often find myself not going. Although, I would love to get back into yoga again.
Good luck at the gym tomorrow!
Thanks Emma! I just did a major cardio session at the gym. I’m loving it already!
Your Uni gym sounds really impressive! I hope you get lots of use out of it. Sometimes I wish I was a gym bunny but deep down I know that I don’t really like them. You can’t beat the convenience though (and the warmth!).
Yeah it’s a bit chilly to run outside at the mo that’s why I signed up to the gym.
Congrats on being a gym bunny!!!! haha. I take bodypump sometimes and it’s great!!! 🙂 I’m not a big fan of doing weights on my own, but I know it’s important, so Bodypump is great for me! Enjoy the workouts 🙂
I think I will really like body pump- it sounds great!
Yay I love body pump! The classes should be the same the world over as every few months they release a new set of tracks and the instructors go on training to find the new routines- it is great as you dont get bored of the same songs or same moves as they mix it up. I have never done spinning but I have heard it is totally hard core!
Have fun whatever you do at the gym 🙂
I never knew the classes would be the same all over. I can’t wait to try it!
Yay to your new gym sounds fab! I love pump and spin great classes x x
The gym is excellent! 🙂
Yummy eats!
Your gym sounds awesome! Just so you know, BodyPump is a Les Mills class, so every class is exactly the same routine (changed every 3 months), wherever you do it in the world, unlike spin, aerobics, etc which varies from place to place and from instructor. And I definitely recommend pump and spin! 😀 Spin core sounds great!
I’m really interested in the core spin class. Spinning and an ab workout can’t be bad! 🙂
I think Body Pump is standard no matter what gym you attend, otherwise they have to give it a more generic name if it’s an immitation as opposed to the official Les Mills one. I’d really recommend it though ~ my upper body strength has improved a lot since I started it and it’s helped so much with my yoga practice, as well as strengthening my legs for running. Spin is something I love too, but tends to vary a lot in quality depending on the instructor and music choice.
I wish my food was as beautiful and healthy as yours ~ your blog, and Laura’s are so inspiring. I admire your motivation to eat so healthily and practice portion control to the extent that you do hugely. I wish I had your resolve, and all of your meals for the day look delightful, particularly the quinoa spaghetti. What type of blender do you use for your smoothies? They always look so…’smooth,’ I suppose, where as when I use a hand blender on mine the spinach always remains in rather unappetizing chunks and using a goblet blender I seem to lose half the smoothie up the sides of it…
Aww thank you! I just have a Kenwood blender that I got out of last years Januaury sales. It’s not top of the range or anything but it gets the job done! 😀
yay for the gym! I’ve never been able to take classes, but Ive heard great things about Body Pump- love that pesto!
The pesto is really yummy! 🙂
Your gym sounds fab, I have those classes available but the times they are held isn’t always that convienient for me. Hope you enjoy trying them out!
Congrats on getting started at the gym! I used to be a member, but I kind of prefer working out at home. But I have heard wonderful things about the Body Pump classes.