Boy, I’m glad it’s Friday! I’ve been one of those weeks where it’s been non-stop.
I’ve been seeing some great results in the gym recently, particularly in the shoulder and arm department. I’m not one to be vain, but I thought that I would post this pic to remind myself that the hard work really does pay off. Motivation can be lacking when going to the gym after work so it’s nice to know that the effort is all worth it.
I took the begging of the week off from working out just because I was so tired. I’m glad that I made that decision as I was right back in there on Wednesday to try out a new upper body workout:
-
20 minutes of intervals on the cross trainer: 10 minutes forwards and 10 minutes backwards including squats.
-
2 sets: 25 x shoulder press, tricep dips, bicep curls, press ups, shoulder raises, upper back lifts = 50 repetitions for each exercise
-
25 x dead lifts with barbell
- Side plank on both sides and forearm plank.
This was such a great workout and done in less than an hour.
I’m still in love with blazers at the moment and have been wearing one all week to work:
OOTD: skinny jeans, Zara// black pocket t-shirt, Primark//blazer, Zara//wedges, Sole Trader.
I love the zip detail on the ankles of the skinny jeans, such a nice touch.
It’s not all been about the gym and blazers this week I’ve had some pretty tasty eats too:
How green is this smoothie? It contained spinach, mango, half a banana, coconut milk and water. I drank this in the car on the way to work and it was the perfect start to my busy day.
This week has mainly been about salads for lunch but I decided to mix it up a bit yesterday and threw a baked sweet potato topped with hummus in the mix.
A work colleague has just come back from Toronto and she brought in some peanut butter and pretzel M&M’s for the treat table. These are completely new to me and oh my have I been missing out! I was in heaven and it took all of my will power not to eat the whole bag.
For dinner this week I’ve had baked salmon with ginger, soy and honey. I stir fried some veggies in some 5 spice powder and soy sauce, such an easy and tasty dish.
The other night I made a chicken and vegetable coconut broth. I cooked some veggies in coconut oil and then added some coconut milk, homemade chicken stock and a dash of soy sauce. Then I added some left over roast chicken to warm through. I seem to be in a coconut groove again so this really did the trick!
If you are following me on Twitter you may have seen me tweet about the possibility of a UK blogger meet up. I think it’s been far too long since the last one and it would be lovely to meet some of the newer UK bloggers that have recently joined the blogisphere. The last one was so much fun and perhaps London would be a great location for the next one. I can just see a stampede of bloggers in Wholefoods =) Hopefully there will be enough interest so that we can arrange something. Please express your interest in a comment below so that I can gauge numbers of those that would like to meet up.
How do you motivate yourself to go to the gym? Does seeing results spur you on?
Do you enjoy blogger meet ups?
great progress ideed 🙂 I would love to meet new people and I would be up for a blogger meet up. x
Awesome, I will put your name down 🙂
That broth looks delicious. Love the flavours.
I’d be interested in meeting up with some other UK bloggers 😀
Glad to have you on board! 🙂
We do blogger meet ups here a lot which is awesome!! 🙂 Your eats look so good, Jemma!
It’s great meeting other bloggers 🙂
Congrats on the progress, girl! Your arms look great 😀 And seeing results is definitely awesome motivation to keep going. It’s nice to see the hard work paying off.
Thanks hun, the hard work does pay off eventually! 🙂
Yep I am well up for a meet up, London is a bit far for me, I was just looking at train fares for another meet up and they are extortionate! It might be better for me to drive.
Trains are expensive these days! Could you not drive part of the way? London can be a pain to navigate around.
Do you know of any where that is good to park and ride with the train or tube north of London? I don’t know the area that well, just thinking that would be much easier 🙂
Hey Laura! You could perhaps drive to West Ruislip and park there. It’s a tube stop outside of London. I think it’s about £5 to park all day and all you would need to buy is your tube ticket for the day. 🙂
I’d defo be up for it! Love blogger meet ups!
Yayyy glad to hear it.
Congratulations on your progress- looking good 🙂 I love peanut butter m ‘nm’s – the best! And yes, I would love to come to a meet up 🙂
Thanks Maria!! 🙂 Those M n Ms are amazing!
great blog and really great results at the gym! you should be so proud of yourself and its nice to see progress in the mirror 🙂 would deffo be up for a london blogger meet up 🙂 Grace xxx
Thanks Grace 🙂 it will lovely to meet you. 🙂
Why not be proud of your hard work Jemma, your arm looks fab! As you know I’m 200% up for a blogger meet up, London sounds a great location too!
Thanks hun, glad that you are still up for the meet up. Fingers crossed we can sort something.
I would love to come to a UK blogger meet up!
Oh, and you have definitely been missing out. This M&Ms are amazing.
Cool, glad your up for it!
The smoothie looks amazing! I’d definitely be keen on a blogger meet-up! x
Oh awesome, it would be lovely to meet you.
I’m definitely up for a blogger meet up in London or somewhere easy to get to x
Oh awesome, we will have to see ow many people that we can get involved! 🙂
Congrats on the progress! It’s always nice to see hard work paying off. I find that with ,y running times, it’s a great way to track my progress!
I’d be up for a blogger meet-up 🙂
It’s great to be able to see progress – and you look fab!
This looks like a great week of food – the chicken in particular looks so tender – and I think I’d have struggled with peanut butter M&Ms too 🙂
Definitely up for a blogger meet in London!
I go nuts for peanut butter m&m’s. Luckily there not widely distributed in Belgium, so it’s easy to forget they even exist, but when very occasionaly I do end up with a bag, it will not survive for longer than 5 minutes
I’m a bit late in replying but I would love a bloggers meet up 🙂 ! I’ve met a few bloggers through the ‘running crowd’ recently and it’s been great to find people with things in common (and blabber on about blogging incessantly 😉 ). The M&Ms sound fab, do they sell them in the UK? Is so, I need to get my paws on some a-sap!
The last meet up was a lot of fun, I would love to do it again! Not sure if I’d be able to make it as far as London, but keep me in the loop!
Aah I missed this post on the UK bloggers meet up! Definitely interested – and yes, London is good for me!