I have decided to use this blog to document my work-outs. I still continue to run a lot but this is more for my weight training. I haven’t done any in a long while and would like to start toning up again.

I got some inspiration from Naked Food Cafe to do this. The thread I got inspiration was about starting your new years resolution NOW so that when new year comes around you will already been where you want to be making 2010 the best year ever

For my weights I have been using The Basic Workout from bodybuilding.com plus their Ab Workouts.

So on Monday I did chest, triceps and shoulders. Plus I did the ab workouts. It was a great workout and got me motivated for doing my Legs today. Another tough work out.

I haven’t been able to do every life on the basic workout as I don’t have a bench right now (been using elevated surface) and I also obviously don’t have the leg attachment either so added more by going to their exercise section.

I have been really enjoying it. Hopefully but just documenting it here just that I have been working out I might actually be able to stay accountable

I will go through my plan properly on friday but just wanted to get a few things down tonight!

So I haven’t had time to vamp this blog up unfortunately but I was inspired by someone on www.30bananasaday.com (one of my favourite websites these day – full of people following the 811 diet and who are absolutely fantastic and supportive) to write a quick post now that I have a few moments.

It is sort of a mini update on my diet. Well lately – the past month of so I have for some reason just really upped my greens. I guess I have been craving them a lot lately. When I started the 811 journey I wasn’t too fond of greens but now can sit happily munching on a romaine lettuce no problem and desiring more afterwards. It takes me a very short time to eat my greens these days then it did in the beginning (and I am glad I stopped eating spinach..because I didn’t really like it too much at the time or rather I didn’t desire it).

I seem to be eating 2 romaine lettuces (which are organic and seem to be a LOT larger than the non-organic), a few cucumbers. Sometimes I might eat more. Generally though I really enjoy – it just happened and it is very enjoyable. Before I was eating maybe a head of romaine.

What it has made me realise is how important that it is to eat your greens and a sufficient amount. When I was eating less greens I did not experience the cleansing I seem to get with eating more. I have found that I am much more regular and my body gets a good thorough cleaning. I just feel much better for it.

I feel as though your body will definitely let you know when you are eating enough greens. If you aren’t experiencing anything when consuming them daily then I believe you probably aren’t eating enough. It is almost a sense – I just know that there is something different to me!

I wish I had been consuming as much as I am now in the beginning but don’t think that would be realistic for me. I hope this makes sense

On January 1st I decided I wasn’t going to wash my hair with shampoo/conditioner anymore. The date I decided is merely a coincidence – this isn’t a new year resolution! I had been pondering it for some time and decided to take the dive.

For a long while I thought I wasn’t going to be able to do it because I have dyed hair (finding this hard to let go of) but from reading it seems perfectly ok. I am seriously considering growing out my dye now because I want to get rid of all chemicals, but next week am first going to try out some henna. Curiosity more than anything as I haven’t done henna properly and now I know I must try .

Anyway this is how my hair looks after baking soda/vinegar. Its the second time in the past 2 weeks I have used it and haven’t used anything else.

I am really happy with it – it feels lovely, although getting used to no smell is weird. Also the first time I used baking soda and vinegar it felt greasy but didn’t look it. This time it feels fantastic!

Hopefully I will not have to use this for very long – but once a week is all I am going to do for now.

I will update this week with the henna experiment

So, for the past year I have kept my glasses off and was hoping to embark on a journey of clearing my eyesight. Unfortunately I have made no progress on that front. The thing is, doing the “exercise” and trying to relax wasn’t working for me. I simply cannot relax no matter how much I try.

I have chronic tension in my back, particularly my shoulders and neck. I know these muscles can mess with your eyesight and I also know that if you want to do the eye exercises efficiently and well it is best to be as relaxed as possible. These muscles never relax – even when I think I am relaxed. So it has been my attempt to find something to relax them.

I started off going to see an osteopath which was a big waste of time. I wish I had taken the chiropractic route. The osteopath didn’t help whatsoever, so after a few sessions I had to give it up. He was just massaging me – I may as well have seen a massuese. Yes I was getting relief but only a tiny bit and only for a very short period of time. Everytime he turned me I noticed how stiff I was even when I tried to relax I remained this way.

Anyway I wish I had since a chiropractor because from my reading I feel it would have been better suited for me. I may attempt this in the new year or/and I am definitely going to try the Alexander Technique. I have be meaning to do this for a while but had decided on the osteopath first, so yeah I have learnt from that mistake!

Currently I am doing some exercises from a book by Craig Williamson called Muscular Retraining. It is a fantastic book that explains the issue of muscular tension exceptionally and in a way that makes sense to me. Like in the Alexander Technique he references to kinesthetic awareness being loss, due to muscles being tense all the time. Just like if you are in a noisy room, after a while you do not notice the sound anymore even though it is still there – he suggests muscle tension is the same. I know with my own tension that it is very hard to distinguish what those muscles are doing when I concentrate them. I have lost or rather have a faulty kinesthetic awareness due to them being tense constantly. The exercises being back awareness.

I have only been doing the exercises a few days and have found some of them impossible for me to do. This is apparently very normal for someone who has suffered from tension for such a long time, but quite annoying. It can feel quite frustrating not being able to something that should actually be really simple! Anyhoo I do feel that my shoulders and back have been loosening a little because I have this sensation of feeling a little uncomfortable emotionally. As though its loosening old tied up emotions from my back. It has made me feel a little anxious of what will be in store for my emotionally in the coming days…weeks…because I am already experiencing emotional release through my diet! So we shall see. I have hopes for these exercises.

I have also started reading a book by Kathleen Porter called Ageless Spine, Lasting Health: The Open Secret to Pain-Free Living and Comfortable Aging. This book is more focused on posture. I have skipped to the end and tried out some of the realigning and it does feel uncomfortable. I guess that is only to be expected when I have had bad posture for such a long time. I hope to put it in practice as well and in fact I am at the moment. I am sitting quite nicely on my sits bones with feet flat on the floor and my laptop screen a little higher up. I am sort of comfortable. I don’t believe I have my upper body properly aligned or my shoulders just yet but hopefully I will sort this issue out in the coming days/weeks. I really look forward to reading this book though.

I also look forward to releasing my tense shoulders for good and hopefully being able to finally deal with my eyesight. Wish me luck!