My First Hot Yoga Class

I am a woman firmly set in her gym routine. I hate cardio, so I go to classes like Body Attack rather than slogging it out on a cross trainer where I'm likely to die of boredom. For strength, I use free weights and secretly, I quite enjoy it. But neither of these deal with flexibility, and I've tried yoga before to help with this. If I'm honest, I never feel like it does much. No burn the next day, no intense craving for carbs immediately afterwards.

Exploring London by Bike

I haven't ridden a bike in at least five years. When I lived in York I cycled everywhere (and that place is full of hills so my arse was AMAZING), but the thought of riding a bike in London has always terrified me, with horror stories in the news of collisions and accidents. Cyclists don't even seem to be nice to each other a lot of the time, I've seen some people have screaming matches at traffic lights to the amusement of passing pedestrians. But I hate the tube and I want to be more active so Charley and I took the plunge and decided to just give it a go.

The Realistic Guide to Getting Beach Ready

Preparing for a holiday is the stressful as it is. There's getting your currency, making sure you're not a terror threat with over 100ml of hand cream in your hand luggage, and setting the god damn alarm for 4am to get your Ryanair flight to somewhere with no culture, but lots of sunshine and watered down mojitos. There's been a lot of controversy on being 'beach ready' recently, but it doesn't matter who you are, nobody looks forward to being half naked in front of a bunch of strangers and you may very well take some steps to make yourself feel a little bit more comfortable.

Nine Ways to Get Fit When You Hate Exercise

It is a sad fact of life that when you hit a certain age, you cannot eat all the cake and not face the consequences. This leaves me in a bit of a predicament. As you can probably tell from the pages of this blog and my Instagram account, I live for food. Sadly, I also hate exercise. It's mainly because I really enjoy sitting down; it's a talent that I have perfected over the years and I am pretty damn good at it.

Ziplining and Underground Trampolining in Wales

Recently, I became part of a crack duo of hen party organisers extraordinaire. I've never thrown a hen party before, and this one was not just important because it was for one of my best friends, but because she lives in Australia and this was the last weekend she would be spending in the UK with her closest of close friends before she becomes a Mrs. My partner-in-crime and I threw around a number of ideas of what we could do; from afternoon tea, penis pottery (I'm dreading the amount of spam I get through typing this one phrase!), and theatre performances, but none of them felt quite right. It was then that I stumbled across Bounce Below on the awesome site Design Milk. What is Bounce Below? It's a trampoline experience IN A CAVERN, suspended over a 600ft drop UNDERGROUND.

We booked it. And realised that in the same complex is the ZipWorld Titan ziplining experience that would keep the adrenaline pumping in our thrill-seeking hen. We headed up to Snowdonia the Friday of the Bank Holiday weekend, four hens squished into a Mini Cooper with a karaoke machine and a chocolate fountain, awaiting the arrival of four others including the bride-to-be. Our rented apartment was in the tiny town of Dolgellau and we used it as our base for cake and gin based activities for the weekend (more on this to come). 

The Saturday began with revealing the surprise activities to the hen and, thankfully, she was extremely excited about heading up a big ol' hill to propel herself down a wire. I however, was shitting myself (there is no eloquent way of describing the feeling of thinking you are going to die, sorry). I decided to just get on the zip line and get it over and done with. I screamed A LOT, but once I'd done the first one I realised it was actually really fun and gleefully trekked onto the next two - the wires getting longer and faster as we progressed.

Obligatory 'Bride to Be' sash on the hen!

After lunch in a little cafe in Blaenau Ffestiniog, we went down to Bounce Below. Now, I'm not the world's biggest fan of closed in spaces, so the trip down in the old mine cart was not a happy time for me. I gripped my friend's hand and she sang the Indiana Jones theme tune with me while I closed my eyes and persuaded myself that I would make it through to another day. But once you're down there, the cavern opens up and is absolutely huge. Voices echo, condensation occasionally drips from the ceiling as excited breath hits the 8 degree slate, colours jump around as bodies bounce on the netted tiered trampolines above and below.

It turns out that this scared me even more than the zip lining. The trampolines are huge, and as 30 people all bounce on it at the same time it is near on impossible to keep your balance. Knowing that when you fall you'll be looking straight down a 600ft drop certainly makes you feel a bit wobbly on your feet! I spent a good ten minutes frantically clinging on to the rope walls before I gave in and followed another screaming friend across the trampoline to prove that hey! We wouldn't die!

The rope ladders that take you up are a bloody good workout for the arms and thighs, especially when you look down and the trampolines suddenly feel a lot more stable then dangling in a rope tunnel BETWEEN the trampolines. Makes my legs feel wobbly just typing about it. But then you have to get back down again, and it turns out that is even MORE terrifying. How would you feel about plummeting down a rope tunnel, fully enclosed, clutching your nose so it doesn't catch on the material? I don't feel great about it. Cue: more screaming. I was practically hoarse by the time I came out, and we were all sweating buckets. They tell you to dress warmly because of the cold temperature in the cavern, but that is some serious aerobic exercise you'll be doing down there, so a vest top under your flattering standard issue boiler suit is really the best idea.

Luckily this is blurry enough that you can't see how terrified I am!

Could we have done something slightly less dramatic for the hen do? I imagine so. But this was such a new and unique idea that we couldn't resist. The Snowdonia countryside had us all enchanted, and the activities were so much more fun then anything we could have done back home in London. Head down there if you dare, and don't wimp out! If I can do it, then you definitely can! 

Rebounding Classes

This is NOT what I look like when doing Rebounding. Pic source here.

Having hit 25, it's becoming increasingly clear to me that my metabolism is not what it once was. Gone are the days where I could sit on my arse all day and eat cake more than frequently. I can manage the eating healthy bit, but I just hate exercise. I refuse to pay for a gym membership because I never have time to go and I have tried to go running, but I keep doing myself an injury because I have no idea what I'm doing. Who knew that to go for a run you don't just put one foot in front of the other?! I need stimulation and potentially a gimmick to get me moving, and I have found the best exercise class ever: Rebounding. 

Rebounding is essentially an aerobics class on a mini trampoline. It is an intense cardio workout that lasts for 45 minutes and requires balance, concentration and the ability to not care if you look stupid. Just like a normal aerobics class, you have a routine to learn that you do to the beat of loud cheesy music. The constant bouncing on the trampolines means your legs are worked to within an inch of their life, and that's never more apparent then when you then have to start doing more intense moves like squats. Stopping bouncing suddenly is a lot harder than it sounds!

My second class involved the horrific addition of dumb bells, which was an unwelcome surprise. I have absolutely no upper body strength whatsoever, so I was getting ready to run out of the class when she asked us to get them from the side of the room. But, being the stubborn cow I am, I pressed on. I've learnt that you don't have to be ashamed if you need to stop for a breather or to have a sip of water. You also don't need to be embarrassed if you turn the colour of an extremely ripe tomato because that is what 45 minutes of intense exercise does to a girl. By the end of my first class I looked like this:

Despite the fact that half way through each class I have felt like I'm going to die, I love Rebounding. It keeps my attention, is fun and different, and has the novelty factor I need to continue going regularly. If you'd like to try it, you can head down to Frame Shoreditch in London, or you can buy a trampoline and follow a class on YouTube to do it at home!

Running Shoes

In January I did the opposite of what everyone else was doing and quit my gym as I never had  time to go and £50 a month? Uh, no thanks. 

I'm still trying to do some exercise when I can though, it's just, I hate it. I'm lazy, I enjoy sitting down. I wouldn't class myself as a runner; I don't do it that often and I'm not that good at it, but I'm trying to rectify both of those things. I started off with a baggy tshirt and Converse but it was really uncomfortable and my knees and ankles pretty much hated me. At the same time I didn't want to invest in pricey sportswear when there's a high possibility of me giving up to continue my busy work of sitting down. 

After a bit of searching, I found eBay store Peach Sports which sells branded sportswear at a lower cost. I got these Adidas trainers for £27 and they arrived really quickly and actually don't look too bad! They're also the most comfortable shoes I've ever worn in my life which actually makes running a lot less painful than usual (although, let's be honest, it still bloody hurts). 

I haven't been able to run in such hot weather, but fully intend to start back up again when it's cooled down a bit. Any motivational tips would be greatly appreciated!

Purse Palpitations Week #14

Ding ding ding! The Celia Birtwell for Uniqlo collection is all in the sale and this great printed tee is currently a steal
T-shirt £7.90 Uniqlo

Camis seem to be the basic to own at the moment, with everyone and their mother owning the Topshop ones. River Island actually have a great selection too and they're cheaper.
Cami £15 River Island

H&M Sportswear is my favourite on the high street and they keep bringing out new pieces that maintain that status. This sports bra is a new must-have.
Sports bra £12.99 H&M

These T-Bar Points are such a fabulous shape and the pastel shade is perfect to see out Summer with some boyfriend jeans
Heels £68 Topshop