Category Archives: other

Windsurfing

Posted on by
windsurf.jpgToday I had a 2 hour windsurfing lesson. This is part of my new “I’m gonna keep fit doing watersports” fad.   

My instructor was a young, pimply teenager (he cant have been more than 16), but a qualified instructor and actually very professional. We started off on a simulator on dry land, then went out and tried on the water. Its actually a lot harder than it looks. It was really windy and quite gusty and I came off a number of times, having my first swim of the year. It was actually quite warm in a full length wetsuit. The warm weather certainly helped too (about 25 degrees).

The windsurfing took place in the Poole Park Lake, which is an inland salt water lake adjacent to the harbour. In most places I could touch the ground through about 2 feet of sludge. Other places in the lake there were great craters, where I couldnt touch the ground, and consequently went completely under when I fell off. Lets hope there’s no blue green algae.

It was a great feeling when you get up and are sailing, and its quite easy to keep going in a straight line. Its when you have to turn around that is the hard bit. Turning around involved dropping the sail, jumping in the water, facing your board in the new direction, moving the sail to the other side of the board, and getting back up again. Obviously this was not how it was taught, but the way I ended up doing things 90% of the time.

I was just starting to get the hang of it when the lesson ended. This is their strategy to get you interest up just enough that you need another lesson.

Windsurfing is definitely a challenging sport and very physical, which is what I am after. I will wear my heart rate monitor next time to check out the number of calories burned, so I can incorporate it into my exercise routine. I dont wanna have to keep going to the smelly gym when they weather is so great.

Gym Guinea Pig

Posted on by

I started back at the gym yesterday with my trainer. She has just done a course on new techniques and I am her guinea pig. I can hardly walk today. I think it was due to the one legged squats she had me do. Man that was hard. And it wasnt just a straight squat. I had to go down for 3 seconds, hold for 2 seconds then come back up. That was repeated 12 times all on one leg. then I swapped over and did the other leg. Each set was repeated 3 times. It was agony. My glutes are really feeling it today.

Other things she had me do were just standard weights on the stress ball things, working a lot on the core. We used slightly heavier weight and only 12 reps rather that the usual 15. I also did some squats on the cable machine which also worked the back. I’ll have buns of steel on no time!   

 

The Diet

Posted on by

I am starting back on my diet tomorrow. I wanna fit into my bikini this summer! My aim is to lose 3 kgs by the end of May. This is about 500g per week, so should be achievable I hope.

To lose this weight I need to burn an extra 500 calories per day or reduce my calorie intake by this amount.  I am always better at sticking to exercise than eating less so will focus more on exercise.

I burn about 500 cals by doing each of the following according to my polar heart rate monitor.

  • 2 hour walk
  • 1 hour gym
  • 1.5 hours cycling

Lets see how long it lasts this time.