I had another casual pole class at Pole Fever Fitness Studios today. We learnt a new move where we let go of the pole with out hands and hold on only with our thighs and legs. This was a lot of fun to do, but oh man there was some serious inner thigh burn. Not just burn. I'm talking buuuuuurrrnnnnn. It was such a cool achievement though. I really enjoy the classes at Pole Fever. They are having a grand opening in Wanneroo on the 2nd of November. If you're in the area then I highly recommend that you check the place out. All the girls here are so friendly and are very well trained in what they do. Pole Fever definitely gets a 10/10 from me :) :)
I think I've become addicted fun runs. I don't know what it is, but there's something so great about legging out a few kilometers dressed in something cool alongside friends, and it doesn't hurt when we're doing it for a good cause too. My friends and I registered for the Glow Run which was held today. I was originally meant to do something similar called the Neon Run, but alas, it falls on the same night as the Beyonce concert so I had to give it a miss. Both the fun runs pretty much involve running a distance of 5km at night time wearing glow sticks, shirts that glow and anything else that glows or is neon and shows up under all the special lights that they use. Along the way are what I like to call 'party stations' where there is a DJ blasting some music for you to stop and dance and see yourself all lit up and glowing. It was a lot of fun and I particularly enjoyed seeing Riverside drive at night time. The only time I've ever seen it at night was while I have been driving, but to be able to take in the beautiful view while on foot was so great. Sometimes things that are already a lovely sight, is ten times better when it's lit up with lights.
The Glow Run was the first 5km run my friend has ever done before. She did such a great job from start to finish and nothing makes me happier than being there to experience someone else's "something new" :) Nights like tonight give off such happy vibes. We'll be doing more events like this, I'm sure.
I attended a fitball session today at Pole Fever Fitness Studios. I've never done any exercises with an exercise ball before, but wow it really gets you working. I swear, I was sweating just as much as a cardio class! Using the exercise ball helps you to get your technique right for when you're doing lunges and squats, but it also makes it that much harder and your muscles start to burn a lot quicker. I am so keen on buying myself an exercise ball now! Using these babies (the correct way) is a sure fire way of having a great workout for abs, butt, thighs and arms. Yep, one ball helps work out all those areas. Invest in one for sure! Mind you, they're not even that expensive. So now you have no excuse. Just make sure you know how to use it right. Hop on YouTube and watch some workouts, or better yet, go to one of the Pole Fever fitball sessions :)
I'm very much in love with One Republic's most recent album Native. This song is called 'feel again'. Check all of the other songs on the album too.
My friend Nhi and I bought a voucher from Our Deal for 8 classes at Pole Fever Fitness Studios. They run a lot of different fitness sessions, but tonight we attended a casual pole class. I never thought that this would be something I would try, but it was actually really fun (and there's that saying: "you don't know until you try"). The class had about 12 or so girls of all different ages ranging from all different levels of experience. Myself, Nhi and two other girls were newbies. Tonight's session was good because the instructor went through mainly the basics because there were so many new comers. We started off with some warms ups and then got into body rolls, spins and lifting ourselves up onto the pole. The class was about 45 minutes long and this beginners session was a pretty good workout. Some of the more advanced girls could do some pretty crazy amazing moves. Their balance, strength and flexibility was just incredible. One minute they'd be standing on the ground and the next they'd be upside down all the way at the top of the pole. These girls were seriously talented, and it was great because they were all really enjoying themselves and pushing themselves to do better and improve. The whole environment was really welcoming too. At first it was quite intimidating walking into the room with all these girls show casing their talents, but after a while you just get lost in what you're doing and you forget about everyone else. I think in most situations like this, everyone is too busy focusing on how they're doing to notice those around them. It's a good class to do if you want to gain some confidence too :) I had a really good time tonight. To be honest, I had much more fun with my friend Nhi there to share the laughs with me. If you're keen to try it out, bring a friend who is equally and keen to try something new.
This song always gets me in the mood for some groovin' and booty shakin' :P I'm so excited to the Beyonce concert in November!!
My friend Nhi and I bought a voucher from Our Deals for 8 lessons at the fitness studio Pole Fever for a bargain price. Unfortunately we put off booking our classes for a few weeks and only realised last week that the deal expires on the 12th of September. So we madly booked all 8 classes within the next two weeks. Our bodies are going to be sore, but hey, lesson learned. The voucher wasn't just limited to pole classes, but you could choose from their list of other fitness classes such as ABT (abs, butt and thighs), cardio, flex N stretch, body sculpt and many more. Nhi and I waned to do some classes together, but the only times our schedule correlated was for a 6am and 8pm class. We did the ABT and body sculpt, respectively. Oh man. Oooooh maaaaan. I'm aching. I'm so proud of us for doing two classes in one day though. We were definitely pushed to our limits with these classes, but it has only motivated us to better ourselves. The ladies running the sessions are super friendly and they are very encouraging too. Each session has about 6 people so if you're not a fan of small groups....don't worry, everyone is really nice and they're all hurting as much as you are. Mind you, some girls look absolutely stunning after the workouts. Me on the otherhand. Sweaty like a man and hair all messy and stuck to my face and neck. I may look gross, but these workouts make me feel great :D Grab a friend and join in the fitness fun. Also look out for vouchers on those daily deal websites like Scoupon, Red Balloon and Our Deals etc. I hope you get involved, and maybe I'll see you there :)
One of the new Beyonce songs. Love it because it's so fierce. This is definitely one of my new workout songs :)
I am going to start by saying that I'm really exhausted right now. I was up at 5am this morning and I had a physically tiring day so if my words are not coherent, you'll have to forgive me. My friend Nhi told me a few weeks ago that some of her work colleagues were going to do a 15km (9.3 mile) trek along the Bibbulmun Track from Kalamunda to Mundaring Weir. This was a fundraising event to sponsor one of the ladies who would be doing the Ride to Conquer Cancer. Nhi thought this would be a great 'something new' to do; we'd also be doing it for a good cause and since we've been so into our fitness this year, how could we say no? Nhi, her boyfriend Adam and I had a very eventful morning which consisted of a whole bunch of setbacks, making us a little bit late meeting the rest of the group. Despite all of this however, we managed to have a good laugh at it all. While we were driving in the car we were saying that it's the crazy hectic moments that sometimes make something even more memorable. The group broke off into groups and the three of us stuck together the whole way. It felt like we were going uphill for most of the trek. It is definitely not a simple walk across a flat terrain. No sir. The uphill was tiring and the downhill was a bit scary at times because of loose gravel and rocks. But the scenery was always amazing. It was so lovely to get into the outback and really embrace Australian nature. There was one amazing moment where three kangaroos hopped right past us. It blows my mind that we were there at that very moment to witness something so lovely up close. I've never seen kangaroos so close out in nature before. The weather was also kind to us today. Storms were forecast, but the rain held out until the very end of the trek. It was all just so perfect. At the end of the walk, there was a lovely cafe/bar called Mundaring Weri Hotel waiting for us with hot food and cold water. It was such a beautiful place. It had that very antique feel about it. There was a lamb on the spit cooking outside and they even had their own woodfired oven. The service was great and the pricing was pretty good too. After our bellies were filled and we were on our jolly way home down Kalamunda Road, we saw the most beautiful scene of Perth city on the horizon. I was too slow and didn't get a photo in time so Nhi turned the car around so that I could hop out and capture it. It was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. The photo is lovely, but it just doesn't do it justice compared to what my eyes saw. I really love Perth, and so to see the tall buildings which represent the city, just standing to tall and looking so tiny from the view on the hill, it just took my breath away. It was the best way to end such a wonderful day. It left me speechless, and even now as I think about that beautiful moment all words have left me. The last thing I'll say though, is that my muscles are going to be sore tomorrow.
We liked this because the tree was pretty much embedded into the rock.
We were getting pretty high up at this point.
This path lead all the way down. We were getting even higher up!
Mundaring Weir from a distance. The first time I had ever seen it.
Mundaring Weir close up. The dam wall was huge! Bigger than I expected.
As you may remember, I started the 30 Day Wall Sit Challenge last month and yesterday was technically day 30. However, I was so busy with my exam yesterday that I didn't have the time to do my 5 minutes of wall sits. But not to worry, I did it today :) Unfortunately everyone in my family was asleep so I had no one to take a photo/video of me completing the challenge, but I promise that I did it. It isn't called a "challenge" for no reason. This wall sits challenge has been by far the hardest for me. With the squats challenge, even though my thighs and butt burned like crazy, the motion of squatting wasn't so bad because I had brief periods on standing upright which relieved the pain in my muscles. With wall sits on the other hand, you are in the same position for the whole time. So the burning starts, but then you are stuck in that position and there's not much you can do to make it stop. I felt the burning in my butt, quads, inner thighs, outer thighs and calves. Just everywhere really. All butt and leg muscles. I could go all technical and refer to all the muscles by name, but I wont. Just know that it hurts just everywhere. Please don't let that scare you. Pain is good! unless of course you've damaged something, then no that's bad. But that feeling you get when your muscles are crying out in pain is very satisfying. I highly recommend this challenge to everyone. Go and make those legs of yours strong and sleek!
Since I don't have a picture or a video for tonight's post, I though I'd share with you one of my favourite songs right now :) Forrest Gump by Frank Ocean.
During the week, my friend Nhi found a great Instagram photo for three women doing a downward dog human pyramid. We thought it looked so awesome that we had to try it ourselves.
I'm lovin' the booty in this photo :P
When we got together tonight and actually got down and tried to do our downward dog pose, we realised just how super flexible we'd have to be in order to replicate the human pyramid exactly the way those women did. But no biggie, I'm confident we'll get there one day. I'm so impressed with how we did for our first attempt :) I really owe so much to these girls. We've all made so much progress over the past 6 months and I know that we'll all reach our fitness goals by the end of the year. It'll be more hard work and dedication, but every drop of sweat will be worth it.
There is a lake near my house that I am always running around whenever I need my fix of cardio. The lake is quite large and is surrounded by trees so you can't really see it as you're running, except for one point along the path where there is a bench that looks over the lake.
There is however, another point of access if you take a small detour on a dirt path. I really like it because the little path leads you to what is almost like a dock/miniature jetty. Here, you have such a lovely view of the entire lake. Of all the times I've been for a run, I have never actually taken that path down to see the lake until today. I made an effort to get up in the morning so that I'd had a good view, and it was indeed a stunning sight. The water was blue and calm, and the birds were out and floating about ever so gracefully. It was such a relaxing place to sit and soak in the beauty. There's just something about nature that really makes me feel so at peace...and then I went back to the run with my ghetto music blasting. A nice balanced run if you ask me.
So on a side note, I had great conversation with my dad tonight. You may or may not have read my posts where I rave on about how much I love my dad, but he is by far my favourite person on this Earth so you will read a lot about how much I love the man :) He imparts so much of his wisdom onto me and he always says so many great lines that really stick in my head. I could go on for a long time about all the advice he gave me tonight about relationships, but I don't have the time for this post. Worry not, because I will write it all another time. One thing he did say to me is that all his "knowledge and experiences he has learnt over the last forty years he wants me to learn in one minute" (he's actually 57 but I think he said forty because he probably didn't learn many life changing things before the age of ten).
He said that there were many things challenges and life lessons he had to overcome, and that although he was able to work past them, I might not be able to; thus why he tries to impart the wisdom so that I have a better fighting chance. A younger version of me would have thought that he wasn't letting me grow and experience life for myself, but I see things differently now. What I see is a father trying to do his job.
At different points in a man's life he must be a father is certain ways. As a child he knew that I was 100% dependant on him and so he provided pretty much everything. As I grew up however, I have been able to feel him nudging me forwards to grow up into an independent woman. My dad has reached the point now, where the best things he can give to me are his own life lessons so that I may have something under my wing should I have to face any tough challenges. My dad is doing a pretty fantastic job of being a dad. Ain't no one ever going to take his place.
This is one of my favourite photos from my 21st last year. If you see this man walking down the street, tell him that his daughter thinks the world of him :)
