Part Two of this new mini-series talking about wellness. You can find Part one here with my food philosophies, recipes & batch cooking ideas. Today though I'm talking about my workout routine. 

My weekly routine;

3 x running sessions. Typically 1 of these will be around 4 miles/30minutes, one around 5 miles and one around 6 miles/50 minutes. See the running post above.

1 x HIIT {high intensity interval training} session for 45 minutes at a local gym OR recently I've started doing a couple of Kayla's BBG abs/arms and a leg session each week that feels like a HIIT workout at home. This raises your metabolism and the explosive moves are varied with weights etc so it's partly strength training muscle build/tone as well as improving fitness and maxing your heart rate out. There's a lot of studies these days that say that you can get more benefit out of higher intensity workouts in a shorter time than one longer endurance session.

1 x Pilates advanced mat class OR Pilates Barre class. I can't stress just how much pilates has changed my life. I started after I'd got injured about 3 years back and had spent a ridiculous amount on physio rehab to be able to get back running. I also used to have to visit the chiropractor about once a month as my back was always bad both upper & lower. I knew that I had some weaknesses, I have a lordotic spine {bigger than normal curve at the bottom} which means that I'm prone to lower back pain and this can affect your hamstrings/glutes too. I'd always tried to do core work at home but it wasn't until I started pilates at an intelligent studio near me with a really really fantastic teacher that I realised just how much more I could be doing to add strength and flexibility but crucially protect my back. I started off in the beginners class and since then pilates has become such a huge part of my life. I've moved up to the advanced classes, and Barre work, which still work on protecting/stretching muscles but also aims to move and tone a lot more in a dance/fitness kind of way. My core is strong through this but also it works on strengthening, and lengthening, so many muscles. I didn't even know that I had a psoas or hip flexor before I begun, yet these are such important parts of our bodies.

1 x Pilates advanced reformer class. Again through the same studio, this is pilates but on a weighted, sprung reformer machine {see photos below} which strengthens and stretches whilst toning with footwork/abwork/arms/extension. It's so great to protect my knees and back, ankles and feet giving more flexibility too. Rehab wise I use it as almost an insurance policy, and my body can tell when I've missed a week due to being away or whatever. I love reformer so so much, it's one of my favourite hours of the week. In the advanced class we work towards pushing ourselves with balance/new exercises each week too. It took me a while to get the mind body connection that you need for the controlled movements but I know that I could never give it up now.

R <3 xx