Health & Fitness

Catch Up

~ Lifelongdancestudent ~ Leave a comment

Happy Easter!

On Thursday we had a catch up tap class, as the final class of term was cancelled. My colleagues were going to be in a board meeting when I’d be due back from the class so I wasn’t too worried about rushing back this time 🙂

There were 5 of us this time plus our teacher and we had a really nice, laid back class! (Made me think twice about returning to the busy evening slot after Easter 😭)

We learnt a really cool timestep which reminds me a bit of the Shim Sham, although I think the only similarity is the pickups…but still! We did this on the right side and the left to the music from The Pink Panther. Our teacher was just going to leave us with the one side and move on to our routine, but we wanted more! Yes, we were very demanding this week.

Then we went on to finish off the routine we’d been learning over the 5 weeks to George Ezra’s What You Waiting For’. Despite missing 2 weeks out of the 5, I remembered the start and picked up the rest pretty well! This didn’t happen last year when I was stressed out of my mind, sleep deprived by noisy neighbours and topped up on caffeine! I’m really noticing the difference in memory recall and brain power since moving house.

Afterwards we hung around and chatted for a while. There was debate over whether a certain step was the Manhattan or the Cincinnati. Tap is quite fluid and not as formal as ballet, so different people call steps different things! Helpful, right?

I filled our teacher in on MOVE IT 2018 and the Stomp and Syncopated Ladies workshops and she was asking which tap people were there etc, i.e. Tap Attack, London Tap Jam etc. There is a quite a big tap scene and lots of people know each other or know of each other. Turns out she had once auditioned for Stomp!

One of the girls was talking about going to see The Tap Pack at the Peacock Theatre in London in May. I’ve had this on my radar, but I’m taking my mum to see 42nd Street in May and my SO and I hope to visit the London Tap Jam in Hoxton at the end of May, so I think I’ll have to give it a miss!

Anyway, we were chatting away when I suddenly realised I needed to GET BACK TO WORK! Oops. The rest of the group tend to stay on for a practice time that two class members had arranged, or don’t need to be anywhere immediately after the class, so no one else was in a hurry to leave…

Anyway, my work colleagues were in a meeting when I got back to my desk about 15 minutes later than usual so I didn’t feel like anyone was clock watching when I returned (not that they really do) and had my shower. (Anyway, I usually make up the time by staying late either that day or the day before).

Enjoy the long Easter weekend (if you have one) and remember to stretch!

Love this!

Food is Fuel

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Food is FuelAfter an interesting conversation at work this morning about eating, I have been wondering why people are so fixated on THREE MEALS A DAY. My colleague was waiting for another colleague (S) to come out of a meeting so they could go swimming at lunchtime. Her dilemma was that she was really hungry but couldn’t eat anything before going swimming. In the end, S couldn’t get away from her meeting and my colleague didn’t go anyway because she wanted to eat. I had said to her beforehand that when I am dancing, I have a snack bar or something about an hour to an hour and a half before the class. But then those words came back – “I can’t because it adds to my Slimming World points” – ARGHHHH

I’m sorry, but the primary purpose of food is to fuel the body. If a diet programme is preventing you from eating when you need energy for a task, there is something wrong. It may not necessarily just be Slimming World’s fault, because really, my colleague is also quite fixated on eating at set times and must have lunch at 12 on the dot. But then again, I do blame these point-counting or calorie-counting diet empires because counting becomes the be-all and end-all and logic goes out the window.

‘Snacking’ is like a swear-word in the minds of dieters because it tends to be linked with junk food like crisps and chocolate bars. But there are so many healthy snack alternatives to give you the fuel you need before exercise:

  • Piece of fruit (e.g. banana)
  • Fruit smoothie
  • Granola bar (homemade, even better!)
  • Greek yoghurt
  • Rice cakes
  • Wholemeal toast
  • Apple slices with a nut butter

I sometimes have half a sandwich or salad an hour before my class and the other half of my lunch when I return, along with a small green smoothie.

Don’t skip your FUEL and don’t forget to HYDRATE!

 

Cross Training

~ Lifelongdancestudent ~ 3 Comments

After saying it for some time, I finally picked up my 5kg dumb bell weights at the weekend and pumped some iron! Yes, I love resistance training. I prefer it to cardio. Running? No. Body building? Maybe!

I decided to try and find a dance warm-up or workout on YouTube that would be doable on a daily or every-other-day basis as part of my intention to get back into some form of cross-training:

I found a Jazz class warm-up on YouTube and did that a few times. That was VERY good in terms of stretching and core work, and it wasn’t too long. My abs were burning.

There was another one I tried without verbal instructions. The music was calming and atmospheric, the filming was in black and white, really enjoyable… and then it kept cutting to the next exercise without any transition! So one minute we’re lying on the floor and suddenly we’re standing. Also, it didn’t repeat on the other side of the body, so I had to play it through again to achieve the balance. I won’t discount it for that reason though and have added it to my playlist.

I also had a go at a Sweaty Betty ballet workout featuring Flik Swan & Victoria Marr of Sleek Technique. I only just about got through the warm-up and I was done – it is hard work! But you do get results if you stick with it. I have their triple box set on DVD, which I had started reviewing on the blog, but it is so full-on that I ran out of steam. Hopefully I’ll review the third and final DVD in that set at some point in 2018…

However, once the weekend was gone and the busyness of the week took over, I haven’t done anything since, besides running through the tap routine for tonight – doh!

  • Which do you prefer to throw yourself into, cardio, resistance or maybe both?
  • How do you stay fit and flexible between dance classes?

Merry Christmas! 

~ Lifelongdancestudent ~ Leave a comment

Hope you have a great Christmas whatever you’re doing! We will be hosting my mum for a mini Christmas on Christmas Eve,  going to the in-laws for a few days and seeing my family on other days. Not sure if I will be doing a Parkrun this Christmas Day, but I am aiming to get my fitness back (or restarted đŸ˜”) during the holidays with some walking and workout dvds, of which I have MANY.

Enjoy!

 

 

Relax… 

~ Lifelongdancestudent ~ Leave a comment

DSC_0369.JPGYesterday my SO and I went to Sopwell House Spa in St Albans for a spa and afternoon tea (my birthday present to him) plus we added on a massage each!

We used the gym, steam room, sauna, jacuzzi and swam a few lengths in the pool, followed by our massages in the afternoon.

I had a ESPA Hot Stone full body massage OH YESSSSS, and my SO had a Clarins Men’s Muscle Ease. I’d never had a hot stone massage before but it was recommended and it was AMAZING! If you get the chance, have one. Anyway, as I suspected, I was very knotted in the shoulders, so the therapist worked those out, and the addition of those hot stones and lavender and orange oils really helped with the relaxation aspect. She recommended that I get a back neck and shoulder massage once a month. I did used to get a massage every other month, but I wasn’t so keen on the salon I was using. Will have to try one I’ve spotted in Waterloo if it’s not too expensive.

DSC_0370.JPGHad a lovely selection of sandwiches, cakes and scones. I’ve gone a week without coffee, so I had Earl Grey tea with mine.

A much needed relaxation day after a crazy, stressful year!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Actually

~ Lifelongdancestudent ~ 2 Comments

I had a bad day at work and was hacked off and overwhelmed by the fact I’ve basically been left on my own in the office for most of the week while everyone else bogged off to a conference (held biennially)/took holiday/worked from home/were off sick… All at the same time! Okay, the person who was ill couldn’t help that, but apart from him,  there was no planning, communication or thought for cover. So I had a melt down and left the office 2 hours early. Left my dancewear under my desk and didn’t want to go back, so I missed the La La Land Tap Workshop. My head was (and still is) frazzled. Arghhh.

On the plus side (there’s ALWAYS a positive!) I stopped by Bloch in Covent Garden and tried on the new tap shoes designed by Chloe and Maud Arnold of the Syncopated Ladies! They didn’t have the black and white ones in my size in stock, so I tried the black ones for size. Chloe and Maud are over in the UK this week and were actually at the store yesterday talking about the shoe! I didn’t go because I’ve done a class with Maud in Brighton (remember Afro Funk? LOL) They are sooo comfortable and will be an easy transition from my current Bloch Sync tap shoes. They are going to be a Christmas present from my SO and his parents. Very excited to return to Rhythm Tap 2 in January wearing them!

Anyway, I’m going to rest this weekend.  And cuddle my cat.

Late Summer Holiday

~ Lifelongdancestudent ~ Leave a comment

I’m now home after a nice week in St Ives in Cornwall. Although I took some of my home-laminated cards of stretches with me, I didn’t get around to doing many, although I did make sure I stretched my calves after all the uphill walking we did! We visited St Michael’s Mount, Truro, Falmouth and the famous cliffside Minack Theatre to watch a live performance of The Country Wife. I can’t believe tap starts again next week! It may be a bit of a shock to the system. I’ll still be on holiday, but I’m going to travel in, go to the class and maybe combine it with a trip to London Zoo.

Train Mean 

~ Lifelongdancestudent ~ Leave a comment
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A T-Shirt I own

At lunchtime today I went to the gym and finally used my PAYG pass! (I had intended to go last wednesday, but I was too tired and didn’t want to run myself down).
Although I didn’t train mean, I did do 10 minutes on the crosstrainer plus a cool-down, several reps on the leg press and hamstring curl weight machines, then I spent 10 minutes stretching on the mat.

All in all a short, sharp lunch hour workout! I have to say I felt much more energised afterwards. Unlike this guy:

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Okay, he’s a member of staff.

Something that has been on my mind recently – while I agree it is good to eat healthily, this ‘clean eating’ thing has become a bit annoying. As well as the current OBSESSION with ‘smashed avocado’, there is also a huge trend at the moment of only eating a raw, plant-based diet and juice-cleansing at every opportunity. If you want to do that, great. However, I think it can become another food-focussed obsession that feeds into the realm of disordered eating where you may view certain foods to be ‘good’ or ‘clean’ and (most) other foods to be bad or ‘dirty’.

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Last night’s peanut pork – definitely dirty!

I recently read about a wellness blogger who had a best selling book called $25 Five Day Cleanse, but by obsessively following her own advice of raw food veganism and juice cleanses, her hair fell out and her periods stopped.

A quote from her blog:

“I was on a quest for perfection. I was laser-focused on being my healthiest, cleanest, most pure self. But eventually, that focus started to dominate my life. My desire for “perfect health” trumped everything else, and for a long time, I didn’t even realize it.”

Read more here: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/aug/11/why-we-fell-for-clean-eating

Maybe it’s the Instagram effect, but there’s a real pressure to be your best self at all times. I don’t have an Instagram account and I don’t want one, but I think any online social media presence can start to have a similar effect, which then creeps into everyday life…especially more so if you have more perfectionist tendencies and/or are unhappy in your current self. Thankfully the blogger got the help she needed.

As dancers we need to fuel our bodies (or “power-up” as I like to say), but dancers can also become obsessed with better, more, perfect… especially in the ballet world. There’s definitely nothing wrong with being vegetarian or vegan. I even went pescetarian for a while because I wanted to consume more fish, less meat and feel a bit healthier (didn’t last!). But it definitely shouldn’t be to the detriment of your health and enjoyment of life.

(While I am not a nutritionist, I have a real interest in sports nutrition and studied this as part of a fitness qualification I did a few years ago, so I could talk about this all day…)

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Avoiding fad diets with a quick stretch

Peachy

~ Lifelongdancestudent ~ 1 Comment

Today I have decided to do what I did last summer and go to the gym at lunchtime! I don’t have any dance classes until mid-September, and I am starting to feel really sluggish and unfit (I know, Rambert was only last week), so I think a short workout will be good, especially as it’s a really dreary day out there.

Peachy

Watching the IAAF Athletics World Championships has also spurred me on (I was at the Olympic Stadium on Sunday morning). I keep seeing adverts everywhere at the moment for how to get your “best body ever!” and a “pert peachy bum!” because it’s bikini-mankini season, but that’s not really my motivation. I just want to feel a bit fitter so that September’s return to dance isn’t a shock!

Don’t worry, I haven’t signed up for a silly gym membership that I’ll never use…I bought a Pay As You Gym pass 🙂

What do you do to stay fit when you’re not dancing?