Epic Adventures, challenges, Inspiration and more Through Grantham Feel Good Fitness

I have to warn you that this blog post will be the longest i have ever written so if your not a heavy reader you may struggle haha.

I will be talking about my progress through the gym, as well as competitions i have entered and Inspiration i have got from the amazing community at the gym !!!

In September of 2017 I made a post about how much my life and fitness had changed as i had been going to Feel Good Fitness In Grantham for a year.

many months on, i have further expanded My fitness levels, and my life has took a path in a different direction,

Since September i have entered even more Watt bikes classes and well we will get to that later in the blog, The main reason for this blog is to explain why its important to notice your body and that sometimes a fitness change in life is not all bad and that you discover new things that will challenge and shock you !!!

When i first Joined the gym just before the end of 2016 my main focus was getting strength all over but mainly in my arms because i lacked any strength to carry shopping.

I slowly started to Build muscle on my arms, the workouts got harder very quickly, however throughout the course of my muscles developing i had the chances to connect with many people and have fun along the way.

At the start of 2018 I noticed within myself that i was really struggling with balance issues that i have always had since i was a kid, and despite training i also noticed a lack of any strength from my lower half, so knees, legs etc.

Put me on a tennis court where i am having the time of my life, and have a goal to achieve i can bend like there is no tomorrow, i can be flexible.

on the flip side if i am doing deadlifts or even sometimes getting up off the bed, it hurts a lot and often have a lack of balance, sounds so silly i know but for me its a mind set sort of issue, i believe, when i am playing tennis, i feel alive and the adrenaline kicks in so my body does not have to think about pain, unless of course i have pushed myself to much.

I decided to have a wonderful and very insightful talk with Kelsey Pakes who is a personal Trainer and Fitness Instructor at the gym

I explained in a strange way as it was hard to explain how my body felt when training.

I mentioned how i felt like a boulder that i had a lot of strength but my legs always felt very heavy, my shoulders very tense and that i had movement issues after training, as all the training i have done is weighted workouts and never any stretch kind of exercises or workouts to work on my core.

Kelsey explained to me about the Stretch and balance classes that she teaches which are good for relaxing any tension and are great for strength and core.

In that meeting i also explained how i wanted to try new classes and become more of a social person, with only doing a boxing class a few times and the rest was doing the watt bike classes that i craved.

She told me she was going to work on putting together a workout plan and show me some stretches that will help me.

Although i loved training with my friends, sometimes what they want to achieve is different to what you want to, so this new plan was put into place where i could still train with them but also have workouts to do on days that i am training by myself as you can see below from what kelsey sent me (:

Circuit Example One:

- High Knees

- Mountain Climbers

- Squat Jacks

- Plank Walk-Outs

(Perform each exercise for 30 seconds. At the end of all four, take 1 Minute Rest. Complete this circuit 3-4 Times.)

Circuit Example Two:

(As your stamina improves, an extra exercise is added)

- Star Jumps

- Bodyweight Squats (can be Squat Jumps for added difficulty)

- Half Burpees

- Plank Hold

- Press Ups

Again, perform each exercise for 30 Seconds, after the full circuit take 1 Minute rest. Perform the circuit 3 times, building up to 4. 

Once your fitness improves further, you can change the length of the exercises from 30 seconds to 45 Seconds or 1 minute.

2 days later after about 5 times saying to myself, yes, no i decided instead of waiting weeks before joining the stretch class and it weigh on the back of my mind, just to go with the flow and try it.

I turned up early to do some weight training, when i was invited to try the Circuits class,

This inc, using some weight anyway, the aim was to use one piece of equipment for 30seconds and then onto the next.

I was glad to give it a go however with my dyspraxia i was struggling to do them, and often needed showing a lot what to do.

I shrugged it off as i went into the stretch class, i had a small idea what the class would be like but was totally blown away with how relaxed and peaceful it felt.

The first session i struggled a lot because i had never worked my body in that way but even though i was really struggling for some reason it did not put me off like the Circuits and i have now been in more then 5 Stretch and Balance classes !!!! (:

With each session i go to the more i am able to have better control over my balance i am also starting to have better control telling my brain to communicate with my body.

No session is the same, as their are so many different stretches you can do, here are just a few examples , with pictures of what we have been learning in the classes (:

thanks to Kelsey for sending me the info for these- pictures off the net

- Child's Pose - restorative pose, good for reconnecting with the breath, grounding and relaxation as well as stretching out the upperbody and hips.

- Supermans (Or also called Bird Dog): Good for connecting movement with breath rhythm and core control and strengthening.

- Warrior Pose: There are 5  different variations - Warrior 1, 2 and 3 as well as Reverse Warrior and Humble Warrior.

- Chair Pose

Low Crescent Lunge -

Crow pose -

There is so many more that you can do but i would be here forever listing them (:

I will say that the crow pose so far is one of the hardest ones to do...

Well My friend made it look like nothing as Kelsey challenged him to do it after the session and it just felt like really... that it haha, i was struggling a lot and he just walks in and does that (:

So even though i do struggle with some of these Techniques it has been a blast to not only be able to train my body to do different things but meet new people.

Lets now move on to a big section and a big part of my life, which is MY ZONE.

i could have wrote another post just about the Technology but i felt that its best situated in this post because well you will get to understand why !!!!

So just over a year a go i was over the moon to have my very own Myzone Belt, this was the first wearable stats tracking Technology i had ever used.

The belt works in so many different ways so ill try and breakdown what the belt is all about, why i use it, what for and how its inspired me to keep up with my fitness and enter challenges.

The belt is a very simple piece of kit, just attach the myzone device which you can see on the belt in the picture onto to the belt, and place it around your chest, it will beep twice to say its not on right or when switching off, and once to let you know its on, you can then track your stats from the belt via the website, and even the app, which will work with phone, tablet etc.

I use the belt in 2 different ways - Tennis

When i play tennis my thoughts are not i must burn this amount or put x amount of effort in i just enjoy the experience of the day.

However when i get back to relax i am often curious how many MEPS i have earned which ill explain about them a bit later on, i also like to see my peak heart rate and curious to see how intensive i really did push myself during some high intensive playing.

As you can see nearly everytime i play tennis for around 3-4hours playing time and the rest walking, i burn a whole days worth,of calories , which means i need to eat not only a lot of food but the right kind of food to get me through the rest of the day.

Every-time i wear the belt i always get a different result, this can be because of many reasons, i might not be running as much, i might have fewer games, or there might even be a moment where i am in a epic game, and my heart rate does not drop that much because of how much i am pushing myself.

Sleep, what we eat drink, can also affect your heart rate, it may seem daft and small but everyday like in life is a new challenge for your body (:

Gym Cardio, classes / Competitions-

Most of my time i would say is spent in the gym, weather its weight training, Cardio or even doing Watt Bike classes.

It really is nuts how quick life can go to say its been a year since i first started on the watt bikes, on the joys of really bad pain to start with, panting and leaving halfway through because i was so unfit.

To where i am this year, with my fitness through the roof and winning competitions through the class.

going back to why i am so keen on checking stats, in order to do the watt bike classes you need a belt, which you can use a demo belt for free, if you dont own your own (:

The watt bikes classes worth with myzone to create a variety of different presets from easy to high.

on the screen infront of you it will show your heart rate, your meps, your percent your in, just as you can see by the image above.

so for example by the image above you can see on the image to the right the preset name, how long the session is which this one is 36.22 long.

you can see at the bottom what zones are coming up so yellows,reds etc, you can also see on the same image that this person is in the green with 22 seconds left before going into the higher zone of yellow.

You lose and gain percent when your either in the right Colour zone or not hence the zone match.

you can get some presets where its about stamina maintaining being in one zone for sometimes 2 Minutes+ and some get your working harder with high levels of just go, go go

When i first started taking the class i never really cared much for the zone match experience but more zoned out to the music and seeing how far i go push my heart rate and just having a blast !!!

Then in October everything changed and was where my fitness started spiking, with the introduction of winning something if you won 6 of the classes.

Now instead of pushing myself for kind of no reason just to see how far i push things i know had something to aim for.

this is where myzone really shines, as everytime you do a class your now focusing on being able to drop your heart rate and raise it to a better standard as you would of done before.

It starts to train your brain and body, watching the countdown thinking do i start slowing down yet, it my heart rate going to drop to fast and lose percent because of it, and because your so driven to win, the more you do the classes, the better your stamina gets, the better your heart pumps and the more control you have of your own body.

so for me i get the following for these classes, the fitness element always improving, and when i say always improving, it does not have to be the case of oh look at my peak heart rate, or the amount of effort put into the class, the improving can be from being able to breath better, have more strength and stamina in your day to day life, and so many more wonderful aspects, Cardio can have on your life (:

The most important reason i love the class so much, is The inspiration it gives me and to see the Journey of others as well as just having a blast, meeting new people and creating special bonds through the experiences you take part in.

now on the flip side this may sound a bit of gloating but i am not sure the best way to explain this next bit haha.

for about 2 months i was on fire in the classes, winning back to back to back and got the chance to win some epic prizes because of it.

However although sometimes my ability dropped after the 2 months, what i saw just gave me even more spirit to not only improve but keep getting better at my fitness.

People who were taking the classes suddenly became better, new people took the classes and brought another level of competition to the class, and the exceptions to win, felt like it was fading more and more.

In life and i know there are people out there who only care about winning all the time, and ok i may be ultra competitive but i like to feel i bring the nicer out to it.

I improve because others do, i am happy because others are happy, i try my best because others have such dedication to improve their well being.

if you can not have a laugh and a good chat about the class at the end then why are you really taking part?

like the quote above Change wont come if it does not challenge you, we as humans can do the most incredible and mind blowing things that we never thought we could when we are pushed to the max, but again if you can not take a learning experience from it then why do it?

By the start of this year i was already a lot of faster, and had better control over my stamina i also like i mentioned at the start knew my strength was in Cardio rather then weights.

So now we skip forward to the highlight of March 2018, highlight of this blog and my life !!!

I may have won things through the classes but the challenge you see above would be the first time i have ever entered a challenge purely focused on one thing and the first time entering something to win money.

Kevin had set an amazing 96.8 to beat which did alter my mindset going into it a little bit shaken by the amazing result.

This preset was like no other i had done before, it was 45 Minutes instead of 30 it had a lot of zones of going down into one zone and back up again and so forth.

It was easy going from blue to green within 5 seconds, green to yellow within 10 seconds and even pedaling at super speed with 15 seconds to go to move from yellow to red.

The hard parts were judging when to slow down into the next lower zone, with the first time having to really focus i was all over the place.

some sections my heart rate dropped into the right zone 10 seconds after being in the wrong zone.

The challenge is so harsh and heart breaking, when after only being in the wrong zone for 5 seconds you lose about 1 percent.

Now this is where it becomes tricky depending on the length of that zone you have the chance to make around half of that percent back.

2 hardest sections is when your going from yellow to red as your in the yellow sometimes for 2 minutes and then its one minute in the red.

your working so hard through that time in the yellow making sure to keep your heart rate stable,

staring at the screen like its live or die going no dont drop, you then panic and sometimes speed up to fast.

Your legs hurt from keeping it stable and then you have the intensive red followed by dropping back down to yellow again, i think this happens about 4 times throughout the session.

Another hard part is the last 10 Minutes, this is where it starts to slow down, but because your heart rate has been working so hard, your plan of thinking you know when to drop your heart rate goes out the window and for then on it comes to a bit of luck.

Frances who was also competing was on fire beating her best the more she tired and then kevin decided to beat his own beat by 0.1 and i was to thinking there is no chance, and had it in my mind he had won.

I gave the challenge another a go and was now starting to learn about my own heart rate but at the same time knowing how to master the intensive on the bike.

On each side of the bike you have a lever going from 1-10 turning it up higher creates the feeling of having weights on your legs.

so the higher you go the harder it is to pedal, and in many classes i had it on 10 and a few months back i started to pick up a very odd pain on one side of my leg, me and staff tried to figure it out but was clueless.

From that point i lower the amount of weight on my legs to around 8 and did make things feel a bit less painful.

I took that and started to master it to the point that when i want to hit the red zone and stay there for a while, i can now give the same amount of speed through my legs with it set to 6.

this means i can enjoy the classes more and give it more without the pain (:

so with that in mind i got a better result of 94 percent and a few days later a even better result of 96 !!!

now i was thinking i am really enjoying this and was very content with my result and not giving it another shot.

I was very inspired by the level of mastery of people controlling their heart rates, so i had the wonderful pleasure of competing with fran at the same time.

it took a while to get started due to my heart rate not being stable but eventually off we went,

with 10 Minutes left fran was beating kevin !!! when she dropped out of the zone she was in for a few seconds she was now 0.1 behind kevin and i wanted to motivate her as i knew she could do it so i said dont worry you can make it back.

I have never been so happy and feel on the edge with 1 min to go i was saying in my head dont you dare drop out of the zone fran, and was over the moon with her result.

with only a few days left to enter it was on and we had so much fun that we set a time for both of us + Kelsey to do it again the next day.

I improved even more the next day with 96.50, and now i was thinking ok i can do this, even if i finish third i want to be as close as i can so i know i have done the best i can.

You may be wondering why the Tennis picture?

well with 2 days left to enter and being already happy with my result, i did not want to miss out on tennis, i was so glad i did not with the best weather so far this year, super warm, little breeze and some epic matches.

I was so hyped from the sun and the amazing community of people at Grantham Tennis club, that i thought you know what i will give the challenge a go later in the evening.

I remember there being kids dance sessions the evening at the gym, so rang up to find at what time it finished so i could use the studio to do the challenge.

I was told on the phone, kevin came in this morning and beat frans score by 0.1, i was heart broken that she put so much effort in to be beaten by that small amount.

At the same time i was so fueled and again inspired because it could be pushed even more that i wanted to try just one more time, the famous words , just one more level just one more go haha.

I put the cd player on as always which is part of my fuel and partly why i achieve because of the music pumping through you, no way i could do it without music on (:

It was getting hard to keep my heart rate stable in the zones as everytime i was doing it my heart rate dropped quicker and quicker which again is not a bad sign, a sign of good physical health.

Luck was on my side as for 3 zones i dropped my heart rate bang on 0 so i did not lose any percent,

all the way up till the last 15mins i was at 98 percent, then my legs starting to cave.

all that week i was exhausted and when doing the challenge, my engry was from drive and inspiration only.

the last 5 mins my heart rate was all over the place, dipping out for a second and back in the right zone,

i was so neverous, this was a make or break moment, and like with fran when it got to a min left my face lit up, i had come from saying i am not doing it anymore, and feeling like the target was to high to beat to beating it !!!!!!!!!

Not bad to say i had done over 3 hours of tennis just achieving that, when most days it takes a few hours for me to recover after tennis before i do anything else (:

quick break before the dramatic ending (:

for one week In march sports Relief was on and the gym had a challenge for its members to help raise funds for a good cause.

The Objective was to get a combined time of 24 hours on the bikes Throughout that week,

I wanted to contribute and said i was going to do 2 hours.

this was a big ask since i was doing the other challenge at the same time, and i had never biked that long.

half a hour in i was getting bored because i did not have a myzone target to aim for, i was also just slow pedaling so i could manage the 2 hours.

I scrapped that idea and let the music take the flow, to do a proper Cardio workout, at a hour i was struggling with pushing so much, so took it easier and ended up doing a hour and half rather then 2 hours.

i would of rather done a good workout and a bit less time then be bored haha.

right back to the main challenge

so now Saturday came, one day, with fran 0.3 behind and kevin 0.2

Kevin did not come in to do it again, i was a little gutted as again competition fuels me hehe.

I decided to give it one last go around dinner time, just to try and push the lead a little further but my legs had the same pain from months a go, my body was telling me no more so i gave in.

I went home got food and looked on the myzone app a hour later to see Fran was at the gym, so i went back out to see if she would take the win, she was not happy with her result and with just over a hour left of the competition she gave it one last go.

while she was doing that i was talking to helen the manager saying if i won i would split the money with her, as i have only achieved what i did because of her spirit, she is a wonderful member at the gym, and for me entering was never about the money, it was more proving to myself how far my fitness has changed,

like i said above i was happy with the result i had even if i did not win.

we also got talking about how this challenge has not only brought people together but i have been able to learn from my body because of myzone.

which was created by the wonderful Dave who is the guy in the black top next to Micheal who is wearing the green rks top (:

I was Excited to hear this news a few weeks back -

A massive congratulations to Dave Wright (owner of Feelgood and creator of Myzone) seen here winning an award for Myzones outstanding contribution to the fitness industry📷🔷📷🔷

We are super proud to be the first gym in the world to have had MyZone!

We couldn’t imagine training or running classes without it. It has truly transformed our sessions and helps us to get the best out of our members helping them to feel great about fitness, before, during and after!

when suddenly i hear joy and fran rushing out saying quick take a picture we have tied !!!!!!!!

i told her what i told helen, and said it was fate, it was fate that my body said no more, and fate that i would of split the money if i had won.

we was both so happy and over the moon, and i could not wish sharing the money with a better person,

we had both kept motivating till the very end, and not only was it the first competition i had every won but the closest.

It shows that you can create special moments and create bonds with people you do not even know just through a competition to win money !!!! haha.

For me it only showed even more what an amazing business and community the gym have weather you are working out, taking classes or helping others, feel good fitness is number 1 for community first

next months Challenge is live and its a killer !!!!!

So what did i learn from the challenge firstly -

well i learned that the brain is a very complex thing and often can stop you from going above and beyond from what your body can do, that emotions control how we perform and that even when we have used all of our battery life, we still find a way to push on further and achieve things we could only dream off.

- I learned about the concept of Myzone, i learned how it develops your body and i can honestly say i would be lost without having the stats and even the live view at the gym, to focus on to improve myself.

I learned how to control my breathing, and how my health has increased because of better control.

I can not urge enough how life changing just a device can be !!!!

- I have truly surrounded myself with amazing people because of the use of the belt but also as i stated above being inspired by how quick people have improved.

what i have learned overall since the change in my workout plan???

-the daunting task of being around others when i have not got a screen to focus on,quickly leaped away because of how relaxing and peaceful the stretch and balance classes are as that we all are at different stages.

how quick i have been able to take control of my body to become less tense, less stressed and really opened my eyes to how bad my body had gotten after stressful and high intake of usage from sports.

- I have become a much more confident and relaxed person over the last few months and feel i can now hold a talking point with others at the gym rather then Hello, in fact i met a wonderful chap called Casey through the stretch class, who also attempted the MyZone challenge, we get on well and i am glad that i took the courage to try new classes as i really do love the stretch class so much (:

-last year i took a challenge where for every 100 Meps you earned you got a ticket, so i burned myself out a lot by doing lots of tennis, Cardio, classes etc just to earn points, in total i got around 7,000 Meps but it took a huge tole on my body.

this year i have earned the same amount of Meps and ok towards the end it hurt, but my fitness was so much better then last year and i was able to put even more effort in without feeling ill (:

so thats where the Meps come in as throughout the year there are challenges like earn the most etc

- I have noticed sitting up and bending a lot easier over the last month, however because of my lifestyle and choices some weights have dropped to compared to what i used to be able to lift.

To me its not really a bad thing, my weights have gone up on what i focus more off which is my arms and shoulders, i am happy with the level of strength i have and i know that with so much Cardio i do i burn off the muscle but again i am happy with my lifestyle and that is all that matters at the end of the day.

Finding a lifestyle that suits you and not others it doesnt mean you have to give up training with your mates but it will mean re adjusting your life and goals.

Moving on to some Exciting news !!!!

The team expanded to welcome Billy to the FG Team

I sadly do not know much about Him but what i can say is he often takes and helps out with the boxing classes.

From what i have seen and heard from others he has a cracking personality, he is full of life, knows how to bring the best out in people, such a friendly auru around him and what he does

here is a comment from a person on their Facebook page-

Billy -U inspired me after having 4 kids to get stronger ,fitter & push the fitness boundaries!we are so thrilled to have a true professional , class planning legend , technique guru & general nice guy (except wen u make us do burpees ) at Fg !!

I often check the myzone app for the people i have on there and see there stats from his sessions, feeling the fire and burn really pushing everyone hard but when the class is finished everyone can not praise billy enough and the boxing classes have become a big hit !!!!

I hope that billy continues to develop his role at the gym, and maybe one day ill give boxing a go again (:

In other exciting news !!!!!!!!! -

The gym is expanding and possibly becoming a 24 hour gym

The changing rooms are one of the things being redone, and Helen mentioned about them expanding then a month later, Grantham Journal wrote an article about new businesses Opening in Grantham, mentioning about feel goods expansion and hinting it being 24 hours.

I think the business has grown so much over the last few years from classes, to staff and so much more that i am so glad its doing so well to expand, i also hope it does turn into 24 hours or even just later hours then already opened as it gives me more chances to train, even more so at weekends (:

I wrote this post to not only show the amazing gym, my fitness path but to also get the message across of how important fitness is and how its not wrong if you want to try something different.

I think a lot of people of any Gender still worry about doing classes infront others, thinking what if its only males or only females that are taking the class.

I will put my hand up and say i was shy to take part in classes however with my experiences over the last few months i have just learned to cope, and find myself always having something physical to do at the gym.

Its nice to have a different pace rather then just doing workout with your friends.

My fitness means the world to me and i try to take care of it, ok i am no expert and will often eat, junk food, chocolate, milkshakes etc, and yeah i could have more muscle then i have if i had a better diet but i love the lifestyle i have.

I make sure to get enough sleep, i wash everyday to keep fresh, i make sure to have meals with protein and good for you, on the days where i am training with my friend, so at least 2-4 times a week.

I try to look after myself the best i can, and for me sport and gym make me happy,

The goal this year is to keep improving in the classes, connect with more people, and just take each day at it comes and try to fill it with as much happiness as possible.

Learning, experiencing and helping others weather thats a ear for listening or a hand being a spotter for someone doing some weights (:

Thank you for reading my epic Adventure and i hope that you took away a small bit of advice or even inspiration from this blog !!!!

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