Fitness Tests Smashed, May 2018 Adventures at Feel Good Fitness and Grantham Tennis Club

In this Blog post i will be going even deeper about how much fitness has changed my life and how by just being myself, i only keep growing as a person but most importantly why surrounding yourself with a great community will have many benefits in your life !!!!

This month has been the best so far this year but also one of the hardest in terms of fitness. Again if you want to know a more in depth experience from using the Myzone Technology please give my other posts a read first (:

also i have Recently come across this post on the MyZone website explaining well how the fitter you get the longer you will be able to stay in higher zones as well as information about health and other great tips which you can check out here -http://myzone.org/blog/trainers/myzone-heart-rate-monitor/

In life, what you want to achieve can change like a raindrop falling from the sky. All it takes it for it to land on you for your mind to think about something for just a split second and in that time question what am i doing !!!!

when i reflect back to why i first joined the gym to the progress i have made now, i honestly can say there are still elements in my life yet to kindle and spring forward, hidden talents, hidden strength and that with more new experiences can they open and reveal what they are.

When i was at school up to i would say the last year, i was really overweight, every year i would enter sports day, and every year that spark of wanting to proof what i could do lit inside me. i was never any good at running not only did i get painful stitches but struggled with asthma in a bad way.

yet i would put myself down to do the 1500 i think meter race which was like 2-3 laps. year 8 and 9 i could not even manage a lap, in year 10 i managed 2 but still did rubbish. in year 11 was where i lost most of my weight and the last year of school so i wanted to proof i could do it but due to bad week of weather it never happen ):

From that point for many years i kept at the weight i had lost, still struggled with pains but now was doing football, badminton, golf and basketball every week. so even when i was a lot younger i had a keen interest in sports the only sport i was ever good at was badminton.

Skipping ahead, life changed a lot and for about 5 years i slowly dropped sports my fitness dropped and put weight back on, its amazing when you grow up how life can change just like that. anyway for those who know me or have read my other posts will know that i decided to put my life back on track by starting gym, and playing tennis. Starting gym was a new challenge in my life and all i ever wanted from joining was to get stronger, i never expected to connect so well within the community, i never expected that after a year being at the gym, training super hard in weights that, another rain drop would appear and again put me on yet another different path !!! For me this adventure is something to be proud off because for so long i let my mental health issues take control of my life, i often felt like everything i tried i struggled with in some form and that its sad yes but the only thing i was ever good at was Gaming haha.

You already know that my mentally switched from weights to Cardio within just under a year, due to trying to do the coach to 5k through Grantham Running club. That itself was another path and another challenge in my life, to go from struggle to running for 5mins with pains to doing around 7k, completing park runs and getting a time just under 30mins for a 5k distance was a shock to me.

It was like my brain had took that competitive drive to do well in video games and applied it to something useful and something that was going to make me more happy then just sitting inside staring at a screen. So i guess when i got my Myzone Belt through the gym and was told about the watt bike classes i had learnt by that point that i was already a lot fitter then i ever was and that i use that to find my next goal in life and have something to add to my experiences in life.

with every month i become fitter, i become wiser about my life and my body but every month so far has been tougher and tougher and more competitive, and its true when people say you will never reach your limit and you will never peak at your best, because there are always ways of finding that extra strength, we as humans have that spark inside us to want more, to do better we are never happy with what we achieve because we know we can do even better !!!!

within the last few months i have already jumped from doing watt bike 30mins classes to doing, very high competition presets that are harder and longer, and that because of the need to do well and being inspired i have already proven to myself that i can break what i can do, that my body can take so much more and that in order to push even further i have to train my brain to be on the same level as my body.

so that indeed what this month has done its broken me, its pushed what i could even think of doing to new levels and its been one of the best months of this year so far. This month preset was strange not because of what it was but just how ironic it was. in the very first challenge i blogged about i showed a image i just got from google on how the myzone match works, just a random image, on that image was the Mid Mepantor so i had no idea 2 months on that would be the preset for this month haha

so as you can see this preset may look easier as your not switching zones a lot but its more of a intense blast that really hits you and have to push even harder then the other presets. only 2 days in and me and Frances were off to a flyer already beating the percent from last month preset and setting a high score to beat. we knew that if we could achieve that from just one go we could push this one to its limits.

as you can see from my average heart rate, it really does test your stamina to keep going !!! This months challenge prizes were as follows-

20 pounds cash, box of Protein bars, a protein spread and scales.

It was a great day because yet again like most Wednesdays i get to feel good at 2 places, the tennis club and then looking forward to our weekly battle (:

with the weather starting to really heat up, i knew this month was going to be the hardest in terms of effort inside me as whenever its over 20 degrees, i start to get bad headaches, i dont have the same drive and i get lack of sleep because of hot nights.

That still did not stop me from Enjoying playing tennis and because my confidence has improved so much it has not only affected my playing but also getting better connected within the tennis community to the point i now not only play social but can arrange matches with the people at the club.

as well as getting to know more people, i wanted to help a little around the club, so thanks to Dale who runs the feel good sessions he helped talked to Rob who does a lot of maintenance work. so before i arranged a singles match with one of the members, i was down early in the morning to help set up a canopy. This would be my first step into doing physical work, and getting me used to being in a work environment again, it was indeed hard work as we had to Build it from scratch. I did get a little confused but overall I was happy that I could help and after I got to look forward to playing tennis. Now although i love playing social mostly on Mondays, Fridays and Saturday, most of he time its doubles, and dont get me wrong some of my best games have come from them which you will find out later on, i just love singles as i get to pull all my tricks out and of course you get more action in the game because your running from most of the shots (:

you can tell from the stats that i worked really hard and i think even though i had rested the day before from the challenge my heart was still pumping a lot haha.

The week only got even better when the next day i was playing social at the tennis club and i got the chance to have another singles match this one being much shorter because it was part of social rather then an arranged hit with someone but still loved every game i played.

In fact the singles match with max pushed me even harder to play well, but you will find out later on why i can now put in the same effort without even reaching the red !!!

I have having a string of epic tennis matches and a epic start to earning a lot meps while having a blast, when the next day turned out to be the best darn day of my life so far, which i did not expect that only a week later that it was that day which was the best day ever, but we will get to that soon (: yes so far this blog has been a lot about tennis but its only because i like to show what is happening in my life and why it special to me (:

The day started off with a wonderful drink at the tea spoon company as I was now getting addicted to these hehe.

It was yet another wonderful and hot day and because i know so many people at the club i decided to take part in the adult coaching which is for a hour before social starts.

Normally i get there a hour before social to warm up and practice but on that day no one else had turned up to do some warm ups so decided instead of hitting by myself to do some learning from the coaching.

its only a small bit of money as well so i decided to treat myself, and i am so glad i went as i got to learn about Slice serves.

I will soon be doing a blog post about my tennis experience and going in depth about different shots etc but for now just the basics which is a slice serve is hitting the ball to the side of the strings in order to create spin, like in most ball sports you can do topspin, etc (:

to say i had never really done it before i started to pick it up fast and cause chaos to the people i was playing with not being able to return it haha.

as well as partnering up with i thought was the best double matches in terms of who i was teaming up with and playing against, all games were very tough, but again everyone loved my playing style so i was happy that the social went day well as well as my fitness being so strong in order to play at a high level without getting to tired (:

To end the day on a high i went to see this awesome band !!!

https://www.facebook.com/Black-Sabbatical-798498633554744/

as doing a lot of physical sport is good but you do need a change of location and a nice to relax .

For the next few days i hardly did anything due to the weather getting to hot and a bank Holiday with the gym and most places being closed.

However the next day just shows that even though i try so hard to get to grips understanding my body it can still shock me to how much drive i have to do well.

I got rubbish sleep because of the heat but it did not stop me having another singles match with a great person, my body was in perfect shape but because of the heat and the sun i kept making silly mistakes, so i enjoyed the match but was annoyed with myself with not playing good.

I then used that to head straight to the gym, this was after having just over 2 hours of a hard singles match.

some days even after doing a lot of things with your body, you just know you can do more so decided i was not having frances beat me in this months challenge after it being so close last month (:

Yet again i pushed myself to the max to come away with 97 percent, now taking the lead in the competition !!!! and it proved my fitness holds no bounds when doing tennis is now not enough anymore to quench my thirst.

Speed demon being the word indeed to sum who i am haha i looked at the stats after just thinking how did i keep it up and not have a heart attack.

Again with doing all this my legs were feeling the pain, so i am thankfully that i have the wonderful Kelsey to help understand where the pain is i get and come up with ways to improve it with different stretches.

Again i do find having a weekly stretch and balance class so relaxing after tough tennis matches or when i have been competing in the bikes challenges, and the more i go the more better balance i have and helps with my tennis with being able to use my legs even more to bend to get tough shots (:

It was yet another Saturday already and a time for even more great coaching, with more or less the same people from last time and again a lot of fun and a pattern was forming that having coaching before social really helped my game.

The best games of my life first started where it might of been silly and its the sort of moment you have to be there to experience it, but between 3 courts no one seem to get the right amount of balls to share so the balls where just going back and forth and people saying i can have more please, this just cracked me up.

Then myself and others played some shocked moments inc one of them doing a shot where with spin it bounces over the net and then back over just causing confusion.

some epic long rallies and just honestly all around great playing with awesome people.

all the matches i went on to play after that had some magic spark to them and that is why i love social so much because you get to create epic memories and make new friends (:

it was the best day of tennis because i brought a postive mindset to the game, i can play competitive but tend to find that only lasts for half a hour before my overall playing goes downhill, so if i bring the fun element to the social games, i not only make epic shots but so do others, and progress can be made by yourself but better progress is made when you can come away with the love of tennis from others and having memories that will stay with you for a long time !!!!

This is the point i start seeing big changes in not only less time in the higher zones but my resting heart rate dropping quicker which means in a way i am a like a recharging battery the quicker my heart drops the longer i can last.

what happened 2 days later i am still thinking weeks later how on earth but shows when you have great music and the will to set yourself higher goals that you can do it, its just beating that pain barrier.

I am of course talking about the bike challenge again, however going one step further.

Mondays are usual a great day because if the weather is to bad for tennis then i have the chance to do the watt bike class in the morning.

However i think my mindset has changed so much with doing the longer and harder presets to win prizes that for some reason i had no drive and was not enjoying the morning class.

This really got to me as i always look forward to seeing new faces and also doing better because of the other members doing great.

I was not ending the day on a low, so i went to do the evening class.

No one had turned up for it but the wonderful Kam who normally joins me and fran just for a bike challenge was there.

She does not follow the myzone match but rather does here own thing but often we are left shock as she makes staying in the red zone, a walk in the park haha.

Kam said she didnt mind what preset it was as was very tempted to still do the competition preset but challenged myself to do the Mid ANNIHLATOR !!!! which harder because it was all red and yellow expect for a few mins at the start, this preset inc a 6min yellow and a killer 3min red to finish it off.

This was a pure stamina test, so yes there was more chance of getting a higher zone because of less zones to drop into but it meant staying in the higher zones for longer and this was going to a much bigger test or me.

I think seeing Kam each week being able to have the stamina just gave me strength and to say my best so far was 97 on the competition preset, some how i went past that on the harder preset !!!!

I also burnt so many Calories, and i was just so in the zone having a blast !!!

it was no wonder that i felt really ill after when across 45mins my average heart rate was 167

I was happy with the result but my body was not used to that, so the wonderful staff at the gym had to look after me for a bit while i cooled down and did not feel so dizzy... whoops lol.

Now you make me thinking how is your heart rate dropping and yet getting results like above.

overall the fitter i get when playing tennis for example because i am used to working at a higher heart rate my heart rate is used to a quick recovery time, so unless i am doing the myzone presets where i have targets to go for, i will normally be able to only just reach the yellow.

As well all the myzone prests i do are on the bike, and i fount i have such power through my legs, i could not achieve the same results when playing tennis or running because i am not really forcing the power through my legs as much, if that make sense haha.

In saying that you will often burn more of your body when its hot weather, much like a few days after the challenge i was back playing tennis, but even though it was hot and had to work a lot harder i still was able to maintain a good balanced heart rate.

WW

With just under 2 weeks left of May it was already filling up with wonderful moments in my life, and after finishing yet another perfect day of tennis a few days later, i started to think of how much progress i had made in just over a year and that i could not have done it without the amazing people in my life.

so i wanted to a share a big memory from last year which was when i went on BBC Radio Lincolnshire with the project leader of the feeling good tennis, a wonderful coach and myself talking about Tennis and mental health (:

I did try the challenge again a few more times, but it got to the point it was now causing me pain and was not getting near my best, yes you should push to do the best you can but i think sometimes you must als know when enough is enough.

For me i still have not got the hang of it as i think i have done enough and then one day out of the blue like with the first competition preset i get my best after playing tennis and same for this month.

So for me that was it for bikes for a little while, the gym was about to be closed for a few days and the studio a bit longer due to the Upgrading as you can see by these few images here - click here for more

https://www.instagram.com/granthamfeelgood/

-A hard working Team FG !!!

Hard working Classes in the new Layout for the Studio, bigger , brighter and of course the members that nail high efforts in the class (:

It was now time to try and manage my days without the gym, so i decided since i had not gone for a good run in months to just go out for a small session, trying to Remember in a way what zone i would be in when to run, when to run but just drop my pass a little and when to recover.

as you can see it kind of work creating a sort of hit workout i was over the moon because of it but also my fitness levels as although i was tired after the run, i got back and within half a hour felt great again !!!

The next day i challenged myself again by taking a new class, with a friend which was with Kettlebells

it was 45mins long, hard but very good, which then after i headed to the awesome New Cinco Lounge to have a drink with a friend.

I loved the place so much, very spacious, very cosy, great upstairs as well, with lots of pictures and huge old fashioned hanging light (:

This is where this blog starts to come to a close, and what a month its been, oh i almost forget, out of pure driven to smash my meps from last month, with a few days away i was so close to 10,000.

The gym was reopen but the studio not so, i did cardio runs on the treadmill, weights and even a run 4 hours before the last day of may ended but i sadly was only 70 off !!!

Still i was happy as that was the most amount earned so far, however i do feel i wont be earning close to that ever again.

with my fitness levels raising it means that if i am doing my own weight training i barley hit the blue which is 2 meps per min.

my heart rate drops so much that unless i do cardio most of the time i am earning nothing or very little.

even playing tennis has dropped a lot from 600-700 to 400-500 with the same amount of running and effort being put in !!!

It was nice to see these stats that myzone email me (:

MYZONE MONTHLY RECAP: MAY 2018

Wondering how you've been doing? You're in luck, because we've got a breakdown of your entire month's workouts below. Keep up the good work!

Cheers, Team MYZONE

9937 MEPS

7444 Minutes

56% Average Effort

49776 Calories

109 BPM Average

I can tell you that in the date posting this is the 07 and already the first week in June has been even more of a fitness test then last month and i am only a week in !!!!

I have also learned even more about myzone and my fitness which i shall leave for the next months blog !!!!!

I just want to thank MYZONE, as i have had something to aim for rather then just running on the treadmill and not seeing results, it helps with your thinking when your running, and its also great to see how well you do in sessions and how you can see your fitness change.

I wouldnt be able to push the presets more and more and even have more stamina and speed without it.

I want to thank Grantham Tennis club for being there and letting me know that i bring a lot of love to the club.

Of course a huge thank you to Feel Good Fitness, the one place that has changed my life the most by just beening awesome all the time, looking after their members, pushing them to do well.

Like i said on first post, its more then just a gym workout, when you can take classes that are lead by staff that can not only enjoy the class themself but help others if they are struggling but more important allow others just to have fun !!!!!

Let the games begin for June and lets see how far my fitness can go for the rest of 2018,

I may suffer from mental health issues but i will always keep proving that just a small way of effort into something you do well can make a huge impact on your health and give new meaning of life !!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!