Most Adrenaline, fun and epic adventures Through Feel Good fitness Grantham and Myzone April 2018

Like with the last blog post i did in March i will be explaining my experiences Through the gym and using the Myzone Technology to improve my fitness !!!

For those who know me or have read last months blog, you will know that i have been competing in a competition at the gym through myzone so if you havent already give last months a read as i explain about how the technology works -https://danmediaproduction6.wixsite.com/dmpuk/blog/epic-adventures-challenges-inspiration-and-more-through-grantham-feel-good-fitness

so last month was my best month so far this year and as i was heading into April things were looking up.

only 2 days into the month i went to the gym, knowing that i had learn so much about stamina but also how to get a good control over dropping my heart rate.

I decided i wanted to select a preset which is normally used for the watt bikes and start training on those presets, so i could increase my overall result as more and more faces keep turning up for the classes and more keep improving making me have to work even harder to win.

I was just setting up when billy was in the studio a wonderful new member of staff to the amazing team.

I admit i use social media to much and i like to see what businesses are up to, and with me being a part of the community at the gym i often check there page every few hours for news.

so it shocked me when billy said oh your here for this months challenge, i looked shocked as i didnt know there was another one already.

The Chaos Theory !!!! as it states its mental

within 10 Minutes i gave up because it threw me right off as you have 30 seconds to drop from red to yellow, and then only 15 seconds to drop from green to blue and although i was starting to master my heart rate i was just like there is no way to drop it that fast ???? how wrong i was which we will get to a bit later on.

Even though it threw me off the next day soon turned that around it was a Wednesday that was starting to become a pattern of being a great day and a day to look forward to every week.

so after an amazing feeling good session at the tennis club, i went home fueled by adrenaline again had a small rest and then headed back out to the gym, The studio was booked but the amazing and wonderful Billy suggested bringing a bike out, and using the Myzone app to do the challenge instead.

The app is amazing, however for me i wouldnt use it for presets only because i use my Ipad instead of my phone and because of that find it hard to make sure it doesnt fall off the bike haha.

I was being silly as the night before i study the preset and made notes of what zone was coming next and how long each zone was so that nothing was going to surprise me.

so i had my Ipad, phone, towel and water to balance on the bike haha.

even though i had notes i was struggling to lower my heart rate, and it also shocked me even though i knew it was coming up, there is a zone where your in the grey which is classed as a resting zone.

this zone comes up nearly half way through the preset and because your working so hard its really hard to then get your heart rate to drop very quickly and stay in a very low zone.

at the end i only managed 87.8 but knew i could do better so in the evening i took to battle once again with Frances.

and as you can see a better score indeed, it was frances first time doing the challenge as well and to get 91.20 was a great result.

My belt had a slight issue that with one minute left i was at about 91.50 but for some reason my stats jumped to 47 percent and then back up to where i was at and it did this 3 times, which meant i lost 0.5 percent as my belt thought it was in the wrong zone.

i was a little annoyed but still happy that me and frances always come close all the time, but was more shocked at Kam, she often does the watt bike classes but likes to do her own thing and just go with the music.

we were that focused on the competition that we did not even notice kam giving it all, and managing 27mins in total in the red haha, i could not that, i would be to tired after 5 solid mins in the red.

Sadly in the next day i had really burn myself out and became ill, but seeing pictures like this full of smiles from the classes at the gym, made me feel better and within a week was back on my feet and competing again.

The challenge is one of the toughest challenges i have done in my life so far and it will did need a lot to figure it out as a week later i only improved 0.2 to match fran.

as well as doing tennis and of course the competition i was still very much enjoying the stretch and balance classes, helping my relax and also help with any pains.

speaking of pains, i noticed getting a lot of pain in my legs because of using the bike so much and in such a intense way, so the wonderful Kelsey, showed me some more stretches to keep doing on a regular basis.

The next day was not great as it was really cold, and my head was else where, but then it shows you how the weather can not only impact your physical state but mental health as well.

The next day after was a really warm day, and i had some of the most fun playing social tennis and just being happy, i got home to also see that i had earned a lot of MEPS so indeed a very good day.

the next week was one of the best weeks i have had in a long while,

I also look forward to try and do the stretch and balances classes on a Tuesday evening and Thursday morning, as my body is always very tense due to the volume of cardio i do, but also its nice to let any worries, and problems slide to the back of your brain and just enjoy learning new experiences and being around a great group of people.

Kelsey has a wide range of classes she teaches and has really helped me get hooked onto something that i think most males would not think of doing.

I remember the first time going and feeling so worried about others seeing how rubbish i was but you know ever since that first session, its always fun, we all have laughs and the more i get my body used to being in different positions the more it helps with everyday life and in fact improving my tennis game (:

I had message a great friend and social player named Sue about having a hour singles match after the feeling good session on the Wednesday as we have done battle many times, and although i love double matches and getting to meet new people, i tend to have more fun and play some epic shots and have a blast whenever its very competitive, which in singles it is, inc a lot of running.

The feeling good session down at Grantham Tennis club was one of the best, and was nice to see one of my friends come down and join in for the first time.

you can see below what i mean by intensive singles just by the amount of time in the higher zones towards the end of the graph !!!

when i got home it was after 2pm and been out playing tennis since 9am.

I broke myself and broke so far the most amount of MEPS During tennis, normally i get between 500 and 600 on a social tennis day, and less when its the feeling good sessions.

The reason why is your learning by having coaching done + having a break for fruit and chats with others taking part, but that day even without the singles match after was a really great session, and even though i was broken i was so happy.

I had only 5 hours before me and frances took our weekly battle for the competition, a few days before i had beaten her score and got 92.7 and i knew my legs were not going to push at there best, but i always love when we do battle and love having our talks and supporting each other.

so i already had a feeling she was going to beat me and she did !!!!

In fact i was just shocked to see how much effort i did put in during that day to earn the most meps in a day nearly 1,000 and that i had burnt way to many Calories haha !!!

The next day i treated myself to something i always crave in the summer, with not being able to afford taking a trip to skegness i brought a piece to me.

There is a epic sweet shop called holroyds traditional sweet shop In Grantham, and i had recently saw a post on their facebook page about slushies !!!! so i got myself and omg it was oooo so amazing (:

sadly the positive start to the week came to a end when yet again i over did it trying to compete as Frances had increased her score to 93.1, the gym staff was worried and so was my friends as the rate i was going i was going to end up in a lot more pain and causing long term problems.

i had a long chat with one of the staff, mentioning that no only putting to much pressure on myself but also that my weight had dropped to almost nothing, because of doing so much cardio.

i think In march i much have done the challenge 13 times, and i was already at my 8-9 go on top of doing 3-5 hours tennis 3 to 4 times a week !!!!

what can i say i love running, i love having that buzz and i feel my best in mind when i am around people who inspire me and i can have a laugh with (:

I know that this next bit might sound like woo me feel sorry for me sort of thing and its not in a way its more of a reflection on how much my life has changed because of fitness.

I had a very bad and troubled 18 years of my life living with my parents which caused me to have depression and aniexty, and after then things did improve in my life but was because i had met someone who i share my experiences with and try not to be in that place in my head of feeling rubbish about myself.

things happened in life due to my own fault that led me to totally isolated, no friends, no family or anyone to talk to.

I used to be a little bit active while being with that person but my fitness took a massive drop when we broke up and for almost a year, i just let my life slip away.

It was a hard battle to even get help but i knew i needed to understand my brain, and to not only take life more seriously, but put more effort in and to try and to my life around.

I know its silly but i am at the age where i have a far bit of understanding and knowledge about life due to those experiences.

i was talking to a friend on the way back from a tennis session saying that its great for me to be around a lot of people that not only understand mental health but accept me for who i am.

That without those bad experiences in my life, i would not have had the chance to have time to think and learn about myself, i would not know that after trying so many different things in my life, i feel i have at least found something i am good at and that through doing so much physical activities, its helped drive me onto the correct path in life, and although i have some dark days, the amazing days outweight them and that the more i find new ways to challenge myself, to be inspired to meet new people, the more of a better and well person i become (:

so for me i know i am great at watt bikes, and that i battle hard at what i enjoy, not only to improve but to learn about my body, to come away knowing that i am putting in so much effort in my life rather then sitting at home playing video games, or watching tv all day (:

Anyway back to the point of this blog -

I started to put a plan together of doing one day cardio and one day weights to help me save some strength

it was time for me and fran to have our weekly battle again, and she suggested doing a low random preset just to calm things down a little as again people were concerned about me.

i was a little gutted i could not do the competition but did enjoy talking to fran and relaxing a bit.

2 days later i felt better and gave it another go by myself, and leaped ahead of fran to 94.60.

There we was saying 93 was doable and now 95 was looking like something to aim for.

with only a few days left to enter we had made a plan to give it one last go together.

Frances normally comes in really early in the morning to go to the gym before heading off to work, so for me when she said lets do it at 7am !!!! i was like that early lol.

I woke up at 5.45 as no matter if i am doing physical stuff or doing something else i always need at least a hour to wake myself fully up.

when i play tennis in the morning, i get up around 7.30am to head out for 8.30 (:

Depending on the preset i always allow myself between 10-20 Minutes of warm up on the treadmill to get my heart going.

my routine on the treadmill will change depending on the preset so if there is a lot of zones where your dropping and going back up, i know to not go overboard on the treadmill keeping my heart rate from not reaching the green zone and focusing on getting to the blue zone and back down to grey, so that my heart is used to dropping quick.

However with it being so early in the morning i know i would be ok with dropping but struggle to get my heart racing to the higher zones so did a more intense warm up.

I woke up with the feeling that with it being so close and again being down to the last day that it was going to be a tough one.

it shows that you can not predict these things, and that we are both as driven as each other, when fran beats me by 0.1 to take the win for this competition.

Frances did say to me she was not sure if she was going to do it again later in the day.

I said to her that i was happy with the final result and that i love doing the watt bikes classes so i would rather do that then rest and try again in the evening.

so i must have been mad to go back home have a hour rest and back at the gym for the class doing a very intensive preset of a lot of red and yellow zones.

as i mentioned in the last post more and more people try the classes at the gym, and since doing the watt bikes over 8 months a go it has really shocked me how people have improved.

I was in close battle with someone called Michelle, and i was pushing to the limits just to stay ahead really feeling the weight of my legs from doing 45mins on the bike on a few hours before.

I never give up though and between the music and that drive to win i got a great overall zone match of 93 percent and only just won.

so for me i might not be earning lots of money, or being someone famous, but i live a life full of more and more memories and the more i create the stronger i get and the more i achieve !!!

so now that the competition was over i think to myself how much myzone has brought so many people together.

its also nice to see that people are in love with the boxing classes and how they have also been incorporated with the myzone software to give even a greater experience of driven and happy people (:

For me when i first got the belt, i hardly used it, i was worried it would fall off when playing tennis and that i would not be able to focus wearing, i also did not use it when doing workouts at the gym, as a lot of the time it would dig in, so i only ever used to the belt whenever i did watt bike classes or cardio.

you can see that i got the belt in may and was excited to test it out, the months after that was more focused on weight training, and it wasnt until October that i put the belt to full use.

why October?? well again i would use it as much if i did not have something to aim for, their was a challenge where for every 100 meps you earned you got a ticket, and at the end, they would all be put together with everyone else, to pick winners for prizes.

so without that, i would not have gotten used to wearing the belt while playing tennis, and it got me very quick, into the watt bike classes.

After that i started wearing the belt more and more, not all the time, still avoiding using it during workouts but now i was getting happy to check my stats on how well i had done.

You can see that with the myzone preset competition going the last few months that i have been earning a lot of Meps, and that at the end of April i recorded by highest.

so now that i have talked about one of the most draining but very competitive months i wanted to break down a few things that i had picked up and learned through this month before talking about yet another challenge for may !!!!

So first off i noticed Frances often puts her head down when she wants to quickly drop her heart rate,

I gave it a go and it does work so i started to study this technique to see how it works in more detail for my own body.

So for example going back to this preset the Chaos there is a point where you are in the red zone and have 30 second to drop from yellow to green and then 15 seconds to drop it to blue.

now each time you do this challenge it will be a different experience but most of the time dropping your head and help with the quick fire zones.

i know that if i have only just managed to drop to green that i wont drop my heart rate quick enough by its own, so i sit forward on the bike and watch my heart rate quickly drop.

However you do have to master this.

so because in a way your cheating you own body to trick it to dropping quicker then it should it means as soon your head goes up, your heart rate will suddendly jump to around where it was before you put your head down.

This of course is no good then because your then being in the higher wrong zone instead of the one you was aiming to stay in.

Often people will panic if they do this technique for to long and then cant control it when they are sitting up.

for example if i put my head down to get it to blue and it drops to grey i wont panic and jolt back up, i would stay there and pedal my feet just ever so slighty a bit faster, do that for about 20 seconds and then sit up knowing that my heart has had time to slowly drop by itself anyway so that when i sit back up it will still jolt but it wont be a big jolt.

sometimes you wont need to do this if you know on that day your working out you seeing your heart rate drop quick anyway, but again each day will always have a different result.

another thing i noticed is that i burn a lot more calories and get a higher heart rate then most people.

for this example i will be pulling stats up for Mays challenge which is the Mid Mepanator.

I will go into a little detail about the preset in a short while.

here is Frances stats after our battle on the new preset vs mine below

You can see that my average and peak were higher and that i burnt nearly double amount of calories.

while still putting in the same amount of effort.

does this mean i am fitter and faster then fran??? NO

I think its hard to understand how each persons body works, for me i burn more calories because my body is used to do a lot of tennis so i naturally burn more off, my body is also used to working at a high heart rate due to the amount of push i give.

so if i am in the red zone me and fran can be both at 96 percent effort, but my heart rate is pumping a lot faster so i normally reach between 183 and 195 where fran might only get to 170-175 but still manages to be on the same level as me.

Again all of heart rate are different and while i do a lot of tennis fran, does a lot of boxing and other classes that get the blood pumping, so again is does not come down to who it fitter.

The fact that i gave it my all most of the time and she either draws me or beats me says it all (:

So me and fran did our battle and to say this month has only just started we both got high scores already !!

The main reason for that is with this preset there is a lot of red, yellow red yellow etc rather then a lot of zones where your having to drop making it harder to be in the right zone.

This preset may have already got a higher score then the last one but in my eyes its even harder because its just go go go, and it wears you out a lot more.

just from looking at the top of the image again that since we both put our belts on i had burnt double.

i think its cool that it shows you how many meps you earned, calories burnt etc on the zone match but also shows you how much you have burnt since you put the belt on (:

I cant remember the full list of prizes this month but i think it was 20 pounds, a box of protein bars, a protein spread, and some scales.

with it getting hotter and working so hard at tennis and at the gym i treated myself to a wonderful refreshing drink at the Tea spoon company (:

April was one of the best months for classes for playing tennis and my overall fitness,

and even though i battle through a cold and overdoing it, i created epic memories.

it partly down to Myzone and the wonderful community in Grantham why i have been able to have these experiences !!!!

I have learned so much about my body, i have a much more natural control over breathing and relaxing due to studying my heart rate and taking the stretch and balance classes at the gym.

its nuts to think that i would never really achieve anything in life and yet here i am competing and doing well.

I have to give it my all for this month with the challenge as since this would have been the 3rd challenge in a row through myzone i think the staff may mix things up, as some of the challenges involve doing circuits the quickest and even hanging the longest.

I keep documenting my progress because i think its great to see how much i have come along but hopefully inspire others to understand why fitness is important and that great experiences can come from it.

I was even talking to a friend the other week about the software and said it would be cool to see how other gyms do with the same challenges and kind of have a battle between the gyms to see whos best haha.

speaking of gyms, Feel good Fitness is coming along nicely with expanding and upgrading.

here is a picture of the new female changing rooms and hope the males is just as nice when its done !!

I think thats a good place to end this blog (:

who knows what this month will bring i know that 98 percent may be possible for this preset and i have a feeling that other members will get onboard and that it will come down to the last day to decide who wins !

Thank you for reading feel free to share and if your someone who uses the myzone side of things feel free to comment some of your workouts and how its helped you with your fitness (: