Possibly the most girlie blog post I will ever write

Most days I train three times a day: before work, lunchtime and after work. This means twice a day I shower and get ready for work in a gym changing room. I normally have 10- 20 minutes do do this so I’m pretty used to getting dressed fast (and I’m probably at the low maintenance end of low maintenance to be honest – if you’ve met me you have probably seen me without make up on and almost definitely on a day when I haven’t brushed my hair).

So when someone said they couldn’t train at lunchtime because they wouldn’t have time to shower etc. afterwards it got me thinking who else is put off by this and I decided to list my tips for a quick no frills routine which might help anyone who wants to train around work but is put off by the post sweat grooming issue!

Pack your bag the night before so you know you won’t forget anything. When I forget my bra or one shoe it’s always because I’ve packed in a rush that morning.
Buy a camping towel- a) they are lightweight and fold up small b) They dry quickly and don’t retain water so don’t make your gym bag wet and heavy after use
Pack a wash bag with all the things you will need and it leave in your gym bag at all times – this is less than you think: shower gel (or not – some gyms have those little shower gel dispensers in the showers), shampoo, moisturiser, deodorant, toothbrush and toothpaste – anything else just adds unnecessary time
Minimise your routine as much as you can – quick shower, 2 in 1 shampoo and conditioner – if you have to wash your hair (I’m not so much of a tomboy that I’d go as far as suggesting combined body and hair wash but to be fair it is an option)
Baby oil is great as moisturiser – makes your skin super soft but much quicker than a lotion as you can put it on whilst your skin is still wet
Baby wipes and dry shower gel (it exists- try Boots) are great cheats if you didn’t do too much cardio – you will know if you can get away with this or not on any given day (more often than not the answer is no but they are useful for emergencies none the less)
Dry shampoo is also your friend. As are high pony tails/ the scraped back / Croydon Facelift pony tail.
You actually need to wash your hair less often than you think even after training. Give it twenty minutes and it will dry out and won’t actually smell – I wash my hair maybe 2/3 times a week max.
Don’t waste time doing the towel dance. All women know what the towel dance is and quite frankly it’s a waste of time. A) Nobody is looking at you and b) you normally end up being naked and more exposed for longer whilst trying to put your knickers on balancing on one leg and holding a towel round you than if you just got dressed.
Whilst I’m at it – do not be one of those people who gets dressed in the shower- you will get your clothes wet and you are holding up the people waiting.
Pack clothes which don’t crease – I’m fond of lycra.
If you can get away with not wearing tights you will save at least five minutes- putting on tights when you’ve just exercised is almost as much exercise as taking your sports bra off after a session.
You don’t need to put on lots of makeup after a workout- keep it minimal and take advantage of the natural glow your skin will now have to speed up the process of putting on your make up
Get your eyebrows and eyelashes tinted if having a bare face isn’t an option – this will save valuable drawing on yourself time!
Work out what your gym has in the way of hairdryers – if they have them don’t pack one! I personally don’t blow dry my hair as it dries by itself in about 15 minutes but I’m led to believe that’s not usual.
Do you actually need to straighten your hair?

Getting ready for work is dull and should take as little time as possible anyway – don’t let it stop you from getting a workout in – life is too short.

Note: This is a bit of a blog for the girls really- I’m going to assume most men are pretty much wash and go anyway but if not please re-read the above!

The Scales: My Arch Nemesis

Up until recently I have weighed myself weekly, every week, without fail, for about 19 years.

When you embark on a new regime and the scales show a downward trend consistently this is all fine. There comes a point when this stops however. Recently I have gained muscle – I know I have because I can see it. My body has got smaller / leaner/ however you want to articulate it- it has changed shape. My weight has gone up. This upset me. I complained. Quite a lot if I’m honest.

So I was advised to throw my scales in the bin. Weight is just your mass, it doesn’t take into account what amount of that mass is fat, muscle, water. It doesn’t reflect the hormonal changes of our body – women in particular are affected by our cycles and other things beyond our control (like werewolves only more vicious). It doesn’t affect how we look naked or in clothes or how strong / fit we are. I weigh 80kg now days – I am the same dress size as I was two years ago when I weighed 70kg.

I didn’t throw the scales away. Logic may be logical but 19 years of habit is hard to break. But I did hide them and commit to not weighing myself every week. That was about 3 weeks ago.

Mentally this is tough. What if I’m putting on weight? What if I have that illness where I look in the mirror and see someone thinner than I really am and so end up obese before I realise I’m doing something wrong? I know this isn’t logical but our relationship with our bodies is very often quite illogical.

Being successful with your fitness goals is as much about mentality as it is actually doing things. Right now i know I’m not ready to completely give up my scales – I’ve said I’ll maybe weight myself once a month or maybe every 6 weeks and look to cut down from there.

International Women’s Day

International Women’s Day.

I have mixed feelings.

On the plus side it’s a day to celebrate the women who have campaigned and fought for women like me to have opportunities and rights my mother and grandmother didn’t. This is great.

On the other hand- the fact that a group of people that make up around 50% of the population still need a ‘day’ to recognise and promote them is, in my view, a little sad. If we have International Women’s Day does that mean the other 364 days are Men’s days?

But I digress, this blog isn’t about politics or social awareness, it’s about fitness. So today in the spirit of International Women’s Day I want to write about women in the gym. Or more specifically my experience in the gym.

Five years ago, when I first started going to the gym, it was to attend Group Exercise classes. These felt ‘safe’ in comparison to the main gym space. There was someone there to tell me what to do, the moves were modified, everyone does the same thing and the space felt like a cocoon. I went into the gym areas too of course – PT sessions, occasionally training alone but always felt like a bit of a fraud. This is stupid really- my technique is OK but I lacked the confidence that I was doing the ‘right’ things.

In the last year I’ve started taking my own training, away from classes and teaching, more seriously. I’m focused. I have a plan of action. I know what I want to do and the reasons I am doing it. I’ve learnt new things. This change in training has meant getting comfortable in the gym itself and the area I struggled to enter the most was the weights room.

I always felt like the weights room was a male domain – the feeling as you appraoch a squat rack that you are encroaching on a space which is not for you. I really only felt comfortable if I was with someone else (and by that I really mean a male). From talking to other females I suspect many others have these thoughts. Some of the men who use these spaces do appear to actively discourage newcomers (it’s like the opposite of the group ex studio). However, I wanted to lift weights and so needed to get over this feeling.

Several months in and I now feel confident in the weights area of any gyms. Now I see that whilst I may be lifting less than (some of) the men in there my technique is ok – perhaps better than some and I have have just as much right to use a squat rack (even when the room is busy) as anyone else. Sometimes people will even smile at you, the other day someone asked me to spot them.

What changed to allow this to happen? Essentially nothing except my mindset. My confidence increased. Now when women ask me about training as we chat after classes, I encourage them not to be intimidated by the weights in the gym and to get in there and just have a go. Classes are a great tool for training and conditioning (and a brilliant starting point- Body Pump for instance will give you a grounding in various moves you can replicate in the gym) but I strongly believe that lifting heavy things should be an important part of all training programmes too.

How does this link to International Women’s Day? Well I guess it shows that for many women there are still barriers in all sorts of aspects of life. We don’t have equality. It’s a sad fact. BUT… It also shows that SOME of those barriers can sometimes be self imposed – my fear of the weights area was mainly in my head – so as much as there are still lots of inequalities that we need to fight against, we also need to realise that we hold the power to move forward and grow.

That applies to men as much as women to be honest. So I’ll finish as I started.

International Women’s Day.

I have mixed feelings.