It’s been a year since I’ve started my gym journey for reals. It’s been a good year I think. I’ve managed to keep it regular throughout the year and I have reached most of my goals! *happy dance*

Goals I have reached:

My leg goals!

My legs are the strongest parts of my body. It wasn’t hard to make gains really, I just had to be consistent and eat right. I went to the gym twice a week. One day I concentrated on my upper body and on the other day I concentrated on my lower body. It worked better for me that way and I didn’t want a situation where my whole body was sore the next day. It’s killer when your arms are sore and your legs are too, so you struggle to do everything!

I also tried my best to have a balanced diet, to make sure I had protein and that I stayed away from junk food. Water was also a must. It was also important to be consistent with food and the whole balanced diet thing as when you’re consistent you see results. I wasn’t concerned with losing weight but more with being healthy.

So doing those things helped my legs the most. My goal was to reach my body weight in all the leg machines like the leg press machine, adductor and abductor machines and the booty machine, you know all them. And I reached it! Whoo! So now I’m going to see how far I can go and how strong I can become, steadily.

I haven’t challenged barbell squats or deadlifts as I do everything by myself and I feel like I need help from someone who knows what they’re doing with those exercises. I don’t want to hurt my back and I want to get the form right, so I haven’t made any gains in that area unfortunately.

As for my upper body the progress has been harder but somehow more rewarding. When I tense my arms there is something there, you don’t know how happy that makes me. Like yes, I am getting stronger! The things I used to find heavy I can manage now. Even at work I’ve noticed the difference.

I am more cautious with my upper body as at the beginning of my fitness year I had a problem with my shoulder and that halted the progress a little bit. I’m back on track now and I’ve changed some things and it’s working better. I do more free weights with my arms and that has been very helpful. I used to struggle lifting a 5 kg dumbbell but now I can lift a 7 kg one! I never thought I’d get past 5 to be honest so it’s a huge achievement for me. And next year I may come back with even better news so I’m excited for the progress to come.

I have also been swimming, as that is my cardio exercise. I’ve been doing that more in the summer and spring months but for this fitness year coming I’d like to swim all year round. It improves stamina and works out your whole body. There are so many benefits and I love it! So yes, I shall continue to work on my swimming.

Goal for the future:

• I want to improve my push ups and one day I want to be able to do a sit up, like this is a dream I haven’t realised lol.
• I would like to do a chin up or a pull up. There’s a difference and I can’t remember which one I was going to try. But yes, I’d like to be able to do that.
• I’d like to complete the plank challenge.
• I would like to work more on my core.
• I would like to continue to make gains.
• I would also like to do martial arts again.

 

So there you have it, a year on.

How is your fitness journey going?