You’ll find heaps of updates on our Facebook page and each couple of weeks we’ll post a few of them here.
Racheal – trained by Bronwyn Adam Hooper from The First Step
Hiya here is an update of my progress
I wanted to thank everyone who commented on my last post and boy did you all inspire me! I guess what I took most from all the comments was that my journey is very much a journey that many have taken and succeeded on, that many identified with and that many understood and that many of you struggle with too.
On that day, for the very first time in my life I have to say that because of what you all wrote I knew that I could do this. I mean I really believed in myself..
It was like a zipper finally came unstuck and I started to Let go of all that negative stuff that has happened over years and years of my life. – And the new me is waiting to burst out!
So this is an Update, this is me at the 10km Marathon in Hamner. First time attempting a race with a hill, oh god it was hard! I was so proud of the time I achieved, I came in at 20mins faster than I expected.. I kept looking back thinking – Nothing is going to stop me now.. I got this.. and OH MY GOD IM DYING lol
We are in week 7 of the challenge and im still as focused as I was on day one.. This Challenge is helping me to be stronger and happier than ever before… look at my face – Im smiling!!
I have dropped a dress size in the 7 weeks and I am losing kgs very slowly but surely.. this is good! It hasnt been smooth sailing at all.. god some days I thought “ Im not losing weight.. this is all to hard” but you know what? I pushed through that.. and now today – Im sleeping better, Im moving better.. my pain levels aren’t as high.. I am enjoying life more and im bloody well amped for the next event!
I have been training hard – and consistently – Now there is a key word that everyone needs to learn! I Did my first ever 16km walk and a 15.8km Bike in the last few weeks.. Next event is my first half marathon and Im amped!
Will keep you updated xxx
Keep at it guys Im doing it with ya! 0 Oh yea I feel ya pain but hells bells its got nothing on that feeling when you look at photos and realise you look great!
Wendy Craighead – trained by Jo Stark from Oxygen8
Hello my name is Wendy.
OMG look at the photo taken at my testing. I bought this dress a while ago and thought I would be able to just slip straight into it. How wrong I was!!!
Last year I fractured my right ankle in three places, was in plaster, non weight bearing for 6 weeks. Unfortunately that meant quite a lot of sitting around and eating what was put in front of me. No exercise (not that I was doing any exercise before I broke my ankle). Towards the end of 2012 my daughter introduced me to her personal trainer, the lovely Jo Stark (Oxygen8 Fitness) and paid for me to have some sessions with her. The follow on from that was to enter the 20 week challenge. My aim is to be able to fit into the dress, look and feel better and to eat properly. I have now had the plate and screws from my ankle and its all go with the exercising.
I now have a weekly session with Jo, Aquafit once a week, walking with my sister and trying to squeeze in more walking while working and looking after my grandson who is 2 1/2. I also hired a treadmill from Elite Fitness who are offering a special deal for 20 week challenge entrants.
Corey Lamb – The Richard Dryden Breakfast – Classic Hits 97.8 show winner trained by Roger Symes from SNAP
Hey Hey I’m back with my next blog!! WELL HERES A CHALLENGE!!!!!!! with my blogs, and to liven up this challenge and for even anyone whos not in the challenge, this is my challenge too ALLL ……Dare you accept it!!
I HERE BY CHALLENGE “ALL” TO AN ALMIGHTY GAME OF SIMON SAYS!!!!
And yes im Simon.
well first ill explain why and my theory behind it.
Well when i first started this, and went on the site, i decided that it needed a little fun. lets face it this is one of the hardest things i have done, and im sure others are feelin the same.
So I thought instead of looking like a twit by my self each week id challenge everyone to post a pic of you doing the pose, that i put up each week on here, and on my 20 week page.
So when things are getting tough we can look at these pics, and get that smile back’ as we see 100 or more human monkeys !!!
Secondly at the end of the competition, who ever joins in and has pics of them self in hilarious poses, getting smaller and smaller, can print them off and frame them with the pic of the final you, where you want to be, smack in the centre……. wow what a memento, and for an extra $9.99 Ill even sign it for ya!! ( Nah just joking bout that last bit lol )
so theres the challenge, Simon Says, get into it…. i dare ya !! copy my poses each week and and post them on the 20 weeks site and if ya can on my 20 weeks page, and lets get this competition smiling ….GO ON I KNOW YA WANT TO.!!
Any who, this week I gotta say it its been hard.
The old muscles were hurtin! And has anyone else ever experienced butt cheek cramps?? What the hell? talk about pain ….i mean how do ya stretch that one out?
Well i dont want too waffle on to long and as most of my blog was on my challenge so i will have to write a good one next week ….. until then here are my next two poses and the first two of the challenge.
The first i like to call “the kung fu crane” inspired from that famous and deadly martial artist The kung fu Panda.
The second was inspired by one of my favourite actors and wrestlers, I call it ” The ROCK Pose ” well hope too see an awesum response and til next time …..Remember its never really a good idea to test the mentos lollie and pepsi theory inside a car… or at least wind down a window first trust me lol
“Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.” Michael Jordan.
Twelve days ago I crashed paragliding – it was the first time I had tried this sport, which really pushed my comfort-boundaries. I tore a number of ligaments in my ankle (the details yet to be determined by MRI scan on Friday), which hugely disrupted my plans for the next thirteen weeks. I had plans – great plans, which are now all hanging in the balance, waiting to see if my ankle recovers, or if it needs surgery.
I have never managed to focus on my health and fitness for twenty weeks at a time, like for this challenge. I usually start with a hiss-and-a –roar. Big plans, huge expectations, limitless possibilities. Then I push too hard, run too long, lift too much and my body rejects the idea: I get injured, burnt-out, over-trained or just find that life doesn’t allow me to perform day-after-day like an ironman athlete, without the background of years of training like one.
So I’d throw in the towel, make excuses “I’m too old/young/fat/lazy/busy…..”…… the list continues. I’d give it all up, say “exercise is not for me”, and sit on the couch and get depressed and overweight. And then the cycle of weight-gain, self-hate, comfort-eating, weight-gain, self-hate would start again.
NOT THIS TIME!!!!!
This time: I have been injured. I can’t run, the exercise that I find is the best way for me to control my weight. I can’t climb mountains, as I had planned on doing in my ’20 peaks in 20 weeks” challenge. But I can do a WHOLE LOT of other things. I haven’t had a leg amputated. My marvellous support crew of my fiancé Aaron and personal trainer Amanda Armitage are still here and cheering me on. I can swim, bike, lift weights, and do so many activities that have previously been discarded from my thinking because I was too busy planning my “Everest” trip.
I forgot to appreciate the smaller achievements – including swimming a PB of 110 lengths (2.75km) in one go, or doing 20 press-ups when I previously could only do three. I ran for FIVE MINUTES on the treadmill last week, and it’s the biggest achievement for me for this competition yet, after concerns that I would never run again.
My recommendations to everyone in this competition are THINK BIG (I still plan to climb Mount Aspiring – but maybe next year, and would love to do a half-ironman), BUT…. appreciate all the small achievements along this journey. Obstacles to your goals don’t have to stop you. They re-route your path but really make you think about your priorities in life, make you appreciate the support people that are standing behind you, and the small goals you achieve along the way.
What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger…..
so till next week peace luv and mung beens…CIAO’
