New Balance Minimus Barefoot Trainer Review

A new workout regime is clearly an excuse for a bit of new workout kit right? In my case, it meant a new pair of workout trainers.

New Rules of Shoes for Lifting

I love my running shoes (I run in an awesome pink and dark grey pair of New Balance 760s, which have sadly been discontinued), but they're not right for a weight training based exercise regime. Firstly, because running shoes, in my eyes, should be used for running and running only - they don't need to get bent out of shape with heavy weights and things like that. Also, when weight lifting you want your heels to be firmly grounded to the floor - this gives you a better centre of gravity and for me, helps me to feel more connected and stable. Ideally, this means you're looking for a shoe with a pretty flat sole and not very much in the way of cushioning and support (which my running shoes have an abundance of, as I'm a heel-striking, over-prontating, weak ankled mess).

New Balance Minimus Trail Shoe

I spent a lot of time drooling over Cross-fit blogs and finally decided on the New Balance Minimus 10 Trail - it has a 4mm drop (which means it's got a teeny tiny bit of a heel) and a fierce vibram sole to give excellent grip. The shoe itself is incredibly lightweight, which is another bonus - I don't want to be carting around a really heavy gym bag as my job involves me doing a lot of walking and I don't have an office to store my things in. It's made of a breathable, minimalist upper, which is treated with ACTEVA+ - an antimicrobial treatment that reduces odor, so hopefully they'll stay smelling fresh too!

They truly are things of beauty and come in a wide range of colour combinations. Another great thing about New Balance is that they make half sizes - I went for a 7.5 and it's a perfect fit. 

I picked up mine from Amazon pretty cheap - it's worth searching around to work out which colour combination you fancy as that, and your size, can affect how much you pay. I recommend the trail version because the Vibram sole is an excellent addition for weight lifting, but there's also a running version and a 0mm version of both the running and trail shoe if you're so inclined.

Questions:

Do you have different shoes for different work out?

What do you think about barefoot shoes? Have you ever tried them?

New Rules of Lifting for Women: The Beginning

If you read my last post, you'll know that one of my aims for this year is to get stronger emotionally, mentally and physically - the impact of spending the best part of a year having a lot of my life dictated by seizures is that I'm feeling a lot weaker than I want to in all of those areas, especially physically. I miss the feeling of my body being strong and fierce, so I decided to take action.

For various reasons, cardio based activity isn't really my best option at the moment so long runs and bike rides are out of the question. And if I'm honest, I've always been more of a fan of strength training than cardio anyway... give me weights and yoga over running any day!

NROLFW Love

I've ummed and ahhed over the New Rules of Lifting for Women for ages, but took the plunge and bought it some time before Christmas. My review? I fell in love and devoured the whole book in a couple of days - it's very down to earth and easy to read, with lots of excellent advice, information and myth busting. I've always been a firm believer that the weight room isn't just for male-bodied muscle-bound grunters, so it wasn't the revelatory experience that I'm sure it might be for some people, but it's definitely been a push towards using weights I'd been scared of before (barbells) and having the confidence to really feel like it's ok to be in the weight room.

I adore the workouts too - there's 7 stages, all of varying lengths and intensities, with the aim being to increase your weights as you move through the stages and to really challenge yourself to lift "like a man" (a phrase which, of course, I hate but I completely understand - this is the first time I've seen female-bodied people encouraged to lift in the same way as male-bodied and to not stick to low weights). There's no suggestion of what weight you start with, which is both frustrating and entirely the right thing. I've had to start out very, very low - lower than I've wanted to - because I'm in the process of helping my body to heal, and every person using these workouts will be different.

The Before Pictures

And now, as is obligatory in all "starting a new workout regime" posts, here's some moderately embarrassing pictures of me in my underwear. This is actually a couple of weeks ago, before I started the programme. I didn't take measurements then, but I'll pop in my current measurements as of today as I've been working out sporadically and with low weights, so I don't think they'll be that different yet. Ignore the dodgy lighting/odd (miserable) facial expression/mess.

Beginning measurements:   10/01/13

Chest:                  35.5in  

Left Bicep:          10in

Right Bicep:       10in

Waist:                 29in

Hips:                   35.5in

Left Thigh:         21in

Right Thigh:      21in

(For reference, I'm 5'7"/170cm and weight 60kg)

I feel it's important to point out one final thing here as well - my goal for following the NROLFW isn't to lose weight. It's to be as strong and badass as I possibly can be and to have a more toned, more powerful body. A friend sent me this yesterday, which sums up my thoughts exactly:

(Source)

Questions:

Have any of you tried the New Rules of Lifting for Women? How did you find it?

What's your current work out routine? Are you trying anything new in 2013?

Making progress (and dancing irreverently)

So, there's an exciting thing happening today (although not the exciting thing that I keep saying I can't talk about.... there's a post coming about that later).

Today, I'm starting Grade 1 Ballet with Irreverent Dance. Now, partially this is massively exciting because I'm learning ballet with a bunch of awesome people in a safe and encouraging environment. It's a place where I can be myself, and not feel the pressure of trying to fit into the Ballet stereotype. I know for a fact (from the people who raved about last term) that I'm going to have fun and make some amazing new friends. And the classes won't be *too* serious.

But the thing that makes me most excited is that I'm well enough to go this time around. I registered for last term, hoping to have got my seizures under control enough to deal with something like a ballet class and all the things that come with it (travelling into London, concentrating on learning a new thing etc), but the week before I was due to start, my seizures kicked off with a fearsome vengeance. It was a pretty hard knock to my confidence and my happiness. At the time, it felt like seizures were blocked me from just doing the normal things I wanted to do (and the reason it felt like that was because they really were, in a horrible, boring way).

It's only really in the last couple of weeks that I've started to see my confidence eeking back, my happiness raising a little and my body feeling up for the challenge of exercise and activity. I've been spinning poi daily, and spinning a little hula hoop here and there too. I span fire poi on a beach a few weeks ago. And on Friday, I went for my first run in about 5 months. It was nothing special, just 2 laps around a fairly small park, maybe 10 minutes of running in total, if that, but it was something. A run has genuinely never felt as good as that one. Seeing my body able to do the thing I've missed so dearly. It felt like a significant moment. A symbol of freedom being given back.

It's weird - I'm not completely better - I still have a blacklist of cafes that I know will trigger seizures within 10 minutes of entering, I still take my giant (awesome) headphones and a bottle of diazepam everywhere with me, just in case. I still leave parties early if they get too loud and have odd patches where I space out and forget entire conversations. I still see the looks of concern on my best friend's face if I'm staring into the middle distance for no apparent reason, and I still have days where I end up collapsed in a shaking heap on the bed, biting back tears of frustration. But I feel better, stronger, more in control. A seizure or a patch of spaceyness doesn't throw me as much as it did. I'm not as angry at my body. I don't feel so sad or so alone. I actually spend a lot of my time feeling lucky and appreciative that things are getting better and that I'm surrounded by so many wonderful people who've done and given so much.

For me, starting a Ballet class today isn't just another exciting event on a sometimes too busy calendar. It's a symbolic marker in my journey towards normal life again. And that, my friends, makes me happier than you could possibly know.