Gail Emms' Blog by Gail_Emms

Hello! Hope everyone is enjoying 2012 so far?! I was glad to be back into a routine actually. I think I was sick of just hanging around eating food, so I am on my fitness streak again! Woo hoo! I'm just about to go and play netball, which in itself is ridiculous as it is blowing a force 7 gale and how the hell we’re going to throw a ball about, I have no idea. We are not good enough to play indoors, so we have to slum it on the concrete courts! It is going to be an interesting game I think! Wish me luck! I have gone a little bit crazy with the fitness theme and my house is beginning to look a bit like a gym. I went to Denise Lewis's house once and she has a gym in her garage and I was very jealous indeed. I don't have room to make a gym, so my lounge is going to be a makeshift one! I have an exercise mat, a gym ball, a balance board and my new friend, a 5kg medicine ball.

I feel like calling it Wilson from the film Castaway with Tom Hanks, as it has become my new best friend! I love it. I am doing lots of ab workouts in front of the TV like oblique twists and sit-ups with the medicine ball over my head, as well as lunges, shoulder presses and twists. I can feel it already. I am also doing some balance work on the board like the plank and just generally trying to sit on it, or stand on it without falling over. I have really let my abs strength go. I am one of those people who goes to the gym and then thinks, oh I won't do sit-ups as I can do them at home. But then I go to the jacuzzi instead and never do the sit-ups when I actually get home. This way, with props, I feel a bit more inclined and enthused to actually do them. I don't think I will end up with Denise Lewis' abs, but hey, I will give it a good go!

If you are starting up new exercise and fitness regimes, good luck. Whichever way you choose to go, whether it is jogging, fitness DVDs, personal trainer or even British Military Fitness, even if it feels really hard and you don't think you can carry on, stick with it. To be healthy and fit is such a good feeling and such a benefit in the long run. Keep it varied as well. It can get a bit boring just doing one thing, so try out new things. Maybe even badminton?! I am going to try and get my abs strength up and get my jogging better and then who knows what other challenges and fitness ideas may come my way??! Talking of gyms, I went to my David Lloyd gym the other day and for the first time in 3 and a half years, I did weights. This may not seem odd to a lot of people, but bearing in mind I used to do weights (free weights such as squats, lunges, bench etc) 3 times a week for 10 years, people might have expected me to carry on, but I just didn't want to really.

And now time is very precious, I just tend to do cardio work to maintain my fitness. It was very strange and I forgot a lot of stuff! I did some squats and was appalled at how weak I had got! I used to squat 130kg and I did half that! I did enjoy it and I loved being in that environment again. It did take a long time though, so I don't know how regularly I will be able to do it. But as all the chocolate from Xmas has gone on my butt, I am in desperate need of getting rid of it and getting some muscle back. I didn't think I pushed it too hard, but OMG the next day, I was feeling very achy indeed! I went to play tennis against my boyfriend and it took a whole set just to warm up and get my legs going as I could not move at all! That was my excuse anyway...

I also went ice skating for the first time in ages the other day! I took Harry along with me, and it took some effort to convince him to allow me to put skates on his feet and it was funny seeing him try to walk in them. But once we got on the ice, I sat him on this plastic seal thing and I pushed him round. I loved it and Harry loved it, but I did want to go really fast and as Harry had a habit of not holding on, I had to slow my speed down. Mind you, that was probably a good thing, as there were other people on the ice including little children and let's just say, I don't really have the skills of Torvill and Dean to be able to dodge people. I can just about stop so it was the sensible thing to so. My friend Emilie is taking adult ice skating lessons and I thought she was a bit crazy but after my little stint, I may have to have another go!

And finally, I think I may have turned 50 as it went into 2012! I have purchased an ironing board, a bread maker, was seen pottering round a gardening centre and I went to the cinema on my own to an 11am showing. Not quite sure what has happened to me, but any ideas of how to reverse this would be appreciated!! Ha ha! I'm only 34 but at this rate, I will be knitting and snipping coupons out of magazines tomorrow! PS - if anyone does do this, I am not criticising at all, I'm just not ready to do it yet! See you next week!