#30DaySquatChallenge - Day 14

I bet you all thought I had forgotten about the #30SquatChallenge I signed myself up for last month. 

Well guess what I haven't!

In fact halfway through I am still going strong. In fact I am blown away at how much stronger my legs feel already, but more on that in a bit.

Before you start thinking I must be some super star totally addicted to exercise fitness junkie and hence why I am doing a squat challenge I assure you I am not. What I am is a stay at home mum who is trying to increase her strength and fitness.

Hopefully by role modelling this healthy lifestyle focus the girls will grow up with it naturally inbuilt into their everyday lives. I don't want them to be obsessive compulsive about it or anything like that but I do want them to value the importance of a healthy body and mind, and actively take steps to ensure they are looking after themselves.

So with that in mind I must admit that the last few days of the challenge have been exactly that. A challenge. More so than what the first couple proved to be as well. Which I find a little strange. Usually getting started is the trickiest part but in this case maintaining it past day 12 has proven the hardest part.

Even though it is a 30 day challenge, with gradual increases every couple of days, there are also a few rest days thrown in there for good measure as well. As anyone who regularly trains for anything will tell you resting is a very important part of any training session. Your body needs a chance to recuperate and heal as the muscles stretch and expand while getting stronger.

Not long before I received my invitation to the challenge I had heard that squats were a recommended way for runners to increase their leg strength which in turn makes them run faster. Which certainly appeals to me. Who wouldn't want to run faster? However I know these things don't happen over night.

When it comes to injury I like to err on the side of caution, which is pretty much my excuse for not pushing my body too hard.  Now before you turn away thinking that is a cop out, hear what I have to say.

I am old. Not overly so but old enough. (Thirty five if you must know) Prior to eighteen months ago when I decided to try this running lark, it was a very very long time since I last did anything remotely active. And by very very long time I mean about twenty years give or take. As such I am cautious about doing too much too soon, hurting myself and losing interest.

This has meant that I have decided to hold off running for the first few days of the #30DaySquatChallenge. A notion that was confirmed for me when I awoke to discover 100 squats done in the space of five to ten minutes left my legs in a much more tender state than what running 12km did.

However, when the second rest day came along and my legs felt somewhat less tender, I saw it as a great time to take my new found muscles out for fun in the form of a quick lap around the block. Actually I ran to my mother's house and around a park for the while. After about 20 minutes I decided that I could go run no further and walked the rest of the 10 minute trip.

Turns out I covered a whole 5km which meant I did a couple of nearly PB times in there. I still can't believe. I mean it felt like a great run, I really could feel the extra spring in my step thanks to the new muscles in my legs. Needless to say I powered through the next few days of the challenge knowing how much difference I was achieving.

Sadly though the day before the next rest day which was about day 11 I think. I just didn't squat. I tired a couple of times, maybe managed 30, I am not sure now. I am trying to not to think about it too much else I will start an internal beating session that I just don't need.

So what if I missed one day? The world will not end. My body needed a two day rest. Plus I have did some pretty awesome bike riding on the rest day. A total of about 5km with a 7 year old and 3 year old being towed in a trailer. Not to mention the extra hard gear I had the bike in. Pedal power to the max I tell you!

I had been hoping to just add my missed 120 into the rest day but I was too buggered. I then thought that I could add it into the next day but 240 in one day was a bit much, even if done is lots of super short sets.

The current daily total is around the 150 mark as we are at the halfway mark of the 300 total. Yesterday they were spread out all through the day in the hope I could have made up for missed day. I didn't. I am thinking I will either just let go of it completely or save it for the next rest day. I have spent more time on the bike, this time longer distances but without towing the 7 year old. She managed to use her own pedal power.

I decided not to take my measurements again until the end. I was going to add them in this post but then decided the risk of demotivating myself was too high if there was no change. I do however have this photo to share

Thanks to Essentially Jess for kindly capturing and sharing this beauty
It is one of the first photos in a long time I haven't cringed when looking at it

The every lovely Jess grabbed this photo of me trying to feed a kite hawk (don't laugh it has worked before) and when I looked at it I found myself thinking how much smaller I looked than last time I saw myself in a photo. A very lovely feeling I must say.

So for now I will be squatting on. How about you?

#30DaySquatChallenge - Day 1

Possibly not the best before photo
but for now it will have to do

Since completing the City2Surf at the start of the month, my running has really taken a back seat in life. Which is more than sucky. 

Somehow I have managed to find the motivation to get out for the odd run but something just didn't seem right. It felt like hard work. And not the hard work that leaves you feeling awesome at the end of it because you have enjoyed your strenuous activity and comforted by the fact you are looking your body and health in some way. But more like the have you cursing and swearing because your body is literally unable to find the strength to go on any further kind of hard work.

Far from fun times.

Of course there are all the old excuses, it is too hot, I'm too busy, blah, blah, blah, blah. Not to mention Mr Awesome working late  due to stocktake, and the mere thought, let alone action, of pushing the three year old in the pram just too much to bare.

Which is a shame because I have been inundated lately with compliments of how much weight I have lost. Not that my scales attest to such things but what do they know? My clothes all seem to have a little extra room so whatever is going on I am fine with.

As the school holidays kick off on Monday, I was hoping to find it easier to integrate some regular exercise into everyone's day. An old high school buddy's event invite through trusty old Facebook for a #30DaySquatChallenge that started yesterday seemed like the perfect way to kick things off.

For those not familiar with a squat challenge it basically means each day you commit to a certain amount of squats. The amount of squats gradually increases with each day and by the end of the thirty days I should be doing some 300 squats I think it is. Thankfully you are able to break it up into smaller blocks, which I am pretty sure will be my preferred option a lot of the time.

In order to track any changes I asked Mr Awesome to measure me up and will do so regularly through the 30 days of the challenge. Probably weekly, unless I can be super patient and wait till the midway point. Hmmmm.

Now not only am I measured but there is the added accountability of sharing it all with you here.

Today saw me needing to do 60 squats. Which I can proudly say I did. Not all in the one go but you can't win them all. I did 10 first thing this morning while I waited for Mr Awesome to get out the shower. I then spent the whole day thinking about when I would do my next lot and why had I only done 10 so far.

By the time I was getting dinner ready I decided to just drop everything and do another 15 squats. Why 15 I have no idea. But it brought my total up to 25. Which was only five short of the half way mark. I was clearly all over the whole squatting thing.

With the kids all safely tucked up in bed, the dishes patiently waiting to be washed and me snuggled up on the couch with my crochet, I suddenly realised there were 35 squats with my name on them. Jumping up I pumped them out there and then without a further thought. In fact I even did 5 extra just for funsies and suddenly I felt just a teeny tiny bit awesome. And when I say awesome I may possible mean puffed.

Tomorrow sees me needing to do 80 squats. I am thinking that I will aim for two lots of 40 but perhaps a little bit closer together than today's efforts. Hopefully tomorrow may also see me go for a little jog but only time will tell.

Have you done a challenge like this before?