Spa-mazing!

Last weekend was a rare four day weekend for me, due to the Melbourne Cup celebrations. So I thought I would spoil myself with some much needed pampering. 

I thought as it was approaching Summer, it would be great to incorporate a full body scrub into the treatment to get my wintery dry skin summer ready. I also wanted to include a massage as I have been feeling pretty stressed and anxious lately, and had quite a few muscle aches and pains.

I wanted to go to Endota Spa (view their website here) because they are one of the few spas that are conveniently located everywhere, whilst also being luxurious and fancy. Plus I’ve been to them quite a few times before. 

After much deliberation I decided upon the treatment package called the Scrub + Glow, which was a 1 hour 45 minute treatment involving:

- a 10 minute billabong footbath, where they scrub and massage your feet and lower legs (surprisingly amazing!)

- a 50 minute full body scrub with essential oils, herbs and salts. Then oil up your skin and sprinkle the salt mix on top, rubbing it in in little circular motions.

- a 45 minute full body massage including moisturiser application

A sneak peak of the treatment room - with massage table and shower

So how did I find it? 

The billabong footbath sounds average, but it’s actually incredible. It was one of my favourite parts of the treatment. Perhaps you wouldn’t love it if you are ticklish on your feet though. The scrub has left my skin the softest it’s ever felt, and so glowing and healthy looking. The actual process was a bit rough though. I think the salts were quite large for exfoliating purposes, meaning they worked brilliantly to get soft skin, but it wasn’t the most pleasurable application process. Some parts felt almost painful like it was irritating my skin (it wasn’t though!). But I’ve had a scrub before which was incredible and even more pleasurable than a massage, which is what I hoped this scrub would be like. The massage was so relaxing and amazing that I think I fell asleep for a few minutes, which I have never, ever done before!

In this treatment after you’ve had the scrub element, you then have a quick shower in the in room shower/bath to get all the salts off. This just adds to the relaxation and cleaning process.

All in all I would highly recommend this treatment, or a scrub/massage combination that's similar. 

This is the first spa type treatment I’ve ever purchased myself, and I have to say I feel it was totally worth it. I spend $150 on a dress or on a 15 minute specialist medical appointment for instance, so why do I feel so guilty about spending this amount on two hours of pure bliss that makes you feel so much healthier and happier, helps your muscles and aches, revitalises your skin and is extremely relaxing. I feel everyone should try to treat themselves to something like this at least once a year. The benefits are countless and it's just great to take some time for yourself every now and then. 

My tips:

• I think a half hour massage is too short, as you often spend a lot of a short massage worrying that it’s about to end. The perfect massage length is 45 minutes to an hour, which allows them to do the full body.
• I’ve learned to ask for a firm pressure massage. As medium is too soft for me, and firm isn’t too hard. So I always opt for the hardest pressure as the masseurs I’ve had have never pressed hard enough for me. And it’s not like I like being beaten into the table or anything, just firm feels like a normal massage.
• I find getting treatments that are most pleasurable (massage) or have longer term benefits (scrub) to be the best, whereas I find facials for instance aren’t as relaxing because essentially it’s just someone putting on and taking off creams to your face.
• Drink lots of water, as often you can feel dehydrated during/after a treatment like this.
• If you come out of a massage feeling a tad achey, you can use a heat pack on the area to help soothe it.
• Try to choose a spa location away from a shopping centre/mall. The point is to avoid stress and hustle and bustle!

Do you ever have a spa/pampering day? If so what is your favourite treatment/combo to get? 

It's Time for a Health and Fitness Overhaul!

Now that it is officially Spring in Australia, I wanted to do a health overhaul! I thought it might be useful to share with you what I’m doing, so perhaps if you were thinking of doing something similar you might be able to pick up some relevant tips.  And also give me some tips!

This post will cover Exercise, Diet and Motivation tips. I’ll do future posts on mental wellbeing and health.

Exercise:

My friend who is a very fit gym buff, has created this exercise plan for our friends to complete every fortnight on Sunday mornings at a big park near our houses. The aim is to complete the program every fortnight and try to better your times, so you can track how you are going and whether your fitness is improving.

This is the plan for the very fit members of our friendship group:

12. 50 Burpees

11. 100 Star Jumps

10. 10 Pushups (can be off knees)

9. 9 Squat Jumps

8. 20 V Situps

7. 7 Hill Sprints

6. 100 Mountain Climbers

5. 5 Lunges with each leg

4. 4 Squats with a pulse

3. 3 Squats

2. 2 Clap Pushups

1. 1 Bridge for 30 Seconds

You start at 12 and work your way down to 1, then go back to 11 and work your way to 1, then go back to 10... etc., until you complete just number 1 on its own. This took between 50-80 minutes to complete (depending on fitness levels).

My friend also kindly created one for the less fit amongst us (aka: me!). If you are going from basically zero exercise to this, it’s better not to go too crazy on the first go and gradually work your way up.

This is the easier modified version (but it's still very challenging!), which I recommend you start with unless you are insanely fit:

12. 25 Burpees

11. 90 Mountain Climbers

10. 10 Squat Jumps

9. 9 Pushups (can be off knees)

8. 80 Star Jumps

7. 17 Stomach Crunches

6. 6 Lunges each leg (Alternating)

5. 5 Hill Sprints

4. 4 Squats with a pulse

3. 3 Squats

2. 4 Leg Lowers

1. 1 Bridge for 20 Seconds

I find having this ahead of me every fortnight really motivates me to exercise of my own accord during the week more than anything else, because you don’t want to look silly in front of your friends! I’m basically going from zero exercise to this, so I’m probably one of the more unfit ones in the group, so it’s a great motivator to try to exercise in my own time between sessions. My friends aren’t competitive at all, and are very supportive with this exercise program, but you just tend to push yourself more if others are around than if you are by yourself.

It’s also a great way to catch up with friends, and we play music so it’s less boring. Plus it’s absolutely free.

Also in the days between each fortnight session, I try and do 3-4 workouts a week using Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred DVD, as I find the workout exercises are quite similar to what we have to do in the above program. Check out my earlier post about this DVD for more information - I’d highly recommend it.

Diet:

I’m just generally trying to eat healthier. I’m not really dieting as such, just being more mindful of what I'm eating and swapping in and out things. Such as swapping hot chocolate with tea, and eating more protein rich meals to fill me up more, and eating more vegetables and fruit. I don’t deny myself sweet food (I’m such a sweet tooth), just try and be mindful if I have eaten one sweet thing in a day, to limit sweet food for the rest of the day. I think the most important thing with a general diet is to make it sustainable, there’s no point trying to do intensive dieting that you’ll stop doing after a while. You should be aiming to make a gradual health lifestyle change, not crash dieting.

I also use this great app on my iPhone called My Fitness Pal. Basically you create a profile, insert your weight and basic statistics, and then it calculates the amount of calories you should eat in a day to maintain or lose weight (you input how much you want to lose at the start). It then has an enormous database of food, so you can enter whatever you eat and you can see how many calories you are eating. It also shows you the breakdown of your food, as in how much protein, vitamins etc., you are receiving from the food you are eating.

Another great thing about this app is you can add friends into it if you wish. I added my best friend so he can now see if he wants whatever I am eating every day. The main benefit of this is that you tend to eat healthier just knowing someone else can view your diet, compared to if it’s just you on your own adding food into the app. There is also a main news feed where if you have done exercise or eaten under your calories, the other person can see. So my friend congratulates me when I’ve done exercise and it makes me feel good and motivated to do more!

This app is free and I’d highly recommend it to anyone who wants to eat better, it’s a great motivator.

Motivation:

The hardest thing about trying to being healthier is finding the motivation to stick with it.

I find the following helps me:

·      Music. Create a playlist in iTunes of motivational workout music, and play it whenever you exercise.

·      Having something to work towards helps, like I work towards my friend exercise sessions to improve my fitness. Or work towards being fitter for Summer, or just to feel better in general.

·      Workout with friends or do a health kick together. Like with the app, it helps if you are doing it with someone else because you both encourage each other.

·      Remind yourself with quotes and pictures that inspire you to be fit and healthy. Get pictures of your dream holiday or bikini and work towards that.

·      Choose a workout to suit your needs. During Winter and when I’m time pressed after work, a quick 26 min exercise DVD was perfect for me - I didn’t even have to leave the house. In Summer when I’ll want to get out more after being in an office all day, I can go down the beach after work and swim and relax and feel like I’m on holidays.

·      Do incidental exercise. I go out of my building every day for my lunch hour, and shop and peruse stores. All that walking around the city really helps add to your exercise in a day. When you shop it doesn’t even feel like exercising! Take the stairs, get up and walk to the kitchen and around the office every hour or so.

·      Buy inspirational gym gear that you want to wear. I went to Lorna Jane on the weekend and purchased the following:

- A gorgeous pink/magenta lightweight top that has a handy pocket in the back and a tie string around the waist so your tummy isn’t exposed whilst exercising. Cost $59.

- Matching leggings that are navy with magenta cut outs in a cute pattern. Cost $89.

Gym wear like this actually inspires you to wear it as it’s too gorgeous to leave in the cupboard. So I’m hoping it will inspire me to get out and wear it! It also makes exercising more fun if you have nice gear to wear, or colourful hand weights or a comfortable yoga mat.

So that just about sums up the main points of my health and fitness overhaul!

Let me know if you have any recommendations for other things I should be doing, and tell me how you stay motivated and what your fitness tips and plans are!

Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred Review

So if you are anything like me, the last thing you probably feel like doing after a long day at work and a tedious commute is exercising. All I want to do when I get home at night is crash on the couch and watch shows, and when I try to set my alarm to get up early to exercise, I wake up, laugh at myself for thinking I’d actually do it, and fall back to sleep.

But sitting all day at a desk and barely getting up I’m told is very bad for you! Yes I feel lazy and don’t want to exercise, but I also don’t want to feel as tired and lacking in energy as I do, or put on weight from the secret sweet stash I have in my desk for motivation.

I guess that means sometimes I’m going to have to force myself to exercise so I can balance out that sweet tooth of mine, and also so I can regain my upper body strength so I can once again open tight lidded jars (they are ridiculously hard okay)! Plus I just want to enjoy being young and being relatively fit.

So I’m always trying to find exercise methods that involve the least amount of time/effort dedication. And I’ve stumbled across a great one...

After hearing rave reviews, I recently purchased Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred DVD from JB HI FI Online for $14.95.

Basically the DVD has three 22ish minute workouts that increase in intensity. The idea is it’s a program, and you are supposed to do it every day for 30 days. You do the easier level 1 for 10 days (although it’s not easy by any means), and then level 2 for 10 days, then level 3 for the final 10 days. Jillian promises that you will lose up to 10 kg in 30 days, plus be far more toned, strong and fit in general.

I think a workout of under 25 minutes is perfect, not too long to deter me from doing it or to cut into your day too much. Also this workout can be done at home mere metres from your bed if you want! No rainy, freezing mornings or expensive gym gear needed.

So I did this for 21 days straight, and then my friend surprised me by returning from overseas so I was busy with her and missed a day. And the stupid voice in my head then told me to give up because I missed a day so what was the point continuing (see what I'm up against?).

What were the results like after 21 days? Absolutely incredible! My body felt stronger that it ever has in my life. I had really toned arms and legs and stronger ab muscles after only a couple of weeks, and it’s so incredible to see day by day your body improving. I started out not being able to do push ups and then suddenly was able to do loads!

It’s a hard workout but it’s definitely worth every minute. The exercises you do are top notch, and work all of the different parts of your body (see table below). It’s organised into a 2 minute warm up and down at either end, with 3 x 6 minute sections in the middle. A 6 minute section is organised into 3 minutes of strength (which I find the hardest), 2 minutes of cardio, and 1 minute of abs.

You need a set of hand weights-I got mine from Rebel Sport for about $15. Go smaller with these as you use them a lot in this workout, I have 1.5kg weights and I find they are hard enough for this. I can barely lift my arms the next day!

I also purchased a yoga mat from BIG W for $12. It just saves my carpet and makes for a more comfortable surface.

 
In case you wanted to know exactly what exercises are involved, here is the breakdown of Level 1 exercises:

(*Note: Exercises for each section (i.e. strength) are of the format: you do activity 1, then activity 2, then back to 1, then 2 again)

WARM UP

	Strength	Cardio	Abs
First 6 minute section	-Pushups x 2 sets (1.5 mins total) -Squats with 90 degree weight lift above head x 2 sets (1.5 mins total)	-Jumping Jacks x 2 sets (1 min total) -Skip on the spot x 2 sets (1 min total)	-Crunches (30 secs) -90 degree leg pull in and out (30 secs)
Second 6 minute section	-Arm Rows with weights x 2 (1.5 mins total) -Knee forward squat with bicep curl with weights x 2 (1.5 mins total)	-Punching x 2 (1 min) -Buttkicks x2 (1 min)	-Side crunch to both sides of body (1 min)
Third 6 minute section	-Lying down weights above chest moving in and out x 2 (1.5 mins) -Lean side to side while pulling weights up the middle x 2 (1.5 mins)	-Jumping Jacks (30 secs) -Buttkicks (30 secs) -Punching (30 secs) -Skipping (30 secs)	-Bicycle Crunches side to side (1 min)

 

WARM DOWN

My Advice:

• Prepare to be sore the next day. If you aren’t used to doing weights, start gradually and use smaller weights. I started on 3kg-BIG MISTAKE! They were quickly returned and swapped for 1.5kg, and my arms were eventually okay after a week of pain!
• Wear shoes-all of the squats are quite hard on your knees and after doing it every day for weeks my knees were starting to hurt during the exercises. So listen to your body and go easy if need be.
• Also it’s extremely hard to do this every day nonstop for 30 days. I think it’s a far smarter idea to do this 5 times a week instead, or even 3 or 4 times. Your body needs to rest and recover and this way gives you a few days off so you are more likely to stick to it. You’ll still see positive changes doing it less frequently than 7 days. But something like this is perfect for getting fit for summer, where you want to work hard every day for a month leading up to beach season.
• In terms of the weight lost, this is where I felt a bit let down. It’s not like I had much weight to lose anyway, but I still wanted to see movement on the scales. Perhaps it’s because fat converted to muscle, and muscle weighs more? That’s what I told myself anyway, because I had gained a lot of muscle and strength (in a nice toned girl way-don’t think bodybuilder!). Also maybe if I did the whole 30 days then I would have noticed more of a difference. A lot of reviewers say they lose inches instead of pounds from the workout, so it’s a good ideas to measure key body parts before and after because you’ll really see a difference.
• Play loud music over Jillian (no offence to her!). She starts to get quite repetitive every day and music is a great motivator. Plus she’s pretty mean and sometimes if I don’t want hurt feelings I’ll drown her out :P

So have you guys tried this workout or any of her other ones? What are your thoughts on it? I also want to try some other exercise DVDs, so let me know if you have any recommendations!