Gym Episode 22/02: “Every rep counts”

I went through Monday’s lunchtime gym session with Damion Daniel thinking “be careful what you wish for Ms Yamfoot” :?. I’d told him on the weekend that I wanted to do more exercises for the butt. That meant squats and lunges were included.

My knees are getting accustomed to these exercises and I’ve actually not been bothered by them so much, since stepping up my quantity of exercise.

I had to abandon the 10lb dumbells the Trainer had given me to use while doing the lunges. A few times too, I was about to topple over. Ever watchful, he was there to ensure that didn’t happen. Mek mi tell yuh……my thighs certainly felt the burn!

The key to maximizing that move is to keep upright and also get your knee touching the floor when you go down, and drive up using your glutes. I’d watched him last week executing those in perfect form so I knew what it looked like. Heart was willing but thighs and butt were weak. I kept reminding him that I had to go back to work, when I tried to pause during a set. “Every rep counts,” he said, followed by some encouragement. 

To finish up, did 10 minutes of the elliptical. It gets easier each day.

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#Gym Episode 16/02: A walk in the park

Eating food is so easy. But getting rid of the effects of overeating is no walk in the park. A park is where some of my workout took place on Tuesday in my quest to burn fat and arrive at 50 with less of me.

A planned session with the Trainer had to be cancelled due to his last minute committments. I was trying to weasel out of the work out. He was not having it and instructed me to do cardio. I didn’t feel like. My leg was burning. I had work to go home and do. The excuses came fast and furious. Try as I might….no luck. I didn’t want to defy him and in turn disappoint myself. I had to act as my own motivator. I suggested that I could go to the park and he said yes.

Off I skipped, avoiding the vagrant by KFC. Stopped beside the coconut man to stretch on a nearby wall. “Mind yuh push down the wall,” he quipped. Doh worry…ah not dat strong…..yet.

Walked two laps, then jogged one, then back to walking half a lap then did some sprints like I was Usain Bolt. 😁:)😂☺

That was 30 minutes and I had worked up a nice sweat. See?
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Pre-birthday views and celebrations

Normally I would have started the celebrations from 1st October and in fact, when I turned a significant age a few years ago, I celebrated for the whole year. This year, work has kept me busy, so it started late, on Friday, with lunch at the hotel I used to work at. Yesterday was the beach and today I was back for lunch at the hotel again. Here are some scenes. No captions necessary…though I did add some 🙂

Grenada is one seriously beautiful island….like Jamaica.

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Grand Anse Beach

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Panoramic shot

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Healthy eating

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View from the lunch area

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Lagoon by dusk

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Teeny tiny cake

Make a wish!

Make a wish!

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Beautiful sky

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Birthday cake’s in the bag

Last weekend, I was feeling industrious so picked up a box of cake mix in the supermarket. I don’t normally buy these things. Having worked in hotels all my life, sweet treats were available whenever. And at the last place I worked, I would have been guaranteed to get a cake…..chocolate. Here’s last year’s version.

Chocolate Cake with a nutty coating. Yum!

Chocolate Cake with a nutty coating. Yum!

Ok, so my camera wasn’t very good.

I should have said cakeS, because there was a second one baked by a friend.

Another delicious cake, this time with coffee.

Another delicious cake, this time with coffee.

Since I no longer have the hotel option, I thought I’d bake my own cake. But why so early Yamfoot? Well, this weekend I might not have felt like baking.

Duncan Hines really is moist!

Duncan Hines really is moist!

There was a lil crack in the cake. Guess I didn’t grease the pan enough. I decided to make a layered cake, but did not buy frosting because that would have been just too much sugar. So I whipped up some yogurt with frozen blueberries. Here’s the remnants of that mixture.

My low sugar version of frosting

My low sugar version of frosting

When I was whipping up the frosting, I realized that as it was yogurt based, it couldn’t stay outside. So I cut up the cake in smaller pieces, wrapped each in foil and they are resting comfortably in the freezer. That was also a measure to prevent me from eating all at once!

In a few days, I will be whipping out one of the packages and saying “happy birthday to meeeeeeeeeeeeee”. Look on the sidebar to see when’s the birthday. Usually I don’t work on my birthday but no choice this year. I will probably be at a business lunch, so not too bad.