MY FITNESS CHALLENGE WITH ARLA PROTEIN | PART #2

Now I’m not usually one to toot my own horn but I am currently giving myself one huge pat on the back because I’m so proud of my progression. I’ve not only been working out but you know that freak heat wave we had were London reached a peak of 34 degrees? Yeah well, zoom into a sunny park in North London and you would have seen me, alongside my P.T sprinting around the running track. I kid you not,  I was sweating, heavy breathing and at one point almost throwing up but I can honestly say, I’ve never been so proud of myself!

If you read my previous fitness post you’ll remember I wanted to split my three month challenge into sections. Last month being well-being and this month, stamina. Stamina is SO important! For those of you that don’t know, alongside blogging I’m also an actress. I’m currently in rehearsals for ‘A Chorus Line’ an all singing, all dancing musical (If you fancy coming along you can buy tickets here.) 

The show is full on and in order for me to be able to sing and dance at the same time whilst keeping my breathing steady, my stamina needs to be on point. 

So with that being said this month along with my outdoor yoga sessions, I’ve also added Saturday morning bootcamp and solo sprinting technique and speed sessions with Born. The bootcamp classes are held just down the road from me in Clissold park, they’re always well attended with regulars and newbies coming along each week. As the name suggests, bootcamp isn’t an easy ride and you really have to get into the right headspace to get through it but when you do, you feel incredible as those endophins rush around your body! It’s a really great class and taking part alongside so many other people gives you that extra push you need to really go for it. 

Running wise, I spoke to Born about my somewhat hostile relationship towards it. I’d love to love running, be one of those people that jumps out of bed at 6am to get a 10k in before work but alas, never gonna happen. I find it boring and just give up. I do know however that running is brilliant for increasing stamina so we came up with a solution… sprinting! As it was clear that long distance wasn’t my thing Born set me up on the track to do sets of 20m, 50m and 100m. Not far length wise but doing them repeatly with only very short rest periods in between got me working up one hell of a sweat. The good news… I loved it! Yes, me! I actually enjoyed running?! The short bursts of energy and trying to beat my time each round left me feeling almost euphoric. We worked on my starts, general posture and overall technique at the start of each session and even after implentmenting these changes and adding sprints to my everyday workout, my stamina has already improved leaps and bounds *FIST PUMP*

After my workout I want my muscle cells to recover properly and so I always grab one of my ARLA protein goodies. My favourite of the month this time round has to be the chocolate flavoured milk shake. So tasty and with 25g of protein in a single bottle. I’ve tried a few of the other flavours but chocolate is definately my favourite by far! It gives me my chocolate fix which keeps me from snacking which I’m often guilty of and the shake fills me up just enough until I have time to make a proper, well balanced lunch. 

Another great month for me, I’m going to continue to work on my sprints and stamina and who knows… Bolt better watch out!

K x

Photography by – Zoe Griffin

*This post was kindly sponsored by Arla Protein*