Set Your Intention → Take 2
By: Mercia Basson
Tags: Weight Loss Motivation, Healthy Lifestyle, Nutrition, Fitnessmotivation, CrossFit

So this week ended up not really being what I had intended at all . . . today in particular, has taken me what seemed like forever to get to finally start working on the blog . . . for various reasons, which I will get into a little later.

Monday and Tuesday were both crazy work days with it being a shorter week and tight deadlines, I ended up having to put in more hours of work to meet the relevant deadlines . . . so I ended up not training on either of these days . . .

Although Wednesday was a public holiday, I still got up early so I could catch up on my courses which I am busy with and don’t want to fall behind. By 6am Mom and I were on the road for a 5km walk and the rest of the day was spent really just relaxing along with a little bit of work as well.

Thursday was of course my training-highlight-day because I get to spend time with 3 of my favourite girls . . . Tammy had a hectic workout planned for us — surprise-surprise! It was a 25 Minute workout, to get as much as possible done of 120 16kg Kettlebell Swings, 60 Calorie Row, 40 Burpee Box Overs (step overs for me, Jump overs for Dee & just Burpees for Jilly because of a knee injury preventing her from doing the step overs or jumps) and ending with 20 Heavy Power Cleans. We could choose in what order we wanted to do this, but we could not split it up, once we started with any movement, we had to complete all the reps for that movement before moving on to the next one. I opted to start with the Burpee Box Step Overs because I knew this was going to slow me down and if I was fatigued, it would be even worse. Followed by the Kettlebell Swings, then the Row and then the Cleans. We got warmed up and then got going . . . I was right about the Burpee Box Step Overs, this was damn hectic and I fell so far behind Jill and Dee on these . . . but kept going . . . When it came to the Kettlebell swings, I was a little worried . . . although I have done Kettlebell Swings with a 16kg before, I have not done 120 reps of this . . . to my surprise, I actually managed to get through this . . . I broke it up by doing 5 at a time so I don’t kill my arms and shoulders, knowing that I still had the Row and the Cleans to do . . . time was running out though . . . Jill and Dee were almost done with their Row by the time I had finished the Kettlebell Swings . . . as I was finishing this, and actually quite looking forward to the row, Tammy told me to skip the Row and get straight onto the Cleans . . . which I did and managed to complete 12 reps of 40kg Cleans . . .

Right, so I didn’t get to complete all the movements or reps within the timeframe, BUT I am super happy with what I had managed to achieve because all of what I had done was a Personal Best!! I have never done Burpee Box Step Overs, let alone 40 of them . . . I have never done 120 reps of 16kg Kettlebell Swings . . . and finally . . . the heaviest Cleans I have ever attempted was 35kg and today I didn’t just attempt 40kg, I completed 12 reps! So, I am not complaining at all!

Friday had another early start, again catching up on my courses and again out on the road by 6am for another 5km walk with Mom! The day was spent looking after a friend of mine’s kids while she was working, which actually ended up being a rather chilled day. I helped them organize a Christmas pressie for their mom too, since she is a single mom and also deserves to have a pressie under the tree. The highlight of my day was when my husband arrived home and told me that he had an early Christmas present for me . . . he had bought me a pull up bar! This is simply too awesome and I am beyond excited about workout out next week because I am now going to be able to do so much more in working to improve my strength and hopefully eventually get to do an actual pull up! Friday ended with a boerie roll braai (sausage roll braai for the non-South-Africans) and just had a very relaxing evening . . .

Saturday started with Mom and I out on the road, again by 6am for a 5km walk . . . this is actually just such an awesome way to start the day, I must say . . . today is a very special day, because it is Dee’s 40 thbirthday and we get to celebrate with her tonight! Hubby and I first went to get school uniform for our youngest son starting High School next year, after which Mom and I went and did a bit of Christmas shopping . . . then for the celebration . . . around 25 of us met at Mozambik Restaurant in Big Bay from around 5pm to celebrate the amazing Dee’s 40 th! It was such a fun evening with so many amazing people and I thoroughly enjoyed it . . . in fact, I may have enjoyed it a little too much . . . LOL

Last week I was telling you guys about ‘Setting your Intention’ over the Christmas period . . . well . . . it seems that I had so much intention to have fun that I did not actually set the intention of how I wanted to feel when I woke up this morning . . . After a few too many G&T’s, I woke up not feeling to ‘hot’ today . . . it took me up to around 11:30 to eventually get my butt in the shower so that I could go to the shops to do the necessary grocery shopping done, and this all happened in super slow motion . . . when we got home I of course had to unpack everything still and felt horrendous . . . this obviously added to the delay in getting the blog done today . . . It naturally got me thinking . . . I HATE feeling like this! And I BETTER be setting my intentions properly for Christmas and New Years because I do NOT want to wake up feeling like this again any time soon!

I have also decided this week that although I am wanting to continue working toward my long term goal over this silly season, I am going to enjoy relaxing a little bit whilst maintaining my current weight by being conscious of what I am consuming but not overdoing it on the bad stuff and continuing to train as often as possible . . . but come 1 January, I am ready to make some serious progress in reaching my long term goal and will be ready to smash every short term goal I set out to achieve where my health and fitness is concerned.

On that note, I wish you and your families a blessed Christmas this coming week . . . have fun, appreciate this special time with each other . . . and remember to set your intention, unlike what I did this week!

Dee’s 40th Celebrations — what an amazing evening with some of my favourite peeps!