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 This week we launch the nzgirl Fitness Diary with our personal trainer Sibs analysing your athletic attempts!
You may recognise Sibyl Mandow from our popular 'nzgirl No Excuses Fitness Challenge' - she's been whipping us into shape here at nzgirl HQ and we love her to pieces! But, never ones to hog the limelight, we thought it only fair that we opened up Sybill's knowledge to ALL nzgirls, hence the nzgirl Fitness Diary was born. This week, she gives the goss on her routine... If you think your fitness regime is in need of an overhaul, then you better send in your fitness diary to us and we'll let Sibyl at it - she's gentle we promise!
___________________________________________________________________________ Fitness Diary of: Anya!
 Name: Anya Merryfield Job: Fashion and Beauty Manager Goal
To manage stress levels and get my fitness back after a period of doing hardly anything fitness wise! I have a knee injury so can’t do a lot of high impact workouts and am always trying to find ways to strengthen my legs. Alternatives to aerobics and running are important as I am trying to cut these out as much as I can.
Monday: I find Monday’s the hardest day of the week to exercise, so I don’t exercise in the morning. I prefer to just stick to my 20 minute walk to work and an hour of Pilates after work – it’s a challenging workout and it helps strengthen my legs and core which are both really important with my knee injury!
 Tuesday: In the morning it’s raining so instead of my usual run, I do 30 minutes of aerobics using Yourself Fitness (a fitness programmed using my Xbox!). I also walk to work. At the end of the day I do 20 minutes of Pilates before I eat dinner - it’s a good workout as it wipes away a lot of stress!
Wednesday: I walk to my one hour beginners ballet class after work - it’s a great, fun workout that keeps my heart rate up and makes me engage my core muscles and strengthen my leg muscles. I never realise how much I’m sweating it out until the class stops because I’m enjoying it so much!
 Thursday: I do my usual walk too and from work and after workdo an upper body free weights workout which includes chest presses and bicep curls. I follow the Body for Life upper body workout and try and concentrate on perfect form.
Friday: I try and do something fun on Friday so I usually reach for my rather expansive collection of workout DVDs after work. It sounds so cheesy but it’s the most awesome thing to have on hand when you want to mix stuff up! Today it’s going to be my beginners Budokon DVD, a 40 minute high intensity low impact workout using a mix of martial arts/yoga!
Weekend: On Saturday mornings I do a 30 minute hilly walk to my hour long ballet morning class, and then a 30 minute hilly walk home again. The walk works as a fantastic warm up and cool down, so I don’t get all achy! Sunday is theoretically my day free of workouts, but my partner and I always do a big walk of a couple of hours…. As you can tell we love walking everywhere!
 Sibs Advice Knee Injury’s and Fitness When you have a knee injury, things like running can be painful. Cycling is a really great replacement sport as it is very low impact but high intensity so you get all the cardio you need with none of the problems associated with running.
Other exercises to try are things like swimming or mixing jogging and walking. When I get injured, I personally head for the cross trainer instead of my run.
Exercises like lunges and squats help build strength in the legs, whilst Yoga can help loosen tight and tired muscles that often come as part of a knee injury.
Working Out at Home Anya mixes up her home pilates with reformer and class pilates. This means that she can receive quality instruction and know that she is doing her workouts properly. This is a really good idea if you are working out from home.
When it comes to DVD’s make sure you are keeping an eye on your own fitness level, when you work with an instructor or class you have someone pushing you to achieve your best. Sometimes working out with DVD’s can mean you plateau – so remember to keep an eye on how you’re doing and know when to step it up.
Fitness and Variety
Anya loves attending her ballet classes – so she doesn’t even notice she’s working out! It’s a good idea when you are getting back into fitness to really go for the sports you love. If you don’t like working out it’s because you haven’t found something you enjoy yet! .jpg)
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