August: 30 Day Shred

Read Also: Level 1, Level 2, Level 3

[Original 2014 Use]

   I had loads of fun with my genius workout set-up last month, combining African dance with Pilates in a HIIT format, and now I'm ready to get serious. Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred was the first proper workout I'd ever used, waaaay back in 2014, and now I'm revisiting with the intention of measuring myself against my green past self, as well as returning to my fitness roots.
   The 30 Day Shred was also the first Jillian Michaels workout I'd ever used (which I suppose goes without saying since it was my first proper workout), and I fell in love with her immediately. I own damn near every single one of her DVDs - I have my sure-fire favourites, my loathed yet go-to options, and my top-up finishers to max out my other workouts. But this is where I, like many of her loyal fans, started. I've used a lot of her DVDs multiple times, but this one I've never revisited. I think because it was my first, and that association makes me think it's not suitable for my present fitness level. But, of course, I would have used the beginner modifications the first time, I'd have used lighter weights and stopped several times throughout each set through exhaustion. Things that just wouldn't happen now.
   So I thought it would be fun, especially after I've grown to feel kind of negative about working out, to return to my roots and rediscover what made me fall in love with working out.

   So, this month, I'll be running through Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred for the first time in 3 years, going back to where it all began and blasting Past-Kim out of the water. And making her damned proud. Wearing XS/8 compression capris, rather than L/14 leggings that cut into my squish in the most unflattering way. And actual post-workout nutrition rather than a few 'well-deserved' cookies.
   I'll update...either in 2 weeks or once I've finished with level 1. I've got a lot of work to do before I can start writing my next book so I'm quite keen to concentrate on that...I'm sure my blog will suffer for it.

African Dance/Pilates HIIT - 3 Weeks Later

   I don't mean to pat myself on the back or anything, but as no one else is going to, I have to say that my dance/Pilates HIIT combo worked a charm.
   Starting up Kukuwa's African dance workout, I ran through one 5-minute routine as a warm up, then turned it back to the start and began in earnest. The first two minutes of the dance routine, the lowest-impact part, was replaced by two minutes of Cassey Ho's Pilates. As soon as those two minutes were up I jumped to my feet and leapt straight into the dance at whatever part it was and followed it to the end. As soon as the routine ended and the next seamlessly began, I dropped back to the floor for the next 2-minute round of Pilates. I repeated this six times to total 30 minutes.
   Each routine lasts 5 minutes, give or take 10 seconds, and by replacing the first two minutes with body weight resistance Pilates, I skipped the lower-impact intro, letting my heart rate drop further than it would have had I continued dancing, then rose immediately for 3 minutes of non-stop, high-impact African dance - and with Kukuwa's truly full-bodied movements with hips, legs, arms and head, it didn't take long for my heart rate to jump back up.

   I kept the Pilates simple, consulting Cassey Ho's Hot Body Year Round for some good moves to create three different circuits which were each run through twice.
   The first circuit focused on the glutes, with knee-tap-pushes - 30 seconds on the left leg, 30 seconds on the right - and then fire hydrants - 30 seconds on the left and 30 on the right. Then 3 minutes of dance.
   The second circuit focused on upper body: 40 seconds of preying pulses, 40 seconds of arm circles (20 forward, 20 back), and 40 seconds of tricep dips.
   The third circuit focused on the legs: 30 seconds elevated leg circles on the left, then the right, then 30 seconds elevated hot potato on the left then the right.
   I love to work my lower body, it burns more calories than the rest, and my abs get worked enough in everything else I do and, until I've melted off the fat, there's nothing to be seen anyway. But if you were to try this workout, you could easily replace the leg circuit with abs, such as hip dips, crunches, side plank dips and plank up-downs.

   Kukuwa is the highest impact dance workout I've ever used, and that, joined with its simple (but high-energy) moves and its reliable 5-minute-routine set up, makes it the only viable option for a dance HIIT workout. I don't see how other dance workouts could work in its place. But, that said, it's lower impact than squat jumps, burpees and tuck jumps, and won't provide the same results as a more typical HIIT workout. But, that said, it's a great option if you're looking for something effective but fun and really quite different, or perhaps as an active recovery after a big workout schedule like Piit28, which I used throughout June.
   I go on about Kukuwa a lot, but I think I should mention that I'm not affiliated with Kukuwa in any way, shape or form. I've never been paid, sponsored or endorsed to mention them - in fact, I've had no contact with them beyond the occasional tweet. I just absolutely adore Kukuwa and her workout, and I truly believe that it - like the 30 Day Shred, 10 Minute Body Transformation, 10 Minute Solution's Knockout Body and Jillian Michaels' Kickbox Fast Fix - should be a staple in anyone's fitness DVD collection. It's not a mainstream release so you won't find it in physical stores, only on Kukuwa's webstore and perhaps on Amazon, but the DVD itself is region-free, shipping from the US, and you can also buy it as an immediate digital download. This isn't out of anyone's reach.
   As for Pilates moves, you can find every worthwhile Pilates move under the sun for free on Blogilates as printables or videos.

   This workout is going to be a great fall-back for when I'm feeling unenthusiastic. Fun, yet effective.
   I dare any of you not to shake your boomsey when Twa Mi Beat starts up.

Friday Favourites

This week has been cold. It's been amazing. I've slept better and been generally more comfortable - though ice cream has still been on the menu. After a migraine on Tuesday evening, I treated myself to one to celebrate my survival.
Otherwise, this week I've been working on my plan for the next book - working out both sides (hero & villain) and merging them together, and now I've got lots of details floating about that I need to work on, from simple matters of the after-effects of war, to more plot-relevant details. So I've been binge 'watching' Death in Paradise again, which means it's on in the background while my nose is glued to a notebook.
I've also been really enjoying Twinings' new sweet green teas, particularly lemon drizzle. It smells just like it, which has resulted in the...um...purchase of such a cake...
Also, I accidentally left my Birchbox subscription running and got the best box ever out of it! I particularly love the coconut & vanilla mineral deodorant <3

Death in Paradise   ♥   Lemon Drizzle green tea from Twinings Teashop

Shearer Candles Rhubarb & Raspberry   ♥   Native Unearthed coconut deodorant

Unicorn Pancake Breakfast Pizza

   Happy Tuesday! I have to say, breakfast is a pretty important meal - and I don't just mean for fuel or 'breaking the fast' and getting your metabolism moving for the day ahead, but also because it can really cheer me up. I get affected by bad dreams rather stupidly; even if I can't remember them, if I've had a bad dream, I'll be in a bad mood all morning. Not angry, necessarily, but sometimes sad, unsettled, tense or jumpy. And I'm never quite sure why. I'm in one such mood today.
   But a nice breakfast can calm me down and get me off to a better start, and after seeing so many 'unicorn' smoothies, I wanted to try something myself. Which wasn't hard, since anything can be made 'unicorn' by adding some pastel colours, and unicorn in particular favours pastel blue and pink. Which creates a problem, doesn't it? Blue is easy with artificial colouring, but if you're looking to stay healthy and join the 'unicorn' craze, you're a bit stuck. Right?
   Wrong.
   It took some research, but the secret ingredient is butterfly pea flowers. This intense blue flower has been used in Southeast Asian cooking for a very long time, and is also consumed as a tea. You can get it powdered in the west, but it's not that common, and trends for about £2.50 for 10g on Ebay. But that's enough. I generally use 1/4 teaspoon when I use it and it's more than enough. It's also very dark - I was a bit concerned that I'd gotten some rubbish and that perhaps it was only a specific variety that was so blue, because mine was inky as a powder, but once added to my eggs (yes, my eggs, all kinds of things wind up in my eggs) it turned wonderfully pastel.

   Anyway. Unicorn breakfast pancakes. Or breakfast 'pizza'. It's clean, oh so healthy, and so very easy! A simple, giant pancake topped with yogurt coloured with butterfly pea flower and a crushed raspberry, topped with blueberries and raspberries and a few yogurt flours (drawn in yogurt and frozen).

   I always use Flapjacked's protein pancake mix because you just add water, a single serving is 200 calories (which is easy to half, since it's 1/2 cup mix to 1.3 cup water), 20g of protein, they're made from oat flour and nothing artificial at all. Plus they make great pancakes, and great cakes! Sometimes I'll just spoon the batter into mini cupcake moulds, press a strawberry into each, add a sprinkle of baobab on top and bake at gas mark 4 for 10 minutes. Divine. You can get Flapjacked's protein pancake mixes through Protein Pick & Mix under snacks > breakfast > pancakes.
   I usually use the buttermilk base because it's totally neutral. It's not sweet in the slightest as there's also no added sugar, but a few drops of vanilla can change that, as can the simple addition of fruit, so I usually add a few berries into the batter. I didn't do that with my unicorn pancake pizza, though.

   I also used Yeo Valley's honey greek yogurt as a top, because it's probably my favourite yogurt ever. I used to buy big tubs when I was a fatty and eat the whole thing, or bake some chocolate cakes and eat them with cold honey yogurt. So freaking good! And because Yeo Valley is so clean - greek, organic, bio live yogurt - I've never had to say goodbye!
   And if you're wondering, I did buy the flower powder through Ebay. I haven't yet found a more reliable source in the UK.


Ingredients:
makes 2 unicorn pancakes
pancake mix (I used 1 serving of flapjacked protein pancake mix)
1 pot of yogurt (I used a 100g pot of Yeo Valley Greek with honey)
handful of blueberries
handful of raspberries
1/2 teaspoon butterfly pea flower
Note: I only made one pancake, so I used half of a serving of pancake mix and half of a pot of yogurt.
 

Method:
1. Make your pancake mix and prepare your pancake. I actually oven-baked mine by lining a cookie sheet with greaseproof paper and spreading my batter over that, and cooking it for 10 minutes at 180 C/350 F/gas mark 4. It was personal preference.

2. Divide your batter in half and make your two giant pancakes.

3. Set them aside to cool a little and mix up the yogurt. Split the pot in half and add 1/2 teaspoon of butterfly pea flower to one half (unless you'd like more blue than pink, then add more yogurt) and 2 raspberries to the other, smoosh and mix.

Note: the butterfly pea flower will seem a bit gritty, so leave it to stand for a minute then mix it again,

then another minute and mix it again. This allows the colour to smooth and intensify.

4. Spread your yogurt, as desired, over the pancakes, then top with fruit and any decorative bits - shavings of organic white chocolate like Green & Black's, chia seeds, dragon fruit/pitaya. Whatever strikes your fancy. I drew some flowers with yogurt onto baking paper and froze them. They melted very quickly - I managed to get 2 off before they got too soft, but they firmed up again quickly enough. Just have to work quickly with them!

Friday Favourites

I've been obsessing over blueberries lately, though I've not been eating them. It's just been the idea of them, so I gave in and bought some to make some white chocolate and blueberry protein pancakes for breakfast on Tuesday and, of course, yum. Best breakfast ever. I've been using Flapjacked's buttermilk protein pancake mix as a base because it's easy and there's nothing artificial at all. I get it through Protein Pick & Mix. Though I have to admit that I don't fry them, I bake them in the oven. So they're more like cookie-cakes than pancakes...
Also, one of my favourite artists on Etsy made this awesome paleolithic cave painting piece - it's totally unaffordable, but it's so awesome. I had to share it.
Also, Vikings is amazing. Seeg and I just started watching it, and I'm hooked.

Paleolithic cave painting by DemiurgusDreams   ♥   blueberry & white chocolate pancakes

Victoria's Secret shea body oil   ♥   Vikings

Hotel Chocolat Teaolat Review

   Tea is wonderful, isn't it? I never drink anything but tea or water. It's so light, pure, and the warmth is good for you. In fact, though it doesn't sound it, warm drinks are more hydrating than cold drinks because your body doesn't have to warm it up before it can absorb it. It's put to use moments after you drink it - every reaction in your body requires water, and that, of course, includes sweating, which is your body's natural temperature-regulator. Sweat evaporates on your skin, cooling you down. And if you're hydrated, you can sweat properly, and not lose out on the water your body needs for other tasks like digestion and brain function.
   Tea is also calorie-free - which means you get flavour for free! It's only when you add sugar and milk that calories start to step in, and most tea - green, herbal, fruit, white, etc - are best enjoyed straight, with neither sugar nor milk.

   But, regardless of how hydrating tea is, sometimes you just can't beat a cold drink. Iced tea, which is a marvellous thing, is generally prepared with teabags, topped up with cold water and sweetened with some sugar, syrup or fruit. This is because the flavour isn't translated so well in the cold (though, as a side note, I find that does not ring true for pizza), and as such shouldn't be consumed as copiously as a good cup of tea, but they should certainly still be enjoyed.

   I also love hot chocolate, but it's thick and full of calories so I reserve it as a winter treat. In fact I love all things chocolate - you remember the chocolate tasting and smelling stamps I have in my epic stamp collection - so when I discovered that Hotel Chocolat made chocolate tea, sampling it shot right to the top of my to-do list.

   Hotel Chocolat's Teaolat teabags contain only natural ingredients, and cacao shells top that list in all cases. Taken straight from the encased cacao bean, the shells are high in antioxidants and are usually discarded by chocolate makers. Fortunately, Hotel Chocolat have found a decidedly unique and delicious use for them, and at less than 1 calorie a cup, you get the taste of chocolate for free!

   If I'm honest, I couldn't really distinguish anything but the chocolate in these teas on the first cup. I could smell the lemon in the cacao, lemongrass & ginseng Energise tea, but the ginseng was nearly non-existent. I could also smell the lemon in the cacao, camomile & lemon Unwind tea. As for the English Breakfast, the Assam was there, but the cacao dominated all three. But, when it comes to tea, the goodness from the herbs and leaves will still be in the water. Whether or not you can taste it doesn't make a difference.
   Having said that, when I brewed a second cup from the teabag (don't judge me), the ginseng suddenly revealed itself.
   But it should be stated that this chocolate is not a sweet chocolate. It's brewed directly from the cacao shells which, if you're familiar with cacao powder, is basically pure chocolate, but not as bitter as a dark chocolate bar. But it means that the goodness of chocolate - the true physical and mental health benefits people shout about but only actually apply to the darkest bars or the purest powders -  is present in this tea, so you can reap the benefits guilt-free. It's kind of like a calorie-free, light hot chocolate.

   And this goodness can also be found in Hotel Chocolat's iced teaolat range, which is new out this summer. First of all, it's needless, but I'll point out the colours of the tea because they are gorgeous. Then the bottles, because they're adorable.
   These iced teas don't conform to the typical iced tea recipes with added sugar. Instead they use fruit juices to flavour and sweeten, with naturally-occurring sugars rather than any added, or anything artificial - just like everything else Hotel Chocolat offers, there are no artificial sweeteners, flavours, colours or preservatives. They also have added B3, B6, B7 and B12, which is a good thing for people like me who suffer from migraines, as vitamin B6 is proven to help reduce them.
   Made with a base of water and white grape, these chocolate iced teas are only 60 calories per 330ml a bottle and 2.5g sugar - all natural.

   I tasted the difference in each iced teaolat, as subtle as they were. I tasted the raspberry, and the cacao was mild but the scent was present; the sparkling lemon, with tonic water rather than carbonation, was a good pairing, and the cacao here was the most prominent, as a swift and pleasant aftertaste. And as for ginger and chai, it's simply gorgeous.
   Absolutely, 100% guilt-free iced teas with a unique chocolate twist

   If you haven't tried Hotel Chocolat's tea range - teaolat bags or iced - I urge you to! They're worth the price tag, as everything in Hotel Chocolat's walls are, but you might want to save them for when you're searching for a chocolate fix without the guilt or simply for the right moment. And certainly all for yourself!

July: African Dance & Pilates HIIT

 Read also: 3 Weeks Later

   Ahh, July. I say that like it's a good thing. It isn't. I dislike the summer. It's hot, it's sticky, you can't do anything, and your wholeday revolves around keeping cool. I've never liked the summer. Ice cream and bright colours are the only upsides. Yep, I live in England. How anyone further south survives is just beyond me.
   Fortunately, I always get my workout done in the morning, so it's not usually too hot. Windows and doors open, fan on, whack a water bottle in the fridge as soon as I get up and I'm all set.
   So you can imagine that doing Piit28 last month was doubly difficult. But because it was so difficult, in line with my new year's resolution to know when to back off and take a break when I need it (my body hurts), this month I'm going to something simpler.
   I'm keeping it colourful and enthusiastic, so Cassey Ho is remaining on my line-up if much lower impact, and I'm pairing it with my old favourite, Kukuwa. Pop Pilates and African dance. Tell me I've got it wrong - I dare you.
   But I'm not alternating days, or doing 20/20 minutes. Instead, I'm putting together a low-impact HIIT workout combining the two. And it is only feasable because of Kukuwa's unique structure.

The Cardio
   Unlike any other dance workout DVD, Kukuwa is very high-energy dance that never slows down and is, truly, total-body all the time. The reason it's so high-energy and so full-body is because the movements are simple and quick to learn, which means you can really put all your energy into them. This also means that time is not wasted relearning the moves every time you use it. You can put it on and jump right in. Literally.
   There are two sections on the DVD, intermediate and advanced, and both are made up of 6 5-minute routines, and they truly are 5 minutes, give or take 10 seconds. And this is important to this HIIT routine, too. Each routine is on its own DVD 'chapter', making it easy to flick back or forwards to the start of a routine with the touch of a single button, which, again, is important for what I'm trying to do this month.

The Resistance
   Pilates is harder than it looks - it seriously gets into your muscles, and it burns quickly, but it's also very low-impact as far as heart rate is concerned. See where I'm going with this? You can get your breath back.
   I've got Cassey Ho's Hot Body Year Round book on hand for this, a veritable bible of Pilates moves, bright colours and clean, seasonal recipes, and they're the kind of moves that 30-45 seconds of is more than enough. The book splits the workouts into areas of the body, grouping bum workouts, leg workouts, arm workouts, back workouts and so on all individually for each season, and each feature about 6 or 7 moves. That means that this book provides about 25 moves for your bum, 25 for your legs, 25 for your arms - you get the picture. It's jam-packed. But that also means that I can either mix and match areas, or focus on the lower or upper body. And I can swap moves out for others if they get stale.

African Dance & Pilates HIIT
   So, my plan is simple: play a full 30 minute Kukuwa program - either intermediate, or advanced. However, I will only be doing the last 3 minutes of the 5 minute routines. It's true that it doesn't take much time to learn the moves, but after the first minute or two, all the moves have been strung together and so the final three minutes are higher impact and more confident than the first. This means I get the most out of the cardio.
   As for the first two minutes, I will not be idle. This is Pilates time. I'm going to string together 3 Pilates moves, performed for 30 seconds each with 10 seconds to set up between each. When this is done, I get up and boogy. When the routine is over, I hit the mat again and let the DVD play for the music, and after two minutes of 30/10/30/10/30/10, I dance the last 3 minutes. And then the next routine starts.
   This will give me a solid 30 minute workout combining dance cardio and Pilates. It won't be too high impact because even Kukuwa doesn't compare to a routine combining jump squats, burpees and tuck jumps, but it will definitely be enjoyable, and after the difficulty that is Piit28 last month, I'm going to welcome it.

   I start this workout for the first time in about an hour, and I'll blog about it in 2 weeks. Perhaps. I say perhaps because I'm only giving this 3 weeks, total, so perhaps it will be in a week and a half. Piit28 ran over the end of the month because my 2-week post-holiday slim-down threw my calendar out the window, but as this month's workout won't be as effective as Piit28, nor what I have planned for August, I didn't want to compromise on them in favour of an experiment. But if it's going to be effective, 3 weeks will be just enough to tell.

   Also, hell yes, pretty turquoise-mint Pamela shorts by Fabletics ♥

   I'm rather looking forward to this!

Piit28 - 4 Weeks Later

   Ohhh man I'm glad that's over. Piit28 hurts. I've said it enough that you'd think it wouldn't surprise me every day, but it does. But I've finished my second run (my first was back in October) and while I'm glad to see the back of it...I'm also not. It's hard, but it works, and while I don't waste my time on workouts that don't, this is one I have total confidence in. But I just can't maintain it for more than 28 days. It's true that Piit28 is very, very well put together, because breaking the workouts into body areas means you're able to work out 6 days a week without putting undue strain on muscles or compromising recovery, and that means you can do your best every day and maximise your calorie burn by fitting more into 28 days.
   But I'm used to 4 days a week, not 6, and I adore my rest days. I like getting up a little later, having a more interesting breakfast rather than something small to make sure it's settled by the time I start my workout, and tending my Etsy shop or playing some video games instead of jumping around. I burned out a while ago, and I found that it's these rest days that give me the strength to keep at it all.
   But I can sacrifice 2 rest days a week for a month if it means greater results. Why else am I doing it?

   Also, I belatedly discovered that completing Piit28 earns you an additional reward aside from immense fat burn and muscle toning: a free Piit28 tank top! Yay!! So here's mine, earned from October and redeemed 2 weeks ago, arriving just in time to mark the end of the second run! Also, bonus Nozdormu leggings from Wild Bangarang.

   July's workout is going to be more low-key after this month, and it's actually something I'm putting together myself, fusing two different workouts to make something new and more effective than they would be on their own. I have little idea how well it will work, but I suppose I'll find out when I try it tomorrow!

Friday Favourites

It's been a very green week. It seems every single neighbour has decided to cut their grass this week, so I've been blessed with the goregous green smell every single day. I've also been drinking more matcha - not sure why, it's just kind of happened - and we just summed up BBCs Robin Hood,which is an amazing programme, it's just a shame that in the third series they traded the writers and a few of the good actors for better costumes. But it still had me crying in the end!

Also, how cute are these shorts?! I've been after a pair for ages for my exercise, and this is the first I've seen that I absolutely adore. They are, obviously, from Fabletics. Everything always is.

BBC's Robin Hood   ♥   Bloom matcha

Nature sniffings   ♥   Pamela shorts by Fabletics

Christmas In July Sale!

Yes, that's right, this year I've decided to participate in Etsy's Christmas In July sale - so from now until July 10th, you can get 20% off shop-wide* with the code ETSYCIJ17. Get a head start on your Christmas shopping with my biggest discount of the year, or treat yourself!

* Exceptions: full collection listings and gift sets, as they're already discounted, and custom orders, which are priced according to the work