Tag: Fitness

Hot & Sweaty with Ellie Goulding

On By Girl Running CrazyIn General, ReviewsLeave a comment

When an email landed in my inbox from Nike Women inviting me to the exclusive launch of Ellie Gouldings’ new Tighten & Tone N+TC workout with none other than Ellie herself I couldn’t reply quick enough!

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The venue was Tobacco Dock in East London where I joined maybe 300 other like minded ladies bubbling with excitement and ready to get sweaty on the mat. There was a small stage at the front and the evening kicked off with a stunning acoustic performance from Ellie who treated us 5 or 6 of her hits including the current number 1, Love Me Like You Do and one of my favourite running tracks, Anything Could Happen.

Ellie Goulding was singing just a metre away from me!!  ARRGHHHH

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Despite being an international superstar, she told us she was feeling shy.  She needn’t of been because we all loved her, and even more so for being so normal, but  she was clearly putting her heart into her performance.  It was bloody brilliant!

Ellie then rushed off to change into her workout gear (reminding us why we were there!) and we went to find ourselves a mat, the punishment was about to begin…

The Nike Master Trainers were introduced on stage together with Ellie’s personal trainer, Faisal, who would be leading the session with Ellie. Ellie has been a bit of a fitness freak for some now and she’s also a keen runner so I knew the workout would be beneficial to my marathon training.

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We started the session with a good warm up before getting stuck into the Tighten & Tone workout. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect but it’s only a 15 minute workout, how hard could it be?  I was expecting an easy ride. I was wrong.

Tighten & Tone is a combination of high and low intensity intervals designed to activate the core, strengthen the arms and work the legs.  We completed a range of exercises including burpees, planks, pike push-ups, squats, thrusts, seated scissor kicks (ouch!) & lunges for 30-60 seconds with a couple of 10 second rests if we were lucky.

The Nike Master Trainers were dotted around everywhere checking we weren’t slacking so there was nowhere to hide!  Ellie proved herself to be just as fit and strong as I thought and completed all of the exercises with graceful ease.

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How was it?  More intense than I thought and definitely one to work up a sweat – there were some real lung busters in there.  I’m definitely going to need some more practice at those seated scissor kicks!

After the workout we were greeted with a choice of healthy meals, I went for the teriyaki salmon salad, together with a welcome glass of bubbles, it was just what we needed!

And how did I feel the next day? In pain…

Thanks To Nike for a fabulously fun evening of live music, sweaty exercise, delightful company and champagne!

I’ll definitely be doing Ellie’s workout again and you can try it yourself by downloading the free NTC app, you don’t need any equipment so you can even do it in front of the TV.  No excuses!  There won’t be any Faisal though…sorry 🙂

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Tai Chi – Good health, longevity & a swift jab to the ribs

On By Girl Running CrazyIn General3 Comments

Before I started obsessively(?!) running marathons I trained at a Boxing Gym in Shoreditch twice a week and worked my way through 3 levels before being awarded my red belt in kickboxing.  However, when I increased my mileage for the London Marathon in 2011 I sadly realised I just didn’t have the time or energy to do both, it broke me.  I miss kickboxing.

When I was invited to try another martial art, Tai Chi, on Primrose Hill with some other fitness and lifestyle bloggers, I jumped at the chance!

I wasn’t really sure what to expect, or what to wear, so I went for my planned 4 mile run round Regents Park and turned up in my sweaty running gear.  Everyone else looked very clean and un-sweaty. Oops, sorry!

The class was sponsored by Legal & General, who are backing a #fitnessisfree campaign to encourage more people to get outside and exercise, and was run by experienced Tai Chi instructor, Shifu Liu Quanjun (no, I don’t know how to pronounce that).

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Our instructor, in his baggy gold satin trousers, went about explaining that Tai Chi promotes health and longevity, rebalances the body, increases energy and decreases stress.  It’s an art that uses natural, circular, movements where you draw strength from the ground, the air, and from within.

He likened it to impersonating a tree…which we were conveniently gathered around for inspiration.

After a demonstration, which started with being very still for a few minutes, followed by some slow left to right style movements, and finished with some quicker jumping & kicking movements, it was time for us to get involved.

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We started with getting our posture right with bent knees and arms raised, before swaying back and forth with our arms moving around in circles (very much like a tree swaying in the wind in fact, I get it now!).  I was struck by how much my arms ached from this continual movement, I really must work on that…

We progressed through the sequence and started moving forwards whilst swaying and stamping our feet and then did some sideways kicking – my favourite part!

The group broke off into pairs and we tried some Tai Chi movements on each other with one person throwing a punch whilst the other cracks your ribs or breaks your wrist.  Don’t worry, we were gentle, no ambulances involved today!

Shifu Liu showing my partner how to break my wrist in one quick movement.  Scared? Me?!

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I would love to master a martial art but I’m really not sure I have the patience.  I very much enjoyed the more explosive movements and partner work, but I struggle to channel my inner energy which takes a lot of practice and concentration.

Would I give Tai Chi another go?  Yes, but I think you would need more than one session a week to get the most out of it which I couldn’t do without giving up (more) sleep!