Sunday, April 2, 2017

Crikey, it's Nike! My Daily Workout

The Little Magpie Nike Black and White collection
Bonjourno! Today's post is all about - wait for it - fitness. Bet you didn't see that coming from my outfit, did you? You might remember from a post I did back at the start of the year that I'd decided I was going to start getting fitter and, believe it not, I actually stuck to it. I very rarely (ok, never) stick to any form of resolution I make so no one is more shocked than I am. I got myself a wee PT in the form of Andy at AG Fitness (who'll come back later on in the post to tell you a bit about my workouts and, probably, to slag me off) and have stuck to it three times a week since. The healthy eating part is the side I struggle with, there's just too much food out there to be had, but you can't win them all. I'm still nowhere near as strong or as toned as I'd like to be, but I'm 'on a journey' as they say... Do people say that? They do now. One thing I find really helps is what you wear to the gym. That's right, I'm one of those saddos who gets motivated to go to the gym by treating themselves to a brand spanking new workout outfit and I'm not even sorry.

The Little Magpie Nike Black and White Collection The Little Magpie Nike Black and White collection The Little Magpie Nike Black and White gym Collection 1 The Little Magpie Nike Black and White gym Collection The Little Magpie Nike Black and White gym Collection 1 The Little Magpie Nike Black and White Collection The Little Magpie Nike Black and White collection The Little Magpie Nike Black and White Collection The Little Magpie Nike Black and White Collection The Little Magpie Nike Black and White gym Collection 2 The Little Magpie Nike Black and White Collection The Little Magpie Nike Black and White gym Collection 1

Photos by O.G. Photos and Kirsty McLachlan | Hair by the wonderful Reece at Number659 

This particular outfit I'm wearing is from Nike's Black and White collection and is, quite frankly, amazing. The fit's incredible and the top, trousers and trainers all have breathable mesh panels built into them so that you can sweat away in them without a care in the world. Plus, the joy of black and white (in any instance) is how timeless it is; those badboys aren't going out of fashion any time soon. The pro hypercool crop is, I think, is my favourite piece. I've never seen any other workout gear like it and it's not that far away from clothes I'd wear on a day-to-day basis, so makes me feel quite nice. A thought I try to cling onto when I'm deep into a set of sweaty deadlifts and want to die. The flyknit trainers are also wonderful to wear; they're lightweight, offer good support and traction (excellent for burpees. And that's the only time I'll ever associate the word excellent with burpees) and very flexible. Oh, and they come in lots of other colours too.

Now, a lot of you have been asking what I actually do in a gym session - apart from moan - so Amazing Andy (he pays me to call him that) is going to step in here and talk you through it because I, sadly, have nowhere near enough knowledge to explain it to you.

The Little Magpie Workout
Amy and I have only been working together for 7 short weeks, interrupted by the week where she jetted off to St Lucia. I’m still super jealous about that. In those 7 weeks she’s smashed (almost) every workout and made some awesome gains in strength, she swears that she even felt a bicep the other day. She’s asked me to write a little guest post talking you all through what we usually do for a workout, so, here we go! 

 We break down an average workout in to three smaller sections; Strength work, high intensity conditioning and abs: 

 Strength: We’ve been focusing on big, compound, heavy movements including Bench press, deadlifts, rows, cleans and different squat variations. These lifts are all working multiple muscle groups to gain strength and tone up. Over the last 7 weeks we’ve been keeping the weight heavy and the reps fairly low, around 3-5 per set, to gain some strength especially on upper body exercises where Amy struggles. 

Conditioning: Towards the end of each workout we work through some higher intensity interval conditioning to get the heart rate up and get a sweat on. High intensity work such as sprints for a short blast followed by a short rest period then repeat. We try to use equipment that provides resistance to work against. Sled pushes, battle ropes and slam balls are all great for this! 

Abs: We finish up each workout by working the abs. Although you’re working your core on all of your big lifts, or at least you should be if done correctly, it’s always good to add some extra abs in. Amy always nags me about doing abs as well so…… My three favourites for abs are: weighted planks, hanging leg raises, TRX crunch or pike. We nearly always do partnered leg throws as I’m pretty confident it’s Amy’s favourite thing in the world (including pizza!) 

The Little Magpie Workout
An example of one of Amy's usual workouts is as follows:
  • Warm up
  • Activating the glutes via banded side steps, jump squats
  • Deadlift: Light warm up sets
   5 sets of 5, heavy!
  • Front squat: Lighter, working on technique
        3 sets of 8
  • Assisted pull ups and push ups (superset) – 2 sets of 8. 2 sets of as many reps as possible
  • Sled pull and push intervals: Pull the sled in with a rope and then push it back, repeat! 20 seconds rest.
  • Partnered leg throws – 1 minute work, 30 seconds rest
Now that Amy’s nailed down the basic lifting techniques we’re beginning to progress on and learn some Olympic weightlifting techniques to introduce in to future workouts, as long as she doesn’t get too annoyed that she can’t learn the techniques in under 5 minutes! Editor's note (that's me, Amy), as you know from above, I wear the Zoom trainers but, for more serious lifting techniques, the best shoe would be the Metcon. As you were.

In the mean time for fitness tips head over to agfitnesstraining.co.uk or follow us on Instagram @agfitnesstraining
The Little Magpie Workout So, there we go (I'm currently trying to ignore the part where he said I'd nailed almost every workout, rude), I hope that helps any of you who've been wondering!

I've also linked everything I'm wearing, as well as a few extra favourite picks, below for you.




Amy

Post in collab with the ever-amazing Nike