From wow to vow – Bridal bootcamp week 1

For the next 12 weeks, our wedding fitness guru Blake Worral-Thompson will walk you through a health and fitness regime designed to have you looking – and feeling – your best come your big day!

Week 1

The hardest part of anything new, not just a new exercise regime, is getting started. Do you remember when you had to return to work after having a break over Christmas? It’s wasn’t that easy was it? It’s the same with an exercise program. Although I’m hoping most of you are jumping out of your skin with excitement, the first few weeks aren’t that easy until you’ve created those new habits and exercise becomes ingrained in your life.

For all brides to be, there is no bigger day to get yourself in tip top condition then the big wedding day and for that reason I’m sure you’re prepared to do whatever it takes to look your best.

Before we start the program there are a couple of things that you need to be aware of before you jumping blindly into this program.

DOMS: Although I love nothing more than seeing someone ready to jump into their new health kick, it’s important that ‘slow and steady’ be the focus for the first two weeks, here’s why.

If you haven’t trained for a while it’s likely that you’re not going to be that fit and if you try and go out as hard as you can you’re going to get DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness). If you’re not interested in the lingo (which most of you aren’t) it means get sore, really sore.

DOMS doesn’t actually kick in the day after exercise and for most people they think they’ve got away with the ‘soreness’…….then it sets in. I’m a big fan of DOMS but here is the issue. If you’ve gone out all guns blazing on day one and you’ve got DOMS for the next 6 days then you’ve just wasted 6 days! What a waste of your first week!!!!!

Because of this the focus for the first week needs to be consistency. Exercise 6 days in your first week and you’re one step closer to having exercise ingrained in your life for ever!

Plan of attack: For a number of you, you’ll potentially be in the process of making wedding arrangements now. Would it even cross your mind to not have a plan over the coming months? Unlikely. Your fitness plan is the same. Your fitness HAS to become part of your everyday life and not be seen as a chore.

When are you going to train? Where are you going to train? How long are you going to train for? These are all important questions that need answers. Hopefully I can give you the answers! One of the greatest tools when looking to stay on track is analysing what has had you fall off the bandwagon in the past. Has it been from getting sick? Holidays?  Stress? Whatever those ‘roadblocks’ are address them before they stop you in your tracks! Come up with a strategy before it hits hard! Support around you will also help with this, which brings me to my next point, support.

Support: For a large number of people starting a new exercise regime is challenging and when the motivation levels aren’t high it can be quite daunting. One of the easiest ways to stay on track in the beginning is to stay accountable…..to someone else. Now I never encourage you to ‘rely’ on someone else but in the initial stages it might just be what you need to get the ball rolling.  The stronger your support network the easier it can be to stay on top of your health regime. Is there a girlfriend that is looking to kick off their health regime as well? Have you got a bunch of girlfriends that are already into their health and fitness?

Goals: You’re more likely to succeed in your health quest if you have clear goals that you are working towards. For most of you it will be fitting into ‘that’ wedding dress. The question is, do you know what you need to do to fit into it? If you don’t know what you need to do than how can you reach your goal? Maybe before the wedding there a pair of jeans that you would like to fit into? Are those jeans out hanging up in front of you every day for inspiration to stay on track?  For your goals to be achieved they need to be at the forefront of your mind. Those size 10 jeans that you want to fit into aren’t going to be much inspiration for you if they are tucked away at the bottom of one of your draws. To fit into that wedding dress put a photo of it on your fridge so every time you open the fridge you don’t make a bad decision.

Fine tuning your food: There are three rules I have when it comes to food that will have you looking the best you’ve ever looked!

1)      Keep it clean: Avoid anything processed or packaged. As soon as food has been processed it loses nutritional value. These foods that have been processed and packaged with added sugar and salt to enhance their shelf life are empty calories!

2)      Sugar kills: Don’t get sucked into believing fat is making you fat, it isn’t. The problem is sugar. Sugar is making you fat. It sneaks past your appetite control and your body doesn’t register that you are eating it and is then converted directly by your liver to fat.  Your body does need sugar for energy, but it only needs glucose, the problem is that we consume too much fructose and sucrose (two of the other forms of sugars in a large number of foods). In fact we consume 32kgs of fructose a year which is converted directly to 14 kilos of bodyfat.

3)      Stay alkaline: It’s super important that our bodies are alkaline.  Depending on the foods we eat we either become acidic or alkaline. Becoming too acidic leads to a number of issues including colds and a weaken immune system, poor digestion and digestive issues, headaches and constipation and weight gain, just to name a few. The perfect alkaline is 7 which is regarded as ‘neutral’. You can test this with a PH test kit which you can get from health food stores. Having this neutral PH will also make it easier to lose weight, protect against premature aging, prevent and even treat diabetes, reduce the risk of cancer and gout, improve mental clarity, stamina, digestive health energy, immunity and bone health. You diet should be made up of 80% alkaline foods and 20% acidic. Foods that are alkaline include a large number of your veggies and fruits while those that are acidic include your drinks (other than tea and water), sauces/sweeteners also some grains and cereal. Are you seeing a pattern here? Correct, if you follow the first two points you will become alkaline! Recipes will follow to give you a detailed insight to challenge this.