All Geared Up & My First Time with the Polar HRM

Well, it's taken some time getting my gearing up task completed. Alot of picking the task up, buying a couple of things, putting it down, then picking it up a couple of days later. But I have finally done it. I'm all geared up. And here's the photo to prove it:

Woo hoo. It only took me twenty bloody minutes to figure out how to get that photo into the blog the right way up! Computers aren't one of my strong suits, I'm sure you've worked that out by reading that sentence. For some reason it just didn't want to come into the blog how I rotated it. What a headache. Never mind, it's all sorted now.

Onto my awesome gear! It was so much fun gathering all of that stuff together. Well, most of it. My fave bit - the gym bag. Just look at it! Love it!!! It's a nike bag. I swear it's like a hand bag, disguised as a gym bag. Or vice versa. I love it. I just wanted a really convenient bag that can fit on my shoulder underneath my handbag while I trek down the hill for my walk to work in the mornings. It's so great. Can't wait to use it.

I've opted for a mix between the gym and at home across the twelve weeks. Keeping the options open given my work schedule changes at the drop of a hat! So I've also purchased Mish's 3 pack of Crunch time dvds and a pilates dvd (I forgot to put them in the photo, whoops), to keep me busy on days I need to exercise at home.

I also stocked up on some gym singlets and tights, barbells, a step, socks, and the Polar FT4!!!! The shoes I already had. Thank goodness I made an investment on good runners about a year ago. They haven't gotten a whole lot of use, so they should get me through the twelve weeks. But if I had to buy them too, I think I'd be broke!! So expensive, but having the new gear has really made me feel good about my goals, and helped me gain focus. As shallow as that sounds, but I am a material girl in a material world :).

I finished the last of my shopping for gear on the weekend, so thought I would put it to use tonight for my exercise after work. I got home, chucked on a new singlet and tights (and my runners), and got the ol Polar out. I was quite keen because it was my first time using it. I decided to do one of Mish's dvds - the Cardio Kicker. I did the whole dvd at level 1 (low impact for my left knee and lower back safety reasons). It wasn't the most hardcore workout because I was taking the low impact version, but I burned a whole 360 calories. That was pretty cool. As Mish's program advises us to burn 500 calories per session, it shouldn't be too difficult to dig deep and push harder to get to that 500 calorie benchmark. I'm stoked with all of my purchases and my workout. Yippee. Is this what they call a "runner's high"? Haha, just kidding.

Here's some more proof of my efforts:

I'm now really feeling like I can make this program work for me. Such a good feeling.

Happy training everyone :).