Dance like no-one is watching

27 Mar 2016 1 Comment

by Carole Gardiner in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , ,

 

In my never ending quest to find interesting ways to keep fit and because I can’t play netball at the moment due to my wrist injury, I decided to sign up to an 8 week dancing course.

After seeing a post on Facebook I registered for a free “On Broadway” taster session with Fitness Fusion. Run by Katy Robinson, a professional dancer of many years. who has been teaching dance since the age of 16. Based in Sheffield Katy created “On Broadway” dance classes for women to gain confidence, get fit, have fun and release their inner show girl. On each course two dances from the Broadway shows are taught with a teaching style that breaks down complex routines. By expanding her team, Katy has branched out to Derbyshire, Richmond Upon Thames, Cheshire and Bristol.

The taster session was very busy, full of women not really knowing what the next hour was going to bring. Katy and her instructor Charlotte taught us most of the dance made famous by Catherine Zeta Jones and Renee Zellweger at the end of Chicago, called Hot Honey Rag. Due to the session only being an hour there wasn’t time to learn the whole routine.

I loved every minute of it and didn’t need to wait to hear Katy’s sales pitch about the course at half time, to know that I was ready to sign up to learn more dances. Although I spent most of my childhood in ballet school, I never had the opportunity to do these kinds of dances. It was so exciting to get the chance at last and I couldn’t wait to get started.

Thankfully I didn’t have to wait for long and before I knew it I was making my way to a little village hall to begin my dance adventure. At the time of writing we have just completed week 3 learning a routine from the musical Fame. Unfortunately we now have a 2 week break for Easter, so there’s a real danger of forgetting every step we’ve learnt up to now. We have one more week of Fame then it’s onto a Fred Astaire number from the musical Top Hat complete with props!

If this dance opportunity comes to your area don’t hesitate to sign up, you won’t regret it.

dance fusion

To find out more follow this link Dance like no-one is watching

Planking disaster

01 Mar 2015 Leave a comment

by Carole Gardiner in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , ,

The planking challenge for February didn’t go according to plan, I only managed 2 attempts of planking for 20 seconds and that was a limb shaking effort!

But on a positive note, the reason why I’ve neglected the planking challenge is that I’ve been busy being active in other ways. For sometime now I have been walking part of the way home everyday, which is approximately a 25 minute walk and a couple of times over the last few weeks I have extended the walk, so very soon I should be walking all the way home. I have downloaded a pedometer on my phone and aim to do 10000 steps a day.

In addition to the walking and my weekly zumba class I have joined my local Back to Netball group. This is a nationwide initiative to get women back into playing netball in a friendly and pressure free environment. I played in the netball team in primary school, secondary school and college and absolutely loved it, but as that was at least 32 years ago so as you can imagine I don’t feel anywhere near good enough to play in a team. Just the very mention of the words “try out” fills me with dread. I’ve only been to 3 netball sessions so far but I’m really enjoying it, although I’m very out of practice and really need to work on my defending skills. Maybe before the season starts again I’ll be up to joining a team, but for the moment I’m happy just getting back into the swing of it.

I feel so blessed to be able to build up my fitness after suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome, while I was ill I never thought I would have the opportunity or indeed the strength ever again to live a fulfilling life. I hope by sharing my experiences I can bring hope to sufferers of this debilitating illness and belief that there is light at the end of the tunnel, even if it seems a very long one.

back to netball

Year of good intentions

28 Jan 2015 Leave a comment

by Carole Gardiner in Uncategorized Tags: , , , ,

Every year I make New Year resolutions and mostly I don’t succeed in keeping any of them. They always seem to be along the same themes… get fitter, learn another language, write my novel.
Last year there was a slight improvement , I did start Italian lessons but I chose one to one lessons and found them very intense and was ever so slightly scared of my tutor! So that one went down the pan.
The ideas and words for my novel are still in my head and haven’t made it anywhere near all the notebooks that I have stacked up collecting dust.
Getting fitter has been more successful, I’m slimmer than I’ve been for a long time, I am walking more and have even started running again.
I do need to work on my core strength so to this end I am going to attempt to do the 28 day plank challenge during the month of February. Then at least I can tick off a resolution as achieved.
I’m going to write regular posts on my progress throughout the month, but don’t just read about it, have a go! below are the details from the plank challenge Facebook page.
The 28 Days Plank Challenge
The task: “Planks”

How it works?

The elbows are directly under your shoulders.
The legs stretched like pushups.
Tense your buttocks at (M. gluteus maximus).
Stay in this position. Do not forget to breathe.

sounds simple, but it´s really tricky 😉

We start on February 1 to February 28 !!!
novice:
Day 1 – 20 seconds
Day 2 – 20 seconds
Day 3 – 30 seconds
Day 4 – 30 seconds
Day 5 – 40 seconds
Day 6 – rest
Day 7 – 45 seconds
Day 8 – 45 seconds
Day 9 – 60 seconds
Day 10 – 60 seconds
Day 11 – 60 seconds
Day 12 – 90 seconds
Day 13 – rest
Day 14 – 90 seconds
Day 15 – 90 seconds
Day 16 – 120 seconds
Day 17 – 120 seconds
Day 18 – 150 seconds
Day 19 – rest
Day 20 – 150 seconds
Day 21 – 150 seconds
Day 22 – 180 seconds
Day 23 – 180 seconds
Day 24 – 210 seconds
Day 25 – rest
Day 26 – 210 seconds
Day 27 – 240 seconds
Day 28 – PLANK for as long as possible

Planks is great !!!!
It strengthens the lower back, abdominal muscles and hips, buttocks as well

GO FOR IT !!!!

planking