Thursday, 22-01-26

Morning, everyone.  Welcome to Thursday!

Yesterday morning was such a dull, damp, dreary time round here.  The afternoon was a bit dryer but still dreary!  Never mind, I had plenty of time to enjoy myself as Kay couldn't come (there are very good reasons, family needs always come first in my book) so I sorted out a few more cupboards and now I have stuff to take to a local charity shop that doesn't need appointment times.
And, with all this spare time, I now have just one and a half maple leaf squares to go and I've finished them and can move on to joining and the border.  Exciting.

In comments, Rachel asked about my fitness classes so here's a bit of an overview of the whole thing.
My 'provider' is via Shimmy and Groove, a small local business owned by Lindsey Abbott.  I had her son in my class two decades ago now.
Here's a link to her Facebook page.  https://www.facebook.com/ShimmyAndGrooveFitness/#

Lindsey does a whole range of classes:
Circuits is rather like HIIT - a circle of activities that we work around, usually one minute on each one.  Occasionally she does a front led session, especially if she's got someone accessing the session online and in better weather we all work out in her garden rather than her lovely studio.  The activities focus on both strength/core and cardio
Groove is my favourite.  It is dance-ish sequences to well known music that she has copyright access to and the focus is cardio.
Then the other one I sometimes do online is SET which stands for Strike, Energise, Tone.  Strike is combat type stuff, punches, kicks, etc, mixed with jacks, squats, etc, that we go through over and over with something new added each rotation.  Energise is like a mini circuits but without equipment.  Tone is usually mat based and works on cure strength - a bit yoga/Pilates-like.
The last group class is Strength which is a more extended Tone, on mats.  I don't do that one.

Some of these classes are in hired halls for bigger groups and some are at her studio for smaller groups.

On Wednesday she does a rotation between these four classes.  Yesterday was strength and next week is SET.  When her sessions are Studio based, you can join them online as well.

I nearly forgot - she sends out a WOW (Workout of the Week) to those of us who have subscribed.  A variety of different things, delivered on Messenger and there for the whole year for us to use as and when.
And when she has to miss a session, she has a bank of recorded classes and sends one out so we get something.

Then there's personal training.  One-to-one and geared to the individual needs of each client.  I enjoy PT very much indeed.  At the moment I do a ten minute warm up, some rotation and strength stuff and then work on core, calves, ankles and feet, as feet/calves are a bit of an issue for me.  Part of it is just age but, as they say, if you don't use it, you lose it!

She can also do specific one offs, massage, etc.  And she's a live wire, great on fund raising for the Blossom Suite which is our local centre that supports parents whose babies were born too soon or did not survive.
And she organises fitness holidays, other stuff like self defence for women, sound bath sessions, trips to gyms for specials, etc as well as the Beat The Street initiatives.  She's incredibly supportive, empathic, flexible and really funny!

I don't know how she does it all, I really don't.

I hope that gives you some idea of what's on offer and, if you are local and want to tone up a bit, get in touch with her via Facebook.

Today looks to be another gentle day.  Chris is round for coffee and chat and then I will pop to Morrisons to do my (hopefully) small weekly shop.  I prefer Fridays but when Alex comes for his lesson, I do it Thursday instead.
Then I shall sort out a few more cupboards and when that's done I will chill!

I hope this hasn't been too disjointed - or no more than usual anyway.  I'm in the middle of making a roasted carrot and lentil soup to use up stuff that's is close to the edge and had to keep jumping up to stir, check, etc.  It's now all cooked and blended and tasting wonderful!
I dearly love a home made soup!

Rioht, time to get going.  Have a wonderful day, everyone.  See you tomorrow.  xx