I'm Alice.
I'm a final year student at Plymouth University, and I'll be using this blog to document my strength and fitness journey, primarily as I try and work towards the MASS Student Physique Championships.
I am a complete amateur in training and nutrition, everything I do is from my research on the internet, magazines, from friends etc. I'm still trying to find what works for my body and my lifestyle. Trying to balance training with studying for my degree, my part time job (Nandos!) and a social life is going to be difficult, but that's where this blog comes in - I hope it'll keep me focused and be a good record for myself.
I only started going to the gym seriously earlier this year (2014), after a new years resolution to 'get active'. I have never been a sporty person - at school I was literally the cliche of always getting picked last for teams. Luckily I don't put on weight easily so never felt the need to do any type of sports, until this year when I decided I really wanted to get healthy and get fit.
It was convenient that at the time I was on my placement year on a military station, which meant I had free access to the gym on site. I originally started with just cardio, but I hated it. I was out of breath, sweaty and ready to give up within 10 minutes of starting every session. I wasn't improving and it made me feel worse about my fitness levels than ever before.
I had always thought weights at the gym looked interesting, but was much too scared to give it a go as that area is constantly occupied by big men lifting heavy, who would surely look down on a skinny girl struggling with simple exercises and tiny weights. However, at a routine check up the doctors told me it would be good if I could put on a little bit of weight. I have had to do this before when I was younger, and that consisted of eating everything full fat and snacking on anything people are normally told to stay away from. This time I wanted to put weight on in a more healthy way, hopefully avoiding the bad skin, bad moods, and fears of getting fat that come with the high fat/high calorie diet I was advised to follow when I was 15.
The whole 'muscle weighs more than fat' fact encouraged me to consider being introduced to weightlifting, and with some help from a couple of guys on site, I became a regular in the weights room at the gym.
I quickly started to love it. People say they go to the gym/go running/exercise as it gives them alone time with their thoughts, lets them think about issues, plans, loves, hates etc. I found the complete opposite. With weightlifting I had to be so in the moment and concentrate so much on my form, my breathing and my body that it was the only time I wasn't thinking. I could just concentrate completely on my body and not worry about anything else, because right then nothing else mattered.
Another thing I noticed when I started was how quickly my strength and form improved. In a matter of weeks I had doubled the amount I could lift, and this gave me such a boost that I just wanted to keep going.
Unfortunately life got in the way, over summer I was only able to go to the gym after work (sometimes not until midnight) and after a 9 hour shift improvements at the gym are very difficult to come across. Then moving back to university was no easier. Different lecture times every day and a lot of excuses to get drunk, get home late, and stay in bed eating off a hangover meant I never had a routine and gym trips were whenever I could find the time or the energy.
As well as all this, trying to eat healthily on a student budget is nigh on impossible, especially for someone with such a sweet tooth who would rather make a chocolate spread sandwich that cook a chicken breast. I really do try, and my health, fitness and lifestyle has improved exponentially since my first and second years at university.
Now is the time to really buckle down though. I wanted to enter the Student Physique Championships so I have a goal to work towards which will keep me more motivated and encourage me to push myself like never before. It may end up being a very difficult journey. I don't know how I will deal with things like having to get my body fat right down while having enough energy for the gym, lectures, dissertation and exams, but I am really looking forward to finding out.
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