Sunday, January 29, 2012

Jane Trains Home Gym

I have had a few people ask me what type of exercise I do, therefore I decided to share my home gym with you. When Brandon my husband and I bought our first house (this house) I stood in the basement with a grey concrete floor, white painted cinder block walls and high ceilings. I was dumbfounded, I new upon my first step that this was where our home gym would be. Brandon was calling me from probably the kitchen (his favourite room) and I couldn't move as I had just found the perfect place for our home gym. My dream was coming true, a home gym to keep healthy, fit and strong.

 This is where Jane Trains. 














Brandon and I love our power rack. We knew that we would get good use out of it and how to use it, it was our main purchase when setting up our home gym. We also purchased an Olympic barbell and weights to go with our power rack. This was so exciting for us. I get excited just writing about it as I remember the feeling all too well.







We had our Sole treadmill in our living room in our rental flat from a few years back when Brandon was trying to heal after a car accident. If you buy any equipment for your home gym make sure you WILL use it and that it is of good QUALITY. Go to a reputable fitness supply store. In Ontario, Canada we use The Treadmill Factory often as it is just around the corner from our house and we have had good customer service from their staff.  




When we first began training we used free weights, changing the plates to accommodate different weights for different exercises. We lived in a rental flat and did our training in our living room, this worked well for the space. Free weights are good for many exercises when strengthening training. However, once I had the olympic barbell in my possession I wanted it in my hands when I was training, it just feels so good.

My training involves a lot of heavy lifting and conditioning. It is training that gets results, empowers me and gives me strength. Most of all I love it! I am so excited to get back on track to meet my bench press goals and dead lifting goals once again. I am inching to outdo my personal bests. It is important to have long term goals when training so you always have something to work towards, a focus and maybe even a dream. I am planning in the next while to get using my pink 25 lb kettlebells in my training also. I will share my goals with you over the next few weeks, I expect that I will be blown away by my results as I get back into training.

Before setting up a home gym you need to know what YOU want from it. What is YOUR favourite type of exercise ? How much space do you have ? Luckily we knew exactly what we wanted in our home gym, we had the space for what we wanted and we were able to buy it for our new home. Now all I need to do is getting training again and "BE STRONG".


Saturday, January 21, 2012

The Day I Have Been Waiting For

There were many times over the past year that I had a talk with myself, wondering when I would be able to get back training again. I knew that I would because I am a positive and determined person. The real question became WHEN ???? Thankfully I have a great deal of patience because I needed it. Today marks the end of my long patient wait, today is the WHEN day!

After some serious thought into how I would begin my journey back to fitness I came to some conclusions. 

1. I have to manage stress as I continue to heal and get well.


2. I must slowly get back into training.

3. I needed a professional to guide me through this journey.


What does this mean? Managing stress means I need to train from my awesome home gym and not be running around trying to make it to appointments. Slowly getting back into training means I needed to find someone who understood that I was still getting well as I work with my Naturopathic Doctor.  A professional meant I needed a trainer to guide me in this journey who could train me online to get me to where I want to be in the next few months. 


When I began training a few years ago I watched a video of an awesome young woman working out. I told myself and everyone around me at the time that I wanted to be like her ! I met her on several occasions and was so envious that she was able to train with the strongmen doing implement training. We connected online and have stayed in touch. Throughout my long months of illness I found her to be a great support from her posted videos of her and her clients pulling trucks and heavy lifting. Thankfully I could live through watching others do what I longed to do. She too has had her own issues with food intolerance and allergies. We seem to be the perfect match as I begin my new chapter of my life. 



Today I am having her over to look at our home gym, talk about my goals and begin to write up a program for me to follow. My husband Brandon has generously offered to make us a super healthy gluten and allergy free meal for all of us. Until then I would like to introduce to you Jennifer Mulhall, personal trainer who will be doing distance coaching with me.




Soon this will be a video of me, although I will need a little more patience for that. I will be posting today's events to mark this exciting day. Until then "Be Strong".