I’ve been hitting the gym hard these past few months. But, before christmas – when I was still feeling very raw from my breakup – I did little to no exercise whatsoever, throughout October to December.

However, talking to a friend, who was able to put a positive spin on things for me, changed all that.

He said that when he split with his longterm girlfriend, he took it as an opportunity to look after himself better. An opportunity to get fit, strong and feel good again.

So, taking a bloody big leaf out of his book, I did just that.

A month ago, I blogged about my visit to Equinox and what it was like testing out their new Ropes & Rowers HIIT class with The Everyday Man. Intense!!

I also gave you a rundown of my January workout schedule, which I do at my local gym, SpringHealth Leisure Centre (also known as Pools on the Park.) I’m not endorsed by the gym in any way, I just go because it’s local to me and does a lot of the classes that I enjoy. If you missed my January workout schedule, take a look here.

Then New York Bakery Co. got in touch to see if I was interested in getting involved with their Build Up Bagelcampaign, fronted by The Body Coach, Joe Wickes. *Swoon* 

Always up for a challenge, I said: “yeah, why not?” 

I’m exercising A LOT (for me) at the moment, partly because the effect it has on me makes me happy. And you can’t turn your nose up at feeling happy.

“When you exercise, your body releases chemicals called endorphins. These endorphins interact with the receptors in your brain that reduce your perception of pain. Endorphins also trigger a positive feeling in the body, similar to that of morphine.” source: webmd

Diet? What diet!?

I like to eat what I want and do not follow a strict diet. This is not meant as a brag, I’m just too lazy to be that regimented about what I eat. Perhaps if I was, the changes to my body would be more dramatic. But… I enjoy my food too much and can’t bear the thought of cutting out things like alcohol, carbs or sugar. Everything in moderation, eh?

After I workout I like to eat something (relatively) healthy. So I decided that my own #BuildUpBagel concoctions should be tasty and a little bit nutritious too.

#BuildUpBagel 1 ~ Avo brunch

I’m a big fan of avocado with chilli, so for a post-workout breakfast I mashed up an avocado, added half a teaspoon of very lazy chilli, and smothered a toasted sesame seed bagel with it. Done.

#BuildUpbagel 2 ~ Alternative sweet treat

I toasted a cinnamon and raisin bagel and then sliced up a banana, pan-fried it in a little bit of butter (I did say relatively healthy) and a drizzle of honey. I then spooned a dollop of mascarpone cheese on top of my toasted bagel and topped it all off with the warm, freshly caramelised bananas. Yum!

#BuildUpBagel 3 ~ Egg in the hole

I wanted to play around with some of my favourite ingredients and add a runny yolk egg on top. In this case, I chose smoked salmon, avocado, some light Philadelphia cheese spread and a handful of chargrilled Mediterranean vegetables. And then cracked an egg into the hole on top of the red onion & chive bagel and grilled it until the egg white was cooked. Please note: the bagel will get toasted quicker than the egg white cooks, so you may need to pop some tin foil over the bagel to stop it getting cremated. I learnt the hard way! :-S

#BuildUpBagel 4 ~ Chorizomous

Another favourite food of mine is chorizo. I toasted a sesame seed bagel, pan fried some halloumi, added a spoonful of red pepper houmous, and some chargrilled veggies and then added a few slices of chorizo. Delicious.

#BuildUpBagel 5 ~ Peanutella

Breakfast treat. Cinnamon and raisin toasted bagel with equal amounts of peanut butter and Nutella spread liberally on top. Yeah!

Which bagel recipe is your favourite? And what flavour combinations would you choose?

My February workout schedule consisted of:

Week 1

• 0 classes*

*I was doing the Radiance Cleanse (they advise against intensive exercise while juicing. I literally had no energy, so this was for the best really)

Week 2

• Monday: Insanity
• Tuesday: Yoga Flow
• Thursday: Dynamic Yoga
• Friday: MetaFit
• Sunday: MetaFit

Week 3

• Tuesday: Yoga Flow
• Friday: MetaFit

Week 4

• Monday: Insanity/ HITT with weights
• Tuesday: Body Pump
• Wednesday: Iyengar Yoga
• Friday: MetaFit

Week 5 (beginning of March)

• Monday: Iyengar Yoga

Personally, I like to have a variety of different classes dotted throughout the week. Yoga helps me to focus, Body Pump is great for toning up your arms, and includes a lot of squats and lunges too, which tone up your legs and bum. 

I can definitely recommend trying High Intensity Interval Training, and doing a HIIT class like MetaFit or Insanity, a complete all-over body workout. Great for people wanting results fast. You will sweat. Lots.

What’s on next week… 

On Monday, I’ve got a preview of the new Equinox Headstrong class – a four-part active regeneration workout (whatever that means!) and on Tuesday, I have a personal training session with Performance Coach, Dalton Wong, at his gym TwentyTwo Training in South Kensington. It’s not a blog thing, I actually won it in an Instagram competition, along with the Radiance Cleanse 3-day juice detox. Let’s see how we get on! 

I haven’t yet booked in my normal fitness classes, as I have to see what freelance social media/blogging/photography work and meetings come up, and fit them in around that. Priorities, etc.

Current fitness goals…

• Get fit for California and get a Coachella-ready body - 39 days to go
• Bringing sexy BRAC - get a beach body for my Croatia holiday with my best pals - 150 days to go

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Photography © Lucie Kerley