a tiny little gym mistake

Monday was pretty rubbish. By the time lunchtime came round it took all my effort not to run away to the gym to let off some steam from the Morning of Awful, but I managed to last until late afternoon.

Once I was in my gear and all psyched up, however, there was no stopping me. I did a bit of cardio and then decided that I needed to do some resistance and that somehow it would help lift my awful mood.

If I can give you one piece of advice ever, it would be this:

do not do resistance when you're crazy tense

with anger - or your body will punish you.

On Monday evening I felt so much better for having pumped out all of my anger. On Tuesday I was kinda achey, but OK. This morning I couldn't get out of bed. I couldn't stand up, let alone walk around. My quads were totally solid, and I have to tell you that Googling "my quads hurt, how can I make it stop?" is not terribly helpful. Especially if you can't get up in order to walk to the kitchen to dig out the rolling pin.

It was with very good intentions that I went to the gym, but never again will I head straight there after a super sucky day at work.

Let's hope that my entire day of rest and telly-watching will do the trick, and tomorrow my legs will have remembered how to work. In the mean time, I can dream of this...

Crossfit Foxygen via Pamela M. Kramer

must have Monday - a pretty gym bag

Since joining the gym back in the autumn, I have always used the same bag to transport my kit. It's plastic, it's green and white and has nice sturdy handles, but it's basically just a plastic bag. I've been contemplating getting an actual gym bag, one that fits everything and doesn't look as silly as wandering in off the street with a plastic bag, which isn't a great look, but normal gym-specific bags are pretty ugly and are often emblazoned with some sports logo, which just isn't me...

I would rather have something pretty and functional, stylish and big enough to hold all my stuff. I've never really been into bags, I just have my owl bag and that's about it, but I have to admit that all the "research" I did for this post was super-tastic fun!

Enough of that - let's get on with the bags...

♥ ♥ ♥ cheap chic ♥ ♥ ♥

1. The British Museum // £7.99 // 2. Lapin & Me // £14

3. Forever 21 // $19.80 // 4. Gillian Kyle // £12.50

5. Pop Kid // £10 // 6. girls with flaws // €19.99

7. Lapin & Me // £18 // 8. Forever 21 // $10.80

♥ ♥ ♥ very reasonably priced ♥ ♥ ♥

1. River Island // £35 // 2. Kate Garey // £34.99 // 3. Kate Garey // £34.99

4. Accessorize // £28 // 5. Modcloth // $49.99 // 6. Accessorize // £40

7. Modcloth // $59.99 // 8. Accessorize // £35 // 9. Sugar Coated by Disaster Designs // £48

10. Accessorize // £32 // 11. Kate Garey // £34.99 // 12. Kate Garey // £34.99

13. With Love by Disaster Designs // £65 14. ASOS // $50.13 // 15. ASOS // $80.57

♥ ♥ ♥ I could probably use the money for something more necessary ♥ ♥ ♥

1. Givenchy // $1945 // 2. Zatchels at Liberty // £114 // 3. Mulberry // £270

4. Zatchels at Paperchase // £97 // 5. Fifty One Percent // £100 //

6. Diane von Furstenberg £375 // 7. Anya Hindmarsh // £165 // 8. Paul Smith // $432

~~~~~~~

What kind of bag do you use?

Do any of these take your fancy?

must have Monday: to the gym!

So, it would seem it's 2012 already. And what with it being January, it's going to be almost impossible not go to the gym at least once. It's as though it's programmed in or something: January = go to the gym time.

Now I, for one, love my gym and it feels mighty weird not having been for a couple of weeks (oh Christmas holidays, you little rascal!) but I don't know if I can handle going in the first week of January, when it'll no doubt be utterly packed with eager resolutionists.

Perhaps it would be more bearable if I could walk in there and show them all that I mean business - maybe if I had some snazzy outfits to wear, some neat accessories and some mean equipment... a bit like these perhaps...

>>> gym tops <<<

{strong is the new skinny} {squat like me} {gluteus to the maximus} {lift like a girl}

>>> gym bottoms <<<

{running tights} {funky yellow leggings} {fairisle print leggings}

>>> running skirts <<<

{fleurs skirt} {run your heart out skirt} {argyle skirt} {black and white floral skirt}

>>> dance shorts <<<

{rainbow leopard} {yellow ruffle} {zebra print} {gold} {pink sequinned} {rainbow metallic}

>>> training shoes <<<

{zumba shoes} {leopardy} {aqua and pink}

>>> gym bags <<<

{chrome dazzle bag} {gym bag} {Lululemon bag}

>>> headphones <<<

{pink paisley} {green} {gummi bears} {m&ms} {cookies} {pandas}

>>> misc gym-y accessories (kind of) <<<

{cushion} {necklace} {towel}

>>> my kind of gym <<<

{skipping rope} {skip it} {moon hopper}

Maybe I'm showing my age, but you know more people would stick at the gym if they had these kinds of goodies to play with! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^