Fitness Friday: 2 Minute Press Up Test

It's Fitness Friday! I'm about to head up North for a weekend away in Croatia, so it's time for a quick blast of fitness before I head to the beach and overindulge on wine! Today I've got a fun press up test for you all to try, thanks to the The Official British Army Fitness Guide - although you may not agree that it's fun at all!

I picked up the The Official British Army Fitness Guide a few months ago, when I took part in a two hour military circuits for the amazing charity Combat Stress. The session was full of bear crawls, running, squats, sit ups - and, of course, press ups. We were kindly given a copy of this book each in return for our effort and donations.

It's a great little guide, full of both strength and cardio training. It includes a variety of programmes, some for 4 weeks and some for 12 weeks, which will improve your fitness and strength, whatever your initial level of fitness. I started the four week basic running programme this week, in preparation for my Race for Life 5k which I seriously need to start training for, and I have found the first week to be challenging but encouraging.

I was also excited to try the 'press up test.' I love these kind of tests; they are great to do once a month to track your progression in a fitness-focused way. If you are getting a bit too focused on those scales, it's a nice way to break up your routine. As my full press ups are definitely not up to army standards, I tried the test twice - once attempting full press ups, with limited range, and once on my knees with the full range. 

My results:

On knees (full range) = 52

Full press up (limited range) = 39

I'm fairly pleased with these results; my full press-ups fell under the 'very good' category for my age range and the reduced press-ups fell under the 'excellent' category. I wanted to try it twice because I know that my full press-ups are not the correct form and I acknowledge that many of my 39 press-ups wouldn't have been counted by the Army! However, it gives me something to work on and I intend to repeat this test once a month to track my progress.

Have you tried the two minute press up test? I'd love to hear what you got in the comments!

Jess

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Monthly Book Favourites: April

It's time to review my favourite reads of the month! March was a failure on the reading front, but in April I managed to tick some books off my bookshelf:

I read two Game of Thrones books this month. First, I read Inside HBO's Game of Thrones: Series 3 and 4 which I have already reviewed and am also giving away in this post. There's not long left to go until it closes, so get entering! I've also been reading another 'extra material' Game of Thrones; The World of Ice of Fire. Written by the authors of the fansite Westeros, alongside George RR Martin, it gives a historical insight into the world of Westeros. If you are a Game of Thrones fan, these are both must buys - they give some extra information to keep you going until the next book finally comes out and include some beautiful accompanying illustrations.

I also finally got round to reading The Hundred-Year-Old Man who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared (phew, that's a mouthful!) Set in Sweden, but covering almost every country imaginable, it uses the incredible life of Allan to draw together 100 years of history in an unimaginable way. The humour is what really struck me about this book - particularly impressive when you consider that it is a novel in translation. I would definitely recommend this read - I sped through it in just one day and couldn't put it down!

Finally, I completed two fun reads this month. One was A Bear Called Paddington, which I was given at Christmas when my parents were shocked to discover that I couldn't remember reading him as a child. It was obviously a short read, but I was chuckling away at the adventures of the famous bear who loves marmalade. As someone who rereads Harry Potter on a frequent basis, I love revisiting childhood favourites and this was a very enjoyable read.

Last of all, I dipped into Twitterature, published by Penguin. As both a literary and social media nut, this is obviously a great book for me. Literary classics are summed up in some hilarious tweets - the username @HighwayToHell for Dr Faustus and @Ratatouille for 1984 were particular favourites. It's a fun read to dip in and out of if you like that sort of book.

I'm quite pleased with the reading I managed to get done this month, particularly as I have just handed in my final assessments for my Masters' degree this week. What did you read this month?

P.S. There isn't long to enter my giveaway to win an Inside HBO's Game of Thrones book.

Jess

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OOTD: Embellished Playsuit

Hopefully you will have read my post about the fantastic Preloved Bloggers event in Manchester. I knew that it would be a great opportunity to utilise my fellow blogger Sammie for some outfit pictures, so I wore one of my favourite new pieces of clothing from House of Fraser:*

Playsuit: House of Fraser* Boots: Primark. 

Although I am fundamentally a dress girl, I am slowly learning that shorts and trousers have their uses (mainly being able to run around, climb trees and sit cross legged!) I’ve been wanting a shorts playsuit for a while but always find them to be far too short to be appropriate. With two holidays coming up next month, I took the plunge and ordered this playsuit from the House of Fraser sale to try. Luckily, I love it and it’s not too short – hurrah! The draping on the back is simply beautiful, I am obsessed with it. However, for a day out in Manchester I wasn’t quite brave enough to get my legs out so I added a pair of opaque tights underneath. I also added my bargain boots from Primark; some awesome chunky platforms which cost just £10.

As I mentioned in my previous House of Fraser post, I’ve recently discovered quite how good their website is and how much there is to buy from there. This playsuit was a House of Fraser exclusive, which is now unfortunately sold out, and it demonstrates that there are some great gems on their site.

The playsuit itself is perfect for nights’ out as not only is it black, but it has some pretty extra embellishment along the edging. My challenge for today was to make it appropriate for daytime. I still felt a little bit like I looked like I was still wearing last night’s outfit but I think the black tights and chunky boots add a casual feeling to the look. It’s such a gorgeous playsuit it would be a shame to sit in my wardrobe just for nights out, and I am trying to get more wear out of these kinds of pieces. There’s no reason why they can’t be worn in the daytime too!

What do you think of my look? Don't forget to enter my Game of Thrones giveaway! 

Jess

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