My main fitness goal for 2018 is muscle toning and core strength. I’m great at cardio, I can run a full 5km without stopping thanks to the couch to 5k program. I did a pilates and yoga class last year and it nearly killed me. For two weeks afterwards anytime I moved a new muscle screamed at me, one that I never knew existed before.

I decided it was time to invest in some new fitness equipment. In December 2017, I bought the Pilates Body Toner from TVSN. I have been using that at least 5 days a week and can feel a big difference. I’ve cobbled together my own workout which I follow, it is based on this 11 minute express workout, but I have added in some other exercises and removed some of the ones I consider to be quite silly, like the Statue of Liberty.

I combine that with yoga at least twice a week. I follow this youtube video “Yoga for Dummies” which is quite long time wise, it runs about 52 minutes and a lot of that could easily be edited out to make it shorter. What I most like about this workout is, she fully explains how to get into these positions properly. I’m already better at these positions, I can do positions I never could before eg Tree, and I tried her second shorter video, too.

I have always loved step aerobics. I used to go to the gym super early in the morning and do a step aerobics class, it was fantastic. Youtube has made it a lot easier to find step aerobics classes I can do without having to go anywhere. All you need is a step and a way to watch the video.

I grabbed about 10 different step classes and added them into a folder, and I have been working through them. My favourite instructor so far is Jenny Ford. She has quite a lot of classes available on her youtube channel.

If you’ve never done step but would like to give it a try, you could start with her beginner class – it runs for 25 minutes and it has 4-5 very easy to follow steps. I love the simplicity of this workout and it *really* is a workout. The music that kicks in when it hits 62% is my favourite and I love the side to side steps around that time.

I do find her shoes quite distracting and I don’t love that she waits until right before changing the move to tell you what the next move will be, but once you have followed the class once you can pretty much remember what the next move is. If you want to have a longer workout, you can just skip back to the start. I wait until I get to 83% and then I skip back, adding in an extra 20 minutes.

Another great channel which is a hard core workout and not recommended at all for beginners is Yvette Bachman. These are recordings of real classes, which is fun. This was the first step workout I tried and I made it about 25 minutes in. This is a very tough workout, and I am working my way up to being able to finish a whole class.

Happy cat is helpful. She likes to join me for any workout, and will quite often sit on my yoga chair and swipe at me while I am trying to do tree position.

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