My Ninth Week In Lockdown - Coronavirus Crisis

Another glorious week spent within my village and mostly in my garden. We all know the sunshine really brightens everyone’s mood and this week I think it was the uplift that everyone needed. We enjoyed a lovely mid-week BBQ in the sunshine and have had some really lovely walks around where we live.

From observation, I am noticing that people are finding it harder and harder to abide by the rules and are stretching them as much as possible, including you Mr Dominic Cummings (though I would call that breaking the rules, not stretching). I do think as a country we are on the positive track to recovery from this virus, but making very slow progress. Considering the mess we have made, it is going to be a long road to recovery.

As I mentioned last week, I have decided to start a 2-week fitness programme aimed at improving my fitness levels and focussing on my core and upper body muscles. I can honestly say I was not expecting to see such a big change in the shape of my body as well as my level of fitness. It has only been a week and my stomach is looking way more toned than it has ever looked in my whole life! My fitness levels have improved slightly; I find HIT style workouts a lot more difficult than a routine style workout like boxercise or Zumba. I can tell each day when I do the programme that I can do longer of the exercises or more reps of the exercises. By the end of the programme my aim is to be able to do at least 8 up-down planks (I don’t know why I find these so hard, I clearly have absolutely no strength in my core and shoulders but they’re definitely improving). I have really enjoyed Chloe Ting’s style of workout videos and because they are only short so I find myself working my way through them. I have made a playlist for after I complete this programme with new workouts she has posted that I can incorporate into a new routine with other workouts I am going to try. I will link the programme I am doing and also Chloe’s channel down below.

I had the most amazing surprise this week from my boyfriend Jacob. Not seeing him for 9 weeks now has been the hardest thing I have ever done but I know that this period in our lives will be a drop in the ocean compared to the rest of our lives. Also, I know I could now meet up with him following the guidelines but for me, and for us really, I think we would find it difficult meeting up and keeping apart (I really need a hug from him) so I think it’s best we keep apart and follow the rules for now. He FaceTimed me from his car and told me to look around the side of my house where I found a bag full of gifts for me! I found the loveliest letter written to me with some flowers and a new jumper of his that I can wear. Smelling his clothes made me really emotional because I have forgotten what he actually smells like. Jacob had also bought me my own chocolate protein powder and shaker that I had been talking about getting which was so so thoughtful and I have absolutely loved using them ever since. It was a very bittersweet moment of missing him loads but being grateful for the little things we have right now and all the things we have to look forward to.

I spent Saturday baking, using a new recipe for Hazelnut cupcakes. I absolutely love baking and find it so therapeutic, even if I make something as simple as Cornflake cakes which I also made using my last Easter egg (yes I still had Easter eggs left over). I wouldn’t say these cakes were my absolute favourite that I have made as I am very easily pleased by plain cupcakes with chocolate but they were a success all the same.

This weekend did hit me with another wave of negativity and feeling like we have such a long way to go. I don’t really know why it came this weekend but I feel like everybody is going through peaks and troughs throughout this time and rightly so as it is such an unusual situation. I find that I wind myself up and convince myself how long I think it is going to be until social bubbles are introduced, but then I realise I’m making myself feel worse and need to concentrate on the present. Right now, I still have a couple more weeks of intense university work until all my assignments are submitted, so at least I have something to focus on.

We finished off the week with a family quiz night with some of our family friends on Zoom. We all created a round of 10 questions each so there were 6 rounds altogether. We didn’t do too bad of a job as a team as we won a couple of rounds which is definitely not a bad effort in my opinion.

As the numbers are decreasing gradually I am getting more and more optimistic that this terrible time is passing and we will be ‘normal’ again soon. Hope that you are doing well.

Keep smiling and have a great day! Liv xxx

Workout links:

Programme: https://www.chloeting.com/program/2019/two-weeks-shred-challenge.html

Chloe Ting Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/ChloesAddiction