Jessica Smith

Hello - I forgot to add yesterday on my first blog post how tall I am - 5ft 8 with my weight tending to go to my stomach sadly and it's still a daily battle to get it off, but it's beginning to burn off now after quitting the gym and upping my workout intensities and this is where I now begin to talk about...

Jessica Smith

I found her via a link to Leslie Sansone - now Leslie is a whole different kettle of fish, I'll write a whole blog post just for her soon!

Anyhow... Jessica - she is a certified personal trainer, a wellcoach, someone with high energy and extremely likeable with it - she's 'human' and I find many youtube videos with workouts which are not human, they're superhuman with perfect bodies... I'm not saying Jessica doesn't have a perfect body, because she does, it's just, she doesn't shove it in your face like some do!  I end up telling the video to shut the hell up and turning it off in disgust!  I realise it's to 'egg' me on, but please, stop throwing said 'eggs' at me - I know my body is somewhat lacking in rock hard abs and beautifully toned arms and legs, but I'm working on it, ok?!

Moving along.  Very quickly.

Yesterday my 6 new exercise dvd's arrived - yeah, I have an obsession, I love to mix and match, I never tire of any of it! - and today I did two of them, both featuring Jessica - the first:

Walking for Weight Loss, Wellness & Energy with Jessica Smith

Now I've spent a lot of my mornings walking with Leslie Sansone (a walking instructor for the last 25 years and a bit of a talker too!) and have covered 5 miles each time, maybe more, depending on my energy levels, but this was absolutely lovely!  On a beach in Miami (yeah, some people have got it made!), she and her mum doing the easier version and someone else doing the harder version and Jessica doing the bit in between - from the warm up there's a high energy walk and a power walk and then a nice relaxing cool down - it's doable and I managed to do the high intensity versions no problem - but an awful lot of sweating though!  I utterly loved it, great dancing music and I'd certainly recommend, it lasts about 70 minutes and it gives you choices and not many workouts give you that option which brings me nicely onto the second workout dvd I did...

10 Minute Solution - Knockout Body Workout DVD

Now 'most' people would only do one workout dvd a day, but I've always been used to a 2 hour workout, because I get so 'in' to it, I find it hard to stop and the more I go on, the more I push myself! Now this was kickboxing and she (Jessica) was using weighted gloves (I have a pair, but I don't know where!) and it was high intensity broken down into 5, 10 minute sections - which I did of course, the last one I struggled, as it was abs and my abs are surrounded by fat!  Enough said!  I tried, but I failed miserably - even after doing Pilates for almost 2 years, my abs just refuse to strengthen!  Anyhow - I punched and kicked the air and got really into it, jumping around like a dancing flea, looking like an utter idiot, stepping totally out of time and tangling up my legs, but I really enjoyed it and the music was fab - although there was no relief, she just kept pushing and pushing me, until my sweat band was so saturated it began to run down my face again...  I'm definitely going to do it again of course... But I think I might only do it once a week and I must find my weighted gloves!


2 hours later and I made myself a smoothie in my nutribullet - I'm not sure of the measurements but I made:

Pineapple, blueberry, raspberry, strawberry and banana frozen smoothie mix from Waitrose, 2 table spoons of full fat Greek yogurt, 2 handfuls of spinach, a sprinkling of cinnamon, 1 table spoon of whey protein powder (I'll talk about that soon) and filling the max line with unsweetened almond milk and it's utterly divine - my own recipe!  I usually have full fat Greek yogurt with fruit but because of the - dare I say it - warmer weather, a cold refreshing smoothie is more desirable!

If you're wondering how I fuel my workouts each morning - I've never been a big breakfast eater sadly, however many times I'm told it's the most important meal of the day... But I simply cannot exercise with a full stomach, so it has to be light and simple, and something I can eat and literally exercise immediately after - so for me it's half a banana and a black coffee, plus at least 2 glasses of water before my workout and lots of water in-between jumping up and down!

So that concludes my review of Jessica - oh and on her 'free' youtube videos, occasionally with her is her sweet bulldog - Peanut - I just love how she sleeps while Jessica is dancing beside her, sweating to the pumping music - Peanut hardly bats as eyelid!

Now for the all important shower.... :) xxx