Some advice please

[Brit-Josie]

Hello everyone,

I haven't posted in a while - been doing too much lurking!

Anyway, I need a little bit of advice: I currently live in the UK, however I now have my visa to go and live in the USA. DH and I are both leaving the UK on 11th July.

I am arranging for the removal people to ship all our belongings and furniture to the USA, but am told it could take 2 or 3 months for it all to get through customs and be delivered to our new home.

So, I will be without my beloved step and barbell/dumbells and my medicine ball for 2 or 3 months. I have made such great strength and fitness gains by using my Cathe dvds (I have all of them, plus the first 3 TLP's) 4 or 5 times a week and am wondering what I should do instead - BTW, I am utterly useless in the gym as I have no motivation and never push myself hard enough. However, the thought of losing my new found fitness is depressing to the say the least!

If anyone has any advice or experience of this then I would be very grateful - even some rotations or ideas about using Cathe dvds that don't require equipment would be helpful. At the moment, I am quite keen on high intensity interval training. 3 months is a long time.....!

Many thanks,

Josie

 

[clareMc]

Josie:

I would relax a little. When you move to another country there is so much to be sorted out, so much "newness" that you have to get used to, that working out zealously should and will take something of a backseat.

Use the several months without the normal routine to familiarize yourself with your neighbourhood, figure out how the US works, how people over here think, what their philosophy of life is, how they shop, how they work, how they socialize: even though the UK and US share the same basic language, the cultural differences are huge. It has taken me years to carve out a space for myself in US culture and it's a work in progress. I never will really fit.

Use this time to explore gyms in the area, maybe there's a YMCA, go power-walking to get to know your area. FInd a swimming pool and you can keep up your upper body strength and cardiovascular conditioning. Even though you say you do not like gyms, it may help you get settled in, meet people, you never know!

I have recorded some of Cathe's step and weight training workouts thet I know extremely well onto cassette, so when I travel, I can play the workout audio in my headphones and still get my normal workout. You can make a temporary step out of wood and nails for use at home, and go to the gym and use their equipment while you work through Cathe's tapes in your headphones. Cathe will be there to push you just the same, and because you know the workouts so well, you will play the visual images of the workout in your mind as you listen. This is how it works for me.

Basically though, don't sweat it. You cannot predict what will happen in those few months. Go with the flow, keep an open mind, remaain flexible: try and fit fitness in, but be open also to the odd and unexpected things that happen. Settling in at work and socially is the most important thing when you first arrive and that will be quite tiring enough, believe me.

Good luck! Where are you moving to?

Clare

 

[Brit-Josie]

Hi Clare,

Thanks for the words of encouragement....I know it will be a bit of a culture shock for a while - I guess during those 3 months I will just have to get out to a few classes and check out the gym and meet people. I will certainly see about making a make-shift step too - I'd not thought of that.

I am moving to Lawrence in Kansas (not far from Kansas city) - I really don't know what to expect right now - I'm kind of excited and apprehensive at the same time!

Josie

 

[dutchgirl]

Hi Josie,

As always, Clare has given you some wonderful advice and insight. It can be quite a shock moving from the UK to the US. I did the exact same move many years ago and remember having some difficulty adjusting. The food was wierd, everyone talked sooooo fast, even they lay out of the towns and houses took getting used to. I'm sure that you'll have so much on your plate with moving and such that missing your fitness equipment will probably be low on the list.

But if you find yourself needing to do something, how about investing in some tubing? Spri makes a variety of tubing products and offers charts with exercises for each different product. You could still use your Cathe's (pick your favorites and bring them in your carry on) and use tubing for the weights. You can do biceps curls, kick backs, overhead presses and extensions, lateral raises, squats, lunges, one armed rows just with the tubing with handles alone. They also have different types of loops to focus on lower body exercises as well as making some upper body moves more focused. Spri offers packages that cost around $30 US and have several different types of products. I believe the website is www.spriproducts.com. You can also get tubing from www.fitness1st.com.

Just my two cents! Have a terrific move and welcome to the US.

 

[Brit-Josie]

That's a fantastic idea about the tubing! And of course they will come in handy for the new workouts too! Thanks ever so much for that as well as your well wishes