how why self reflection

How was your year? Mine was a pretty busy one! From work projects to CrossFit competitions to travelling, things have been non-stop, and honestly I haven’t had much time to reflect on my progress and assess where I was headed.

It’s so important to self-reflect, so this year I’m going to dedicate some time to it, and ensure I’m working towards my goals rather than shooting off in random directions.

Read on to find out why reflection is so important and the best techniques to use to self-reflect on your own year.

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what is morton's neuroma

Ever stubbed your toe, to have a sickening, searing pain hitting you that lasts a couple of minutes? Cool! That’s your nerves doing their job properly, telling you in no uncertain terms not to stub your toe again, please.

Now imagine you felt a pain like this in your toe and foot all the time, with no obvious source of the pain. For sufferers of Morton’s Neuroma, that is the reality of everyday life.

I was diagnosed with Morton’s Neuroma in June after experiencing the symptoms to some degree for years prior. It was only when it became unbearable and reduced me to tears after a walk one day that I decided I needed to get professional help. In this post, I’ll cover my experience with the condition and what I’ve been doing to address it – hopefully my experiences will help one of you!

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facts that squat bot

Who is this Squatbot anyway, where did she come from? What is she all about?!

I talk a lot about CrossFit, fitness and food on this blog, but I’ve realised I don’t talk an awful lot about me – something I’m trying to change with some more personal posts! I was nominated by Natalie of A Balanced Life to share 10 facts about myself on Instagram – but things actually started to get a little long-winded, so I thought I’d share the facts over here instead.

So grab a brew and a biscuit, and settle down to find out 11 facts (yeah, I just had to go one more) about me. I’ve tried to keep them as non-fitness as possible, but some bits have slipped in as it’s such a big part of my life! Were there any you knew already? How about any that surprised you? Let me know in the comments if you have any more questions about me and what you think of these more personal posts!

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how to be body confident

Body confidence doesn’t come from being slim, or beautiful, and body confidence definitely isn’t something all of us feel all of the time, no matter how body positive we may be. It’s completely fine if you don’t feel body confident right now, so don’t worry about comparing yourself and your own body confidence journey to that of other people you might see on Instagram or in the gym.

Body confidence comes from respecting what you’ve been given, what you’ve built, and what your body can do – but this doesn’t come overnight. There are things we can all do to make ourselves feel more body confident each day, and what works for me may not work for you.  I’m going to share five ways that make me feel more body confident that you can do right now to work towards being body confident.

It’s worth noting that none of these things will make you look any different to other people – and you probably won’t see the difference in the mirror, either. These are things that make me feel great both inside and out. Read on to find out the things I do to work towards becoming a bad-ass body confident babe.

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As much as I hate to admit it, right now my body is feeling pretty broken. My training has been going so well over the past couple of months, but it seems my body – which I always joke about being ‘wonky’ – has finally decided enough is enough, and that it needs a break from being constantly hammered without any thought of recovery and alignment.

I’m going to tell you a sad little story about my foot, my back, my podcasts and my snacks that’ll hopefully go some way to explain why I’ve been feeling so low recently, and hopefully prompt you to have more of a think about any pain you’re feeling in your body when training or otherwise.

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train together stay together

“I didn’t realise you had a boyfriend!”, a work friend said to me the other day. “I’ve never seen him on your Instagram”.

With my Instagram being almost entirely fitness-focused, it’s no surprise my boyfriend doesn’t feature on there – despite being together for over 7 years, we don’t train together. Sure, he enjoys going to the gym and keeping active, but because of our personalities our joint training sessions can often lead to frustration.

Valentine’s Day seemed a good a day as any to address this. Do couples who train together stay together? What if you don’t? What if your other half doesn’t train at all?

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what to expect first chiropractor appointment

Take a look at my back in the above photo. What do you see? Is it my chubby lats, forever evading a strict pull-up? Or is it my baby traps, slowly growing with hundreds of cleans? You’d be forgiven for not spotting my spine curving to the right and the protruding shoulder blade – after all, it was only a few weeks ago at an unrelated doctor’s appointment I became aware of my scoliosis.

I’ve always been a bad back sort of person – long before CrossFit, strength training and running, I was very horsey and spent a lot of time in my teens mucking out and falling off spectacularly. I even smashed up my shoulder when I was 11 and have a pin in it! I always thought it was normal for people to have a bad back, and had mainly ignored it, until CrossFit really brought the problem into focus – from my lack of mobility in simple things like squats to pulling my hamstrings on three separate occasions – and I decided it was time I got my back problems sorted once and for all.

I’d had physio and had been having regular sports massages, so I knew I had to try something different to make the change – I was recommended to try a chiropractor, so last week I visited Sam at Davies Chiropractic Care.  View Post

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