This Girl Can Clothing Range*

                                                   All photos are taken by Nicole Marshall

I don’t even know where to start with this blog post apart from saying ‘I’M IN LOVE.’ When I was first asked if I wanted to try out items from the ‘This Girl Can’ sporting range from Marks & Spencer, I was so excited.

 Top: Marks & Spencer*

Bottom: Marks & Spencer*

Jacket: Marks & Spencer*

Shoes: Nike

If you’ve been living under a rock you might not have heard of ‘This Girl Can’. ‘This Girl Can’ is a national campaign by Sport England and local authorities aimed at increasing women’s participation in sport and exercise in an empowering way. I work for Active Newcastle, an organisation that is one of the core cities of ‘This Girl Can’ campaign and I have a big involvement as a ‘This Girl Can’ ambassador. I just love this campaign!

Here is the link for the advert for ‘This Girl Can’ in case you haven’t seen it.

Marks & Spencer recently launched the ‘This Girl Can’ clothing range after making a small range of t-shirts last year which sold out instantly. The sporting range includes various clothing items including leggings, t-shirts, vest, jackets and even a bag. The clothing has the signature ‘This Girl Can’ logo on it as well as the signature pink colouring.

I was given a pair of leggings, a t-shirt and a jacket to review.

The quality of the range is great; you can definitely tell it’s from a good quality high street store.  This week I trialled the jacket whilst on a run: personally I wouldn’t wear the jacket as running wear during this season, as it really isn’t thick enough for this weather. However, as a jacket for the gym, it’s great and perfect for the incoming spring. It has the signature black and pink colour with the logo on both the front and back.

I also received the long leggings, which are tight and have a thick band across the top. The leggings are thick material and definitely good for going out running or again going to the gym. You might have to size up since the material is quite thick. The t-shirt is a loose t-shirt style which is great for women who might not feel self-conscious while doing exercise. Though I’m not usually a fan of loose fitted t-shirts I do like this one. I think this will definitely be a regular as a gym item rather than a running top. It also has the ‘This Girl Can’ logo bright and big in the middle of the t-shirt.

As you can guess, I love this range and I might have to go out and get a few more of the items (particularly the pink sports bra that I’ve got my eye on!)

I’ll leave all the links for the ‘This Girl Can’ range and website below.

This Girl Can @ Marks and Spencer

This Girl Can Website

Leave me a comment telling me what your favourite item is and what you think of the ‘This Girl Can’ campaign.

These items were sent to met from Marks & Spencer. These thoughts are all my own and not influenced by anyone.

5 Fitness Apps I live by

It’s January and it’s the beginning of that fitness or weight loss trip we always try and start in January. When January hits we look at it as a new start, we think of the goals we want to reach and then we set off on are adventure.

I’ve discovered over the years that phone apps have plays a big part in helping me to keep on track when I’ve been training. Fitness apps are all the range now with more coming out every day. The apps range from being able to track your running route, checking your water intake to showing you the latest workouts.

I use 5 different apps on my phone all doing different things and thought it might be good to show you what they do and tell you what I think of them.

1.      YouTube – Everyone and there is mother knows what YouTube is but just in case you didn’t it is a social media platform where you can put videos online or just watch videos. Over the years of watching YouTube I’ve discovered more and more fitness bloggers who have put up great workouts and motivational tips on keeping healthy. I love YouTube and think it’s great if you want to work out at home rather than at gym. They feel like personal trainers they keep you motivated throughout the workout and give you loads of tips along the way. If you would like me to do a list of my favourite youtubers than leave me a comment as I've got quick a few I love. 

2.       My Fitness Pal – This is an app that I didn’t use until recently because I hate the thought of calorie counting but how I’ve been thinking of it, is that’s it is more of a food diary which is actually what it is but I’m not focusing on calories because I don’t agree with doing that as I don’t think it really makes a difference. My fitness pal is used by thousands and its really simple to use and you can add everything. The food list are never ending, as well as telling you about the calories it also tells you if its high or low is certain things like protein and sugar. It send notifications to you if you haven’t filled in your diary which is good if you’re like me and forget to fill in most of the time. I would recommend this if you are trying to eat healthy and want to have a food diary to keep track of what you’re eating.

3.      Pure Gym – This app is only good if you use pure gym as your actual gym. I use this to mainly book classes at my gym which I recently signed up to. I’m going to review it in February after spending a good month there.

4.      Nike Training – I used to live by this app this time last year when I was mainly training at home. There is 4 different setting which means that you can work to your ability and pace. Some workouts you need equipment like dumbbells and resistance bands but the workouts are simple. There is a large selection of workouts meaning you can select the ones that you think work best for you. You can really tailor the workouts. There is also the NTC community which is the place to get tips and tricks and get some must needed motivation when you need it. I recently started using this in the gym as it shows you videos of all the exercises.

5.      Run Keeper – This app is my favourite and my most used app. It is a simple tracking app for when you go running/cycling/walking. The app can track your run/cycle or walk; the app can tell you what your current pace is at certain intervals, your average pace, your distance, calories burned and how far you’ve been running for. I love the fact at the end the app shows you a little map showing you the route you’ve taken.  You can set goals which you are trying to reach maybe like 5K, 10K or even a half marathon. Sometimes Run Keeper has their own goals which if you complete you can win a t-shirt or even some fancy kit.

I hope you have enjoyed this post. If you have any apps that you live by please leave me a comment below as i'm always looking for new apps.

Julia Buckley: Ignite

Hey Guys,

We’re two weeks into January and I bet you’re feeling the pain of those gym sessions you started as part of your New Year resolutions. Hopefully, you do not want to give up yet as I’ve got something that might interest you.

In November, I read that Julia Buckley was looking for bloggers to take part in a pilot she is starting for her Ignite program. I signed up because as I previously discussed in my ‘making that change for the better’ post, I shared that I had fallen out of love with the gym and fitness. I have to say, that I really enjoyed doing the Ignite program. This is why I strongly recommend her new E book Ignite:4 weeks to a leaner, faster and hotter body. Julia’s program and book has made me fall back in love with working out and I’ve been hitting the gym more than ever. Reading her book has helped me in the gym as well as working out at home.

If you don’t know who Julia Buckley is, she runs an online gym and also has a number of fitness E books. Her books include The Fat Burn Revolution and her most recent is the Ignite: 4 weeks to a leaner, faster andhotter body. She is a lovely lady with so much motivation for what she does and loves motivating other people, to get fit and achieve their goals.

Julia sent me over the PDF version of Ignite to look at after I finished doing her pilot and I have to say this book is my go to book when it comes to fitness. The book has both her Ignite workouts and everything else you need to reach your goal like talking about eating habits, resting and listening to your body.

Julia’s programs are really simple to understand and have a large range of exercises - which is the part I liked the most. I’ve been doing workouts and fitness classes for years and the one thing that makes me lose my love for fitness, is how many of the exercises can be repeated. These workouts are quick and fast, which is great for people like me who have to try and fit workouts in their busy schedule.

Julia's Book Cover

Ignite is basically 6 workouts, all the workouts are 30 minutes long and that includes, short warms up and cool downs. I bet you’re thinking 30 minutes is nothing but I promise that you will be sweating by the end of the 30 minutes. You don’t need any equipment but I did use a yoga mat throughout all 6 workouts.

My favourite part of the books is the workouts, the book has pictures of Julia demonstrating the exercises, as well as explaining what the exercise achieves, which is good for people who might not have any knowledge of the benefits of these fitness exercises. The 6 workouts include Full Body Extreme, Lower Body Burner, Tight Arms, Rock Hard Core, and Shrinking Numbers and Earn the Burn. Out of all the workouts, The Full Body Extreme was defiantly my favourite workout. A lot of the workouts are interval training with you exercising for a certain amount of time and then taking a rest in between for a number of sets.

These workouts are both great for working out at both the gym and at home. If you’re at the gym, you can just right write down the exercises and do them at the matted area of the gym. Which is what makes this book worth the amount you pay, as it can be used everywhere. 

You can buy Julia's E Book Ignite on Amazon for £6.76. When you buy the Kindle version you can also ask Julia to send you a PDF version as well which is great for printing off the workouts and taking them to the gym if you don't fancy taking your kindle. 

I hope you have enjoyed my review of Ignite and I hope you go and have a look at it. 

Here are the Links for Julia's Facebook, Twitter and Website incase you have any questions.