Throwing down the gauntlett

I've been meaning to do this for a while now as I'm getting more and more into fitness and training and a blog feels like a good place to combine a load of resources and also track personal progress.  Plus I'm trying to get my friends into training (as it's more fun to work together) so this could be a place to share ideas.

So the title - Clean & Hard Pressed - sort of describes how I got here:  I'm firstly hard pressed for time, as I have two kids under 5 yrs old, a full-on job 3 days of the week plus family, friends and a house to run.  I'm also a sucker for a new hobby, but my mainstays over the years have been knitting and sewing, plus cooking for the family including a dabbling in baking - although that's a bit at odds with the clean living.

Second, I got into going to the gym about a year ago and I am hooked.  I've had gym memberships before in my 20s, ironically when I had all the time in the world, and never really made the most of it.  But now, I'm like 'wahey! this is awesome! and people are there to look after my kids - get in!'.  So I started off doing the usual stuff, then got into TRX and kettlebells, then Body Combat and Body Pump which introduced me to the wonders of weight training.  So I started researching after getting addicted to doing clean and presses and discovered olympic weight lifting and the wonders of Crossfit.

Finally, the clean element.  I've been on a mission my whole life to be totally happy with my body, pretty much like every woman I know.  I almost got there after my son was born: Slimming World combined with breastfeeding = best body weight ever since being 16.  However, life gets in the way and a few pounds have gone back on, although I reckon a good few of those are now muscle, so I'm doing my best to eat as cleanly as possible most of the time.  I've since read Skinny Bitch and discovered the evils of sugar (although that's about as far as I go with that book) and am into the Paleo/Caveman diet as far as you can without turning into a social recluse.  I'm hoping to use this blog as a reminder of my goals, a confessional (I go off track soooooo easily) and a place to collect recipes and ideas for clean living.

All great and good intentions: let's see how long it lasts!