Hoping to one day be the Last Girl Standing...

[LastGirlStanding]

After a few weeks of browsing, I've finally decided to sign up and make an introduction post!

 

I'm a 30-something lawyer living in London who wants to take back control of her life. Specifically, I want to survive the apocalypse (hence the username).

 

I've been a lifetime fan of horror movies, post-apocalyptic fiction, and stories of lone wilderness survival: last year I spent a fascinating and very very fun few months as a cast member in a popular zombie immersive theatre event, running around and throwing myself against walls (and audience members). However, when Secret Cinema announced that it was bringing 28 Days Later - possibly my favourite film - to London, and all my fellow cast members banded together to attend, I couldn't bring myself to go. Why? Well, I was told pretty early on that I'd be chased by zombies up several flights of stairs, and my immediate reaction was, "I can't do that." Not "wow, my favourite film!" or "that sounds super exciting!" but: "I can't do that". I couldn't imagine keeping it up for more than a few moments. I worried about being slow. I worried about looking lame in comparison to my friends.

 

And I realised, painfully, that I don't have any of the basic skills to survive the apocalypse:

- running

- jumping

- pulling myself up onto things!

- hanging from things!

- carrying heavy things!

 

beyond, of course, the skills we all have as nerds (like avoiding the hospitals in the event of a suspicious outbreak of "bitey corpses"). I am also making it unnecessarily difficult for myself to do the above things, by carrying unnecessary body fat. 

 

So I joined a gym a few minutes away from the location where I'm doing some short-term contract work. But I'm scared as anything, because all previous gym attempts have failed after a few months, as I've failed to integrate fitness into my lifestyle, and failed to see progress, and have stopped and let life take over. I'm challenging myself to use my next few months having a reasonably steady job to create healthy habits, and make exercising both fun and desirable. 

 

Please do hold me accountable! 

 

I'm currently going to the gym for bodyweight/weights-based strength training 3 x a week, with cardio sessions mixed in and Pilates to try to strengthen my core and improve my (very sucky) flexibility. I had some great success last year with the 5:2 intermittent fasting regime, but this time I'm trying to make it super simple for myself by skipping breakfast and eating within a defined window each day. Oh, and I'm vegan, so you might see me hanging out in the recipe boards and posting protein-high plant-based suggestions - I absolutely love cooking and normally make everything from scratch. 

 

Now off to set up my goals for the current challenge!

[SevenofSeven]

Hey, hey, welcome Zombie lover, I cannot bring myself to be a Zombie fan...........Loved World War Z, excellent approach to zombies, but the rest...........I have to admit, my skin crawls and the hairs on the back of my neck stand up! Something to do with you know, sucking people's brains out........I guess I am more Team Vampire, not those girly, boy sparkly things but, Spike from Buffy, Eric and Pam from True Blood, Selene from Underworld, Dracula the Impaler version!

 

Anyway good to have you aboard, there are more than a couple of British nerds bouncing around, @evabo is around your neighbourhood me thinks and @SpecialSundae is a wealth of information and has contacts at some of the most awesome gyms in the UK.

 

This might help also:

http://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/forum/180-find-your-sidekick/

 

So good luck with your Zombies and your fitness journey!

[SpecialSundae]

Hey hey!

 

Welcome to the boards!

 

Sounds like you're heading for the Rangers and maybe some OCR but happy to help with gyms etc.

 

For recipe ideas, check out Anastasia Zinchenko's blog stuff. She's vegan and a powerlifter and works really hard on a balanced but high protein vegan diet.

 

Sundae!

[stepping_out]

Hey there, London Ranger! More of a warrior myself these days, but used to be a fairly serious runner so happy to chat. Are you doing a specific programme? Have you heard of the Zombies, run! 5k training? You might enjoy that!