I’m skipping my What I Ate Wednesday post this week, because I wanted to let you all know about a fitness challenge I’ve accepted.

Starting today up until the 5th April, I’m talking part in a 40 day fitness challenge designed by DW Fitness Clubs. The challenge takes place over lent with the idea that instead of giving up something, why not add in a fitness activity or a healthy food instead!

I had a day pass for the gym, so yesterday I went down for a nosey.

I went just after midday and it wasn’t that busy. There were plenty of machines and weights and the atmosphere was great. There were some members having personal training sessions which made me a little jealous! The reception staff were lovely, too.

It’s been about a year since I last went the gym as I’ve been doing running, cycling and working out at home as it’s cheaper and takes less time than travelling to the gym, but being in a gym setting does offer more motivation than working out at home does. At home I’m always tempted to start looking through my phone or check something online.

I started out on the treadmill as normal. I’ve been a bit rubbish at running so far this year and after talking to one of the staff about wanting to do Leeds half-marathon in May, it made me really motivated. I usually want to do around 20 minutes or so because I get bored but I decided to go for a 5k instead.

After the run, I snuck in a gym selfie while nobody was looking. Hopefully. Selfies are weird – why do you always feel like such a dick taking them but don’t feel like a dick posting them online? The world has gone mad. #gymselfie woo.

I went on the bike next, I like to run and then cycle for a bit, usually while playing candy crush. You have no idea how fast the time can go when you’re playing candy crush. 25 minutes and I was out of lives, so I hit the pool.

The pool was so nice and I’m so glad I decided to go in, I was a bit unsure at first because I knew it meant I’d have to shower at the gym, rather than drive home and jump in my own shower. But it was so quiet, about 3 other people were in the pool and a few in the spa and jacuzzi.

I swam for about 30 minutes, then showered and was done.

To take on the challenge yourself, you can read their blog post about the challenge download the PDF here. I’ll be posting updates during the challenge!