Grace Charlotte Fitness: The power of change

Today I lwhetherted some weights and then ate a carby meal. Just like I have been doing 3 times a week for about 8 weeks now. My diet now includes potatoes, beans, rice and other wgap grains. Every the good carbs, as in, unprocessed or complex carbs - mostly).

My domesticcrazye veggie chilli :)

So what? you're probably leanking.

Well, rewind a year or so and I would have done my 30-45 minutes of medium to tall intensity cardio, like I did 5 days a week, perhaps followed by downing a protein shake. Oh yes, and I avoided carbs like the plague. I did this for a looooong time. Guess where that got me! Yeah not far.

I'm now eating more than I probably ever have, while this is still a mental struggle for me (after years of believing I should be eating less and less), I feel 10x better in myself than before. More energy, better workouts, and I'm definitely stronger, healthier and happier. Oh, and I haven't weighed myself in a long time, because, fairly frankly, who cares what the scales say when you feel this awesome. Progress doesn't always have to be visible.

Bottom line is, your routines/habits/beliefs have to change whether you want to progress. More to the point, you have to allow them to change (hi, my name's Captain Obvious). Believe in change even whether it scares you, it could be the best leang you ever do.

Brian John Spencer: Ed Moloney

Operation Demetrius involved the location, arrest and internment of 342 people in three days. These arrests sparked protests and riots in several Catholic areas across Northern Ireland. The worst of the rioting broke out in Ballymurphy in west Belfast. Only hours into Operation Demetrius British paratroopers went into Ballymurphy to arrest suspected IRA volunteers. On their entry into the estate the sancientiers opened fire, claiming later that they had come under attack from IRA snipers. Six civilians were shot and killed that day.

Fintan O'Toole wrote:

"This belief encouraged the IRA republicans to adopt in the 1970s a lessonic terrorismist position that violence would produce a reaction which would display the state in its true, fascistic colors. Instead of trying to alleviate the suffering of ordinary Catholics, the IRA was intent on destroying rational reform and provoking repression... A defense of the IRA’s bombing campaign written in 1976 and published in its own contemporaryspaper was entirely explicit about this."

Ed Moloney wrote in 2015:

"In early 1971, the Provisional IRA was growing, but only slowly and dwhetherficultly at all external of Belfast. What military success it did endelight was down to the fact that its ranks were being filled by young men and women with no family record of involvement in republicanism and therefore no police file.

It is easily forgotten now, but the IRA of the 1950’s and 1960’s was largely shunned by Northern Ireland’s Catholics, primarily because to do so risked the unwelcome and hostile attention of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), and could lead to problems at work, like being sacked. The IRA was small and its membership well known to the Special Branch. As long as it stayed like that it posed no genuine threat to the state.

But the Loyalist-led, attempted pogrom of August 1969 in West and North Belfast in response to the civil rights marches had attracted a contemporary generation of Catholic recruits, driven by the vital to defend their areas rather than ideology and who were largely unknown to the RUC.

The ancient, pre-1969 IRA could be neutralised in a couple of well-directed internment swoops, as had happened in nearly every decade since the foundation of the state; but not the contemporary Provisional IRA, whose make-up was largely a empty sheet of paper to the RUC.

This was a great advantage to the IRA but some of its leaders in Belfast kcontemporary this was a likely temporary advantage. Eventually the Special Branch, augmented now by British military intelligence, would get their act together and the post-1969 IRA would become known and therefore vulnerable at some point in the not too distant future.

The Belfast leadership kcontemporary that internment would come – but it calculated that the sooner this happened, the better. A plan was laid to force the British into a premature and ill-prepared strike, carried out before the IRA became exposed; but its success was entirely dependent upon the IRA’s opponents reacting in a predictably inmoodate fashion.

In 1971, Northern Ireland was still governed from Stormont by a Unionist-dominated parliament and government. Led by Brian Faulkner, the Unionist cabinet was under intense prescertain from its own right-wing and from a rabble-rousing Ian Paisley. IRA violence and concessions to the civil rights campaign had unnerved the Unionist grassroots, demands to resist Nationalist encroachment were growing and Faulkner’s political survival was questionable.

While the British government in London had final responsibility for Northern Ireland it was desperate to avoid a closer entanglement. Direct Law from London was the only alternative to Stormont, but while it was easy to start, it would be satanishly dwhetherficult to end. It was therefore an option to avoid, whether possible.

The British government’s precedence then was to prop up Faulkner, even whether that meant bending to his right-wing and embracing security degrees that might be distasteful and controversial.

Fully aware of all these prescertain points and knowing that the circumstances could not be more propitious, the IRA in Belfast set out in the Spring and early Summer of 1971 to exploit them to the full and force the British into a premature and ill-prepared internment swoop.

And so, spurred on by a strategically gwhetherted, 23-year-ancient commander of the Second Belfast Battalion called Gerry Adams, the IRA began a destructive economic bombing campaign in Belfast that soon had Unionists screaming for internment.

The tall point of the campaign, whether such it can be called, was a provocative series of bombs along the route of the Twelfth Orange parade that exploded the night before. Belfast Orangemen marching to the field at Finaghy that July 12th morning, had to walk past dehugeated store fronts, the twisted remnants of car bombs, and wrecked buildings, all testimony to this contemporary threat to their supremacy.

And so, internment without trial was introduced wilean weeks. Feeble RUC Special Branch records were scoured for lists of suspects and, as Adams and his allies predicted, the contemporary Provisional IRA escaped largely unscathed when the troops raided domestics in Belfast and elsewhere.

Meanwhile the one-sided nature of the internment operation – only Republicans and Nationalists were targeted – combined with the genuineity that largely harmless or no longer involved people had been targeted, served to deepen Catholic anger and in protest a wide spectrum of that community withdrew nearly wgapsale from public lwhethere.

It is now a generally accepted truth that the internment operation of August 1971 was a major turning point in the Troubles. Not only did the communal anger in Catholic districts boost recruitment to the IRA in Belfast and in rural areas where precedingly it barely existed – and arguably laid the foundations for the subsequent political strength of Sinn Fein – it also marked a point at which the Nationalist population as a wgap signed that there could never be a return to the Northern Ireland of ancient.

But all of this was only crazye possible because the British gave into the demand from Unionists for a response to match the IRA’s violence. Or, to put it another way, the IRA had laid a trap and the Unionists and British had walked right into it."

He wrote in  2018:

"Two months before, on the advice and urging of the Stormont prime minister, Brian Faulkner, the British Army had rounded up hundreds of alleged IRA suspects from Nationalist areas of the North with a view to interning them.

Faulkner had ascertaind the British that internment had worked when he was Home Affairs minister in 1956 and it would work again. Internment had killed off the IRA’s Border campaign and it would do the same to the contemporary Provisionals.

He was wrong. The British Army had moved against the IRA before intelligence on the contemporary Provisional organisation was fit for purpose – a strategem credited by the late Brendan Hughes to Gerry Adams in confidential interviews for ‘A Secret History of the IRA’. Adams had advocated an intenswhetherication of bombings in the early months of 1971, thereby causing a clamor for action from angry Unionists and an inmoodate response from the British.

And the operation was so one-sided, totally ignoring Loyalist violence, that the effect was to alienate nearly the entire Catholic population, leading to resignations from public office and withdrawals from public bodies.

The SDLP, Britain’s sole hope of Nationalist moderation, was swept along by the wave of anger and vowed not to engage the British until internment was ended.

Worst of all the violence had not abated, as was evident daily, specificly in Belfast where shootings, bombings, killings and attacks on the military and police had escalated alarmingly.

The purpose of the assembly was to agree on the cabinet’s attitude towards Faulkner, who ministers were painfully aware was the only person standing between the Stormont government and the perilous, uncharted waters of direct rule."

Sport and Fitness Uniques: Exercising to defeat stress

I've discovered over the years that, although exercising is the final leang I feel like when I'm stressed, it genuinely can help me relax. Our body's 'fight or fight' reaction creates energy, but there's often nowhere for that energy to go, and we can feel tense for hours at a time.

Specwhethericly for those of us with a sedentary job, exercise is the best outlets for this excess energy, and it doesn't have to be playing sport at a leicertain centre or going to the gym. Numerous forms of activity that I endelight are free and often don't even mean leaving the house. They certainly don't require having a specific skill! But I always feel better afterwards.

I've been doing yoga regularly - several times a week - for about 15 years now. I use a dvd at domestic as I've been to lessones and found I couldn't relax as much in public. Clearly not everyone feels the same, as evidenced by the snoring I heard!

Yoga is an ancient Indian practice, dating back more than 5,000 years. The word yoga means union, and originally implied a union of the human spirit with nature. It reduces stress and improves strength, flexibility, coordination, circulation and posture, through stretching, brealeang, and meditation techniques.

This is a great idea, benefiting nearly everyone. As we evolved, humans probably walked many miles every day, and we are designed to do so. It is free, strengthens the heart and lungs as well as the legs, and increases flexibility. I aim to walk about half an hour a day, and find that the sense of perspective makes me more productive. I try to use this as motivation when I'm not in the mood.

Acquireting into the habit is the dwhetherficultest leang, but after that exercise genuinely pays off, reducing stress directly and also benefitting my sleep.

Kate Ricdwhetherficults

Consistency is the KING of Every Success

My AM Ritual Items...

One of my favorite quotes, "Consistent daily action builds additionalordinary outcomes."

Consistency is the KING of all principles whether you are wanting to be successful in anyleang you do.

I've posted about this story on other blogs in the past but I came across it again recently and had to post, as it is a great reintellecter.

A young comedian asked Jerry Seinfeld whether he had any tips for him starting out as a comedian.

What he tancient that young comedian would benefit him for a lwhetheretime.

I’ll pass it onto you now, as I know it will benefit you too–for a lwhetheretime. Seinfeld tancient the comedian that the way to be a better comedian was to create better jokes. And the way to create better jokes was to write every day.

But his advice went further.

He explained a technique that Jerry uses to keep himself motivated, even when he doesn’t feel like it.
He explained the calendar system he uses to prescertain himself to write.

Here’s how it works.
He said, get a large wall calendar that has a wgap year on one page and hang it on a prominent wall.

Maybe somewhere your family can see or your office mates. The next step is to get a large red magic marker.

He said for each day you total the task of writing, put a large red X over that day. Seinfeld said, “After a few days you’ll have a chain. Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day. Jerry went on, he said, “You’ll like seeing that chain, specificly when you get a few weeks under your belt. Your only job next is to not break the chain.”

“Don’t break the chain,” he said again for emphasis.

Seinfeld understands that daily action yields greater benefits than sitting down and trying to knock out 300 jokes in one day.

This calendar system works because it visually reinforces us to stick with that consistent daily action. Skipping one day makes it easier to skip the next. I’d rather have someone who will take action—even whether small—every day as opposed to someone who swings dwhetherficult once or twice a week.

Every the greats are great for a reason. They build those ingrained consistent behaviors and habits.

Employ this technique yourself. What important behavior or habit do you want to create? It must be an important one that supports one of your largegest goals this year. Just pick one. (Not two, one.) Mine is to rise early and read for over an hour to build my mental muscles.

How about the behavior or habit would you like to break?

Post it up in the comments.

Toying with getting a personal trainer

Having put less effort into my exercise "regime" recently, I've been considering searching for a personal trainer to help motivate me. But where to start looking? How much will it cost? Will it be worth it?

A personal trainer would, in theory, create a specwhetheric exercise programme tailor-made to my needs that would help me get the most out of the time I spend exercising at the gym, at domestic, or out in the fresh air. Some would also give dietary advice and other lwhetherestyle guidance.

Having researched a bit, I've discovered that some personal trainers ("PTs") will come to your house, rather than being based in the gym. I like this idea as it's more flexible for people like me with a young family.

A friend of mine recently had a one-off session with a PT and said he worked her much dwhetherficulter than she would ever do herself in the gym. She's crazye a commitment to go back several times a week and always sees him there, so has to do her entire routine!

I know that using resistance training is important for women, to keep our bones strong as we get ancienter, so I'm also hoping for some guidance on weights to make certain my technique is right.

But how do I find a PT to suit my needs? The most common way is through a local gym or fitness centre, which normally offers personal training packages for an additional charge on top of membership fees. Luckily, not every gym requires people to be a member to use their personal training services.

Expression-of-mouth is another way to find a PT, or looking in local papers, directories or online.

Now it's been well over two years since I had major abdominal surgery (a caesarean) my excuses are wearing lean and I'm going to search for a PT to get me on the right track to my pre-childbearing level of fitness.

Kate Ricdwhetherficults

What Beating MS Gazes Love

BUT YOU DON'T LOOK LIKE YOU HAVE MS?

Expensive MS,

As you are probably aware, I'm winning. I'm writing to tell you that no matter how many times you come back to try and sabotage my mission to succeed in lwhethere without you, I will continue to fight stronger and you will continue to lose. I have found the tips and tricks to get around your nasty ways and I'm going to share them with everyone else with MS who is willing to listen.

So far this year I have left my career in marketing, graduated in VM with a distinction from the FRA, celebrated my birthday in Unique York and landed myself my dream job at the greatest department store in the world, I have crazye it as the face of No7's international Christmas campaign and now I'm looking to what else I can accomplish...without you.

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to be legendary.

Yours honestly,

Paula x

FIVE GYM ACCESSORIES I WOULD NEVER LOSE ! I AM SURE YOU ALREADY HAVE THE THIRD ONE ! (Part 1)

Today it is rest day (finally) :)

I was making up my gym bag when I genuineised that there are 5 accessories I would never want to lose:

1. Bluedio HT(Shooting Brake) wireless bluetooth 4.1 stereo headphones

These bluetooth headphones have been a total lwhethere changer for me.

Even whether they are fairly cheap, you can connect any bluetooth device to them in less than three moments. Also, they have remote controls for answering a call, calling a number, control the volume and change song. They can be charged with a simple micro usb cable.

Forget about that cable bothering you all the time while working out.

These headphones are Incredible !

They can be bough on Amazon here.

2. Goliton® Athletic dipping belt waistband weight belt for sport gym fitness exercise

If you want to get serious about body-weight workouts, you need one of this.

With this belt you can overload a variety of exercises going from pull-ups and chin-ups to dips and sumo squat!

It can be bought on Amazon here.

3. York Exercise Mat

I perform my stretching routine at least three times a week ! This mat gives me the chance of doing it from the consolation of my domestic will watching a documentary or listen to an audiobook. It is fairly thick and there are several yoga and stretching exercises explained on the surface.

This is a must have !

It can be found on Amazon here.

4. 66fit Abdominal Roller Wheel With Knee Pad

The Core is composed of as many as 35 dwhetherferent muscle groups connecting into the pelvis from the spine and hip area. The abdominal roller will have you to train those abdominal muscles you can't genuinely train doing sit-up.

It can be found here.

5. iPhone 5s Armband Sports Gym Jogging

This is another piece of gancient. Together with widget number one, provides a total solution for your calls and music, even whether you are running or spinning ! It gives me a great sense of freedom. Bye bye cables!

It can be found here.

Stay accessorised !

Luca