7-Minute Workout

March 28: Sightseeing and the 7-Minute Workout

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Tonight at 8.30pm, wherever you are, is Earth Hour. Do you ‘celebrate’ Earth Hour by turning your lights off at home and having a romantic evening with candles, for one hour? We’ll be at Eve and Paul’s house, so won’t be celebrating at home, if at all! Next year hopefully.

Sunshine and a free day were enough to push us out the door to go exploring, with a drive to the area around the Lake of Biel, and a small village called Erlach. You can reach St Peters Island from Erlach (we walked out there with our friend, Liz, in 2013 when it was covered in snow) but the town itself is also worth a visit.

Nearly all the snow’s gone from low-lying areas now, but it did look like there was some fresh stuff on the westerly mountain range near Neuchatel. It’s still such a spin out when I see mountains like that, and even more wonderful knowing that another country is on the other side. We joked about going to France for the day. For Australians, that sounds so decadent, but in reality it’s like driving from Sydney to Wollongong, or Brisbane to the Sunshine Coast.

We walked around the village of Erlach for about an hour, but I still wanted to do a fitfor15in15 workout. Even though we leave for Eve and Paul’s soon, there’s a workout that’s easy and effective that gets the job done – The 7-Minute Workout. Do it twice, with a minute of jogging or skipping on the spot, and the workout is done! When time is tight, you can still do something to raise your heart rate. No excuses!

Wishing you a wonderful day (oh the bliss of having the Internet at home again! This is a ‘simple thing in life’ which is grander than I would ever thought I’d want it to be!)

And here are some photos from our sightseeing trip to Erlach (where I also had the best rhubarb pastry with vanilla custard that I’ve ever eaten, yummo!)

Update: I’m posting this at 12.22am. The photos didn’t upload in time before we went to Eve and Paul’s, so it’s being sent now. No time to write detailed descriptions, sorry. Had a great night (no lights were dimmed for Earth Hour) and we laughed a lot. I even managed a joke or wisecrack (or two) in German, which makes me happy.

March 9: The 7-Minute Workout

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Quite a while ago, my friend Melissa told me about The 7-Minute Workout, so finally I’ve put it to the test (for reasons explained further below).

I’ve downloaded the app to my phone as well. The internet version I’ve linked to above makes a beep during the 30 seconds you’re doing the exercise and then goes silent to let you know when to rest, which doesn’t happen on the app.

There’s a 10 second pause between each of the 12 exercises. Within the seven minutes you do star jumps, a wall sit, push ups, abdominal crunches, step-ups onto a chair, squats, tricep dips on a chair, plank, high knees running in place, lunges, push ups with rotations and side planks. You’ll need space to rest against a wall, a stable chair or ledge to step up onto, and a stable chair or desk to lean on for the tricep dips.

Doing this workout twice, followed by a minute of leg stretches, gives you a fast and effective fitfor15in15 workout. I’m glad I had it up my sleeve as a backup (thanks Melissa!) because it wasn’t the plan for today – I thought I’d go running, but my social nature caught me out.

My neighbour (and owner of all the land and buildings here) started the ride-on mower, for the first time since autumn, so I went outside to say hello. And before you know it, I had a broom in hand and was sweeping leaves our of nooks and crannies so he could suck them up with the mower! There’s been a lot of leaves about the place since the snow’s melted, so there was plenty to do. Two hours worth of it! But I’m glad it’s done, it looks much neater now and feels a bit more like spring.

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The grass looked brown from all the leaves covering it. Pretty much all gone (til the next big wind!)

The brooms we use here are so old school and would be perfect for witches. (They’re incredibly effective and make a great Harry Potter toy for visitors with kids!) Even the local councils still use this style of broom; a classic design that still holds its own.

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My trusty steed

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A simple and effective broom which looks the part too

So I’m back from my little holiday blogging break and will be writing daily again (until the next holiday perhaps?!). If you’d like to read about our weekend in Strasbourg, with a photo gallery, please click here.

Wishing you a wonderful day.