Monday looms, the alarm goes off and we are readying for the gym. Kath is in her last week of prep so we are training together this week to help her push hard in the run up to comp. Kath, like me, isn’t working this week so has offered to pick me up and give me a lift to the gym and home again afterwards which is a fantastic help because otherwise it’s buses for me. Today we work on shoulders – upper body work is fine for me at the moment. I just need to be careful how I pick up the weights – shoulders suits me as I have rehab today and will do lower body there. A few tri sets today because there are three of us and that seems to work.

– 15 Reps of lateral raises

– Straight into 15 reps of front raises

– Straight into 15 reps of rear delts

All the above are performed with dumbbells (the rear delt exercise requires you to bend over at the hips). I have Lexi and Kath bending low but I can’t go beyond 90 degrees.

Three sets of these exercises with a rest of 2 minutes in between is followed by seated shoulder press – four sets of 15 with dumbbells – we all struggle on our last set which feels great.

Our final exercise is a barbell upright row. Kath is experiencing some discomfort in her left arm around the elbow area so finding it hard to grip a heavy weight so goes lighter than normal but increases the reps.

Kath has to do an hour of cardio and I do 40 minutes on the cross trainer before Kath puts her show bikini on and has a check in with Phil. He ups her food (carbs and fruit) which makes her very happy and he also cuts her cardio to one hour where she has been doing three hours per day.

Kath drops me home and then I immediately go out again to rehab. I have a different physio each time as they were trying to fit in as many sessions as possible before I go overseas. Today it’s Hayley. She is lovely and we go through the normal exercises. Most of these are stretching exercises because we need to loosen up the hip and then try and strengthen the muscles. I chat to Hayley about the pain behind my knee and am advised they don’t believe it’s anything more than the muscles compensating and getting used to the different movements now that I am trying to walk properly and not alter my gait to compensate for a painful hip.

An hour and a quarter of Heel slides / froggies / hip hitches / walking / multiple stretches / glute bridges / quad and hip flexor stretches / balancing etc – she’s a hard taskmaster. I then have a 10 minute break before I go off to the pool. The same types of exercises are undertaken in the water but with a few additions such as cycles / walking lunges and crab squats. This feels really good. I finally get out of there at 12.30 – WOW a three hour session and I am starving and gasping for a coffee.

After lunch I get a What’s App video call from David. He has just woken up in Javea where it’s 6 am and I’m in Sydney at 2 pm. We discuss house sit possibilities and what he’s been up to. Some friends over in Spain are having an Anzac Day celebration (25th April for those who don’t know 😊) and have asked if I could take over some Two Up sets and an NZ flag. I start the online search for these items. I find that Australian Geographic Shop have the Two Up sets and there’s a store at Bondi Junction. Off I go and purchase two sets. Whilst there, I sort out the issue David had with his prepaid phone number with Optus. There doesn’t seem to be anywhere to buy an NZ flag so I return home and research this on the internet. Find somebody who undertakes to despatch the item by express mail the same day as the order so I’ll give that a go.

Lexi comes ‘home’ from work and we catch up on our days and just hang out.

Tuesday morning – Kath has again offered to pick me up from Bellevue Hill – great location for Bondi Junction and for rehab but definitely not for getting around to many other places! A couple of buses and a 40 minute journey to Darlinghurst Fitness First!! Glute day today. It’s fine for me as I need to strengthen my glutes after the operation – just need to be careful about angles and not too much weight which seems a little frustrating but I am actually doing as advised – WOW there’s a first time for everything.

– Tri set – 15 reps x 4 sets

– Cable pull throughs

– Squat jumps with cable

– Froggies – lying on your stomach on a bench with a weight between your feet

Then we move on to the abductor machine. Think we’ll do another tri set here –

– Tri set – 15 reps x 4 sets

– Abductors

– Bulgarian split squats

Glute bridge (strong focus on first engaging your glutes, pushing outwards with your knees and raising your hips – this is a rehab exercise I have been given to do and is good for stretching the hips

Just one more exercise on the back extension machine. These are partials and weighted so designed to engage the glutes and hammies and when the shoulders are in line with the hips, a short hold before lowering back down slowly. I’m not in a position to do these but it doesn’t stop me pushing my two training buddies.

A quick 30 minutes of cardio again today as Kath needs to check in with Phil. The scales are messing with her head and she thinks her definition has diminished – we try and assure her that Phil will get her in the right place and she is looking really good. I decide to have another quick weigh in whilst Kath is changing and I have lost 100g not much but considering I had a croissant, wine and ice cream yesterday, I’m feeling pretty pleased with myself. I think I will try and do another 30 minutes of cardio this afternoon. Need to be careful that I don’t push too hard too fast and sometimes it’s hard to reign myself in and put the brakes on but the pain behind my knee has almost gone completely and I am feeling really good.

Kath has given me a lift home and I decide to do some admin. I also have a new program to write for an older gentleman who has a sedentary lifestyle and wants to get into a better place in terms of his weight so that he can have two knee replacements. It’s not so hard to formulate a training plan for him and I include exercises that are specific for strengthening the muscles around his knees in preparation for the operation. I am so fortunate that I had good muscle strength prior to my surgery as I know this has helped me to recover quicker than the average.

Lunch time and I have tuna and steamed veggies – it’s strange how much I enjoy the food from my old meal plan when I haven’t eaten it for so long – makes me feel good too that I am eating clean for some (if not all) meals in my day.

It’s 2pm and time for a What’s App discussion with David. He fills me in on some vehicles that he has seen locally but nothing that really peaks his interest – I’m sure he will fill you in with more details on the To Senija blog.

I decide to take the bus to Bondi Junction and do 30 minutes at Fitness First on the cross trainer. That done it’s back home. Lexi will be later home this evening as she is going to get her nails done after work.

We decide to watch MKR as I’m quite intrigued to find out which team is excused from the table – the suspense😊 Well, they are stringing it out and again we don’t find out today. After that, it’s the series final of The Good Doctor – great entertainment.

Wednesday and it’s a PT session for Lexi and me with Phil this morning. It’s a back session and he pushes us today – great session of assisted pull ups, lat pull downs, seated row etc.

Kath doesn’t need to be at the gym until 7 and we need to be there for 6 am so unfortunately, no pick up for me today. Lexi takes her motorbike to go to work afterwards and I take an Uber. I have planned out the buses to get back afterwards.

I meet a friend for coffee in the Grumpy Baker, just over the road from the apartment and we spend a lovely hour chatting about fitness and general life events – she is taking a 6 week holiday starting in July and may well come to Spain – would be great to see lots of our friends coming to visit – short stay or long stay – everyone is welcome.

I have my final hairdresser appointment today at 12 noon with Tori at Saba Hair in Crown Street at Surry Hills. I’ve been going there for quite some time now and it was really easy to get to when I had my scooter but now, it’s two buses and 50 minutes – ho hum, now I really am missing Scootie more than ever. The daily catch up with David needs to be later today because of the hair appointment. He tells me of the pub quiz they went to last night and about the two vehicles that are top of the list for purchase. One of them is actually a dual cab ute – in great condition with reasonable mileage. This could come in quite handy when we collect the stuff we have shipped to the UK but we need to consider comfort etc for the couple of long drives we will make. He is test driving that and a Mazda today.

Lexi and I are cooking a stuffed chicken breast dish tonite and we’re going to make roast potatoes to go with it – partly so that I can teach Lexi how to cook these. We prep together – it’s fun. We’re punctuating the culinary preparations with wine – bad habits, empty calories – last week in Australia – RELAX. Dinner is consumed whilst watching MKR and yes, Sonia and Hadid are the two who leave the table – what a couple of complete arrogant, disrespectful and rude ‘ladies’ (and I use that term loosely) they turned out to be.

Thursday morning – growth day! This means Lexi gets a lie in and I am off to the Gold Coast for the day to have coffees and lunch with some friends before I leave. It’s the normal 4.15 am alarm for me today – not that I need an alarm – my body clock knows when it’s time to wake and I don’t normally need the alarm to help me.

My flight is early at 7 am so no time to exercise beforehand – I struggle with growth day but it’s an essential part of growing those muscles, resting and refuelling. The flight is on time and uneventful. Arrive in the Gold Coast and pick up the hire car. I’m driving to Chevron Island to meet with Petta who is a lovely friend from my days at Caltex. I’m sure she won’t mind me saying that she has taken up my 3 month body transformation program and is doing really well. She looks amazing. The training plan and meal plan that I have given her is clearly working as she has lost weight, become fitter and looks great – you can really tell she is progressing well and is so enthusiastic about the program. She is a great ambassador for me. We spend over an hour just catching up at a really lovely café … Tribeca NYC … if you’re on the GC and want to have some nice food – great service and great coffee, you should give this place a go.

It’s then off to Wyndham to catch up with all the girls there and of course Barry Robinson who I have worked for and his one of the nicest, most charming and energetic bosses I know. He is always positive and encouraging. He’s my sort of person and it’s always so good to catch up with him.

I’m having lunch with some of the girls – such a laugh and you know it’s incredible how many people are intrigued by what David and I are doing and once they know somebody who is doing this they all seem to want in on the action – it’s great. Life is for living and you only get one shot at this so make the most of it. A few of them ask me what I am going to do about competing in Europe. Well, I am going to compete! I know that I am now more determined than ever to compete in Europe and once hippy is back to normal, I will start training again in ernest. The seasons are obviously different in Europe so I just need to do some research on when the comps are and where – WOW wouldn’t it be great to compete at Olympia 😊 I think I can get myself there but I will probably enlist the help of Phil Harding who has been an amazing mentor and coach to me over the last 17 months. He doesn’t normally do online coaching but as I have spent time with him, I think it will be easier to persuade him to help me achieve my new goals. I’ve gone off track a bit here but it’s a necessary distraction especially when everyone keeps asking what I will do.

So lunch and other catch ups done, it’s back to the airport. I’ve received a text message from Virgin that says there may be some storms which will mean flight delays – gee I hate that but the skies are clear and I check in with Lexi in Sydney and she says there doesn’t appear to be anything untoward there so we should be OK.

It’s odd but hippy didn’t set off the alarm when I went through screening in Sydney but on the Gold Coast, here we go. The lady at security is lovely and as the machine buzzes she asks me if I have a hip replacement or any other prosthetics and then I have to have a full body check with the machine that bleeps. When I’m in the lounge, I have my daily call with David. For some reason, What’s App and Skype don’t work so I call him using FaceTime and we discuss the transfer of monies for the car and what else he got up to yesterday. Today I think he is having a chilled day – the first one since arriving in Spain so it’s really well deserved – he’ll be so tanned by the time I get there that I’ll having some catching up to do but for the time being, I need to keep my scar out of the sun.

I also exchange texts with Kath to see what she is going to do about training tomorrow and it’s a full body pump up and she offers to pick me up. YAY – what a great friend she is, and I am so excited to see her on stage on Saturday. I ask if she has a plan for the training or if she would like me to put something together – she has nothing definite planned so I’m going to put some thought into this whilst I am on the plane.

When I arrive home I start to pack stuff as we need to move from our Airbnb back to Lexi’s house as we can’t stay any longer and we can’t find anywhere reasonable to stay for Saturday and Sunday night. I decide that it would be a good idea to book a hire car for Friday and part of Saturday. I have lots of places to go such as rehab, moving, the gym, the Fitness show etc and figure that it’s probably just as cheap to hire a car as to take Uber everywhere.

Kath picks me up on Friday morning and we are off to the gym. I think I am more excited about her competition than she is – she still has so much to do today – posing practice, registration for the event, tan etc.

Our training session is a full body pump up so we do a couple of exercises for each body part followed by a little cardio and then Kath will check in with Phil to see how she’s looking.

I have been trying to get my eating back on track after my spell in hospital and few weeks off so on Monday I weighed myself on the scales at the gym. As these are different scales to my normal ones, I am treating the reading as a starting point rather than benchmarking it against where I was prior to being admitted to hospital. I wasn’t too disappointed with the weight which was up 3.5 kgs on my pre hospital weight. I am told the hip replacement weighs about 1 kg heavier than normal bone but I’m not going to use that as an excuse! That said, my weight since Monday has dropped steadily each day and I have lost 600g since Monday morning which I am very happy with especially as I have not been eating totally clean.

Friday is my last rehab and the physio is very happy with where I am. My movement is fluid, the pain in my knee is all but gone, I am walking normally and can move my knee to a 90 degree angle but don’t go past that yet as it’s not 6 weeks since the op.

Friday evening and another friend, Larissa, joins us and we decide to go to the Waratahs vs Lions game at the Sydney Cricket Ground. We have tickets that allow us into the Trustee area so we head off down there. Unfortunately when we arrive, we are refused entry as Lexi is wearing ripped jeans and they are not allowed – such strong rules as she looks great with a nice black top and black jacket and to top it off, heels. So off we go in an Uber back to the apartment and Lexi changes her jeans whilst we get the Uber driver to wait and then take us back again to the game. It’s a bit of an uneventful game but we have a great time eating a burger and just chilling out. We leave 10 minutes before the end as the score is Lions 19 and Waratahs 0 – no amount of miracles will see them win this game.

Hippy Times 🏋🏻‍♀️

Well, we are up early as David has an early flight – pioneering our new adventure. He leaves at around 4.45 am and I pack and clear out the kitchen cupboards as I am moving to another Airbnb today with Lexi for a week until I go.

At 7 am, when the gym opens, Lexi and I go there for a glute session – soft gentle session for me to take into account my hip replacement – lots of the exercises they have me doing at rehab are for glute activation so I do those in the gym and Lexi does a heavier version of the same.

Lexi has to rush off for a hair appointment so I finish my sets and do 20 minutes of cardio on the cross trainer. This movement doesn’t entail my knee going past 90 degrees and also doesn’t put any undue weight on my knee so it’s a comfortable exercise to do.

Apartment packed, I don’t need to check out of this one until 11.30 am and can check into the next one at 12 noon. I struggle a little to get all my luggage downstairs in the lift but do it in small lots so it’s not so much strain on my hip by trying to support too much weight. The Uber driver turns up and asks me to help him with my suitcase as he’s not permitted to lift anything over 20 kgs!!

When we pull up outside the new Airbnb, I am a little taken aback. We chose it because it is close to the rehab hospital and the ad said there were no stairs. Hmmm – looks like about 10 steps to the front door. The Uber driver off loads my bags and off he goes. I have to negotiate the stairs or sleep on the street so I struggle to the door with the pieces of luggage and thank goodness all but one piece is on wheels. When I eventually get in the front door, I see there are more stairs – two more flights of stairs. When I speak to the agent for the property she offers to help with the luggage when I explain I have just had an operation etc and that I can’t get the luggage up two flights of stairs as there’s no lift. The agent leaves and I start to unpack. I leave the kitchen until last but when I go to unpack the foodstuff, I notice a few discrepancies from the Airbnb listing.

There is no microwave.

There is no dishwasher.

There is a fridge with no freezer and just an ice box which is so iced up, nothing can be stored in there

Only two mugs exist for an apartment that sleeps 4 – and no other crockery to drink out of.

I switch on the TV for noise and guess what, it is such bad reception in the area that the picture freezes for what seems like ages intermittently.

OK, this is all too much – I phone the now departed agent Anna and explain my first world problems. Her response is that when she has a moment, she will buy more crockery and a small microwave. She apologises for the lack of dishwasher, says the TV is a smart TV as they are aware of the poor reception in the area (it’s not that smart – or perhaps they just haven’t told it reception is bad) and says they ticked the ‘no stairs’ box as there aren’t any stairs inside the apartment. WOW!

I advise her that we need to discuss the false advertising and what will happen if I want to move out. She says if I go now, she won’t charge and will refund the full amount. If I stay even one night, I will have to pay for one night and the cleaning charge. I let her know I will be gone in half an hour. I ring Lexi who is on her way to a birthday celebration picnic in Balmoral, and let her know what has happened and that I am on my way to her place. There is a key hidden but unfortunately it doesn’t fit the screen door on the back and that has been locked so I can’t get in. I sit on the front verandah with all my luggage and attempt to spread some peanut butter on a rice cake using a piece of cardboard – failure. I have a bottle of red wine so I take a swig of that and then fire up the laptop to search for somewhere else to stay. I have struggled with luggage today so sit on the garden chair with my feet resting on my suitcase to stop any swelling and to ease my knee which has been painful the last couple of days.

So, I do identify somewhere in Bellevue Hill to stay and book it. An Airbnb which is close to Woollarah and the rehab hospital. When Lexi arrives home we transport all my stuff in and settle down to watch some movies. I don’t often do binge movie watching as David will attest to but Lexi has some good movies I’d like to watch so we have a movie night. We break a little way into it and go to Macelleria for dinner.

The house is quiet when we go to bed and I get the best sleep I have had for a long long time.

Sunday morning is a beautiful day. Lexi and I go for a walk – unfortunately I trip on a loose brick on the pavement and jar my knee a little so out comes the walking stick. Breakfast is at Trio before returning home to finalise the packing (again) and order the Uber to take us to the Airbnb in Bellevue Hill – this is much much better than yesterday and has all the items it says. We have lots of luggage as we have brought my things, Lexi’s things and food – my little pocket rocket won’t let me struggle with heavy luggage and so transports all the stuff down the steps to the front door – thank goodness that once inside, the apartment is on the ground floor.

We unpack and then Lexi is off to a yoga class – assistant teaching for a couple of hours and I take the bus a few minutes up the road to Bondi Junction and get some groceries.

When Lexi comes back, we watch a couple more movies, have dinner and then off to bed.

Hippy Times 🏋🏻‍♀️