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I've been exercising to some form of plan for the last few weeks but because I now want to focus on improving my fitness and increasing muscle rather than just losing weight I thought that I need to sit down and try and develop some kind of training plan. I really liked Tara's lunch time routine here, and wanted to develop at least one session a bit like that. This is what I'm looking at for now -

• 3 x cardio workouts at gym / DVD / run (depending on time commitments etc) of 1 hour including HIITs with abdominal exercises including full sit ups, crunches, side reaches, bicycle crunches etc (20 reps of each move with the full routine done twice)

• 2 x strength training using a DVD (probably Davinas, I have dumbbells at home that I use)

• 1 x 'Body Blast session' - Cardio warm up for 30 min (DVD / Run), strength training routine that uses heavier weights to the DVD routine and focuses on problem areas , Yoga / Pilates to stretch and cool down.

I would aim to change this up every three weeks so that I keep testing my body by changing the form of cardio I do, swapping the DVD's around and changing the strength training exercises, form of cardio and Yoga / Pilates in the body blast session.

I usually go to the gym on an evening after work and do the strength training on a morning which makes the DVD's really good for me as I don't really need to think too much about what I'm doing. I do really like Davina’s DVD's because they include the element with dumbbells and I have really seen results from doing them. The reason why I'm adding the body blast session in is so that I can use heavier weights than for the DVD (I can only manage with the bigger weights when using certain muscle groups so I wouldn’t want to keep having to change the weights over whilst doing the DVD) and so that I can do exercises that focus on my 'problem' areas.

This morning my 'Body Blast' session consisted of -

• Davina’s Kick Fit Session (from the Davina Fit DVD, I would have went for a run but I'm still building myself up for that!)

• Weight and Strength routine of - dumbbell side bend (12 reps each side using big weights), bent over row (20 reps using big weights), tricep kick back (20 reps using medium weights), chest flye (20 reps using medium weights), squat with dumbbells (20 reps using big weights), the plank (3 x 10 seconds - I was pitiful at these!), walking lunges (12 reps with big weights), half press ups (3 x 12 reps) and crunch twists (20 reps). I did this routine twice - felt great afterwards but I know that I have a long way to go.

• Davina’s Yoga Stretch session (from Davina Fit DVD)

I have two sets of dumbbells my 'big' ones which are 4.5 kg each and my medium ones which are 2.3 kg each. I would like to try some exercises with heavier weights and fewer reps to really build the muscle so I might be on the look out for some new dumbbells (or I'll go and pinch my Dads hardcore ones!)

I enjoyed the workout this morning and felt really invigorated by it. I think I'll look into getting another Yoga / Pilates DVD, I want one that has some 15 - 30 min sessions - if anyone has any recommendations please let me know!

I just received a text from my cousin and she’s suggesting that we enter the Race for Life which is in June, I think I might sign up for that - it will certainly get me running!