Anita Houghton

The Medicine Ball Challenge

My Updates

Day 7

Final day - did not start well. Home from a dog walk to discover i’d no longer got the keys for the handcuffs.

A date at the gym loomed - and Coach Anna ( A.K.A McTwatty ) was having none of it - “if you’re having money off me you’re damn well wearing it” and she fixed me up some makeshift wrist straps! I failed hang tough by 5 seconds - but still earnt extra donations for effort alone coz my squad are epic!

Chest press / trap bar lift and chest fly all completed in the gym - along with how ridiculous can we make Nita look was the theme for the gym!

An afternoon of lunch / cocktails and pool soon turned into beer pong shots and goodness knows what else! Rolled home 1/4 to midnight and whacked the ball and chain off at bang on midnight.

Extremely proud of myself - thankful of everyones support - but longing for a day where my wrists dont ache from wearing handcuffs! 

Day 6

Day 6! Back to dog walking. Last day in the office chained to the ball - usual scanner call outs. Gym tonight was a circuit - and a bloody hard one at that. Assault bike, sled and a leg raise finisher - think McTwatty was feeling sadistic today! Reached £1300 in donations and 2nd on the leaderboard which is just overwhelming. Last day tomorrow - morning in the gym, the lunch followed by cocktails and pool in town! 

Day 5

No dog walk again this morning - rain stopped play.

In the office for work again today - and today was the day everyone wanted toners. I thought this was the perfect excuse to put the ball on the trolley - but the staff kept telling me thats cheating - so instead - i had to steer a trolley with one hand and carry the ball in the other! 

No gym on a thursday (everyone needs a rest day) - and even though Coach McTwatty tried to get me in with promise of extra sponsorship - my arms are so tired they needed a rest in prep for tomorrow night circuit class.

Ready to hit one last day in the office tomorrow. 2 challenge days left - £20 away from £1k 😮

Day 4

Day 4

 

Ball back to the left non dominant hand today. Dog walk to start the day. 

Thankfully work today required phone cover most of the day - so ball and chain got to sit on the desk and wasnt quite so much a hinderance! 

Wednesdays at Transform ladies fitness is a full body blast - and omg did that session wipe me out. Couldnt do jumping jacks so Coach decided a jump with ball push would be a good substitute - she then also made the rest of the class try it! Dont think im very popular now!

A massive highlight today - Over £750  raised - and passed the halfway mark - just 3 days left! 

 

Day 3

No dog walk this morning as it was lashing down and my two dont like the rain - thankfully.

Another day in the office at work - lots of scanner calls and a few equipment moves today - at least using a trolley gave me somewhere to rest my ball - but i never realised how difficult it could be using a screwdriver whilst handcuffed to a ball! 🙈

Transform fitness session today was Arms Day - now that was a struggle - had to swap out an over head press for an L Sit - and overhead tricep extensions required either Coach Ash to hold my ball or me to kneel down as i am too tall for the chain to reach above my head with the ball on the floor ( never thought i would complain of being too tall)!

Low points - wrists are sore from wearing the handcuffs and my shoulders are aching badly.

High points - smashed the £500 fundraising bracket (currently 5th place on the leaderboard) and successfully completing an arms workout at the gym including press ups with the ball on my back.

Day 4 tomorrow which takes me to the halfway point.

Day 2

Another dog walk to start the day - defo felt more difficult having swapped hands and having the ball handcuffed to my left wrist.

Full day in the office - usual call outs - printers needing toners changing, kit moves and scanner failures.

Completed a legs bums tums class at Transform Ladies Fitness without modifying anything and then rounded the night off at footy with Formby Community Football Club.

Low points - having to admit defeat and ask for help to get a box down from the top shelf - because given your lack of height, added to having to balance a 3kg ball in one hand whilst getting a box down with the other - was going to result in disaster and - hearing people whispering “whys she walking round carrying that all the time - just put it down” - without asking so they could understand the point of the challenge. You can choose when to pick up and put down your mental health - i didnt have the confidence to stop and explain - i just put my head down and carried on walking.

High points - lots of convos started in the office about the challenge and what it represents, actually managing a footy session handcuffed to the ball without seriously injuring myself or anyone else - resulted in no falling over, 5 goals scored and coming home with the player of the week trophy!

Wrists are agony and swollen from the handcuffs - and im getting a fair few bruises from the chain smacking me!

Day 1

A morning dog walk - usual route of 30mins / 2 miles - took a little longer than usual - and made me appreciative of all the women who daily carry a mary poppins style handbag around with them!

Aldi / Tesco shop was a challenge - lots of people stared and frowned - trying to work out what on earth i was doing - I Never thought that in trying to raise awareness of how people struggle carrying around the weight of mental health - it would affect my own and cause me anxiety at everyone staring and frowning wondering what the hell im doing.

I dislike most of my housework chores at the best of time. But changing the bed, cleaning litter trays and taking the trash out is so much harder handcuffed to a 3kg ball.

The ups though - im super proud i still managed some form of boxing session - enough to make Coach Cass get a sweat on and i have successfully meal prepped next weeks lunches without causing injury to myself or breakages in the kitchen!

My wrist is agony from being handcuffed all day - its defo not a kink im going to be taking up anytime soon! And i totally need to get used to carrying the ball with my left and not just my right - or one arm is going to  be like popeyes and the other will be like flat erics! 

Thank you to my Sponsors

£50

Nick Glass

Well Done Anita, great effort

£50

Cass

£50

Cindy Grange-glen

Amazing achievement 🎊

£48.06

Collection Tin

£21.50

Karen

£21

Lorraine & Rob

Good luck mate, from me n Rob

£21

Bowser

£20.50

Vana Rimmer

£20.50

Kelly Turner

Great cause. Super proud xx

£20.50

Demi Houghton

£20.50

Anna Mcnally

Incredible cause Anita 👏 🙌 Looking forward to watching you complete those presses on week 4 of sculpt with that thing! 😅

£20.50

Linda ????

£20.50

Vicki Lewis

Wow your doing so well, Great cause

£20.50

Alex

WELL DONE FOR DOING THIS. 3RD FLOOR IT SUPPORT NEEDED 🙂

£20.50

Sara Abbott

£20.50

Katie Fryer

Good luck! See you at 5pm (I'll be the one without the 3kg ball attached to me!!) Xx

£20.50

Kathy Douglas

Fabulous effort for a great cause. Well done

£20.50

Janice Ball

£20.50

Jill Bradley

Doing an amazing job, keep going 👏👏

£20.50

Penny Crook

£20.50

Christine Symonds

£20.50

Keith Littler

Good Luck!! from Keith L

£20.50

Jo Parry

Amazing work! Super proud of you!

£20.50

Lisa Carlin

Well done!

£20.50

Parentals

We are so proud of you x

£20.50

Louise

I’m sure you’ll smash this! Fantastic cause!

£20.50

Jill

£20.50

Nyome Rook

You’re a Star!!!

£20.50

Diane Livesley

£20

Anita Acaster

£20

Mark Poole

You can do it Shorty! ;)

£20

Andy Sherman

£20

Lynsey Rogers

£20

Kath Tomlinson

Absolute trooper!! And you're nearly there, keep going!

£20

Jill Spencer

Well done Anita, fantastic effort 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

£20

Karen Slater

Well done 👏.xxx

£20

Lil Marflitt

£20

Alice

Fire on up!!!

£20

Clare Ascroft

Well done Anita! Amazing effort x

£20

Debbie Jones

£20

Mctwatty

The effort for those 55 seconds is worth another £20!

£20

Sarah Robinson

Amazing Anita! We’re all very proud of you! Keep smashing it! Your an inspiration to many! X

£20

Lisa Thomas

smashed it

£15

Cath Lloyd

Well done Anita!

£11

Paul Parker

£11

Rich Morton

£10.75

Anne Hewitt

You will smash it Anita. Anne xx

£10.40

Anita Houghton

£10.25

Colin Howard

£10.25

Amanda Scott-norton

Well Done Anita

£10.25

Vicky Wilson

Good luck

£10.25

Marie

Well done. Great achievement for a great cause.

£10.25

Katy Hodgkiss

Good luck!!! You’ll absolutely smash it 🙌🏻

£10.25

Wendy Powell

Such a great cause Anita. I'm sure you'll smash it! Xx

£10.25

Tina Goadsby

£10.25

Linz

Nice one Anita! A powerful message. 💪💪💪

£10.25

Lorraine (transform)

Good luck Anita. I hope our Gym coaches are as kind to you as they can be (not holding out much hope ha ha) xx

£10.25

Dave M

You’ve got this mate, proud of you!

£10.25

Janice Ball

£10.25

Mary Hilton

Well done great cause great effort, PTSD sufferer so I know the significance of this

£10.25

Rachel Fripp

Anita, you're making this all look so easy, but I absolutely know it's not! Mightily impressed by your drive and determination, and for such a worthy cause. You're an inspiration! Xx

£10.25

Angeline Foulkes

Nice one Anita

£10.25

Debbie S

Smash it mate. Total legend

£10.25

Dawn Bigley

Well Done kid x

£10.25

Linda Russo

Good luck Anita, you’ve got this

£10.25

Tracy Mason

£10.25

Claire Beck

£10.25

Helen Wynne

Well done Anita x

£10.25

Debbie Mc

Good Luck Anita !

£10.25

Janine Smith

£10.25

Rooksy

Well done for hanging with your ball buddy 👏👏

£10.25

Clunge

£10.25

Sue Mentha

Well done Anita

£10.25

Antony Parry

Well Done Anita

£10.25

Jacquie

Great charities 👍🏻

£10.25

Moira Football

£10.25

Leanne Conway

Good Luck Anita xx

£10.25

Sue Gautrey

Well done Anita!

£10.25

Anonymous

Sorry its not much.A massive congratulations hunny, I knew you'd smash it. I hope you know how loved you are too - well done xXx

£10.25

Marc Garland

£10

John Jackson

£10

Dawn Wilson

£10

Gill Caunce

£10

Jane Marsh

£10

Barbara Newhall

£10

Cheryl Cotton

£10

Sue

Great cause and well done for giving it a go!!

£10

Julie Mccauley

Well done Anita, good luck, great causes too

£10

Nicola Copeman

Well done Anita x

£10

Nicola Popplewell

You have done amazing so far! Keep going, you’ve got this!

£10

Gillian Goulding

£10

Helen Hall

£10

Carol Jennings

£10

Louise Transform

£10

Leanne Johnson

£10

Claire Milner

£10

Jayne

What an amazing achievement!!! Well done

£5.13

Ash

Get it Nita. You are doing amazing.

£5.13

Jennifer Burns

Well done

£5.13

Anonymous

£5.13

Leah Harwood

£5.13

Kathryn Hall

£5.13

Gayle Ashton

Well done Anita 💪

£5.13

Lorna Birkett

Well done lovely you are amazing

£5.13

Philippa Powell

£5.13

Dave Jagger

£5.13

Deb Tabiner

A really novel way of raising awareness, well done, Anita!

£5.13

Deb Wilson Member Of U1st Gym

Well done Anita

£5.13

Sarah R

£5.13

Amy

Your smashing it Anita, you should be so proud of yourself! 🙌❤

£5.13

Mike Harrison

Well done Anita 💪

£5

Carol Davies

£5

Robin Vurley

£5

Maureen Woods

£5

Julie From U1st

Wow, well done x

£5

Catherine Morrow

£5

Kate Baggaley

Well done Anita!

£5

Terry Gilroy

£5

Anne .

£5

Carl Oldfield

£5

Jen Morton

£5

Natalie Schofield

£5

Emma Stokes

Amazing challenge Anita and a brilliant cause

£4

Anna Redfearn

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