Enthusiastic Approach Brings Reward

Having cursed my enthusiasm this morning, I now have to completely change tack and do an about face! Yes, the workout went so much better today, and not just because of the chat with the trainer on Tuesday I am sure. For some reason everything went better today, but most importantly of all I went better today. I'm putting it down to proper preparation, tips from readers, and taking a bit more of a committed approach to working out.

I got up earlier today and actually did everything to get ready with plenty of time to spare. I had my coffee, oatmeal (porridge) and what have you, as well as getting into the best workout gear that I have. I even managed to dress up warm and snug so that the rain wouldn't bother me on the way to the gym. I got there 15 minutes early, and was able to spend 12 minutes warming up before the trainer came to get me. By that stage I was really ready to go and in the right mood for a workout.

We got straight into it, no fooling around with scales and what have you today. That has been canned. I am keen to weigh myself on my own however I think she is intending to weigh me on Saturday morning. Makes no difference to me, the official weigh in will still be on Fridays as always.

I had to do lunges up and down the gym with 10kg (22.2lbs) dumbbells. I then had to run three times around the gym holding 8kg (17.6lbs) dumbbells. After that it was on to the Swiss Ball for pull overs with 15kg (33lbs) dumbbell, followed by crunches on the ball, and lastly some press ups using the ball. This was the first time I had done this exercise. What it involved was having my feet on the Swiss Ball and my arms on the floor and doing press ups. That was really hard, but the best thing about this morning was that I made it through everything for the regulation three sets. I even did 3 sets of 15 of the new pushups, I thought I was going to crap out on the 12th rep in the second set but dug deep to get home. I felt really good, but new that I was only a quarter of the way through and still had a ways to go before I knew if the workout was really that much better than last week.

Next up were squats with 10kg (22.2lbs) dumbbells in each hand. On top of the squats, the dumbbells were to be raised up over my head before the next squat could commence, bringing in curls and shoulder press to the same movement. Following this exercise were leg raises on the bench, to round out the superset. Again three sets were required, and they all went well with me giving everything I had in the tank to get through the workout. Last up were some stretches and the trainer was saying that I had done much more today than she had expected, which was nice to hear. I know that I worked hard today, the sweat was soaked right through my shirt (yuck I know, but I'm proud that I pushed myself! Don't worry I carry a towel and clean up after myself better than most at the gym).

I was stoked to have come through a Thursday session so well. This marks a real change in how things have normally gone with the trainer. I plan to keep to this routine for the next month at least to see how things go. We finished on good terms, and I think that we were both hoping that thing remain like this for the Thursday sessions. There is a much more co-operative team atmosphere to workouts now. I also feel like I am being listened to when deciding what exercises to do as the suggestions I made about what exercises seem pointless came back to get me today with the crunches on the Swiss Ball producing a good burn for me.

Of course, that was really the halfway mark for the workout. The cardio session still remained to be done, and I have to admit that I was feeling pretty tired. I got on the treadmill and tried to match the pace of yesterday but fell away pretty quickly. I decided to listen to the body and slow it down today. I made sure that I went for the full 50 minutes as usual, but I did go a lot slower. I still got through 500 calories, which is the main goal, and felt great when I finished. I am hoping that I am rewarded with another kg coming off this week, and getting beneath the 135kg (297lbs) mark this week. It would be great to clear the third short term goal, I feel that I really need the loss this week. They will be getting progressively more difficult from here on in, and getting another kilo off me brings me that much closer to being able to run on the treadmill. Once I am running losing weight will be helped by being able to burn more calories with more vigourous exercise.

When I got home I was termendously hungry. I had some yogurt for morning tea, and then for lunch I tore into the pastrami and mountain bread. I ended up having three wraps, and treated myself to some hommus to moisten them up a bit. Of course they also had vegetables on them and were really nice. I reccomend the mountain bread to anyone that hasn't tried it. It looks unappealing as it is completely flat, and looks like it will be tasteless, however I found it surprisingly nice.

I am now looking forward to the weigh in and measuring tomorrow. I have siezed the initiative and tidied up the blog a bit today. You'll notice that I have two tables of my measurements now, one in kgs and cms, the other in pounds and inches to make it a bit easier for people to see where I was, where I am going, and how far I have come. Check back tomorrow to see if I have made any progress this week, the fight against fat continues!