Good Workout With Trainer

Wow, that was a tough workout this afternoon. Luckily I decided to head to the gym earlier than usual as my trainer came and grabbed me off the treadmill and asked if I wanted to start earlier. I said I did so we kicked off at about 2:45pm instead of the agreed 3:00pm.

I told my trainer about the blister on my foot and she asked me to do a couple of warm up lunges to make sure that I was able to do them without pain. I did experience some discomfort, but it went away quite quickly so into the lunges I went. I hate lunges, however I cannot deny that they must be good for me as they get me huffing and puffing really quickly, as well as causing a burning sensation in my leg muscles very quickly.

I was handed two five kilogram dumbbells and told to do lunges, leading with one leg then switching to the other, so that I walked in lunge fashion from one side of the gym to the other. I would estimate that the distance was around 30 meters. When I got to the other end, the dumbbells went down to the floor and so did I! I had to get down on my chest and go straight into doing press ups. I was asked how many I thought that I could do, and I estimated 10. I did 15 press ups, relatively easily which is a marked improvement on my starting level. I was pleased that I got past what I thought that I could do. Straight away I then had to grab the weights, get back to my feet, and run back to the side of the gym I started from. When I got there it was down onto the floor on my back, and so began the medicine ball sit ups my trainer is so fond of. Initially I used my strength to throw the ball to the trainer and get a few extra gasps in, however she was onto me and insisted that I pass the ball to her. I was doing sets of 30 reps on this exercise.

I was tired at the end of the first set and was sucking in some deep breaths. She took mercy and let me go and get in a drink of water. I did two more sets of the same exercises before we took off for the next group of exercises. I was able to take on board water between each set.

Next up were front squats, with just the bar, followed by normal squats, then some pull ups using the bar on the lowest rung on the squat rack, and then leg raises on the bench. I did 10 of each set of squats, as many as I could do on the pull ups (5), and was doing 20 leg raises on the bench. Again this was tough, particularly the pull ups. Larger guys like me find pull ups nigh on impossible, and these are a much easier variant as you are lying on the ground and pull the top half of your torso up to the bar. They may be easier, but they are far from easy! My back is weak, and the trainer identified this during the course of my straining to do 5 of the pull ups.

So, having identified the weakness I was informed that it would be addressed and she took me to the pull downs machine. She had me do three drop sets (where you perform reps on one weight until you can do no more, and then the weight is reduced and you again go to failure, and then the weight is reduced…and so on). The last weight on the set was 15kgs, and I discovered that my arms weighed more than that so I didn’t have to pull really hard by the time I got to that weight, however that was fortunate as my arms were nearly falling off by then. It is amazing how far behind my back has gotten during the period I have been away from the gym.

After the drop sets, that was the end of the workout. The Trainer and I then sat in the café area and discussed how things were going. She said that she wanted to see a loss of 700 grams this week. No less will be accepted. However, she will weigh me on Thursday and wants me to have breakfast before I go in this time, and my cardio session will be done after I have seen her. I pointed out that this was different to last time where I had no breakfast. The trainer didn’t think that this will make too much difference, and I guess it wont either way for me but I’d rather have all factors remain the same when I get weighed. This is why my official weight day will remain the same day of the week, at the same time, after the same amount of exercise.

It was a good workout today, and I was really tired when we finished. The Trainer also gave me the nutritional plan, along with a proper written out cardio plan for me to try to stick to. It is quite involved and may require me ditching the mp3 player, however that will be a last resort, I may have to take the piece of paper with me instead! So, all in all it went well and I left the gym in good spirits, but absolutely ravenous.

When I got home I showered and noticed that the bandage over my blister had come off. There was blood all over my sock, so that does not bode well for tomorrow. The sore itself feels okay now, however when I get a shoe and sock over it I will really know if it is okay. I hope so, I am as keen as mustard to get in there tomorrow and get amongst it. Check the blog and web page tomorrow, the nutrition plan and cardio regime will be posted. Until then, fight the good fight against fat!