One Monster Workout Done, One To Go!

The workout with the trainer was a bit of a shock this morning. I had to get up early and we had a pretty bad storm last night, so the weather today is shocking. Apparently Sydney reached its monthly rainfall figure last night, so there is plenty of water around. I wasn't really looking forward to the workout this morning, but I toughened up and ventured out into the tempest.

It was not a pleasant walk to the gym today. I nearly got blown over a couple of times, and made sure that I stuck to the footpath all the way there as everything was pretty muddy. By the time I arrived at the gym the trainer was already there and waiting, however I had to get out of my wet weather gear and get changed before I could workout today. Once ready I had a 5 minute warm up on the treadmill and we were underway.

Today was a slightly different workout to the usual ones. Today she was trying to get my heart rate up again, but this time she was using squats, deadlifts, and shoulder press to do it. The first exercises that I had to do with a barbell were front squats followed by deadlifts. Next was the usual step up onto a bench with a dumbbell in each hand, and these had to be curled and pressed above my head as I stepped up. Lastly I was to do crunches, emphasisng the oblique muscles by turning to one side on the upstroke. There were 15 reps per set, and three sets for this first cycle. I completed the entire cycle without stopping which made me feel really good.

Next we went over to the pull down machine and I was to do 15 pulldowns on 65kg (143lbs). Immediately after that I had to do tricep push downs on the pulldown machine at 25kg (55lbs). Lastly I was to do squats holding a weight balancing on the half Swiss Ball contraption, with the spherical side on the floor, and me standing on the flat part balancing. The trick with these was that the weight was a 15kg (33lbs) plate and as you squat down, the plate must come up, so this works your shoulders and back. Again it was 15 reps for 3 sets. At the end of this I was tremendously tired, but I was stoked that I had manged to get through with some time to spare.

Lastly I was taken to the stretching area. Here I had to do lie on my back and do leg raises, 20 reps, with my hands under my lower back, my legs straight, and raise them off the floor up to 90 degrees more or less, and then back down. Following on from this I had to turn over and position myself with the forearms on the ground, and raise myself up so that my forearms and feet were holding me off the ground while the rest of me was straight. This was a good way to finish the workout, and I did well right up to the end.

The trainer and I had talked during the workout about the cardio program she had given me. Apparently I am supposed to run and she not to worry about running, as long as my knee doesn't give me any trouble. It is still feeling better than it ever has so I think that running and working it out has been good for it. The trainer stretched my legs for me to end the session and then I was off to do the cardio workout. She suggested that I might like to walk instead of doing her plan, but I told her that I would stick with it.

The workout on the treadmill was intense coming on the end of the workout with the trainer. I wanted to do it, as I used to do the previous workout this way. I started on the first 25 minute session and stuck to the plan she gave me. At the halfway point I felt great and decided that I might take her up on the suggestion to run a bit more during the workout if I felt like it. During the second session, instead of warming down for the last nearly 10 minutes, I cranked up the pace to 9.5km/ph - my top speed! I did that for five minutes, and then rounded out the session with a 6km/ph warm down and I felt great. I was heartened to see that my workout result was 724 calories for the cardio plus whatever the workout with the trainer had burned. I suspect that is a lot because I get very tired during the sessions with her.

All in all a good day, but I am feeling it a bit. This is not surprising given the increase in intensity for my workouts. I was at the gym for just over 2 hours today, and am looking at doing the same thing tomorrow. It has taken me longer than usual to post this today as I have been a bit tired since this morning. Sorry for the delay folks! It is official weigh in day tomorrow, and I am hoping for a godo result. The trainer remarked on how I was looking like I had lost a lot of weight from around my face, particularly the chin area. It must be true because I was thinking that the other day and normally I am the last person to notice that I am losing weight. It was good to hear something positive, let's hope that it is reflected in my results tomorrow.