Ok, it is now Saturday afternoon and my entire body is still recovering from my PT session on Wednesday night with GymGuyMark at Western Health and Racquets Club Gym.
Why I hear you cry?
You wimp, I hear you say!
Serves you right, stay at home and drink gin, you yell back at me!
I had had a tough day at work, it was non stop and stressful so I was looking forward to hitting the Gym, having a bit of banter with GGM and chilling out. How wrong could I have been! It was partly my own fault as I had told GGM a few weeks ago that I wanted to up my game a bit and it would seem that, like any good PT would, he listened to me and agreed that it is time to push the boundaries a bit.
I started off with my usual cardio warm up, a mix of cross trainer and rowing machine. I love this, it helps to really wake up the body and tell it to get ready for whats coming next. It never listens but what the hey. So GGM appears and it is up the stairs to the weights room, and the torture that is now a 12kg kettlebell. I was quite chuffed when we started using this and the 16kg but now, oh boy noooooo! We started off with legs apart, gripping the kettlebell with one hand and lifting straight up to face level. It was bloody hard especially as I kept being told to keep my bum down, let the weight down slowly and keep my head up constantly by GGM. The first set of reps was tough but then being told 20 seconds and we do it again, I thought I was hearing things. Is he serious? Turns out he was, I had to do another two sets and by the end of this my lungs were heaving. I was sweating like Niagara Falls in the rainy season and was about to just refuse to do anymore but then that little bit of motivation kicked in and the fact that I might have looked like shit and quite frankly felt like it, did not matter. Next? Yet more flippin kettlebell, hauling, lifting, sweating, coughing and may other things ending in ing that were not pleasant. By the time GGM told me to lie down on the mat, I could hardly speak. He was definitely pushing me to my limits tonight.
Down on the mat was all about gripping the kettlebell behind my head and lifting it over to just above my tummy. Agony had set in and so had cramp in my left leg. I tried to ignore it and keep going and eventually after trapping half my hair under the kettlebell managed it. Ok, so that is enough right? Nope, hold onto the kettlebell and lift your legs straight up into the air, he says. The cramp says no but the head says ignore it and keep going. I was totally wiped out by now but moving to the next level is all about pushing yourself to see what you can do and right now all I could do was have cramp, bite my lip and breathe very very heavily. I had to stop and stretch my legs out, taking my shoes off to bend my feet and toes. Thinking that maybe GGM would take pity on me was daft, I should know him by now, as soon as the cramp went away it was back on the floor holding onto the kettlebell to do bum lifts.
After that, I could hardly stand, I couldn’t talk, looked like hell, had a bright red face and hair that was soaked in sweat. The cramp in my left foot was so bad that it felt like it was being bent backwards. GGM helped me stretch it out and eventually it felt much better but as soon as we tried to do some tricep dips it came straight back. That was it, I was done, in more ways than one.
Somehow or other I escaped back home before bursting into tears. I was absolutely wiped out and the emotion was more associated with the fact that that was one serious workout. I was totally pathetic at times but, and it is a huge but, I kept going no matter how much my head told me to stop. For once I listened to my heart which kept telling me, this is damn good for you, you need to keep going. Unfortunately I had to go straight out but later after a long hot shower and a liberal application of much muscle relaxing cream, I flopped into bed and fell asleep. The next day I struggled to carry my handbag and my thighs just refused to do anything.
So you are feeling crap, knackered and sore all over why do it again and what did I learn?
One, we are seriously upping the game, and I can do it. Thanks to GGM for that and his encouragement.
Two, dehydration. The cramp was due to the fact that even though I thought I had had enough fluids in me, I didn’t.
Three, belief, determination and listening to my heart. It works.
Roll on the next exhausting session
G
Gin or Gym 