Personal Training and Slowing Down (WHAT???)

There it was, my first personal training assessment. I had been looking forward to it and dreading it at the same time.

Looking forward, obviously because it meant that I was finally going to get a proper start into training again under the watchful eye of somebody who does know what she is doing (and boy she does!)

Dreading it, well there is the weight gain issue and the body fat issue and the nutrition issue and all that jazz. Ya know, all the things that every woman is constantly afraid of because, well, because of these artificially skinny and healthy looking women on the glossy magazines and the fact that no matter how hard I try, I will never have the body of a professional triathlete. I was not born to do triathlon, I’m just doing it because I WANT TO.

Anyway, the first bit of the session was an in-depth interview about my lifestyle and my workout habits which was followed by the dreaded measurements, including a weigh-in.

When I first saw my weight, I gasped. NEVER in my life have I been this heavy and I am a good 15 kg away from my weight at this time last year. I thought I needed to die right there and then. But then came the amazing and surprising news. My overall fat percentage has not been this low since I was 25 or 26. I am usually way over the recommended maximum for my age and well into the 30%. I was perfectly on average this time. And what was more surprising was that my muscle mass was a good 64% of my body weight. I was obviously born to be Arnold Schwarzenegger’s younger, smarter and more beautiful sister. I sort of knew that I was good in the muscle area. When I first signed up for a gym, the owner, a former bodybuilder, immediately wanted recruit me for real tough bodybuilding training because even at 16, he could see that I had exceptional muscles. However, women rarely go above 50% muscle mass and I have consistently beaten that number, only it was never that high.

Now here’s another kicker. I didn’t really do much for it. I just went to bodypump and kettlebell classes, didn’t really lift much weight and followed through with my yoga classes and all that made my muscles grow and grow and grow and made me heavier and heavier and heavier…

So much for the basics. Obviously, my trainer had to fit test me first in order to write a proper training plan. And this is what she did. We first hit the treadmill and that was misery on legs. I was slow (wouldn’t you be if you were lugging this much muscle around with you?), it hurt because the teensy tiny running muscles hated me and I was out of breath. Now I didn’t fail my treadmill test but it could have been better. Or to rephrase it: I was not born to run.

So then she put me through the strength exercises. Count the push ups for a minute (I think I got to 28), count the crunches for a minute (I got to 31) and count the squats for a minute (I was getting close to 40 – Yay to the legs!) Good for somebody who has not really trained for a year but not good enough for an aspiring triathlete.

After all the tests, she gave me her first few recommendations. I have to log what I am eating now right down to the smallest crumb. Fair enough… She wants to do a nutrition plan for me, too. She also told me that I must again reduce my running to 10-15 minutes at a time for this week (Ya wha? You crazy?). She said I had to slow down and relax in order to be able to speed up again. Hrmph! So basically, keep up the good kettlebell, yoga and bodypump work, go swimming, go spinning and before all those classes go for a 10 minute run. I still don’t see how that is going to help me but I signed up with her to do it right this time. Maybe I really need to learn not to start galloping the first time I get on a horse (now, figuratively speaking). And that is not like me at all. I want it all and I want it now.

Yet, I do know that she is the real expert and I am just my own imagined expert. Therefore, I will reluctantly follow her advice and do whatever I can do to get back on that horse and stay in the saddle this time. Even if it means I have to take the horse for a gentle stroll for the next few weeks (I can still say bleargh to this).

When my PT session was over, I couldn’t resist despite my sore muscles from Monday’s kettlebell class and went for the 60 minute spinning class. So today is very, very ouch!

Tonight, I’ll be back in the pool and then the hot yoga people get to stretch me again. Happy days, I’m back on track!

Keep on training!