Here is the 3rd installment from our client, Philippa, who is aiming to lose 100lbs in 180 days……….. Best Laid plans………..I even went to body combat, but in the end it was my elbow that did it , then gastric flu. So this is what happened…..
Mark clearly started as he meant to go on first thing on the morning of Day 1. He
was a bit tough on me and after an hour and a half I went home dripping with
sweat and ready for a nap. I’m afraid to say that once I got home I guzzled some
water and crawled, sweaty and unwashed into my nicely made bed…..For a nap, as though I was a toddler.
Throwing & catching, looks easy enough!!
An hour later, I got up, had something to eat, faffed around for a while and got ready for my second session at the gym.
Now, I’m used to my routine at the gym. I go in, say hello to Phillip, the ever smiling receptionist, put my stuff in a locker, make my way upstairs with my plethora of Apple appliances then begin.
I generally start on either the cross trainer or the bike for twenty minutes. After that I move on to the stepper (my remaining rebellion as Mark does not like them ) for fifteen minutes, then the rower for another fifteen minutes. My final half hour is spent on the bike or cross trainer.
By the end of the hour and a half I am feeling a little buzzed and hyper. And so it
was that at the end of Monday I was feeling a little smug – so smug indeed that I
booked myself into a spinning class at 6.45am the following day.
However I got up too late and didn’t get to the gym until 9.15am and then tried to book myself into a Zumba class at 9.30am and failed. The next class was body combat so I booked into that and with an hour to spare, I went through a shortened version of my Monday afternoon cardio programme I described earlier.
I have never done body combat but I have done some boxing in my sessions with
Mark so I was expecting to be out of breath and to have a bit of fun. I was gonna
sting like a bee and float like a butterfly.
For the first five minutes I thought I had inadvertently teleported into an
alternative reality. The instructor was up, seriously up and ready for it. She
punched, jumping jacked, scissor stepped and roundhouse kicked away and I
tried gamely to follow and did so – badly. By the way if you are going to do body
combat make sure your sports bra is still doing its job. You’ll soon find out if it
isn’t.
At one stage I looked in the mirror and saw a walrus in a red bandana trying to
do a round house kick. Not pretty. At all. For ten minutes, I found it hard, then it started to be quite fun.
By minute 45 I was well into it. When the seriously housed up version of
Carmina Burana started I was in a little nirvana, abuzz with endorphins. I wanted
to scream and jump up and down with the thrill of it. I loved every single second
that routine. It was head thumpingly brilliant.
So good in fact that I lost myself in a punching, kicking frenzy and did not notice
the increasing tenderness in my elbow. The following day, I noticed my elbow was a bit sore but I thought it was a little stiff but still bursting with enthusiasm I went to my 7.30 session with Mark as usual.
By that evening I could not move my arm past my chest. The next day I could not
straighten it either or grip and a hot lump had developed on my elbow.
Anti-inflammatories both topical and ingested, two days abstinence from
exercise and I was almost back to normal on Saturday for my last session of the
week with Mark. But that meant I missed two days of exercise.
So last week I accept I was a little rubbish. But I tried. I really did. So I renewed my efforts and decided to go at it hard this week. I am the indisputable queen of second chances.
Hmm……..There is something a little wrong with that, I think.
So on day 10 I had my session with Mark and went home to have a snack and a rest before I headed out for my second session two hours later.
As I sat down on the sofa to shovel eggs into my mouth, I began to feel a low
grade headache developing. Thinking this was a result of dehydration I drank
some water and waited for it to have the usual effect. It didn’t. It just got worse.
I decided to skip my second session, eat some soup and have an early night.
I’m a doctor’s child so I know most things can be cured with some water, sleep,
paracetamol and/or ibuprofen, a hot bath or a hot drink.
Four days later I feel a lot less tired and weak and ready to tackle the next seven days. Gently.
The queen of second chances is back, if a little chastened.
As Always, please leave your comments below, I know Philippa enjoys reading them! If you would like to contact Mark, Philippa’s Personal Trainer, you can contact him via our website