After 10 sessions

SO, I'm now at my 10 session progress update!

I'm still really enjoying my sessions with the personal trainer and am about to sign up for October. We're moving onto some muscle building sessions now as well as continuing with the fat burning - and I feel it's probably about the right time to do so.

I'm getting very good at push-ups - up to 3 sets of 14 (and I think I may go up to 16 next session, but we'll see!). I did tricep push-ups for the first time last session - and goodness me, they were hard. I've done them before in Body Combat - but clearly I wasn't doing them quite right. I guess that's the problem with group exercise classes verses having a personal trainer, the instructor really can't go around perfecting everybody's technique. Well, I managed three sets of four (!) which sounds desperately pitiful - but I know I haven't really worked my arm muscles for a long time. We'll see how quickly I get on with those!

Here's my progress image:



This week I really feel my core getting stronger and I think there's quite a good six-pack waiting to burst out as the extra fat starts melting away. I think the definition visible here is enhanced by there being a line created by the way I was sitting. Anyways, I think it's still impressive and it's certainly the most visible any six-pack has ever been - so I'm pleased. I also feel much stronger there, and I can't wait to see how it all progresses over the next few weeks.

Nutrition for non-cooks

This has been a very busy week with lots of work and driving - I really can't wait for October and the semi-calm that comes with it. Despite being busy I find that once I get the exercise habit going it's quite easy to keep it up (although having my personal trainer does help)

However, with my busy life I often find it's my diet that goes to pot first. Today, for example, I had to get up at 5:40am and drive from my home in East London to Beaconsfield. I then teach, with lunch at the pub, teach again and then drive the 2 hours back home by 7pm. I need to do it all again tomorrow. Fitting in healthy eating is difficult if I don't plan ahead.

Although I admit it's difficult, I have found a few ways of making it easier and I thought I'd share them with you in case you also find it difficult to eat healthily on a busy lifestyle - and in particular for those people like me who found their biggest problem was not eating enough!

Surprisingly, the first thing I'd say to anybody starting out on a major health change is not to stress about eating enough. Within a few weeks I found my appetite changed and I had to eat more to sustain the increased energy I was expending. The much talked about energy buzz you get from exercise also kicked in around this time and I found myself actively seeking out healthier, more nutritious foods then I'd eaten before.

Shopping can also be a problem when you work as erratic hours as I do. It's impossible for me to commit to a weekly shop and whenever I did I'd buy food that would go to waste as I never really knew which nights I'd be in the house for dinner. I've found it much more economical to go to the supermarket (which is, admittedly, two minutes from my flat) and just buy what I need on a daily-ish basis. Since doing this I haven't had to throw anything away which is a major change for me!

With the waste issue I'd also recommend working out which healthy foods you actually eat. Funny how when I have thrown food away in the past it wasn't biscuits or crisps, but fresh fruit and vegetables I'd bought and never wanted to eat. If there's food you don't really enjoy eating you're not going to eat it. Foods like oranges, bananas, peaches and strawberries fell into this category for me. Instead, work out the core set of fresh fruit and veg you know you'll enjoy eating and just stick with those. My list is:

Apples

Grapes

Blueberries

Brocolli

Tomatoes

Watercress

Asparagus

Pistachio Nuts (unsalted)

If I ate a portion of just those foods every day then I'd be well on my way to eating my 5-a-day.

I'm also not a cook. I do enjoy cooking, but only if I have plenty of time to do it properly. After a long day it's the last thing I feel like doing. So, keep it simple is my motto - a chicken breast on the George Foreman, some steamed veg, and some whole beans will do me fine. You don't have to be adventurous to be nutritious.

For the rest of the day I've bought a big tupperware tub and use it as a "grazing box" with fruit and nuts to chomp on all day. The grapes and berries are ideal for this.

The other thing is if, like me, you're not actually "fat" you can slip in little treats here and there without much worry. This week I've had a MacDonalds and I think I'm OK! My body fat is still dropping nicely - down to 14% this week

One Month In

So, it's now the end of week 2 of my intensive sessions, and one month since I started seeing my personal trainer. So far I'm still really pleased with how I am progressing, and am starting to see and feel many health benefits. The major ones for me are:

1) Food - My appetite has shot up which is great news. I'm actually getting hungry, and finding it easier to eat healthier foods instead of junk. Yes, I still have the odd bit of bad food - but overall my diet has been much improved with more fruit and veg especially.

2) Alcohol - Since I've started the intensive sessions my desire for a drink has magically shrunk. It hasn't been a conscious decision, I just haven't felt like having one. In the last two weeks I've had a mouthful of wine, and one pint of beer. It was something I wanted to cut down, so I'm pleased one of the side effects is a desire not to drink anyway!

3) Sleep - My body clock is certainly timed with an "early to bed, early to rise" rhythm - but often I would wake up at 3-4am and not be able to get back to sleep. I expect my sleep wasn't of a vey good quality. I'm now taking the supplement ZMA and I can feel the quality of my sleep increase dramatically. After taking it I'll be asleep so quickly, and wake up around 6-7am feeling full of beans! One side effect seems to be crazy, weird, dreams - I haven't experienced anything like this yet.

The sessions are still pretty much cardio-based circuits or runs around the park - and the good news is that being pushed by the PT has really resulted in some real fitness gains. Most noticeable is the number of (full) press-ups I can do (3x12reps) compared to when I started. Yesterday we also worked at full steam for 30 minutes - which was difficult, but do-able. As my PT says, you have to work your body to make it change.

..and change it seems to be doing. My PT took my measurements again and found some interesting changes from those we took a month earlier. My weedy arms didn't change in size and neither did my shoulders or neck. My (apparently very muscular, and big - in a good way) thighs increased a couple of cm's. However, the biggest change came around my waist!

When we took the measurement 4 weeks ago I have to say I was pretty shocked at the reading of 34" - I'd always believed my waist to hover around 32". So, let's allow for a margin of error and say 33". The reading today came back at 30" which is what my waist is when I'm healthy. So, without having to change my lifestyle too much I've already got my waist down to a better size.

I have also purchased some body fat monitor scales so I can start tracking my progress. I know these scales are not 100% reliable - but I seem to be getting fairly consistent results from them so far. Here's my stats:

Height - 5ft 8" / 173cm

Weight - 70kg / 154lbs / 11 stone

Body Fat - 14.5%

I was actually quite surprised and relieved to see my body fat at the healthier end of the healthy scale. It basically means I don't have as much fat as I thought I did, and that aiming for a fat % of 10-11% over the next few months is not an insurmountable task.

My week in re-cap:

MON - 20-min Interval run on treadmill + Body Combat 60-min

TUES - PT - Running Circuit - 60-min

WEDS - REST

THURS - PT - Park Circuit - 60-min

FRI - REST

SAT - PT - Park Circuit - 60-min

SUN - REST

Ideally I would have got another interval run or row in there - but never mind!

..and finally, my progress pictures:

After 5 sessions

So, I'm at the end of my taster sessions and am convinced in the benefit of having a personal trainer. I've signed up for three a week in September so hopefully I'll start seeing some good results :) Bit of a bummer this week was that while collecting my bag from the airport in Cyprus I leant a bit funny on a railing and (think) I bruised a rib. This meant I couldn't go as hard on the training as I wanted to.

August is busy for me, so I've not had a good chance to get my extra sessions (non-PT) or Body Combat in very much. That is changing now as things start to slow down for the winter.

I've also noticed quite a big change in my appetite in that I'm getting hungrier, and have ordered a box of different supplements to support my increased training. One of the best things about having the personal trainer is that you do end up going for the three sessions a week - whereas in the past sometimes I've skipped on the gym for 2-3 weeks at a time. Having the sessions booked in (and paid for!) certainly helps you keep the habit going.

Today was my first running session in the park, and it left me feeling pretty zonked afterwards. It involved some jogging, sprinting, and hill runs intermixed with some sit-ups and press-ups. One thing I have certainly noticed is that the press-ups are getting much, much easier very quickly.

Here's my photos after the 5 sessions.

So, even with the small number of sessions I think there's quite an improvement already. Let's see how it progresses!

One week in

This week has gone by very slowly, can't believe I've only had two PT sessions and my first was last week!

I've been encouraged to do extra workouts in between the sessions - with running and swimming preferred. I've been doing Body Combat as I find that the most fun workout - however I did do 20 minutes running before a combat class this week.

So, my week consisted of:

SUN - 60 min PT session

TUES - 60 min PT session

THUR - 20 min interval run + Body Combat (60 min)

SUN - 60 min Body Combat

So it's not a bad first week - but it's not as much as I want to do.

My other major improvement needed is my day to day diet. I'm not the most enthusiastic cook in the world, so I just need something simple and easy to follow with my erratic schedule (my job means that no week is ever the same).

I'm going to follow a 6 meal plan - little and often as that fits my appetite rhythm quite well I think. I tend to get full up at main meals very quickly and then snack a lot at other times. I probably won't get it properly going until I move as it just seems better to make a fresh start with that.

I'm going to have these meals

Breakfast - Blueberry Porridge

Bean snack - Beans, tomato & Spinach

Lunch - Turkey Sub

Fruit & Nut - Banana + Walnuts

Dinner - one of spag bol, chicken hotpot, beef stew

Soup - home made soup with barley

My main change would be cooking all my dinners (and the soup) at the beginning of the week so I don't have to do it during the week (always my downfall). I know I get into things and don't follow them through, but I'm hoping the money I'm spending on the PT will help keep me focused.

Second Training Session

So, I had my second training session on Wednesday and I think it went a lot better than the first which is promising. I knew how it was going to be so I was more prepared for the kind of things my PT was getting me to do.

Yesterday I also squeezed a body combat session in, so that's an additional hour of aerobics. I love combat, it's so much fun so I'm definitely incorporating it into my weekly routine (hope to be up to at least 30 mins of exercise every day, including three PT sessions a week from September). My PT has advised swimming as the best form of exercise - I just find swimming so boring!

What's become clear, although I already knew it - is that my diet is probably the part where I fall down. As I've said, I'm hardly obese - but I do tend to eat bad foods quite a lot. What makes it worse is that my other habit is not to eat very much at all. On Wednesday, before the session at 7:30pm - all I ate was a sausage roll, and a ham roll - all day. I know that's not right - I really need to change my attitude towards cooking and eating food. Little and often, and I don't really care if it's boring.

This week though, I'm just making a conscious effort to eat breakfast every day.

Session 1

So I had my session today and I have to say I really enjoyed it. I have a good feeling that it's going to push me in the right direction to get the body I want. It is going to be expensive, but hopefully worth it.

I've never had a personal training session before, so not quite sure what to expect. Her started off taking measurements and I was a bit shocked to see my stomach was 34" (!) - I don't know if that's waist or belly though. I will definitely be monitoring that one. I also discovered I have quite good legs - well, from all my running and combat classes I would expect that I guess.

In August I have just six sessions to get started, before commencing a more in depth set of sessions from September. I think this is a good idea as it is easing me back in gently, and I certainly could feel it this morning. I did put in as much effort as I could, and the PT did notice this. About 40 minutes in I thought I was going to collapse.

The beginning of the session was fairly easy, running, sidestepping but got harder as we introduced ground touches and jumping. The session was non-stop with other circuit based moves and some boxing which really worked my shoulders. By the end I really felt as if I couldn't go much further (we ended with some sprints) and a different kind of fatigued than that of a body combat class or a run. I'm good at pro-longed, aerobic workouts but no so good at the anaerobic workouts and apparently that is what is going to up my metabolism and burn that belly fat.

After August, I'll be moving to three sessions a week and hoping to throw in Body Combat, Swimming and Running cross-training. Yep, I'm keeping my gym membership through this! I mean business.

In addition to the exercise, I'm make two changes to my diet. One is drinking no alcohol, and two is (trying) to eat a bit healthier. I'll keep you updated on that as I am notoriously bad at having Irn-Bru, Wotsits, and Rice Krispy Squares - they're all my downfall. Another thing I'm bad at is actually eating meals - I sometimes eat breakfast, often forget lunch, and hate cooking dinner...

I'm also going to track my progess visually - so here's a couple of pictures

First Day of Personal Training

So, I've decided to get a personal trainer. I know it's a bit extravagant, but my business is doing well, I've got some shifts at sit-up booked, and I want to banish that stubborn bit of belly flab once and for all.

I've been keeping up a generally good level of fitness - mostly running and body combat - but felt I wasn't getting the kind of results I really wanted. I didn't enjoy the weight training so much and so ended up just doing cardio as that's what I enjoyed. So, while on the train this week I realised I have 5 months until I go to India and I want to be in tip-top shape for that. With weddings winding down a little from October onwards, it's also a chance to focus on me for a little. Over the last few years I've been so concentrated on establishing and growing my business that my health probably has suffered a little. Time to correct that!

I've bought countless books and magazines that promise to give you the insight into how to achieve that body you want, but I find it too difficult to stick to. I don't know what weights to lift, or if I'm doing it right, and then I stop. I think I'm the kind of person who needs structure, and focused goals to make things happen, and I just don't know enough top make those goals.

I'll be moving to Blackheath in two weeks, so I found a PT in that area. I looked at some "miracle" programs based in the city, but decided for my first foray into Personal Training I'm going to stick with somebody local. There are a few around the area, but I went with the guy who looked the friendliest - I know, stupid reason, but I didn't have much else to go on!

I'm going to use body fat percentage as my measurement tool - so hopefully that'll get taken today. I think I'm probably around 20% body fat, so my goal would be to get to 15% and then 12% - but we'll see what he recommends. Ny first six sessions are fairly spread out (due to August being super busy work wise) and from September on I move to a more structured work-out.

SO, I'll be back to let you know how the first session went.

Body Pump

Today I went to Body Pump for the first time in ages as the start of getting back into the gym. Whether the class was easy, or it was the typical 'first day back' easiness is difficult to say but it didn't seem that hard.

Anyway, here's the weights I used:

Warm-Up - 7.5kg

Squats - 25kg

Back - 25kg

Chest - 7.5kg

Arms - 5kg

Shoulders - 10kg

Nothing was too hard, but I'm going to keep them light until I get back into the swing of things.

9 miles

SO this is week three of my marathon training. After a strange last week, I am back on track and upping my mileages every week. Today was the longest run I have attempted ( I managed an 8 miler last week) I am getting used to these long runs quite well and seem able to get through the whole run without any major breaks (I take steps up bridges as a chance to gulp some water)

I think my pace is a bit faster than that the schedule reccommends - as I certainly am making an effort to run as slow as I possible can. My average pace this run was 8:31 (although probably skewed a little by picking up the pace to 7:49 for the last mile. This would bring me in comfortably under a 4-hour finish time. On the 8 mile run last week I averaged 8:45

After the run I managed to do some chin-ups and a short kettlebell workout.

Gym - Kew Bridge - Chiswick Bridge

Did my usual 3 mile run around Kew and Chiswick riverside. When I get back from Miami and Puerto Rico I'm going to be more adventurous with my routes. Right now this run is convenient and lets me have some spa time at the gym after :)

I did try and slow my pace today, but still came out at 08:01 per mile, and the fastest time for this route I've done. Although I was running for quite some time on the treadmill I found it hard to go back to outside running. I felt a big improvement today and managed the three miles at this fast pace without stopping at all (my Garmin tells me this!)

I'm looking forward to getting some new running shoes on holiday. I've noticed a small pain on the outside of my thigh. Think I need new shoes to help stop this. I can't wait to log a run from South Beach as well. Do normal people run on holiday?

5 mile run around Kew Gardens

A new rout for me today, and a very convenient 5 mile route around Kew Gardens. I drove to Kew retail park, parked up my car and started the run.

My legs were still feeling a bit sore from the other day so I made sure I stretched afterwards, and went to the gym for some bubbles :)

My Garmin tells me that I ran 5.2 miles in 41.01 minutes. Not bad, although I think I should pace myself a bit better. Mile 3 split was 7:23. Average HR was 180, peaking at 189

The run is flat and has nice scenery down he river side. Coming back up the other side is by a very busy road, but it seemed to go past pretty quickly.

Lost in Barnes

I have a terrible sense of direction - I plan a great little run - starting in Chiswick, down to Putney Bridge via Hammersmith, then across to Barnes Bridge and back to Chiswick. An exact 6 miles.

However, a little detour around Barnes turned this into a seven-mile run. I felt fine, and completed it in an hour. Pace of 08:41 per mile

I feel I have let myself go a wee bit over the last couple of weeks - I have been very busy with work, and family coming to see me that I haven't had as much time to workout as I would have liked. I feel knackered - and have eaten very unhealthily. I suppose I see my excuse as being that these are the last few weeks before I go away on holiday and then come back to the full training plan!

.. on a side note, good news today about a wedding booking. Jane and Tristan decided to go with me for their wedding in June. It really couldn't have come at a better time and should give me a great album (and the confidence) to start getting bookings for next year. I understand the apprehension on their part - their decision was to go for a cheap (but good!) newbie like me or an expensive old pro. I'm not sure what swayed them in the end, but I know I can get them a great collection of images!

I did manage to get a 5 miler in this week. The garmin didn't pick up the signal at frst though so it only says 4 miles on the map. Teething problems!

I don't think my HR monitor was positioned correctly - so I'll discount those figures for this run. Pretty good pace over the 4 recorded miles of 08:11 per mile., and 07:57 for 93% of the run.

weddings

I've found it hard to go out training this week (still not in proper training so I don't feel bad). The reason is that I have been on a Wedding Photography training course near Maidenhead run by The Trained Eye.

It's been great and very inspiring. Hopefully I can start getting some work from weddings - already had two people contact me today. Need to get my rates sorted out!

First 5-miler

On Thursday morning I went out into the countryside (well, Virginia Water) and attempted a 4 mile run. I had my route planned with http://www.mapmyrun.com and though it was easy: run once around the lake.

However I did get lost and ended up running all around the park, and as my Garmin tells me, I clocked up 5.2 miles in 47 minutes. The run was amazing - it was sunny and mild, and I had a great time. I felt I could have run on even more - but wanted to keep my training building slowly. The first 2.5 miles were hard, and then everything just kicked in. Running on grass, mud and tarmac was also much kinder to the legs than the road :)

Some other stats from the Garmin (which is being a bit stubborn and refusing to upload this particular run)

My average heart-rate was 172 bpm at a pace of 9:13 / mile. This is 89% of my max. I'm a bit worried this is too high.

...going to research that!

I am a marathoner

After much consideration... OK, after a few glasses of red wine and a horrible late shift at work, I decided that I wanted to run a marathon.

I figured that my respectable 30th place, 45min time, and accolade of raising the most money from 300 competitors in the GYRO 10k last September means that I am perfect marathon material. So, fuelled by the red wine I had a quick internet search; the London Marathon was too soon; as was the Edinburgh Marathon; the Milton Keynes marathon was a bit uninspiring...

..then up came the Berlin Marathon. Berlin is a city I haven't visited since 2003 when I went inter-railing. I remember feeling very relaxed in the city, and that of all the places on my trip it felt "most like home". The course takes runners past what's left of the wall, the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, the TV tower.

....we always said we wanted to go back to Berlin....

With my credit card ready, I entered my details and registered for the race - at the end of September this year. I am officially running the Berlin Marathon!

As such, this blog will now become a "Berlin Marathon Training Blog". I will continue giving reviews of itrains if I use them - but will be focusing a lot of my attention on running outside - data collated using my Garmin 305 gadget :)

My aims from now until September:

1) to complete marathon training safely
2) complete the marathon
3) reduce my body fat % a bit

Here's a sneaky peek at what kind of info that Garmin 305 can give me!

Chest & Triceps and ICYCLE 3 - 20 mins

A lesson in neglection was learned today as I realised I have been happily plodding along and only really doing the exercises I like. I love running and I love working my chest, shoulders and biceps - and I discovered the consequences of this during a new upper body rotation I'm starting from the website www.gynminee.com

I'm happy working my chest, and was able to use higher weights that suggested on all the exercises. All the exercises use dumb-bells,

Pec Deck
3 sets - 10 reps
28kg
EASY

Bench Press
3 sets - 10 reps
28kg
MODERATE

Incline Bench Press - Hammer Grip
3 sets - 10 reps
20kg
MODERATE +

Then on to the triceps - and it quickly became clear that doing a few tricep dips every week hasn't been helping my triceps! I had to go lower than the suggested weights and found it a real struggle - only completing two sets in each exercise.

Tricep Press
2 sets - 10 reps
14kg
HARD

Tricep Extension
2 sets - 10 reps
8kg
HARD

Tricep Kick-Backs
2 sets - 10 reps
5kg
HARD

Then for CV it was on to iCYCLE 3 - 20 minutes. Now, I think my lack of hard cycling recently also showed here - I found it quite tough to keep going at the speeds and resistances Keith suggested. I made it through to the end - but incredibly tired!

iTRAIN 3

60 minutes

I had an induction at my new gym today (despite it not opening till 11th Feb) and was a bit disappointed we couldn't see it (due to health and safety). Instead we just ran through the Fitlinxx machines. Now these do look good and when you workout on the treadmill it records the speed, incline and how far you travelled. SO lots of extra things to add to my blog hopefully (and prove when I say I don't cheat that I don't cheat!)

Speaking of not cheating, I managed to get through this 60 minute workout at runners speeds (or above) with no cheating. Only recoveries I had were those that Grace gave me. I felt the runners high and tried to avoid the stares of everybody as I grinned my way to the "finish line" - wait till I try iTRAIN 25 and do the side-stepping!

As usual there are four phases, which actually gives a better pacing that the 30 - 45 minute itreads. Phase 1 is a moderate warm-up - mostly steady runs increasing to 11.5km, then up a 1% hill. Phase 2 increases intensity with a fast run, recovery, 5% hill, recovery, fast run, recovery pattern. Then it's a fast run into phase three which begins with a walk up a 10% hill before increasing to a 12%. I had to go faster than suggested to keep my heart rate up. After this it's some sprints. I managed to go at my fastest speed ever - 16km. It's reportedly a 90 second sprint - but we all know how flexible Grace can be with the time.

A really easy jog home finishes the iTREAD - clocking in just under 10km. I do think it's testament to the iTRAI team that I manage to get through 60 mins of CV-work that is at the top intensity levels. I used to get fatigued (both body and mind) at 30 mins - thanks to Grace I can now keep everything going for a full hour.

iCYCLE 26 - 30mins

This one is with Mimi - who normally takes the iSCUPLT workouts. Keith is great at the cycling workouts so can Mimi compare?

I was impressed with Mimi and how her workout differed from those that Keith does. His are conventional cycles, but Mimi introduced travelling back and forth in the saddle and push-ups - something you might find in a spinning class. Some people might feel a bit awkward doing this in the gym - but I think it's a good addition to the cyling mix and I hope Mimi has some more cycling workouts up her sleeve.

It felt very intense - don't be fooled by the first 90 seconds that seem far too slow for a cycle, she cranks it up with some big hills and some incredibly fast sprint intervals. About 22 minutes in I had to take a break such was the intensity.

Before the workout I did some back work, shoulder and abs. 40kg on the lat pull dows, 16kg on upright row and shoulder press, 8kg on lateral raises, 8kg on side-reaches with some crunches thrown in at the end.