Notes by Nectar

I didn’t post anything last week because I hadn’t done any exercise but I certainly made up for it! I had my 14th session with Trevor on Sunday morningand it was a killer. After my 5-minute warm-up on the cross-trainer I did this circuit:

• Kettlebell (10-kg) sumo squats x 30 seconds
• Kettlebell (10-kg) swings x 30 seconds
• Alternating lunges x 30 seconds
• Mountain climbers x 30 seconds
• Kettlebell (10-kg) goblet squat x 30 seconds
• Alternating lunges x 30 seconds
• Treadmill x 6 minutes – speed 5 km/h (incline 0 in minute 1, 5% in minute 2, 10% in minute 3, 0 in minute 4, 5% in minute 5, 10% in minute 6)
• Bike x 5 minutes – resistance 7

I had a break and then did the same circuit again.We finished off the session with 10 minutes of boxing – hooks, jabs, upper cuts and various combinations of the three.

On Monday evening I decided to go to a yoga class at Zen Yoga at Jumeirah Town Centre. It was a 90-minute hatha yoga class. I got there a bit earlier, filled in the registration form and put my bag and shoes in a locker. I went into the studio and found a mat. I lay down in savasana and in about 3 minutes could feel myself dozing off. I caught myself just in time and luckily the class began. It had been more than 4 months since my last class and I could really feel how stiff I’d become. I’d become so used to my yoga teacher who would come home that having this new teacher would take some getting used to. To start with, she didn’t stop talking. I expected there to be some silence during the class but she just talked and talked. And talked. It was a bit irritating actually. Anyway, I made it through the 90 minutes and went home.

I woke up the next morning with sore hamstrings, sore glutes and sore thighs. All those forward bends had taken their toll on my hamstrings! I could easily have sat around doing nothing all day but decided to go to the gym and do Trevor’s 20/20/20 workout – 20 minutes on the treadmill (alternating walking/running), 20 minutes of abs intervals, 20 minutes of cardio. I felt less sore after working out – which I knew I would.

On Wednesday evening I went back to the gym and did the 20/20/20 workout again. When I got there there was someone using my treadmill! (Of course it’s not my treadmill but it’s the one in the middle which I always use.) I used the one on the right for the first 20 minutes and it wasn’t too bad. The only trouble with that machine is it faces the wall between the two windows that look out on the pool. I moved on to the abs and when I went back to the treadmills the only one free was the one on the left. I hate that treadmill but decided to try it out. After 5 minutes I decided I’d had enough and spent the next 15 minutes on the bike.

I had my 15th session with Trevor on Thursday. I was on the cross-trainer warming up when he came in. He said he was going to show me a new circuit I could do on my own between sessions. It consisted of:

• Treadmill x 5 minutes – 30 seconds at 5 km/h and 30 seconds at 9 km/h
• Squats off a bench x 20
• Dumbbell deadlifts (2×15 lbs) x 20
• Step-ups on a bench x 10 on each side
• Single-leg pelvic lifts x 10 on each side
• Lateral pulldowns x 20

Jesus – that’s a lot of leg work! And I did that twice more in our session. Then there was some stretching and I was done!

Low point of the week? My hamstrings ached for most of the week!

High point of the week? Working out (including yoga) five times in the week.

Weight loss? In spite of working out every day during the week I was still at 74 kg all week…

Read more updates here.