Notes by Nectar

I didn’t have my usual session with Trevor on Sunday morning. His parents were visiting from the UK and he asked me if I’d mind if we skipped it. Of course I didn’t mind. I even considered going to the gym on my own, but of course I didn’t.

I went to yoga at the Shangri-La on Monday morning. Everything about the class that morning made me want to punch the teacher in the face. Of course, that’s not what yoga is about – but I could feel myself getting more and more irritated as the class went on. It was just two of us in the class that morning – and it was almost as if he couldn’t be bothered to teach us. The ridiculous techno music was on and as part of our warm-up he had us running in circles around the studio. OK, fine – I can deal with that. We did five rounds of sun salutations (five on each side), moved on to another pose, and then did another five rounds of sun salutations, and then another stretch, and then another five rounds of sun salutations. He told us we were going to do twenty-five rounds of sun salutations that morning. Well, if I wanted to do that I could do that at home – I wanted to tell him I’d have to reconsider coming to the class regularly if that’s all we were going to do. I even wondered how he’d react if I just walked out. In the end, we did fifteen rounds – which was more than enough for me. I was still irritated by the end of the class.

I was aching on Tuesday – my abs and my arms and my shoulders. We had our regular yoga class at home on Tuesday – and we did five rounds of sun salutations in class for the first time. We usually do  three or four, but today our teacher made us do five. I was sick of sun salutations! The rest of the class was fine. We’ve been doing bow pose for a while and our teacher introduced an extension to that – side bow pose – where we’re supposed to move from being on our front in the pose to being on one side and then the other. I don’t even know where to begin with this or which muscles to use and it doesn’t seem to get easier as the weeks go by. Every time I try to get on to any side I start thinking about beetles on their backs, struggling. And then our teacher has to ease us both into the pose – first one side and then the other.

I was in so much pain on Wednesday – my deltoid muscles and my abs were the most sore. I had a session with Trevor on Wednesday. I did my 5-minute warm-up on the bike and then he told me I was going to do supersets (two exercises in a row). He also mentioned something about time under tension training – which I didn’t really understand at first but then realised it makes each exercise that much harder as the movement is more controlled. I began with the first superset:

• Squats (with a bar) x 12 (down for 4 counts, up for 1 count)
• Chest press (15-lb weights) x 12 (down for 4 counts, up for 1 count)
• Rest x 1 min

I did that three times in total. Then came the second superset:

• Deadlifts (15-lb weights) x 12 (down for 4 counts, up for 1 count)
• Horizontal row x 12 (pulling in for 4 counts, out for 1 count)
• Rest x 1 min

I did that twice more and had some water. Trevor told me the next two supersets would target smaller mucles and would feel more intense. I’d already told him I was aching after yoga two days in a row – and I knew I’d be in serious pain on Thursday. The third superset consisted of:

• Military press (10-lb weights) x 12 (up for 1 count, down for 4 counts)
• Bicep curls (10-lb weights) x 12 (up for 2 counts, down for 2 counts)
• Rest x 30 s

I did that three times and then came the final superset:

• Tricep extensions x 12 (down for 1 count, up for 4 counts)
• Abdominal leg raises x 15
• Rest x 30 s

I could really feel those abdominal leg raises! I did some stretching after that and was done.

I didn’t work out again in the week. I had planned to go to yoga on Thursday morning but for some reason woke up at 4.30am and couldn’t get back to sleep. By the time 7.30 came around I was ready to fall asleep again!

Low point of the week? Only working out three times. Oh, I also seem to be addicted to Galaxy bars again. Which would explain why none of the clothes I plan on wearing to a wedding next week fit. Dammit!

High point of the week? I’ve still managed to control my alcohol intake when I go out. I was out for dinner on Wednesday and Thursday and I had reasonable amounts of wine (for me). I’ve been drinking mainly red wine as I’ve realised I drink it a lot slower than white wine or vodka – so it’s easier to drink less.

Weight loss? Nothing new (or good) to report!

Read more updates here.