Notes by Nectar

Compared to the last few weeks I had an awesome week at the gym!

I had my usual Sunday morning session with Trevor. I did an 8-minute warmup on the bike (I did 5 minutes and then just carried on until he showed up) and then moved on to the treadmill for another 8 minutes. I started at 5 km/h, and then went up to 5.5 km/h and eventually 6 km/h – at an incline of 10%.

After that, Trevor told me I was going to do a compound exercise with the weighted bar. This one exercise consisted of:

• Bent-over row
• Clean and sweep
• Squat
• Press (and then move the bar onto my shoulders)
• Good morning
• Alternating lunges x 1 on each side
• Wide squat
• Press
• Repeat six more times
• Treadmill x 2 min at 7.5 km

I did the circuit three times in total.

After that there was an abs circuit:

• Crunch roll-ups x 15
• Crunches x 15
• Legs from side to side x 15 (this was kind of like a reverse Russian twist where my lower body was twisting but my upper body was the support)
• Toe touches x 15 (with a 10-lb weight)
• Repeat

I did some stretching after that and was done.

On Monday I decided to go to the gym on my own – after ages. Someone was using the bike when I got there so I started my warm-up on the cross-trainer. And then they moved on to my favourite treadmill (it seems to be everybody’s favourite) for 5 minutes so I continued on the cross-trainer for a few more minutes until they’d finished. I’d put my stuff there already so they knew I was planning on using it! I did 3 km in 28:07. It’s not great but the last time I did 3 km was in January and it took me 30 minutes. I did some lower body exercises after that and called it a day.

I had my regular yoga class at home on Tuesday – our teacher has been trying to get us into The Wheel pose but I’m finding it impossible to lift with my arms. I just seem to have no upper body strength!

I had another session with Trevor on Wednesday. I did 5 minutes on the bike and we went straight into body weight exercises with this circuit:

• Prisoner squats x 15
• Combined dead lift/bent-over row/upright row (with a weighted bar) x 10
• Tricep extensions x 15 (3-kg weights)
• Kayak (with a weighted bar) x 15 on each side
• Combined squat/press x 15 (10-lb weights)
• Treadmill x 4 min at 5.5 km/h (min 1 – no incline, min 2-4 – 4% incline)

After a rest I did that again. In the second set, I had to reduce the weights for the combined squat/press as 10-lb weights were too heavy for me. I used the 3-kg weights instead.

I then did three supersets of the following:

• Lateral pulldown x 15
• Chest press (machine) x 15

I was done by this point. Unfortunately my session wasn’t. I got back on the treadmill and did the following:

• 1 min x 5.5 km
• 2 min x 7.5 km
• 1 min x 5.5 km
• 2 min x 7 km
• 1 min x 5.5 km

Then I did some stretching and was finished!

That evening I went to Fitness First at Beach Park Plaza where Trevor works. One of his clients was giving an informal talk on hormones and how they affect weight loss. She said that we all should be taking a multivitamin, omega 3 oils and a probiotic supplement every day. She said if that doesn’t help you lose weight then you need to consider checking your insulin and thyroid levels because of those aren’t balanced you’ll never lose the weight. God, one more thing to think about! She also said to cut out dairy completely.

I went back to the gym on Thursday and warmed up on the bike. I did 3 km on the treadmill and managed it in 27:30 – but I really did push myself. I did only one set of lower body exercises after that and went home.

I didn’t work out over the weekend.

Low point of the week? My knees are aching a bit – both of them.

High point of the week? I worked out five times this week! I didn’t eat too badly either – but did have a few glasses of wine at the weekend.

Weight loss? Still up and down – but hopefully that will change!

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