Notes by Nectar

I was exhausted on Sunday morning and didn’t go to the gym.

I had a session with Pete on Monday morning. I started with an uphill walk on the treadmill for 10 minutes, starting with an incline of 1% and increasing it each minute. I then did some thorough stretching and was ready to begin. I started with:

• Combined deadlift/shoulder press x 6 (10-lb weights)
• Repeat each minute for 6 minutes

It wasn’t difficult and I didn’t need the rest of the minute to rest before starting the next set. The next Tabata circuit was tougher:

• Butt-kickers (with my hands against the wall) x 20 s
• Rest x 10 s
• Jumping jacks x 20 s
• Rest x 10 s
• Butt-kickers x 20 s
• Rest x 10 s
• Jumping jacks x 20 s
• Rest x 10 s
• High knee wall run x 20 s
• Rest x 10 s
• Side to side jumping x 20 s
• Rest x 10 s
• High knee wall run x 20 s
• Rest x 10 s
• Side to side jumping x 20 s
• Rest

Next came an abs circuit:

• Knee-ins x 30 s
• Rest x 30 s
• T raise (lifting opposite arm and leg) x 30 s
• Rest x 30 s
• Plank x 30 s
• Rest x 30 s
• Situps with jabs x 30 s
• Rest

And then came a horrible circuit:

• Bulgarian squats x 6 on each side
• Combined squat/kickback x 12 (alternating)
• Abductor machine x 20
• Repeat

I did another abs circuit:

• Rolling plank x 30 s
• Rest x 30 s
• Reverse crunches x 30 s
• Rest x 30 s
• Russian twists x 30 s
• Rest x 30 s
• Situps with a twist x 30 s
• Rest

For the situps with a twist, I did a regular situp and then twisted to the left and to the right before going back down. Another abs circuit followed:

• Crunches x 10 (hands raised by my hips
• Crunches x 10 (hands above my knees)
• Crunches x 10 (hands overhead)
• Reverse crunches x 10

There was some stretching after that and I was done for the day.

I had yoga on Tuesday morning – and nothing new to report there.

I was supposed to have a session with Pete on Wednesday morning at 11am but unfortunately I had to cancel it as our car battery had died and my entire plan for the morning went out the window. At about 10.30 I texted him to say that I actually could make it for 11am but he said he was already halfway home.

Instead I went to the gym in the building and spent 30 minutes on the treadmill, still doing Week 3 Day 3 of the 5k Runner app:

• Warmup x 5 min
• Run x 2 min (7.5 km/h)
• Walk x 2 min (5.5 km/h)
• Run x 3 min (7.5 km/h)
• Walk x 3 min (5.5 km/h)
• Run x 3 min (7.5 km/h)
• Walk x 3 min (5.5 km/h)
• Run x 2 min (7.5 km/h)
• Walk x 2 min (5.5 km/h)
• Cooldown x 5 min

I’m still finding that hard! I asked Pete whether I should move on to the next level even if I find this one difficult and he said to stick to this for another week or so. I think that makes more sense.

I then did the squats app for Week 4 Day 1:

• Squats x 12
• Rest x 1 min
• Squats x 16
• Rest x 1 min
• Squats x 14
• Rest x 1 min
• Squats x 10
• Rest

And then I did the situps app for Week 4 Day 1:

• Situps x 7
• Rest x 30 s
• Situps x 8
• Rest x 30 s
• Situps x 10
• Rest x 30 s
• Situps x 8
• Rest x 30 s
• Situps x 7
• Rest x 30 s
• Situps x 6
• Rest

I did some stretches after that and went home.

I had a session with Pete on Thursday morning. I began with a walk/run on the treadmill:

• Walk x 3 min
• Run x 30 s
• Walk x 30 s
• Run x 30 s
• Walk x 30 s
• Run x 30 s
• Walk x 30 s
• Run x 30 s
• Walk x 30 s
• Run x 3 min

Pete commented that the 3-minute run at the end was starting to look easy. It certainly didn’t feel that way! After stretching, I did the following circuit:

• Incline pushups x 6 on each side (one leg raised)
• Combined squat/sidekick x 6 on each side (alternating)
• Standing low row x 12
• Curtsy lunges x 6 on each side (alternating)
• Plank x 30 s
• Double crunch x 12
• Treadmill x 4 min (30 s running, 30 s walking)

I had a water break and Pete told me I was going to do that two more times. It really wasn’t too bad apart from the curtsy lunges which irritate my knees a little. In the second set, the number of reps was reduced to 10 for the pushups, squat/sidekick, low row and curtsey lunges. And in the third set, the number of reps was reduced to 8. Everything else stayed the same. I did some stretching after that and was done.

I didn’t work out again over the weekend. I had a very chilled Thursday and Friday and thought I’d actually get away with having a healthy weekend. But I had a big Saturday night where I had champagne for dinner. A lot of it!

Low point of the week? I drank a lot on Saturday night.

High point of the week? Four workouts done this week! And no soreness after my sessions with Pete.

Weight loss? Still going up and down.

Read more updates here.