Notes by Nectar

I woke up on Sunday morning feeling totally exhausted. I skipped the gym.

I had a session with Pete on Monday morning but I was feeling so tired. I warmed up on the treadmill – I did a 1 km walk/run and then did some stretches.

Pete told me I’d be lifting some heavy weights but that he was going to mix things up. To prepare for the first set of exercises I did 10 reps on the chest press machine, using 4 bars. The first group of exercises consisted of six (yes, SIX) sets of the following:

• Chest press x 6 (7 bars)
• Abdominal scissors x 20 (in the first three sets)
• Abdominal knee in/out x 20 (last three sets)

I had some water after the six sets and a short break. The next group of exercises consisted of the following:

• Side step squats x 1 min
• Mountain climbers x 1 min
• Combined glute bridge/leg raise x 1 min
• Combined Y T W x 1 min (from 1:59 in the video, but I did this resting on my knees)
• Side step squats x 40 s
• Mountain climbers x 40 s
• Combined glute bridge/leg raise x 40 s
• Combined Y T W x 40 s
• Side step squats x 20 s
• Mountain climbers x 20 s
• Combined glute bridge/leg raise x 20 s
• Combined Y T W x 20 s
• No breaks!

For the combined glute bridge/leg raise, I stayed in the glute bridge position but would alternate lifting each leg. And for the Y T W, I did this resting on my knees – it works the back and deltoid muscles. After that, I had some water and a short break. To warm up for the next group of exercises, I did 10 reps on the lateral pulldown machine, using 4 bars. The next group of exercises consisted of six (yes, SIX) sets of the following:

• Lateral pulldown x 6 (8 bars)
• Side-bend crunches x 20 (first three sets)
• Russian twists x 20 (last three sets)

Using 8 bars for the lateral pulldown was heavy – and I could feel a blister forming on my left hand. Thankfully my session was over apart from some stretches!

I didn’t do anything on Tuesday and had another session with Pete on Wednesday. My warmup was 3 minutes on the cross-trainer, which immediately told me that I was in for one hell of a session!

I did some stretches and moved on to the first group of exercises:

• Combined glute bridge/leg raise x 16 (alternating 8 on each side)
• Hip flexor stretch x 20 s on each side x 2
• Crawl out/in x 5 (let the record show that I hate these)
• Marching on the spot x 20 steps
• Running on the spot x 40 steps
• A skip x 20
• Skaters x 10
• Repeat

I had some water and a short break and then moved on to the next circuit:

• Lateral burpees x 5
• Combined plank/twist x 20 (alternating 10 on each side)
• Jumping jacks x 30
• Combined deadlift/shoulder press x 10 (10-lb weights)
• Rest x 30 s
• Repeat two more times

With the lateral burpees, instead of jumping up at the end of the burpee, I jumped to the side. I found the plank twist the hardest – from a plank position I had to raise one arm and look up, bring it back down again and do the same with the other arm. I really did think I was going to cry – my shoulders and abs were aching and I really wasn’t liking Pete very much at that point. I told him: ‘I’m hating this’. He replied that he could tell because I was usually kidding around or talking during the session but I barely said a word.

After a break, I moved on to the next group of exercises:

• Goblet squat x 10 (15-lb weight)
• Jump squat, step back x 5
• Pushups x 15
• Plank and reach x 20 (alternating 10 on each side)
• Rest x 30 s
• Repeat two more times

For the jump squat, I had to jump forward into a squat position and then walk back in a semi-squat position to the starting point. The plank and reach was a little easier than the plank and twist, but only marginally – from a plank position I had to raise one arm in from of me, bring it back down again and do the same with the other side. My shoulders were really tired after that.

After three sets of torture, I had some water and then Pete said to finish off I had to choose between 1 km on the cross-trainer or on the treadmill. I chose the cross-trainer – I thought it would be quicker and less painful. I was right (7 min 15 s).

I did some stretches after that and went home, still feeling quite miserable!

I didn’t work out again in the week or over the weekend.

Total distance covered this week? 1 km – and that was my warmup for my session with Pete!

Weight loss? Up and down!

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