Oh dear – not the best workout at the gym tonight.
I had a personal training session after work today, but all did not go to plan. We started off ok, with a warm-up on the X-trainer, an interval training cardio blast on the rowing machine for 10 mins, followed by circuits. Each round of circuits is two reps and then adds an extra exercise in – so the first two rounds are just stomach crunches and then step-ups, repeated in quick succession. On the next round we added in kettle-bell swings in the middle. Then tri-cep dips on the end on the 4th circuit and replace the crunches with Russian-twists (another ab exercise). By the end of the 3rd round I was starting to feel a bit off – just a bit light-headed, but after a quick pause, it faded and I pushed on.
However, halfway through circuit 5 (hellooooooo lunges with 6k dumbells in each hand), I knew I was in trouble. I was feeling too hot, and couldn’t seem to catch my breath. The light-headedness returned, and when my ear’s started to buzz and the noises started sounding a far away …. I promptly sat down on the step and apologised for being a wimp to my trainer.
I’ve literally no idea what came over me. For my heartrate at the time (I wear a monitor while I’m working out) there was no way I should have been struggling with my breathing like that – I was actually a bit concerned I was going to start hyper-ventilating at one point as I just couldn’t seem to get enough oxygen in. Rob and I went over my day while I recovered – I’d eaten a decent lunch (sandwich on granary bread, small fresh vegetable soup, a pack of Quavers (but hey, we’ll gloss over that, right?), and a yoghurt). I had snacks later on – grapes mid-afternoon and a banana in the hour before the gym. I’d drunk plenty (I get through a lot of cold drinks at work). The only thing I could think of was that I’d complained to my colleague that I felt dizzy this morning, when my vision went funny and the book I was trying to write in appeared to keep sliding off to the right. We have concluded that I’m either coming down with a bug, or it is, for want of a technical term, just one of them days.
Anyway, we binned circuits once I’d decided I wasn’t going to faint (hey – having to have a sit-down on the gym-floor in the midst of a crowded gym was humiliation enough ….. no way was I actually going to pass on top of that!), and did a bit of light upper-body strength work. Then Rob stretched me out. Yeah, you heard. I had foolishly mentioned at the beginning of the session that my hamstrings and inner thigh (abductor? Adductor? I can never remember which one) were super tight at the moment, so Rob literally took me at my word and spent the last 15 minutes pretty much lying on top of me on the mats contorting my legs into weird (and slightly painful) places in the name of loosening my muscles a bit.
There is nothing quite so uncomfortable as getting that up-close-and-personal with your trainer! Yeah, I’ve had my physio do this sort of work with me before, but a) she’s a trained physio so I kind of expect it, and b) she’s about 40 and female. A bit different when it’s your strapping mid-twenties trainer instead! I can only say that I was eternally glad that I had super-smooth legs (yeah, I’m vain – so shoot me), and that it is somewhat uncomfortable (and not just in terms of resisting muscles being stretched) to have your leg pressed up over your trainer’s shoulder as he leans over you and presses down, whilst carefully studying your face for … probably pain, I would guess. Or how about, your entire lower leg resting sideways across his stomach and your foot practically in his groin (try not to wiggle your toes too much!) and the same leaning (glutes stretch …. soooooo painful!). Is it wrong to contemplate (in an entirely objective manner obviously) how rock solid his stomach feels at that point? (Seriously – what does have he have under that shirt? An actual metal washboard????)
I did a lot of careful studying of the ceiling past his ear, and cracking jokes, because honestly it all felt a bit too intimate for me to be relaxed. Not that I’m often in those positions mid-sexual encounter obviously (what do you think I am, a contortionist???), but it’s just a bit weird when it’s a near-ish stranger and you’re right in the middle of the gym and overlooked by a very full free-weights area and a whole queue of people waiting for the next studio class. The only funny thing was the guy on the mat next to me who appeared to be getting a full-on sports massage / pummelling from his trainer, who was making some very odd and painful noises!
Anyhoo – apparently I’m quite supple or so Rob says.
So other than the traumas of the gym, it’s been an on-track day of eating, and I’m going to throw myself into bed in a minute. I still haven’t heard from the bank (booooo – although no news might be good news I guess) and I have started thinking about pre-tracking my weekend as best I can, so I don’t go way overboard.
Night, chicks.
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