I have been going to the gym for slightly over a year now - 14 months to be exact. When I started out last year, I was basically unfit and out of shape. I couldn't jog as I would be breathless after 2 minutes, my muscles existed only for regular movements, I had saddle bags at my hips/thighs area and my waist was non-existent.
If you look for "Journey to fitness fitness takes off" posted in April 2012, you will see I tried a free trial at Amore Fitness and attended the Pilates Basic class. I didn't post anything about the aero-lo class which I attended 2 days later. Let me share that now to put things into perspective. I attended the class thinking that it was really low impact. It was low impact on the joints but my heart and lungs took a beating. Besides, I had lost my sense of coordination. Believe me when I say I could dance in my younger days. I basically left the class feeling miserable because I couldn't follow the routine and I couldn't breathe properly during and afterward.
So I started personal training. I have been training 2 or 3 times a week with my trainer Louis at Amore Tampines1 since then. I did 3 times a week until late last year when I reduced to twice a week but I'm trying to go back to thrice now. When I did my measurements last year, I was supposed to lose a target of 9kg of fats and gain 7kg of muscles (if I remember correctly). I did my measurements last week and now my target is to lose 2kg of fats and gain 3kg of muscles. It is a great improvement but I suspect the PT might be reading it wrong because the printout was very faint due to lack of ink!
But I truly dropped one size, going from a tight UK12 to a lose UK10 for my tops, since last year. The bottom half is the hardest so I'm still a tight UK10 for most bottoms, depending on the cut. I can't really tell the difference so I rely on feedback from friends, colleagues and my trainer. Size aside, I can feel my fitness level improving. I was only able to brisk walk 20-30 minutes as part of my warm-up routine last year. My warm-up routine now involves either a quick 10-15minute run covering about 2km or a slow 30min jog covering almost 5km, depending on the amount of time I have. It helps a lot that I was very fit in my teens and my body has some vague memory and can perform the actions required for some routines.
I shall try to share some of what I call my torture routines from the gym. This is an attempt to motivate those who think it's impossible and to motivate myself to keep those CLP jokes at bay. I tried to draw the steps in the routine but that took too much time with awful results so I'll stick to descriptions for now. This is for those who are not familiar with technical terms, like myself, to understand the routine. I'm more of a writer than artist.
My workout normally consists of 3 sets of a routine so the reps you see in brackets represent the reps I do for each set.
Routine on Monday 10 June 2013:
1) Burpee ending with hop (1 min, 1 min, 1min)
- do a regular burpee but end up with a hop as you get into the upright position.....continuously for 1 min.
2) Single leg squat ending with a hop on TRX (12, 12, 10 on each leg)
- stand in front of the TRX with anchor point aligned to you;
- hook right foot to the TRX and stand on left foot;
- bend left knee into a squat stretch the right leg backwards - right arm in front, left arm behind in a runner's pose as you bend for balance;
- straighten left leg, move the right knee to the chest then hop - move arms and end up with left arm in front and right arm behind in runner's pose as you hop;
- repeat. Switch sides after 12 reps on one leg.
3) Cross lunge (12, 12, 10 on each leg)
- stand in front of the TRX with anchor point to your left;
- hook right foot to TRX so your right foot is slightly crossed behind your body;
- bend left knee into a squat and stretch your right leg - right arm in front, left arm behind in a runner's pose as you bend for balance;
- straighten left leg to get into upright position - move arms and end up with left arm in front and right arm behind in runner's pose as you straighten;
- repeat. Switch sides after 12 reps on one leg.
4) Atomic push-ups (10, 10, 10)
- get into a push-up plank position with both feet hooked to the TRX - your body is parallel to the ground, your arms perpendicular to the ground, hands are anchor points on the ground, torso aligned with TRX anchor point;
- lower body by bending arms (like a regular standard push-up) then push up;
- bring both knees to chest like a crunch;
- straighten legs;
- repeat push-up followed by crunch for another 9 times.
5) Pike on TRX (10, 10, 10)
- get into a push-up plank position with both feet hooked to the TRX - your body is parallel to the ground, your arms perpendicular to the ground, hands are anchor points on the ground, torso aligned with TRX anchor point;
- raise hips so you look like an inverted V from side view;
- lower hips so that body is parallel to the ground again;
- repeat raising and lowering of hips for another 9 times.
6) Mountain climbing on TRX (10, 10, 10)
- get into a push-up plank position with both feet hooked to the TRX - your body is parallel to the ground, your arms perpendicular to the ground, hands are anchor points on the ground, torso aligned with TRX anchor point;
- bring right knee to the chest; straighten right leg; bring left knee to the chest; straighten left leg;
- repeat movement of bringing alternate knee to the chest for another 9 times.
6) Jack knife (20, 20, 20)
- lie on the floor with arms out-stretched and legs raised slightly off the floor;
- raise legs and arms so that you from a V from side view;
- bring arms around legs so fingers touch behind knees;
- go back to start position; repeat another 19 times.
7) Plank (30 sec, 30 sec, 30 sec)
- rest on your elbows while body is parallel to the ground (it's like a push-up position but you are resting on your elbows) while ensuring that arms form a 90 degree angle to the ground; feet are together; hold for 30 seconds.
8) Waist plank (30 sec, 30 sec, 30 sec)
- similar to the regular plank except you straighten your arms instead of resting on your elbows so your body is not quite parallel to the ground; hold for 30 secs.
To have an effective work out you should try to minimize rest throughout the routine. This means the only rest you get during the routine is when you change positions for the next exercise. I cheat a little by getting my towel to wipe my sweat and sip a bit of water after two or three exercises within a set. Then I get a 30 sec to 1 min break in between sets. Sometimes I take a 2 minute break when I am really winded. I find that I need to learn an exercise through practice so I will only be able to do a new exercise with perfect form during the third set. However, I can do with perfect form at the next session. My PT makes sure that every session is different from the last by varying my routine. I have a set of basic movements but I don't use the same movements in the same sequence all the time. This keeps the workout interesting and challenging. See the routines below to know what I mean.
Routine on Wednesday 12 June 2013:
1a) Burpees with press using dumb bells (15 counts in first set only, this is replaced in the second and third set with 1b because I was too winded)
- place 2 dumb bells shoulder width apart on the floor;
- as you bend to start the burpee, hold on to the dumb bells;
- as you complete the burpee by coming into upright position, bring the dumb bells off the floor to shoulder height;
- push the dumb bells upwards towards the ceiling by straightening arms;
- bring dumb bells to shoulder height;
- get into a crouch position to start burpee and place dumb bells on the floor without letting go;
- repeat burpee and press.
1b) Mountain climbing using dumb bells as anchor points (1 min, 1 min)
- place 2 dumb bells shoulder width apart on the floor;
- get into waist plank position (see above - regular plank except you straighten your arms) with hands holding onto dumb bells;
- bring right knee to the chest; straighten right leg; bring left knee to the chest; straighten left leg;
- repeat movement of bringing alternate knee to the chest until 1 minute is up.
2) Single leg squat with press on TRX (15, 12, 12 on each leg)
- stand in front of the TRX with anchor point aligned to you;
- hook right foot to the TRX and stand on left foot;
- hold weight in front of chest (I used the free weight which is round);
- bend left knee into a squat stretch the right leg backwards - still holding weight to the chest; straighten left leg - still holding free weight to the chest;
- push weight upwards towards the ceiling by straightening arms; lower weight to chest;
- repeat. Switch sides after 15 reps on one leg.
3) Single leg squat using platform (12, 12, 10 on each leg)
- stack platforms used in step aerobics until hip high;
- stand with platform about 1 foot behind you;
- rest right foot on platform while holding a free weight in right hand (right arm is straight, holding dead weight) with left hand on hip;
- bend left knee so you get into a squat position while keeping your right foot on the platform;
- straighten left leg so you get into upright position;
- repeat until reps are complete. Switch sides.
4) Standard push-ups to the max (17, 15, 12)
- do standard push-ups until you burst. Can rest in between push-ups by maintaining waist plank position.
- Once the knees or elbows touch the floor, you have maxed.
5) T on TRX (12, 12, 12)
- This is basically a deltoid fly. I cannot really describe this....you have to go look up "T on TRX" on YouTube for a visual!!!
- But what I have to emphasize is you must maintain straight arms throughout for the effect.
6) Clench on TRX (12, 12, 12)
- you have to look up YouTube too......notice that I'm getting lazy here.
7) Pike on TRX (10, 10, 10)
- get into a push-up plank position with both feet hooked to the TRX - your body is parallel to the ground, your arms perpendicular to the ground, hands are anchor points on the ground, torso aligned with TRX anchor point;
- raise hips so you look like an inverted V from side view;
- lower hips so that body is parallel to the ground again;
- repeat raising and lowering of hips for another 9 times.
8) Mountain climbing on TRX (10, 10, 10)
- get into a push-up plank position with both feet hooked to the TRX
- your body is parallel to the ground, your arms perpendicular to the ground, hands are anchor points on the ground, torso aligned with TRX anchor point;
- bring right knee to the chest; straighten right leg; bring left knee to the chest; straighten left leg;
- repeat movement of bringing alternate knee to the chest for another 9 times.
9) Crunch on TRX (10, 10, 10)
- get into a push-up plank position with both feet hooked to the TRX
- your body is parallel to the ground, your arms perpendicular to the ground, hands are anchor points on the ground, torso aligned with TRX anchor point;
- bring both knees to the chest; straighten both legs;
- repeat movement of bringing both knees to the chest for another 9 times.
10) Plank on TRX (30 sec, 30 secs, 45 secs)
- get into a push-up plank position with both feet hooked to the TRX
- your body is parallel to the ground, your arms perpendicular to the ground, hands are anchor points on the ground, torso aligned with TRX anchor point;
- hold for 30 secs.
I'm getting tired just listing down these exercises and going through them mentally!!! For any newbie who wants to get into a workout routine, please remember that it takes time and determination to be able to do more. No one can start with being able to do 20 push ups at one go or hold a plank for 30 secs. When I started last year, I could barely hold a regular plank for 30 seconds. Now I can hold the plank on the TRX for 1 minute.
So good luck to all who are attempting to get started on fitness and for those who are into fitness, as my chum Gabriel would say "Pain is the ultimate pleasure!!!".
No comments:
Post a Comment