My training blog, with JLPT – Outdoor Fitness Coaching & Wellbeing and Fitness Coaching.
Induction
Week 1 was technically an induction session. It was jam packed with information, advice and established a clear strategy of how to move my training forward. It involved getting to the bottom of my goals, understanding the way I train (or don’t) and talking about my current lifestyle and diet. Measurements were taken and weight noted for calculations to be made on food intake and also to create a starting platform to compare as the training begins.
It was pretty clear from this point on that some changes needed to be made. Jo, who is responsible for my training put together a great information pack, completely personalised to me. It contained information on food groups, things to avoid, my personally calculated food intake values and how this will change as I work through the training program. There were also some sample recipes included to give an idea of what makes up a suitable meal whilst training.
Training Day…Eeeek!
The day had arrived, nervous was an understatement. This nervousness however was accompanied by excitement, I love doing new things in life and saw this as an opportunity to make a positive change to my life as I hit 30 years old. This said, the nerves did take charge a little on the drive up to the morning’s session. But hey, this was to be short lived!
Week 1 really saw me working through the technique of each exercise and gaining a ground starting weight from which to build on. Now I’m no muscle man, I never have been and don’t really intend to be. My goal is to build muscle bulk, but not to the level that it’s difficult to maintain or to be the size of the incredible hulk, he ruins far too many good shirts for my liking. So I wasn’t expecting to be lifting heavy weights, and understand through my profession that much of muscle training comes from the number of repetitions and technique, as opposed to the size of the weights lifted. So we spent the session establishing my starting weights.
Many of the exercises, such as lunges and squats were simple body weight reps. I say simple but that’s a bad choice of word, the squats were tough and made more so by introducing a bounce and hold. This was to prove to be the killer for the next 2 days!
So stairs became my enemy, as did Jo. My glutes and quads had been kicked into action and there was only one person responsible. But this was the exact reason why I signed up with JLPT, because had I been left to my own devices in a gym I would have done a quarter of the work I acheived with Jo and probably in just as much time. And I can honestly say I would not have felt the benefit, even slightly.
The first week with JLPT was tough, not so much during the training but because of the delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) which accompanied it. And when I thought my glutes couldn’t take anymore guess what, my second PT session arrived and they took another hammering. But much like those who believe in the ‘hair of the dog’, it was the best thing for my muscles. I got straight back in there and worked through the soreness, and felt so much better for it. I was even starting to enjoy it (but don’t tell Jo).
Week 1 over, muscles well and truly awake.
Starting weights
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