"Do you have a target weight in mind?" Phil asked.
The answer was no. I don't have any scales and I rarely weighed myself. It wasn't about the weight. It was about how I looked.
So, as I embark on Week Two of my Stupidity, AKA my 15-week training with Phil Agostino, I was unexpectedly excited to see that I had lost a little weight.
But the real training was just beginning.
20 minutes on my exercise bike on both Saturday and Sunday would, I felt, fall under the category of being active.
The majority of time was spent watching videos to figure out what I was meant to do. Never having been terribly active, names like "shoulder press" and "band tricep pushdown." However, all these paled in comparison to my nemesis: the plank.
Anyway. I began with a quick five-minute warm-up on my bike, then set up my resistance bands to do something called a "wide row." It felt relatively easy so I was probably doing it wrong.
Next on the list was a half push-up, which certainly got the heart pumping. It didn't feel a great deal different compared to a normal push-up (which, late last year, I did 10 a day every morning.)
On to said shoulder press with the resistance bands. I opted to use a 20-pound band, which I feel was just at the right difficulty. I went on to do some raises, which involved standing on the middle of the band and raising my arms. Sounds simple, but my shoulders certainly felt it.
I wrapped up with a half plank, which, although it says it's easier than a plank, did not feel any better at all. I made such a hullabaloo over this simple exercise that my altruistic cat came over to make sure I was alright (I wasn't) and sat with me until the end of the exercises (emitting a contented purring, no doubt born of the fact that she did not have to do said exercises.)
Overall, a good workout that left my muscles quivering.
I'll be honest: forcing myself to actually do the exercise was harder than the workout itself. Except for the planks, because those are nightmarish.
I'll be honest: this week hasn't been the greatest. There have been long and tiring days at work, along with a total lack of desire to exercise and the feeling that I'm just getting fatter and fatter, leaving me unmotivated. Pushing through that to actually do the exercise isn't easy.
However, it was a lower body workout today and, I must admit, I find this one easier than the upper body. I had a wonderful dream where I had nice muscles and a slim tummy.
Then I woke up.
The answer was no. I don't have any scales and I rarely weighed myself. It wasn't about the weight. It was about how I looked.
So, as I embark on Week Two of my Stupidity, AKA my 15-week training with Phil Agostino, I was unexpectedly excited to see that I had lost a little weight.
But the real training was just beginning.
The Weekend
I had committed to five days of action-packed exercise (not really) but I really wanted to take the weekends off. Therefore, my instruction was simply "Be active."20 minutes on my exercise bike on both Saturday and Sunday would, I felt, fall under the category of being active.
Day Four
I finished all my work over the weekend so it was simply a case of sending it off to my client and then beginning my personal training. Monday's exercise is down in the fitness diary as badminton. Unfortunately, this was cancelled for the Easter holidays so I opted to do an upper body workout instead.The majority of time was spent watching videos to figure out what I was meant to do. Never having been terribly active, names like "shoulder press" and "band tricep pushdown." However, all these paled in comparison to my nemesis: the plank.
Anyway. I began with a quick five-minute warm-up on my bike, then set up my resistance bands to do something called a "wide row." It felt relatively easy so I was probably doing it wrong.
Next on the list was a half push-up, which certainly got the heart pumping. It didn't feel a great deal different compared to a normal push-up (which, late last year, I did 10 a day every morning.)
On to said shoulder press with the resistance bands. I opted to use a 20-pound band, which I feel was just at the right difficulty. I went on to do some raises, which involved standing on the middle of the band and raising my arms. Sounds simple, but my shoulders certainly felt it.
I wrapped up with a half plank, which, although it says it's easier than a plank, did not feel any better at all. I made such a hullabaloo over this simple exercise that my altruistic cat came over to make sure I was alright (I wasn't) and sat with me until the end of the exercises (emitting a contented purring, no doubt born of the fact that she did not have to do said exercises.)
Day Five
I'm finding the lower body workouts easier than the upper body - presumably due to all the cycling I was doing. The half plank remains my nemesis.Overall, a good workout that left my muscles quivering.
Day Six
It had been a long day at work. Non-stop staring at the screen, wading my way through a 12-page brief and accompanying 26-page production deck, attending back-to-back briefings and getting to grips with the actual copywriting. By the end of the day, I was left with a sore and spinning head, 18 pages of copy that I'd written and absolutely no desire whatsoever to do any exercise.I'll be honest: forcing myself to actually do the exercise was harder than the workout itself. Except for the planks, because those are nightmarish.
Day Seven
20-minutes on the bike and that's me done.Day Eight
Friday night is takeaway night. Fortunately, Phil says this is alright as long as I keep up the exercise routine and make sure there's still a calorie deficit.I'll be honest: this week hasn't been the greatest. There have been long and tiring days at work, along with a total lack of desire to exercise and the feeling that I'm just getting fatter and fatter, leaving me unmotivated. Pushing through that to actually do the exercise isn't easy.
However, it was a lower body workout today and, I must admit, I find this one easier than the upper body. I had a wonderful dream where I had nice muscles and a slim tummy.
Then I woke up.
