Hello. And trust me when I say even typing the word hello is quite difficult right now. That’s all because of my newfound pet hate – DOMS. It stands for delayed onset muscle soreness. Personally, I think it stands for “can’t feel my upper body, send help”.
We are now into the real training programme and boy do I feel it! Now that my body is used to lifting, pushing and pulling (plus rolling around on the floor in pain), my trainer Ruben Tabares insists that I can hit it harder. That means heavier weights, less reps and changing my diet to match.
Each day we are working a different part of the body and throwing in some HIIT (high-intensity interval training) work, which keeps the heart rate high, making it a really effective way to lose fat.
I have huge respect for people who can motivate themselves to go to the gym but right now I need Ruben – big time. He lets me know everything from what weight to lift to whether my posture is wrong. I feel like I’m learning so much and that I’m on the right road.
I have made an arch enemy, though. Its name is Versaclimber and we don’t get on. You strap your feet in, hold the handles and climb… and keep climbing until your arms and legs feel like they’re about to fall off. Here’s a video of it in action.
Ruben makes me do ten sets of 30 seconds with one minute of rest in between. We do this on Saturdays and whenever he feels I may have lied about having ONE G&T the night before. My heart drops every time I see him look over at it – I know what’s coming.
The only thing that helps with this is that I now know the feeling I get once I recover. I feel exhausted but mentally alive and full of adrenaline. Then I go and splash around in the pool to loosen up a bit.
Someone asked me the other day what bits I like and don’t like about this new workout regime. I’ve had a think and here’s what I really like:
- Any biceps workout. I feel like Popeye when working that muscle and, I’m not going to lie, I’ve stood in the mirror and flexed!
- I also really like boxing! I’ve not done it before but it’s an amazing cardio workout and it means I get to try and hit Ruben (I’ve not yet succeeded).
- I’ve also really enjoyed learning about nutrition and the small changes I can make that will all add up to a big difference. I’ve started eating a hell of a lot of veg and I’ve discovered that when you cook it correctly, it’s delicious! I’m not sure why I moaned so much as a kid.
- I love to swim after my workout. I grew up on the Isle of Wight so I’m a bit of a water baby. I try and swim as far as I can under water after every session (more on that in a second).
Now on to the bits I don’t like:
- I’ve already mentioned the Versaclimber. That thing makes my heart feel like it’s going to explode!
- Any triceps exercise is a killer. That muscle must still be quite weak as even three days after a session it’s still aching!
- One of those “small” nutrition changes was cutting out beer (sob, sob). This is temporary, officially, but I have a feeling I won’t drink anywhere near as much in the future.
- Running: never liked it. Mainly because I could feel my man-boobs bouncing up and down when I ran. Maybe this will change once I’m in shape?
But this combination of the enjoyable and the awful has added up to some real changes already – yes, even after just a few weeks.
My general fitness has shot up and I really notice it. There are two escalators that I use when heading to the gym and I used to always be out of breath at the top. Now I fly up them and it feels bloody great!
Also, there’s how far I can swim under water. When I first tried it in the gym’s pool I could only do half a length. Now – and this only happened today – I got to the end with ease. It felt really odd but amazing!
On to week three of training then. I feel it’s going to get even tougher – unless I can break into the gym and take a hacksaw to that Versaclimber before my next session.
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Christian Williams presents the weekend breakfast show on Virgin Radio, 6-10am.
Follow Christian’s fitness journey at coachmag.co.uk/christian, on his show on digital radio, online at VirginRadio.co.uk or via the Virgin Radio app, and on Christian’s Twitter and Instagram with the hashtag #coacheffect.
