New weights program

I had my personal training session this morning at 6:00 am. I am glad it was early, as it means I get to the gym before it gets really cold. Going home doesn't seem to be such an issue, as I'm warmed up by then. Today the minimum temp was 0 degrees C. It was windy and trying to rain, so I'm pretty sure it "felt" colder than 0.

I was well rugged up for the ten minute walk though. I am a great believer in not being cold, so I wear lots of layers. I had jeans, a long sleeved top, a polar fleece and a duffle coat over my gym gear. I'm glad the girls at the gym get there early, as the heaters were going when I arrived.

Today I started on a new weights program. It's always amusing. This program is all about stability. As Leanne said, she can now give me exercises I wouldn't have been able to do twelve months ago. The first thing I attempted to do was a one armed row standing on one leg. I was in fits of giggles. Apart from balancing on one leg and trying to keep my abs locked on, I had to concentrate on moving the weight with my back rather than my arm. All this and remembering to breathe too! After that came pushups on the fitball. I am doing these on my knees for now. I don't know what it is, but I'm convinced I'm going to fall. I tried these in one of our "free play" weights sessions a few months ago, and I'm definitely doing better now. There's still lots of room for improvement. My goal for this program is to manage five of these pushups on my toes.

I was still stuck on the fitball. This time I was lying across it, with my legs up behind me. The object was to lift myself off the ball using my backside. This is meant to be good for my bum and my lower back. I am sure it is. It also looks incredibly inelegant, so I'm going to have to find a quiet corner of the gym for this one. A standard leg press came next. It's been a while since I used this machine, so I saw some real progress today, not so much in the weight I was moving but in the fact that I can have the seat further forward because I'm more flexible and I have less tummy in the way. I thought it was pretty cool. Side plank on the fitball came next.

We ran out of time for the rest of the program, so we'll finish it off next week. In the meantime, I'll do a hybrid program.

I wanted to go to the supermarket and it wasn't going to be open for a little while, so I jumped on the treadmill. It's a while since I did any of the set programs, so I gave the "Fat Burner" option a go at level 8, 6 km/h for 20 mins. It was a decent workout. During the biggest loser challenge I was getting quite bored with this, but it was fun today. I walked another 10 mins on an incline of 4, and then headed off to the supermarket.

The girls are going for a run tomorrow morning at 7:30 but I'm going to head off around 6:30. I prefer to start work early. I've had a look at the forecast and I might be heading to the gym for my run. It's going to be warmer but there are showers forecast. Running in the rain is quite pleasant, but I'm not so sure that applies when it's 5 degrees. I'm aiming to run 5 km. All I have to do now is make it out of bed in the morning!