New weights program

Tonight at the gym I was given a new weights program. It's fun to get a new program, but it's a little daunting too. Leanne always manages to push me past where I think I can go. Because the session is only half an hour, it takes two weeks to go through the new program. I like that we take our time over it, as I am one of those people who needs to understand what I'm trying to achieve. Leanne is good at explaining what's happening and why I need to be doing stuff, without getting all technical on me.

We sorted out four of my six exercises - one legged squats, single dumbbell presses, seated row and a hilarious shoulder exercise that I've dubbed the "chicken". The chicken involves stepping up onto a bench and raising one knee while lifting weights out from your side. I was doing it so badly that I resembled a chicken trying and failing to fly. Because I was off balance the weights were going all over the place and my arms were flapping and I was squawking. It was hilarious. Anyway, we've modified the exercise so that I can build up to being able to achieve it. I'm stepping up onto the bench, skipping the knee bit, and lifting the weights once I have my balance. Not quite a chicken dance, but I'll be working on it.

The dumbbell presses are going to hurt tomorrow. My poor old left arm gave up the ghost on the 11th rep. It's been a long time since I did the seated row and my technique is really sloppy, so I'm going to have to build back up to doing that one properly. The one legged squats are just mean, but I can see that they'll be really good for me.

We didn't get to my arms and abs exercises. Leanne is going to put some thought into them, which has me worried. I've made huge progress with my abs exercises over the past six weeks, which means a serious upgrade in level of difficulty is probably in order. Still, I'm there through choice so I can't really complain about Leanne making sure that I stay on track. If I didn't have a personal trainer I know I wouldn't work as hard as I have been.

It was the second last Body Jam session today as well. I really like this class and I'm sorry that the gym has cancelled it, but there were only three of us there tonight. Apparently people don't like Body Jam because of the coordination required. Anyway, I'm glad I've had a go at it and I'll certainly do the class again if it becomes available in the future.

This morning I was walking on the treadmill when the gym blew a fuse. I came to a sudden halt. It was a surprise, but I didn't fall off the treadmill. It was good to know that I can keep my balance as falling off the treadmill is one of those insidious fears that crops up every once in a while. To give you an idea of how much I worry about this, it took me a good year and a half of walking on the treadmill to let go of the handle. I'm much more confident now, thank goodness.

I had to laugh at myself. It didn't occur to me to go and do any other sort of cardio for the remainder of my time. I just went off and started stretching. Mind you, I spent a lot of time on the stretches, so it was probably a good decision.

I didn't write up my blog yesterday, partly because I was really tired when I got around to it, and partly because my exercise effort didn't seem all that interesting. I split my weights session as planned, and I increased most of the weights. I know that exercising the same muscle group twice within 24 hours isn't recommended, but I'm sure I'll survive one double up session, and I was keen to have a new program.

Squash was fun, as ever. Murali and I are really evenly matched, which makes winning a challenge. Chris managed to leave his racquet and his shoes in Melbourne, so he was a spectator for a change. One of Murali's neighbours came along, and had his first hit at squash. He was a natural. I hope he comes along again. I love starting people off on their squash addiction.

Because of my run on Saturday afternoon, I'm going to take it easy at the gym on Friday and Saturday morning. I'll just collect my points by walking on the treadmill. I'm looking forward to the challenge of the 10k run and I don't want to give myself any excuse for cutting back to the 5k run.

Team Black (my Fernwood team) have been sent details of another fun run a couple of weeks after the Mother's Day Classic. Having been a non-runner, I had no idea that there were so many events on. It looks like I'll have no trouble finding fun runs .. the trouble is going to be choosing which ones to do.