My Journey With Health And Fitness – You Know It Was A Good Workout When…

What a difference in weather from yesterday. We started with some sleet yesterday which actually turned into snow as a hopefully final winter storm came through. Today is the exact opposite. I did my 10k run this morning and it was beautiful and clear with an amazing crescent moon in the sky. I went out for a 10k walk afterwards and it was sunny with the ocean really calm. I was so happy to see not just eagles but paddle boarders and people walking on the sand at the water’s edge. I am hoping that is a clear sign that spring is on its way.

Fridays at my fitness centre is circuit training day. The instructor sets up 10 stations with different exercises. We do each exercise for 45 seconds then have 15 seconds to move to the next one. Once all 10 are done we get a full minute break before going on to the next round. This is done a total of 4 times.

Here is what yesterday looked like,

1. Bosu burpees – hold the bosu over your head to start then drop to the floor and do a burpee
2. Ball pass – lie on the floor starting with your arms overhead holding an exercise ball you raise your arms and legs and pass the ball between them before lowering them and repeating the movement
3. Barbell clean – bend over slightly holding the barbell then pull it up to you chest then jump and flip it towards you landing in a squat (this might not be a very understandable discription)
4. Banded rotation – using a stong band place your arms straight in front of you then rotate your torso keeping the band tight and after about 10 rotations switch to the other side.
5. Ball squats – face the wall, go into a squat and as up come up you toss a medicine ball up the wall catching it as it comes down and going back into the squat as you do the catch
6. Rope climb – grab a rope that is anchored to the ceiling with both hands and then lower yourself to the ground lying flat before ‘climbing’ back up the rope until standing
7. Hip dips – take a plank position with your forearms on the floor then rotate your hips to one side then the next to ‘dip’ them
8. Walking lunges – grab two weights and take a step forward doing a lunge then take the step with your other side
9. Seated shoulder press – use the heaviest weights you can bare and do shoulder presses while seated on a bench with your back supported
10. Plate walk – use a (minimum) 25lb weight and hold it up with straight arms as you walk around

Now I get that some may read this and think that doesn’t sound too bad but let me tell you, by round three you are dreading many of the moves. By round 4 you just want it over with but for me that is when I up my game and where possible increase some weights. I admit some of these I didn’t mind doing but the burpees, rope climb and plate walk nearly did me in but I refused to stop and quite frankly I was pretty proud of adding weights to the barbell clean when many others hadn’t.

But how do I know it was a good workout? Well, it is when at round 3 I start thinking, I am too old for this shit! Oh did I think that yesterday. And yet, just like most of my brutal fitness classes, I walked out with a smile feeling I had just accomplished something many 60 years can’t or won’t do.

And so all I can say for next week is bring it on, I can do it. Now I’m going to go soak in my hot tub to give my aching joints some water therapy.