AND SO IT BEGINS: 1st VISIT TO THE GYM – COMPLETE!!

Those of you that managed to listen into my last radio interview on the BBC, I talked about how when I first started out on my 5 Stone Challenge back in January, there was no way I could have gone and signed-up the gym.  The harsh reality was, I couldn’t even walk up a flight of stairs without getting breathless.  I was ridiculously unfit, but I knew that if I slowly increased the amount of exercise I did, I would see small improvements every day and that is what has happened over the past 5 months, predominantly through walking.  I was also aware, that whilst walking and gardening and cleaning and other simple day-to-day activities help to burn calories and increase fitness levels, there was going to come a time where I would decide that perhaps 4 hours walking versus 30 minutes in the gym might make more sense to my lifestyle and that time has now come.

During the course of my 5 Stone Challenge, I had a message from Brett Sizeland, the owner of Concept Fitness UK which are based in Epping offering to help provide strength and conditioning training whenever I felt ready.  What I loved about the this gym is that they use such a range of principles to achieve each individual’s goals and they’re totally inclusive, so their customers range from 7 years old to 87.  That immediately gave me confidence that it wasn’t going to be a stereotypical ‘one size fits all’ facility where I would feel totally out of my league from the moment I stepped foot through the door.  Don’t get me wrong, I was still very nervous, but the time felt right!

 
For those who know me well, you will be aware that my wardrobe goes from smart/casual to smart then to formal.  I don’t really do casual at all, but wasn’t sure turning up to the gym in a suit would be particularly sensible, so off to JD Sports I went.  With new running shoes and a tracksuit purchased, I was ready to go!

When I arrived at the gym and met Brett, he put me at ease straight away. He explained that no two bodies are the same, so what works for one person often doesn’t for the next.  He said his plan was to take things easy and he asked me to do some simple exercises so he could access my fitness levels and look at my posture and balance. We than began doing a range of different resistance exercises and moved on to using some kettle bells and other equipment, as he felt I had the ability to do so.  Then out came the ropes!  From magazine articles, I was aware that the use of ropes is a brilliant way to exercise your whole body.  Effectively I had a very large, heavy rope and had to hold on to the two ends and shake the rope as high as I could off of the ground. We did sets of 10 seconds on, 20 seconds off for a good few minutes. As time went on, I could feel one arm giving up and the other fighting hard to compensate. It was great! Something so simple, but effective and uses so many different muscles. Beyond exhausting though!!

In conclusion I completed my first session feeling weary but also absolutely exhilarated and inspired. It wasn’t anywhere near as bad as I thought it might be and despite being ridiculously unfit and overweight, I actually didn’t feel out of place.  I can’t recommend Brett and the Concept Fitness team highly enough to anyone in a similar position. If you’re thinking of joining a gym, drop them an email to info@conceptfitnessuk.com or call 01992 579050.  You can also check out their website here. I should also add that Brett is training me free of charge, in support of my charity challenge for The Dream Factory, for which I and the charity are enormously grateful.