A few weekends ago, I met with a personal trainer.
This story actually started when one of my pole family girls read about my crazy little adventure of the Mongol Derby and asked how she could help. Pole people are usually a very tight and supportive community and, once again, this proves it right. As mentioned previously, I’ve stopped poling for more than 6 months now, and yet, the family was here to help! Shout-out to Michelle, a pole friend whose support is exceptional.
So, her boyfriend, Tim, is a personal trainer and works in one of the best gyms here in Singapore. I wanted to have an understanding of where I stand when it comes to muscle, stamina, and nutrition.
The first thing we did was an assessment of my entire body. A week prior to meeting with him, I knew it was coming and there was ‘nothing’ I could do to really change the results of a body assessment (at least not in one week), so I was nervous about it. I know it sounds crazy - it’s just a body assessment, yet I wanted to ‘do well’…
Good news: I’m in the normal range for all the parameters.
I’m not sure ‘average’ is what we usually want to be – but it works for me when it comes to BMI and more.
Tim explained that his focus would be to increase the muscle mass and decrease the body fat. Now, he also did say that because I’m fit and I work out quite regularly already, this is a different challenge. As my body is used to the workout routine I’m following, I need to shake things up a bit.
And oh boy, did he hold up his promise on this.
We worked together for only about 30 minutes (or maybe even 20, if I’m being honest) but I felt it for about 3 days! He had a clear focus on core and legs, and I worked muscles I didn’t even know were there. In a gym, I’m usually clueless in front of machines, so working with a trainer is the best way to stop being overwhelmed. Tim made me do very simple, then slightly more sophisticated, but always efficient exercises. I was exhausted after my work-out session with him. Yet, since I was already at the gym, I decided to give a HIIT session a go. Why am I like this? I regretted it about 5 minutes into it!
In conclusion, I couldn’t sit or stand up from my chair the next day without feeling my legs… That’s a clear sign that whatever I’m doing is not enough to strengthen my legs and ensure they’ll be strong enough for the derby. To shaking things up and discovering new muscle pain!
