It must be two or three years since I’ve regularly been working out in the gym. I used to go quite often to Fitness First near Oxford Circus before work, but then things changed and we tended to start at 7am rather than 8am and there just wasn’t enough time to train any more.
Since then, my weight has gone up and up until recently I’ve peaked over 21st for the first time. Some of my belts are on their last whole! It hasn’t helped that I’ve been limited in physical activity by my knee and back problems. Recently a colleague at work started going to a new Fitness First that opened on Baker Street, literally 5 minutes walk from work. As well as being so close, they also open at 6am, which would mean I could get to work for 7:30am if I had an early morning training session.
So, I’ve been down and signed up! It’s £63 a month, even with corporate discount, but only for a 4 month contract, so I have time to see if it fits with my routine. This way, if I just can’t keep it up for one reason or another, I can finish it after 4 months. I paid £55 joining fee, but if I can go 20 times in the first 8 weeks then I get this refunded!
So far it’s all going well. In the first 9 days I’ve been 6 times, lifting weights and one early morning swim before work too (Baker Street is ‘black’ class and has a pool). When I started my wieght was 21st 4lbs, I’ve managed to come down to 21st 1½lbs already, that’s a kilogram lost. What pleases me here is that I will almost definitely put muscle mass on, so I may have in fact lost 2 or 3 kilo’s in fat.
I’m using my usual style of training, I know it as Super Setting. I don’t do any cardio, but by working alternate muscle groups at the same time I go back and forth between two machines with very little down time (bench press and seated row for example). This means I keep my heart at a very fast rate for the full session. I get round 9 to 13 different exercises in the space of 45 to 60 minutes.
My goal is to get back down under 20 stone. I don’t know how realistic this will be, but I’ve made a good start. I guess if this rate of loss carries on, around 4lbs a month, I could be at 20 stone by around November. If I can at least come in a couple of notches on my belt, I’ll be happy!