Personal Training

I had my first session with my personal trainer last Thursday and it was great!

First, Brandon had me walk on an elliptical machine for seven minutes.  (Normally, I’ll do 15 minutes of cardio before I start doing any resistance training, but time was cut short because it was my first session and we had some talking to do beforehand.)  Walking on an elliptical is hard!  At least, it was for me.  I’m not used to keeping my feet down and just trying to push the pedals.  It felt awkward and my quads started to burn after only a minute of being on the machine because they were in a constant bent position.  Brandon told me to walk for a minute at a relaxed pace and then for a minute at the most vigorous pace I could keep up.  After three minutes of this, I could barely keep up the relaxed pace let alone the more vigorous one. I’m not sure how I’m going to survive for 15 minutes!

After walking on the elliptical, he had me do some reps that worked out my quads, hamstrings, and abs, using only my body weight as resistance.  Some of the exercises were more difficult than others because I have no strength in my abs.

By the time the session was over, I was very tired, hot, and sweaty.  I don’t think I’ve ever been as tired, hot, or sweaty from a workout before.  While I was walking on the elliptical, my arms were all red.  I almost passed out while I was doing the stretching exercises when I was cooling down, but that wasn’t because Brandon pushed me too hard; it was because I hadn’t drunk enough water.

My muscles started to feel sore by the time I got home, but the soreness wasn’t anything like it was for the next few days.  The soreness is finally starting to go away, just in time for my session after work today.

Before I went to my session, Brandon wanted me to measure my chest, waist, hips, and thighs so I can keep track of my progress.  Little did he know, I had already measured myself in April, so I could already see if I was making progress.  As of Thursday, I’ve lost a half an inch around my chest and waist and an inch and a half around my hips and thighs! I was pretty excited about that and look forward to losing more inches with Brandon’s help.  I’ve also lost 3% of my body fat since the end of February.