Nicole’s back, she’s also just come on board for some Personal Training sessions and will be sharing her experiences with you. These are completely Nicole’s words I discovered some compliments throughout the post which are awesome but I haven’t yet truly unleashed my PT self on Nicole yet…. 😉

 

The New Year is the most popular time to make resolutions about health and fitness, and I’m definitely no different.

Late last year I was seriously considering joining a gym, but the more I thought about it, the more I knew that it would be a waste of money. Unless I’m working out with someone else I knew my gym visits would include aimless walking on a treadmill and a couple of half-assed sit ups. I decided that a personal trainer was the way to go, and Suzie was the person to call! I’ll be training with Suzie once a week, and she’ll be monitoring my diet also (goodbye chocolate binges!). I have an amazing dress that I bought months ago (when I was several kilos lighter and several dress sizes smaller) that I’ve never worn. I have a very special event coming up in a couple of months, and I am determined to do that dress justice!

I had my first session with Suzie today and I really enjoyed it (even with nausea – note to self: eating breakfast half an hour before a workout is a no-no). Suzie could sense my fear as soon as she saw me, as I went in thinking that it would be cardio heavy and I wouldn’t be able to keep up, but the session was structured really well. I’ve always thought about my health in terms of ‘fat’ and ‘thin’. I’m guessing I’m not that dissimilar to other women – I feel great when my clothes feel loose, and begin to feel unhealthy when I find myself shopping and buying a dress size up and that’s when alarm bells begin to ring. What amazed me about the session was how little I think about health in terms of how my body works for me. We began with some squats – easy, right? I was amazed to find that Suzie identified that I favour one side of my body over the other. Lunges, which I used to do with minimal trouble, presented the same problem.

Turns out my glutes are extremelyhip flexors are extremely tight (most likely thanks to my office job) and my glutes are weak; one side more than the other. All these factors are affecting the manner in which my body works. Extra muscles in my body have to overcompensate to assist in making me move! As a writer I spend up to eight hours sitting at a desk all day – without regular stretching my body my muscles are tightening as I sit at my desk.

So through my sessions not only will we be working on toning and burning those excess kilos, but Suzie is going to help me correct my muscle imbalances.

I have lots of stretching for homework that will begin to help loosen these up and it’s something I’m going to have to be conscious of when I return to work for the year. It got me thinking how many of us are walking around with easily fixable body problems that are affected by the work we do and just never know because we’re fixated on how our body looks rather than how it works. I guess that’s why we’re lucky to have Suzie to share her wisdom to help us live healthier and happier! Maybe as we get older it’s not about how we look, but how effectively our body works? It might be New Year optimism talking but I’m really excited to make some health and fitness changes!