I had one of the most exhausting training days in my life yesterday. Did strength training at 8.30 am in the morning, then rushed down for Muay Thai, with a half hour break in the middle. By the time I finished Muay Thai, I could barely summon enough energy to shower and crawl out of the school. I came home and spent the rest of the day in a semi-comatose state. Although, surprisingly enough, the expected muscle aches didn't appear.
Did squats this week, and managed to back squat up to 40 kgs, though by the last set, form was not quite impeccable, but at least my spotter didn't have to rescue me....yet. Managed barbell flat bench presses up to 22.5 kgs. So I've at least managed to determine my limits for the "Big Three". Finished up with two sets of leg matrices, which felt brutal after all the squatting.
I had to rush down for my Muay Thai session, getting about 30 minutes of respite during the transit. As expected, the 5 min skipping felt like hell. However, the rest of it went amazingly well until the last 2 bouts. I managed quite a bit of strength and energy, but finally ran out at the last 10 minutes. My techniques still need work, but I am starting to see some light. Oh, and I overheard this other girl, who was training with another coach alongside me, saying that she thought what I was doing looked "scary". I took it as a compliment to mean that I looked strong and gung-ho, and I really put in every bit of effort after that to "scare" her even more, which probably helped to keep me going even though I was kind of wrecked already. Haha. Pride and ego does that for me everytime.
Speaking of pride and ego, one of the S&C coaches mentioned in passing that I now hold several records among the bootcamp ladies, which really made my day, even though it was not what I set out to do deliberately in the first place. We are talking about me, who had never been any kind of an athletic, or even of mildly active personality for the first 29 years and 9 months of my life. For someone who was 30 kgs overweight and used to pant just walking to the bus stop, my fitness achievements to date really means a lot to me. That comment also gave me the added impetus to continue the drive towards my ideal weight/fat % as well as to get better and stronger.
During the strength workout on Saturday, I got my first taste of being yelled at, in the positive sense of course. It was my last set of squats, and I was the last one to do it my team of 3 ladies. During my last two reps, I could hear my coaches yelling (cheering?) in the background for me to go! go! go! complete the rep! really loudly. I don't know if anyone else was also calling out encouragement, being that I was struggling hard to rise from the bottom of the squat, but I have to say it really works.
I really have to admit that having the correct coaches, both in terms of technical know-how as well as coaching personality, contributes greatly to keeping to a fitness/weight loss program, no matter the level of personal commitment of a person. This is especially true of ladies, who thrive better in social environments when it comes to such things. Too much "tough love" will get our feelings hurt and demoralise most of us; too much pampering will get little compliance and no results. Kudos to my current coaches for finding the right balance. I have never looked forward to my workouts like I do now.
Tomorrow is another training day. Did I hear feel my heart giving a little jump of excitement?
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