Going to do the 8 week winter waist challenge at the gym!

http://activ8fitness.com.au/What-s-Happening/8-week-winter-waist-challenge.html

Let see how this goes.  tough mudder at the end of it.

 Thanks so much for all the great inspiration.  It's really working.  Into month four now of the lifestyle update and it's becoming ingrained abit now.

Habits are improving all over the place.  I love going to the gym now as its just so enjoyable.  It does not hurt now that the results are becoming more and more obvious.

The news today on my blood pressure has made me really happy as its now down to the level where no medication is required.  When I first started it was at such a level that immediate medication would be normally called for.  Next test is my cholesterol, if that has come down it will be even better.

Overall it's just going so well.  Today we did a full cardio workout with heart monitor to work on keep my heart rate above 130.  First goal was to get it up to 155 on the treadmill.  Bloody Trent has gotten me fit enough that it was just sitting on 132 and not moving up.  The machine kept pushing the incline and speed up, but 132 it stayed.  Had to get to 12 on the incline before we even got near the target.

Next rowing machine again with heart monitor.  Row 250 meter hard, then rest until heartbeat is back to 130, or a minute.  Do five sets.  First set heartbeat won 1 sec before the minute!

It was great feedback to see just how fast my recovery time is now.  Trent is really happy with the progress I have made!

And did I mention I now fit and L size shirt.  My work clothes are now super baggy and really looking bad.  Will keep them for a while yet as its hiding the work in progress.  My old work shirts feel like tents now.  So stunning!

So it's now 3.x months in with the personal trainer at Activ8 and the rest of the team.  Time for a review I guess as well, since well my assessment on Wednesday to see if I'm as crap as fit as I was when i came back from the US.

Easy answer, not likely.  Didn't hurt I took out the full package and that was not cheap.  But then again when I lived in Japan and had to do all my first cancer the chemo stuff left me 8K USD out of pocket.  There was a huge refund, but it comes down to how much do you spend on your health.

My totally easy answer is as much as it takes.  Why because you can have huge amounts of money stashed aside for the things you want, but how can you spend any of it if you health is crap.

Even easier answer, every dollar/cent spent on your health is a good dollar.  It breaks down to even easier.  If you can't walk somewhere to see/do something, then your healthy is wrong.  I know.  I've had an underlying issue with Arthritis for so long it stopped me from many things.  Feck the cancer, this was actually the weekly issue.

Since working with my Trent (My PT from Activ8) i'm on the least amount, basically nil amount of arthritic  drugs ever. I still maintain a daily intake of some non medical druges, the best i have found is Procasmine from USANA.  Not cheap, and i won't advocate for them, but it seems to work for me.  I also know that losing a few kilo's and working all my joints in the right order is the best thing ever.

And that is why you need a PT.  An expert in how to work your body.  Its possible you can get crap ones, but lucky for me I didn't. 

He has me working out on some exercise and doesn't go off to answer some FB message or other, I can see him checking every move I make and looking from all angles to make sure I'm doing it correctly.  Ps.  his counting along with mind is Shite.  We just work it out that somewhere between it all it was a good effort!  And yes I work in banking but at 7 am my brain is not working.

So, do you get a personal trainer. My easy answer is yes.  If you hate going to the gym and been given a circuit to do, then get bored.  Chop and change.  Get a PT, they make it so much more interesting.  I never know what is going to hit me each time and I fecking love it. 

Photo's to come, but looking so much better for it.

Well after a missed session on Monday I was looking forward to today's session.  As usual it did not disappoint.  Trent is brilliant at switching up and changing the sessions around.

Today's involved a whole new muscle set that I am sure will be felt upon the morning (update from the future – definitely feeling it when sitting down)   The last bit of cardio row 20sec full bore, rest 10sec sounds easy, it is not!  Had to go looking for my breath afterwards as it had gone on an independent search for oxygen.   The piece de resistanc of Trent's routines and the only constant is the stairs back up to your car!  Good five stories worth.  The day I can do a session and go back up those stairs and not look like a physical wreck I will be happy,     http://activ8fitness.com.au/ 

On my trip to Boston I had time to catch up with an old friend. She looked amazing. When she said she had worked her butt off over the last year, it was inadvertently a literal statement. Her butt was gone!! What was also so inspiring was that her health was the best it had been for a long time and her life outlook was top notch.

So with this inspiration and muse to hand I looked me up a personal trainer back in Sydney. Naturally I did it via the internet as thats what mr google is for! I had the assessment session all lined up before I even landed back in the country. While it was good to do the assessment 'twas not fun to get the results. When I wasn't looking I went up to 106 kg. Actually there was bait of good news here. The last weight check at the doctors was 108. So finished today my first session and feel so much better for it.