My Fitness Adventure

After the previous session I was feeling some stiffness in my arms, back, abs, thighs and especially my bum all those squats and lunges made themselves felt, even two days later.

I had my last session today; we started with a warm up:

• Lateral pull downs
• Squats
• Overhead tricep extension with squats
• Overhead and side to side extension with squats
• Forward and backward on your toes extension in a squat position

Set 1

• Pectoral flies
• Left and right lateral pull downs
• Left and right lateral pull downs with knee lift
• Left and right lateral pull downs with knee lift and jump
• Calf raise

Set 2

• Sit ups
• Crunches
• Push ups with forward extension
• Push up with side-to-side extension
• Squats with 180 degree body rotation
• On your toes in a squat position 180 degree body rotation

Set 3

• Bunny hops with squats
• Walking lunges
• Jumping lunges
• Side to side skipping and a sprint

And the killer: Squat with a forward extension and then roll your body forward to balance on your toes while maintaining the squat position. (Best way I can explain it)

The verdict

After four sessions I can really feel a difference especially in my abdominal area, my core feels tighter. What I like most about XCO is that it’s so easy to use, everybody can use it no matter you fitness level.  It’s a full body workout that can be done in 20 minutes and gets the heart rate pumping.

Flexi-Sports will be launching XCO in Virgin Active gyms next month, if you can give it a try, it will be worth it.

On to the next one…

Today I had my third session and was I in for a treat. I’m still trying to catch my breath *exhales*.

We started with a warm up:

• Squats
• Overhead tricep extension with squats
• Overhead and side-to-side extension with squats
• Forward and backward extensions with squats
• Lateral pulldowns

And a couple of sets with these combinations:

Set 1

• Right and left hook punches
• Left and right lateral pull down with a knee lift
• Lunges
• Jumping lunges
• Running lunges

Set 2

• Overhead and side-to-side extension on an exercise ball
• Walking lunges with single side pull downs
• One leg extension on an exercise ball
• Walking lunges with double side pull downs
• Overhead and side-to-side extension on and exercise ball
• Bunny hops with squats
• One leg extension on exercise ball
• Double bunny hops with squats
• Overhead and side-to-side extension on exercise ball
• Walking lunges with three way side pumps

Set 3

This set focused mostly on abs:

• Overhead and side-to-side jumps
• Crunches
• Skipping
• Running extensions
• Abdominal twists
• One leg skipping

I’ve finally got my breath back. I worked up quite a sweat in this session. Gordon says I got fit pretty quick and that I’m handling the XCOs well.

For my hard work I got a fist pump!! Yeah!

I’m really enjoying these training sessions what I like about XCO is that it’s a full body workout; no muscles are isolated like with traditional weight training. What I also like are that there are endless combinations of exercises that can be done you won’t get bored.

Wednesday is my last session, looking forward to it.

I’ve been on a fitness hiatus for quite some time now, the usual suspects i.e. work and studies have been keeping me very busy. I have managed to maintain my healthy eating and staying in shape but my general fitness levels have dipped a bit.

So when Health24ed asked who would be up for 4 free training sessions with a Flex-Sports trainer I jumped at the opportunity.

I wasn’t sure what to expect I knew it was some sort of hand held product used to exercise with.

Session 1

I met up with the trainer, Gordon at Virgin Active Lower, Long Street. He is in such good shape I was a bit worried that I would not be able to keep up.

The product we would be using is the XCO-Trainer. It was originally used as a rehabilitation tool. It is a cupped, anodised aluminium tube, part filled with a highly specialised, irregular granulate mass. This loose oscillating mass serves as the patented secret of the XCO-TRAINER®, which originated from the field of physiotherapeutic rehabilitation.

Through the dynamic movement of the XCO®, the loose mass is propelled from one side of the tube to the other and thereby creates the Reactive Impact. The determining factor is not the weight of the training tool, but rather the amount of force that is applied in each movement.

It’s a versatile training tool that everyone can use for strength, flexibility, speed. coordination and weight loss goals.

•    Reactive Impact training
•    Total body workout
•    Increased stamina and endurance
•    Improves running style
•    Burn up to 33% more calories
•    Reduce your training time
•    Protects joints and ligaments
•    Increase heart rate by up to 25bpm when walking
•    Increase in fitness, strength and core stability

We would be doing a 20 minute session, a series of exercises combined with the trainer.

Let me just say those XCOs might look deceiving but they pack a punch. We started with some light movement and then things got a lot interesting.

We did lunges, jumping lunges, right and left hook punches, squats, jumping squats. I was a bit too enthusiastic and got a bit light headed so we had to take a break and I guzzled on some water. We ended with some crunches.

It’s a hectic intense workout; the cardio aspect combined with the XCOs really back a punch. I had some stiffness in my thighs, butt, and stomach the next day. It was a good feeling, muscles waking up again I forgot just how amazing it feels to get moving.

Session 2

On Wednesday I had my second session, I ate a heavier breakfast to avoid the dizzy spells.

We started with some warm ups and then we took it hard.

Did a combination of:

• Squats
• Jumping squats
• Lunges
• Jumping lunges
• Right and left hook punches
• Overhead tricep extension with squats
• Skipping
• Left and right lateral pull down with a knee lift
• Overhead extensions
• Crunches

I thoroughly enjoyed the session and Gordon remarked that I was looking much stronger this time around.

This week I’ll be having the last two sessions looking forward to them. Go XCO!