My Fitness Adventure

In an attempt to be more adventurous and a team player I decided to enter our company’s dragon boat racing team for the Corporate Games.

A small fact I have never participated in a team sports event, I played hockey at school but I was always a reserve, team sport and I don’t go hand in hand. This is really out of my comfort zone so it’s natural that I would be anxious.

Our team is made up of a group of novices, we had a training session scheduled for last Thursday, I was filled with trepidation, and the weather was horrible with 80% chance of rain scheduled for the day. I don’t know why it never occurred to us that we might get wet; I was struggling with really cold feet that day.

FitnessEd gave us a little pep talk promising us that once we get into it we will enjoy it.

At the practice point we got our oars, and life jacket (yeah I wore one just in case). Seeing the other teams gliding along the water really made me nervous, would I get this right?

It’s really taking difficult taking 9 people putting them together and getting them to row as one. The instructor taught us basic techniques, and by the end of the evening we got the hang of it. We even had a little race with the other teams and came in second, not too shabby. And we did end up having lots of fun.

What surprised me the next day is how much of a workout we really had, I could feel it in my triceps, back, abd and even thighs.

We’re scheduled to do the 200m, not sure about the 500m race though. Go 24Dragons!

Team 24

Igsaan demonstrating the moves

For the past couple of days I’ve been feeling really great, the best I’ve felt in a long time. My colleagues have commented that I’m looking leaner and toned . We also got our Soldier ‘Kit”- I’ll post a picture next week.

More uphill work was on the cards on Wednesday

• Uphill one-foot ladder runs
• Uphill two-foot ladder runs
• Single foot jumps over hurdle
• Bunny hops over hurdle
• Alternative foot ladder runs
• Step ups
• Push ups
• Tricep dips
• Horse and cart uphill/downhill
• Horse and cart combined with bear crawl
• 3-way crunches
• 3-way plank
• Grasshopper
• Spiderman

Thursday’s session was a bit more subdued. We did our usual laps around the field and also played a game of soccer and ‘dog in the middle’ (the person in the middle has to get the ball from the rest of the team).

And then we had our Yoga session and it’s really hard work. We did a number of poses which lead us to a climatic handstand at the end of the session. Dare I say it, but burpees are easier.

Next week we have the all-important re-assessment scheduled, and I’m really interested in seeing just how much I’ve improved.

Week 7 done and dusted!

This week’s focus is Hill Training all in preparation for the hike up Lion’s Head this Saturday. I’ve been up Lion’s Head already, I was very unfit then and, needless to say, I struggled a lot. But I’m pumped to conquer it this time around.

So in preparation for said hike Major Pain worked us hard at Monday’s session:

• An uphill/downhill jog around the block (it feels so much different running on the road)
• Some more uphill/downhill running on the field
• Thrown in for good measure, 10 push ups at an uphill/downhill angle
• Followed by some more running, and a race in which I kicked ass and won! (whoever won the race could sit out the next exercise, I didn’t of course)
• 10 dips and 10 push ups
• Game of touch rugby (I scored a try, hilarious) Private Yvette one of my troop members says my facial expressions when I get the ball is priceless, it’s like I never know what to do with the ball

Why do we run so much? In our weekly telegraph, Sergeant Mc Quaide-Little answered with this quote:

“Every morning in Africa, a Gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a Lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest Gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn’t matter whether you are a Lion or a Gazelle… when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.”……so we keep running

Tonight we have another Yoga session, and a surprise… (I love surprises)

As I was driving home on Monday night, it hit me hard that this whole adventure is almost over, I really can’t believe how quickly the time flew. I’ve been asking myself: what next?

Apart from the physical changes I’ve been going through, mentally I’m in a very different space than when I started, I’ve forgotten the high you get when you’ve accomplished something, when you’ve seen it though, it’s addictive too.

I’ll be savouring each and every session left .

Is it just me or has this week come and gone way too quickly?

We had Lieutenant T for Wednesday’s session, she says we’re looking.

Started with the usual laps, I am starting to get the hang of this jogging thing now.

Circuit

With a partner, 2 rounds

• Lateral ladder runs, with a sprint
• Shuffle running
• 2 step ladder runs, combined with zig zag running around a hurdle
• Sprinting up a down an incline

Ab attack: crunches, 90 degress crunches, bicycle crunches, toe touches, and plank.

Thursday session

Major Pain is back, and in full force.

Did four laps around the field (whoop whoop, getting there).

We started with a soccer match, we had to drop down and do the following exercises throughout the match – 10 of each:

• Push ups 
• Crunches

Followed by a jog up and down some sets of stairs.

And then some strength training with dumbells, 2 rounds of:

• Bicep punches
• Over head punches
• Upper cuts
• Bicep curls

Followed by some ‘higher grade’ skipping, not so easy for somebody who is co-ordinationally challenged.

We then continued with our soccer match, same format as the previous round.

Ended with the ab attack, with dumbbells:

• Crunches, bicycle crunches, toe touches, ankle touches, extended v-sit and twist v-sit (I’m feeling it in the ab region today.)

We’re heading for the final stretch now, I’m really starting to feel fitter and stronger and enjoying the exercise high.

Going for my massage today Onwards to week 7!

I dragged myself out of bed early Saturday morning, being outside in the fresh air and the beautiful views were definitely worth it. We finished the hike in record time

This week’s focus is agility and speedplay….

We started with the usual 3 laps around the field, I’m getting much better at this now, I can now jog 3 laps straight out.

While we were doing our stretches SuperGirl 101 and her Trifit Team came out for a jog on the field, we were feeling very intimidated.

We had a short soccer match, and then the rain chased us inside into shelter.

Circuit

With a partner

• Step runs
• Zig zag running around hurdle
• Bunny hops over hurdle
• 2 feet ladder running/shuffle
• Lunges with 5kg dumbells
• Tricep dips
• Shuffle running

Followed by some more running; backwards, forwards, sideways. Burpees and push ups.

We ended with:

• Ab attack: crunches, 90 degree crunches, another set of crunches lifting your arms just above your head, single heel lifts, double heel lifts, oblique crunches, plank and side plank

Major Pain is back on Wednesday (eeeek!)