In San Francisco my gym routine was pretty good, I was walking around 15 km per day during the weekend and the remaining days were dedicated to:
- pilates with the reformer
- hot power yoga
- SoulCycle
- Barre
- TRX
With this routine, in less then 3 months, my body was transformed, I was thinner, fit and very strong. No more back or neck pain and I was full of energy. And by the way, I wasn’t on a diet ( San Fran has got plenty of great food spots to try :-)).
So, what happened to my fitness routine after I came back from San Francisco?
Well, my knees “collapsed” again, I had to stop and go back to boring physio exercises. In about 3 months I have lost all the gained muscles and went back to my previous body shape.
I am the type of person that needs guidance to be active in the gym, this is why I like classes and I have to admit that the place I am attending recently (because it’s closer to my office) is not pushing me – in the positive sense – to join classes or improve myself.
So, when Fitness First invited me to try their branch in Baker Street, which happens to be 2 a minutes walk from my new office, I basically ran there.
Fitness First have recently worked with Team GB athletes to create 3 exclusive fitness programmes and I wanted to attend the Team GB Pro Athlete, a 40 minute group exercise session to work on speed, endurance, power, agility and strength. Unfortunately, that night they had to cancel the class, I’ll try another time.
I then had a session with Nick, one of the personal trainers at Fitness First. Nick is very experienced and we immediately discussed my pain points and frustration.
Nick showed me a small circuit to make my knees, legs and core stronger, which is exactly the same goal of my physio routine, but in a more fun way that makes you feel you worked hard.
Try it, I can assure you will absolutely knackered afterwards.
Repeat the whole thing 3 times:
- Heel taps x20
- Russian twist x10
- Mountain climber x20
- Chest taps x20
- Plank position with straight arms, hold for a minute (or 30 seconds if you are a beginner)
I have included a video for each exercise to show you how to do it correctly, the plan was to do these videos in the gym but we didn’t have enough time. Next time 🙂
