Day 9:- Tuesday 16th June 2020
I am bit late posting my blog….. I blame Anna for being a bad influence upon me as we had post-tennis drinks last night and I didn’t get in until gone 2:30am.
Anyway I had such an awesome day yesterday……. I had my first PT session with Michael.
We started the session with chatting as to what I wanted to achieve…. So I tell him about the dress that I want to get into…. It’s not as though I have somewhere special to wear it but it is a reminded that I managed to get fit years and years ago even with a broken leg!! So there is nothing holding me back from doing it again…. Mind you I am quite tempted just to wear it to the shops!! Zoe….. look you manage to stay in the photo…. Poor Zoe I normally cut her out of this photo but I will never forget when her daughter said to me…. My mummy is supposed to be in that photo…. why have you cut her out? Good question no idea… So I thought I would leave you in it!
Back To The PT Session!!
We warm-up with a few stretches and rowing. OMG….. Michael is asking me loads of questions and I am thinking I am so out of breath… I cannot answer him. I obviously start to slow down as I am told to keep the intensity… Now increase it a bit more you have 1 and half minutes left. Michael is very good at checking my form. I love this…. He gives me his undivided attention.
We then do some squats…. Why I say we.. I have no idea…. as Michael doesn’t do them… it’s just me!! Mind you he does demonstrate what he wants me to do… We had over to the bar…. Not the kind I was hoping for with cocktails and wine… but a bar that you lift with a heavy weight on the end…. Thank goodness…. I don’t have to have the weights on. No doubt we will be working up to having them on at some point but for now I am really happy that they are off!
Deadlifts…. Michael gives a demonstration as to how to do it… Back flat, feet at a certain distance, make sure you have your knees and ankles in a certain position ( I can’t remember what this is now but I am sure it will come back to me when I need to perform this move again) Actually…. I am not sure if I had to lift the bar above my head now…. I think this part is blurry as I had a few too many glasses of wine last night! Anyway I got certainly feel my left glute working hard.
Onto the battle-rope and slam ball!! 30 seconds of battling with the rope and then straight into bending down and picking up the ball, lifting it above your head and then slamming it down really hard on the floor. I love this style of training and it brings back happy memories of my training sessions with Stuart in 2011. Wow I can’t believe it has been that long…. 2011 was the year I ended up with a Grade 4 stress fracture!
We progress onto the dumbbells and I squat down with them down by my side, explode back up… Not quite an explosion but you get the drift I am supposed to power up!! Oh now I sound like a superhero! Rotate the wrists and into a shoulder-press… I have no idea if I am using the right terminology but I know what the exercise is from this description!
Once the set is done….. The final section….. The big rubber ring/tyre. Squat down, get underneath it…. flip it over, run round to the other side, bend down, and flip it over etc. OK… I can feel it in my thighs now…
Then…. wahooo cool down and stretches. I really really engaged the session. Michael was forever walking around me to check that I had my form correct and would tell me how I needed to make slight adjustments. He was very very professional and I would definitely recommend others to take up the opportunities to book their sessions with him.
Yoga in the Rain!
Well I started Yoga in the rain which was actually really refreshing….. I could so tell that the Yoga instructor did not really want to do it in the rain and I was the only person in the class. I think if it was with an instructor that I have had before I probably would have carried on but I didn’t…. I gave up as I thought I have already had an awesome PT session and I am going to be doing Pilates later and tennis.
Pilates with Victoria.
Wow what a difference a hour or so can make in the weather…. It is back to being really sunny.
Today we start with our eye closed…. standing tall at the end of the mat and focusing on the breath… In through the nose and exhale through the mouth. OMG….. This is so relaxing. I think if I was lying on the floor I would have ended up asleep. Drawing in the pelvic floor; pulling in the belly button into the spine…. waking up the core. It is amazing how doing this class has improved my posture, lifting the arms up, reaching to the sky, squeezing the shoulders back.
Roll down….. I love this move….. I can so feel my stomach getting stronger and stronger everyday. I am definitely going to carry on with Pilates when the club is open.
Side stretches:- making sure you go up and over, ear in line with the shoulder and reach. Then into the dumb waiter movement. I find this one difficult but again I feel as though my range is improving. Not by much but an improvement is an improvement at the end of the day.
Down into squats and lift and reach and then the progression for balance and onto your toes. A little scapula squeeze….. making sure stomach is strong throughout.
Standing tall, inhale reaching up. Exhale hands behind the head, Inhale shrug. exhale relax, inhale open, lift the arms up and exhale and open the heads….. a Corkscrew…. No wonder I had lots of wine last night….. It was as though I had some subliminal message being sent to me throughout the day with the ‘bar in the PT session and now the Corkscrew in Pilates!!)
Standing in a ‘V’ like position, draw legs in together, stomach strong throughout, imagine a couple of books balanced on your head and bend those legs down.. squeeze those legs together. Waking up the legs muscles, waking up through the glutes…. Oh they are awake alright… even though they feel as though they are in a nightmare at the moment!! I have noticed my glutes are getting firmer!! So it must be working.
Waking up the torso and the back now….. Stepping feet wide out, turn the feet out, bend the legs, clasp the hands reaching up to the side and bending down. Bend the legs and lift the heel up, up, down, down. Stomach strong and then the other side.
Fold down, relax the head, hands onto floor feet into hip width apart…. Then rolling down, walk the hands out into press-ups…. and then walk back…. slowing do it again. Stack the spine bit by bit. Then hold plank position…. drawing the belly button in… 8 counts here…. 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and then into an inverted V allowing the blood to flow around the body and stack back up and repeat it again. I seem to be getting stronger in the plank.
Wahooo child pose…/ rest position…. then onto your side, lift both legs up and down… try to lift up through the waist keeping your core strong. Stay lifted then little scissors. Then bend the bottom leg and lift and lower the top stretched out leg…. rest your head…. oops that would be me lifting it up… why I need to look at my legs I do not know…. then round they go…. circle the leg round… nice and smooth and then the opposite way… well done…. before you come onto the other side….. back into that plank…. yeah go me…. Then we do it all on the opposite side as we don’t want to walk lopsided! Then holding the plank again… breathing through it… nearly done… 4, 3, 2, and 1
Today’s session seems to be flying by. Then into a starlike position…. right arm. left leg up and down and then left arm, right leg up and down…. Then pressing finger tips into the floor, chest lifted up, neck is long, keeping focus down and forward…. little flutter kicks… stomach strong throughout.
Rest your head into your hands….. Then lift the right leg, towards your bottom, flex the foot, push the heel up and down. Then work the heel in, flex the foot lift it up, stretch it out and down….
Moving onto our back….. curl-ups…. Progressing to feet up off the floor. Then into opposite arms to legs slides softly pointing the foot and then a little bit harder feet off the floor. Don’t forget to keep the neutral position of the back. Then wahooo…. both arms and legs at the same time…. aren’t I the lucky one?? Actually, today for some strange reason it seems to be so much easier than the normal. I am not sure if the class is easier or whether I am getting used to these type of exercises. Then lift and twist to the opposite knees. I like the reminders to inhale and exhale as I think before I used to do it in the wrong order for the movement! Wrapping hands around the right knee and stretch out the left leg and lift the head up and change.
Now we focus on the waist a bit more. Then we are into position 1 which is still on our back and knees toward the body and toes together and knees out. Position 2 stretch the legs out .Position 3:- turn the feet out and flex the feet. Position 4 take the arms up and over and circle all around and we lift a little higher. Then we are into single leg raises, pointing the toes to lift and flex to lower. Just a simple up and down!!
Now spine curls….. and gradually tilting the pelvis back and gradually peel off and back down. Then we are into bridges, lift the right leg off the floor, up and down…. keep the hips level, stomach strong throughout. I can feel the sweat dripping all down my back… It is gross! Then the left legs turn… by the way don’t think we only do one set of these or any of the other exercises as we don’t!!
Now sitting with our legs straight out…. walk the hands towards the toes…. and walk them back and sitting up nice and tall.. breath in breath out walk the hands in. Take the straight leg behind and reach the arms up and over into a side stretch and work your way down onto your elbow. Then into the mermaid….. Reach up and over and take the hand behind and look into the palm. Then both hands behind and open up the chest and thighs and lift the buttocks and push the hips forward and release.
Moving onto hands and knees and into a cat stretch. Pushing up inhale exhale and drop into flat back position. Lifting right arm and left leg up…. balancing the drinks on your back… Keep the core engaged. Then step the right foot forward in between our hands and lift the arms up and push the hips forward. Look towards right hand. Then move back so the right leg is straight…. stretching the hamstring. Then moving into child’s pose. Then walk hands all the way to the left with right hand on top of the left feeling a nice big stretch down the side of the body. Stretching into an inverted ‘v’. Then child pose for a few moments of stillness.
Back onto hands and knees and gradually rolling up and down the spine standing up and down. Then including the arms to reach up and open. Progressing into side stretches… oh that feels great….. then arms above the head and lower….. Deep breath in and deep breath out…. Well done…. it’s over…. the time just flew by.
Tennis with Mel.
I had another fun session with Mel. The games are lasting so much longer and we battle 40-40 your advantage, 40-40, my advantage and so forth. It seems never ending. I end up winning 6-3 but the score could have gone either way. It was a great game for practicing our serves and also return of serves tonight. The weather is lovely.
I need to get quicker around the court as all tennis players play such a lovely top spin shot that just flies off the court. I so need to learn how to play this shot….
Post-tennis drinks!
What a wonderful night it was…… Anna is such a bad influence upon me…. not though I need much influencing to be fair. It was a fun night with lots of laughter and wine. I so needed tonight… I remember getting home just after 2:30am hence the late blog!
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