Train Like A Beast :: SOS Fitness, 30 Day Shred, Kettlercise

There are many things in life that I would like to be (confident karaoke singer, sharp-witted acid-tongued out of a workout. This is a lifestyle I could never envisage having, even though I do workout regularly.  My exercise is often soundtracked by my inner child protesting that we should just go eat chocolate instead.  And my inner child often wins.  However, something weird happened to me recently that has made me think that becoming a fitness junkie isn't as far out of my reach as I once thought.  
comeback thrower, possessor of nun-like patience) but top of that list is compulsive exerciser.  The sort of person who starts the day off with a run regardless of how early it is or what the weather is doing, the sort of person who takes their gym kit on holiday with them, the sort of person who has to talk themselves

Maybe it was stars aligning, maybe aliens abducted me in my sleep, maybe Paul McKenna was involved  somewhere, but I found myself in a position where I had not one or two but three fitness commitments made one on top of the other.  As a result I had three weeks where exercise was the centre of my focus, and it felt great.  The first was an ongoing commitment, my Kettlercise class.  I blogged about this before when I was just a beginner.  I've been a regular ever since, and after ten weeks I am still hooked.  I've gone up a Kettlebell size for all but the prolonged overhead lifts, and my legs are looking better than they have in my entire adult life.  This progress has shown me that I can achieve more than I believed I could, and that I am capable of pushing myself.

My second commitment came from my Day Zero project - goal #06, complete the 30 Day Shred.  My other fitness  commitments meant that I didn't manage to do the full 30 days, so can't yet cross this off as completed, but I did manage to get to level 3.  That is just incredible to me, considering it was my first attempt.  I think what helped me progress was the format of the programme itself.  The circuits are short and none of the exercises last longer than a minute (most are 30secs), so even the nasties (urgh, I'm looking at you squat thrusts!) are bearable because the end is always in sight.

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There wasn't anything I didn't like about this workout, though it would have been nice to see Jillian break a sweat rather than stopping every exercise to talk us though it!  I'm looking forward to taking another stab at it in a few months, and would love to work up to the point where I could do the full 30 days at level 3.

The final fitness commitment kind of came out of nowhere.  I got talked into signing up for a £15 one-month offer to SOS Fitness when they had a stand at my village's gala recently.  I was aware of this boot-camp style fitness club already, as anyone who joined seemed to be instantly brainwashed and last summer my Facebook feed was flooded with cult members trying to convert the rest of us.  I hadn't been interested in it at all, but the deal was very generous.  Unfortunatelty I really didn't make the most of my £15 because the Milkman kept being held up late at work on SOS nights, and things like parents' evening, Kettlercise and the Milkman's running club also clashed.  I did manage to get to a couple of sessions of the core SOS offering though, and whilst I haven't been indoctrinated I can see why it is popular.  I really liked the circuit aspect, much for the same reasons as I liked the 30 Day Shred.  And I enjoyed the equipment too - there is something very satisfying about bashing a tyre with scaffold poles, doing pushups on a medicine ball and throwing powerbags over your head.  But there were a lot of things I really didn't enjoy about the format. Running, for starters.  There was a lot more than I had been lead to believe there would be, and whilst I do want to take up jogging soon I just don't feel ready yet, and so didn't appreciate being thrown into it.   Another major issue I had with it was the phrase "find a partner."  I am shy and socially awkward - I have trouble just talking to new people, let alone throwing my full body weight on to their back or crawling between their legs.  I am also a very unattractive exercisee - I go bright red and sweat like a polar bear in the desert.  I don't even want to make eye contact with anyone when I'm in that state, so physical contact was a humiliation too far for me.  Another biggie was the feckering midges - sorry but exercise, in a park, in Scotland...no, just no.  I still had bite scars a week after the first session and even with repellant it was hard to give my all when I looked as if I was doing the celtic version of bee bearding.

Not me, but nearly...

 I don't think SOS is for me.  I never got to try their Metafit class though, which was also part of the offer.  I'm a bit peed off about that, as I think that may have suited me better than the core offering given that it combines the exercise elements I like (indoors, solo, short).  But I know I can go along to a class another time, so it is still on my radar.

At times in those three weeks, my commitment levels reached that much-lusted after height of compulsion.  I felt a need to exercise, and even when my motivation was waning all I had to do was force myself into my  workout gear and I was ready to go.  I felt healthy, powerful and capable of so much.  But it didn't last, as the fourth week (last week) I was hit by the lurgie and all my motivation simply vanished.  Given that I'm away on holiday this week, and return to work after ten months maternity leave next week, I'm struggling to see how I'm going to get back into that state of mind anytime soon.

But what I can take away from this experience is the solid concrete proof that I can do it, that I will do it again and that it really isn't beyond my abilities to become a  superfit supermotivated woman.  During the 30 Day Shred Jillian Michaels says that once exercise has proved to you what you are really capable of you will start to believe in your strength in all the other facets of your life. I honestly believe that to be true, and the timing of that is so perfect considering that I am starting a new job.  I feel motivated to tackle not only exercise but all of life, full-throttle.