For some months now I’ve been having personal training sessions with Aida – absolutely fantastic and she’s changed my life after returning to the gym following a quadruple heart bypass. I’m a long-time hockey player and wanted to get back on the pitch with my ageing, slowing-down buddies. Aida totally got that and we’ve worked slowly towards a date (which happened a week ago) when I picked up a stick and played half a game. It was wonderful – I hobbled around a bit for 24 hours the next day, but it was worth it.
But my sessions with Aida had all been a prudent 30 minutes. So she suggested I dialled it up a bit and took on a 45 minute Group Coaching class with Claire. It might not sound like much but in effect it was a 50% increase in workout time. I was there with 4 ladies including my wife (so nervous or what?) but Claire was lovely and there was both a sense of focus, a sense of purpose and a sense of humour.
It was wonderful. We started with some stretch and some resistance exercises just using our own body weight. Claire then set up a short circuit of three stations including the lat-pull-down machine, dumbbells and weights on the bar for Romanian dead-lifts. Each exercise was 35 seconds with about the same recovery time. Two rounds of that and then three different stations twice over before we switched to mat work and core.
Now actually I’m not that much cop at floorwork – with various sporting injuries if I get down on the floor I struggle to get back up! But Claire immediately found me an alternative option, so I was just as active and didn’t lose out at all. By now, even standing under the aircon I was glowing nicely.
The session, which had flown by, ended with more stretching. And in my case more than a bit of heavy breathing – I was really feeling rather knackered, but in the best possible way. Perhaps most importantly I felt that my work out buddies were also feeling thoroughly ‘worked out’. It was a clever session that let everybody stretch to their maximum ability.
It was enormous fun. One of the great things was that changing stations every minute really kept your brain active and totally involved ‘talking’ to your different muscle groups. In particular one of my problems post-heart bypass was that I needed to rediscover my muscle memory and reconnect my brain to what had previously been automatic functions. It’s a very practical way of looking at how important exercise can be for the brain as well as the body.
Overall I did some things I hadn’t done before, a more rapid pace than I’d worked at before, the session had made me think and, like all good workouts, left me wanting to come back for more. I have no plans to stop PT with Aida as we have a structured program. But having Claire throw me a few curve balls in the company of others was interesting, fulfilling and just a little exciting.
Group coaching is held Monday to Saturday and is available as part of our wellness membership packages or on a pay-as-you-go basis. Pre-booking is required.
By Al Campbell, Bodywise Member.