Press up power: Janathon day 19

Today for Janathon I went to circuit training for an hour. The session revolved around press ups and squats, or rather, how quickly someone could do 35 of each.

There were five of us this week, and five stations. Four stations had three exercises, which were done in rotation, while the fifth station was press ups and squats. The time spent on each station depending how quickly the person on the press up/squat station could finish their 35.

I've done this type of circuit before, and know from experience not to start on press ups, because if there is time at the end you end up having to do three sets! So I started on the station after press ups, which comprised bicep curls, ab crunches, and jogging on the spot (strength, core, cardio). The next station was tricep dips, back extension, and squat jumps, followed by hamstring curls, reverse crunches, and climbers (my favourite station! Apart from a slight top and pants malfunction during climbers when everything went separate ways). Finally, we did lunges, bicycle curls, and star jumps.

Then it was my turn for press ups and squats. I tried hard to focus on technique this week, to ensure I was getting the best from my workout. Hence I was a bit slow. I've noticed my knee dipping in and out when I squat, which is something my physio Kieran has told me I need to work on, so I focused really hard on keeping everything tight. For press ups, I keep hearing my Pilates instructor when I do these: "shoulders back and down". Makes the press ups super-hard but you do feel the difference. (I also need to remember "pelvic floor and transverse abdominis" and "HIPS, Sarah", but these things take time.)

Fortunately for my friend Duncan who was following me round the circuit, I was slow enough on the second set that he didn't have to do a third round of press ups. He definitely owes me a drink. He also called me out last week for not writing in my blog about how much noise I make when I workout. So I'd just like to add that he was really noisy today.

I'm happy this week because I weighed myself last night and the scales finally read under 150 lb (for a week or two I actually wondered if they were broken). I now weigh 146 lb and have lost 1% body fat. My body water has increased slightly, which is a good sign because I have been actively trying to drink more water during the day. So, 4 lb lost in 2 weeks, I'm happy with that and it keeps me on course to lose a stone by the time I run VLM. (Less than 100 days to go!)