NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 10 – Day two was a breeze. Hand-clap please! Thank you! Thank you! I honestly felt like I had been going to the gym all my life!
Augustine, the instructor on duty, upped my treadmilling tempo and level to 5 and 3 respectively and I thought I was going to die! But I broke a sweat after the first ten minutes and began to appreciate the workout. Focus people. Focus on the good-stuff.
After 20 minutes on the treadmill, I was put on the cross-trainer for another 20. At this point I was a bit awkward because even though I had been on one before there had to be a less clumsy way for members of the ‘club’ to do it, yeah? You do understand what I mean? It took a good five minutes before I could establish a rhythm between my arms and legs that didn’t mess up with the breathing I was trying out.
By the way, point of note. After every exercise, it was impressed upon me by the instructors to drink some water. Nice and slow, as I brace for the next task. In this case it was the bike – 15 minutes this time.
I was nice and damp at the end of this and my energy levels were well high. I remember Frank, the nutritionist telling me to start the day on heavy carbohydrates, at least six servings of whole wheat in the morning. I only managed two slices of brown toast, one boiled egg and a cup of tea. But I had a LOT of energy.
I was shown a mat and thought it was time for stretching again (yippee!) but Augustine had been looking at my tummy (behind my back) and said to me firmly and gently that we need to ‘burn a little fat’ around the tubby. I did about 50 sit ups with the big ball and it felt good. Straight crunches, stunted sit-ups to each side, and the whole act of trying to make the fingers and toes meet.
The next stop was some funny gadget. I’ll find out the name for you. But basically you get onto this platform and kneel on it, as you use your body to lift weights, lifting your body at the same time. Ok, am I confusing you? I’ll do it again tomorrow and then let you know exactly how those levers work and what effect they have on your un-toned body.
My stretch today was even more amazing. Augustine cracked my back about three times in three different places, at the snap of a finger.
A strange thing I must share with you though, everyone was smiling at me and saying hello. I mean it, everyone was so welcoming I managed to think up a sordid horror/thriller plot on ‘The New Gym-er’. Pretty cool eh? I was encouraged.
My hair was a mess. I had been using a durag during training. So I rushed to the salon before coming to work. Sigh…
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