THE Observer's Vanessa Cornall and Lisa Kenyon are embarking on a get-fit programme for the New Year - you can follow their progress here ...
WEEK TWO:
THE end of week one. I thought it would never come around.
After working so hard on our initial training session we had set the bar for future work outs. But this week we were in for a treat – our strength workout.
The idea is to reduce body fat during the cardio work outs and tone our muscles to improve definition with the weight training.
My targets for the six week Empower programme at Energie Gym, based at the Globe Centre, were to tone up my wobbly bits and improve my fitness while Vanessa set herself the goal of toning up her arms and stomach and hopefully losing a few pounds and inches.
Our trainer, Sharon Booth, certainly doesn’t take any prisoners. As we moved around the different pieces of equipment, we alternated between leg and arm muscles to improve performance. Our aim was to do as many repetitions as possible on a weight set by Sharon and move on to the next piece of equipment. Once the circuit was complete, we do it all again before cooling down.
I never thought weight training could get your heart racing so much!
Slave driver Sharon would only let us stop after our arms and legs had started to shake and we couldn‘t physically manage any more. But I must admit that I felt good about myself afterwards.
We were told that stretching exercises were essential and would reduce – not eradicate – any muscle fatigue from the workout.
Despite doing these I felt like I had my arms in traction for the next few days because I had awakened muscles I never knew existed.
With a goal of completing two strength and one cardio session a week, both Vanessa and I comfortably fitted the workouts into our working week. After all we don’t have much excuse as the gym is just around the corner from work.
All we have to do now is keep up the good work in the gym.
WEEK ONE:
NEW year, new me - and this time I mean it!
I know it’s something all women say as the January fitness bug kicks in.
But following an indulgent Christmas and New Year I was even more determined than usual to get into shape after I heard about a new fitness programme at an Accrington gym that guarantees results.
John Simon, the owner of Energie Gym, in the Globe Centre, Accrington, called me on a wet miserable December day asking me to imagine a new fitness programme that could help me reach any goal, if I would commit to three half-hour sessions a week for six weeks.
Instantly my ears pricked up. Surely three half-hours a week wouldn't be enough. So I asked him to prove it and he invited myself and my colleague Lisa Kenyon to take up the programme.
On Monday we were shown around and had our weight, height, blood pressure and flexibility levels taken as part of the Empower programme.
Personal trainer Sharon Booth asked us to state our goals – something we could measure our progress by at the end of the six weeks. I chose to tone up my arms and stomach with the aim of hopefully losing a few pounds and inches. While Lisa said she wanted to tone up her wobbly bits and improve her fitness.
In the gym, John challenged us on four pieces of cardio equipment - the bike, the treadmill, the rower and the cross-trainer, forcing us to set times he would later expect us to beat regularly. We instantly regretted being so competitive on the first day.
After some final floor work and stretches we were allowed to go home after booking our first strength session.
Check out our progress in next week’s Observer ...
