I Came, I Saw, “I Survived”……

Three things I learned on Sunday;

1. Getting sweat in the eye really stings.
2. More than 5 burpees induces a kind of vomiting sensation.
3. The floor of a boxing gym is pretty damn smelly (I know my face was down there a lot!).

I’m proud to say all of these insights were a direct result of completing my first training / selection session on Sunday. I’d give you all a virtual high five but my arms and shoulders are currently unable to move with any speed or vigour…

The session was not only a chance for the trainers to scare the living crap out of us but also part of our selection process which saw around 100 enthusiastic newbies split between two competing gyms; red and blue (this fades down to about 20 for each gym after a while). The training or as I like to refer to it – ‘torture’, consisted of two back to back 30min sessions with each gym, a mix floor work and then bags and then floor and then bags again!

I’m not unfit by general standards and have been quietly training in the background in preparation and the hope of avoiding a complete physical breakdown. But I tell you I’ve never sweated so much in my life- it was like the Niagra Falls flowing off me! This would normally not be a problem if I could access a towel but while being adorned with 16″ounce boxing gloves the wiping of my forehead was impossible. This is how I came across lesson 1 (sweat in the eye stings!).

After a while it was easy to figure out that the preferred method of torture (from both trainers) is the infamous burpee. The burpee itself is very innocuous. There’s no heavy barbell or kettlebell. There’s no intense gymnastics element like a pull-up or handstand push-up or even a rope climb. But regardless – that sh*t is cray!

To understand the 2nd and 3rd lesson you’ll have to picture one of those days when you might have been driving past a runner, like a proper one, who just seems to bound like a spring from one leg to the other looking all agile… this is not me! And I have very little hope that I will ever get that ‘spring’ in my step.

You see my ability to go from standing to lying flat on the floor and back up again is pretty poor- actually this just doesn’t exist. Personally I like to take the ‘Falling Brick’ approach where, just like chucking one off the top of a ladder it smashes on the floor with no grace and one loud thud #thisisme!  Then like a poor helpless 90 year old lady without her walking frame, I try and clamber off the ground and get myself back in to a standing position. All in time for the trainer to yell “DOWN” and I have to do it all again!

In all honesty I was seriously petrified going into Sunday, and don’t get me wrong it was one of the hardest workouts I’ve experience. But I survived, and the reason I did – there were a bunch of bloody awesome humans doing the same thing as me and feeling just as exhausted.

What now? Well from the 30th of January for 14 weeks our lives end up in the hands of our trainer (for me this is Asher from the blue gym in central Wellington). My meals, my fitness, my sanity all rests with this poor guy – if you know me you’ll know he’s got a big job in front of him.

Check out some action shots below from Sunday – I’m in the pink.

Whoop I made it, sweat and all! Go Blue Team