Day One!
One year ago to the day I walked into my local gym, BPT Fitness. I had just come back from spending a few weeks in Spain on a family holiday, were I made the decision that I really wanted to give a gym a try.
I did some research and a local gym had just moved five minutes from my house. It’s a class based gym with options for Personal Training too. They were offering a free trial for a week so I just went for it.
And it has been the best decision I ever made and the best year!
I had given home workouts a try, they worked very well for nearly four months, but then they started to drop off and gradually disappear. I had given jogging a go. I say jogging as the speed I was going could not be described as running. Oh, and I HATE running, so that was never going to last.
I joined a commercial gym. I wandered around watching everyone else looking like they knew what they were doing and ended up copying them. I was clueless when it came to working out in a gym and therefore got no enjoyment out of it, so left after two months.
While I was at that gym I mainly used the machines but longed to head on over to the free weights area. I loved how everyone there, mainly massive men, were pushing their limits every day but without knowing what I was doing I didn’t have the balls to try…
So this day last year I walked into BPT Fitness to an evening class. I was pumped and also worried that I wouldn’t be ale to keep up, but I was ready for whatever they threw at me.
It was deadly! I was squatting barbells, doing burpees, lifting dumbells, lunging.. you name it! Everyone was so nice and helpful. On my way out one of the instructors said, so when will we see you next and before I knew it I had agreed to come again the next morning!
Three Weeks In
That first week I went four days in a row. I was broken. Like actually broken. Every muscle in my body was in agony. They had performed tasks that had never been asked of them! But this is where my passion was ignited.
For the past 52 weeks I have consistently turned up to the gym five or six mornings a week and I LOVE IT!
My class booking stats say I’ve booked into 388 classes in a year and out of those I’d say I’ve cancelled out of a maximum of 25. So that’s basically 363 classes this year!!!!
They put on a huge variety of classes every day that cover strength, conditioning, cardio, spinning, circuits and more so I basically get a full body workout every week. The classes are small so they tailor the class to the people there and the craic is brilliant.
I have found something I love and it’s the combination of the trainers, the craic and the hard work that makes it so great. It is such an important part of my life now for so many reasons, and after a year of consistent training I’m really seeing the results.
When I started there was so much I couldn’t do, coz I’d never done it before and it’s so cool to see how much I’ve progressed and how much stronger I am!
- My first day I could just about do one press up from my knees. I can now do loads!
Yaaassss!
- I started lifting 5kg dumbells for everything. I’m now using up to 30kg dumbells for some exercises!
- I had never squatted a barbell before. I now squat 105kg and box squat 115kg.
- I had ever done a glute raise or Hip Thrust. I now shift 147kg.
- I had never bench pressed. I now decline bench press 63.5kg.
- I had never done a shoulder press. I now press 40.25kg.
- I am very very nearly able to do a pull up… I’m not spending enough time at it. I will get it soon though and must set myself a target!
- And since January this year I have lost 13kgs in weight… all while building my strength.
I’m doing ten hours a week, spread across the mornings. I go before work, starting at 6am most morning. It’s done and dusted before the house is awake and it’s when I work best.
In January I added in one Personal Training session a week with one of the instructors Adam and I love it! We are consistently setting new targets and goals for me to achieve. The PT sessions have allowed me to explore what my fitness goals are, what sort of progress I’d like to see and then be accountable for reaching them!
I also LOVE a challenge so I regularly have little challenges set for me by Adam to try and to this day I’ve never not attempted one of them!
Three weeks ago
So if you are reading this (thank you!) and are thinking you’d like to get a little fitter, stronger, bigger or smaller I can highly highly recommend joining an instructor led gym and lifting weights.
I have finally found something I love to do surrounded by the best people. The combination of support, hard work and fun at BPT Fitness is what keeps me coming back every morning!
I only wish I found it ten years ago!
Check out BPT Fitness on Insta @bptfitness
Ben Howard has a lovely song called Depth over Distance. I’ve been humming it all day so I decided to listen to it as I haven’t heard it in ages.
It’s a stunning song, especially this live version. It’s the title that interests me though, in relation to mindfulness.
I’m new to mindfulness and sometimes I find it a fantastic experience and other times I get frustrated. At the moment I really like all the breath work – The body work is a whole different experience that I will talk about again.
I find it easier to focus on my breath and to refocus on my breath after I get caught in thought, but after around 15 minutes I sometimes begin to feel real discomfort in my body, even though I’m not doing any body work.
I know this is something I need to work with and I will. But maybe just for now I need to try 10 minutes at a time and, for the time being, it’s going to be about depth over distance.
That is the Question.
I have a form of Neuralgia. What is that? My description of the pain is – random severe nerve pain all around and behind my left ear, leaving me unable to concentrate, speak and function when it’s at it’s worst.
The pain can last from a couple of minutes to, more recently, a couple of hours. It overshadows everything else that is happening and if I can, I just head for the bed. That doesn’t shift it, nothing does, but at least all I have to do is lie there.
It strikes when I’m driving, in work, out with friends, out running… anywhere and everywhere. It also strikes every single night, waking me. It’s nerve pain, so pain killers won’t even touch it.
I could no longer take the random attacks and a while ago decided to get it investigated. It started with a visit to an Ear, Nose & Throat specialist… he found nothing, then a CT scan of my brain…. nothing.
Then two and a half hours in an MRI machine getting five scans of my brain. That was not a whole lot of fun but meditation kept me ok and still.
The results of that…. nothing.. all clear. Which of course is good news as there was no sign of MS, strokes, tumors etc…. so after all of these tests my neurologist confirmed that, by process of elimination, I do have Neuralgia of the fifth nerve that wraps around my ear.
I have tried three different hard core medications to ease the pain including anticonvulsant meds and tricyclic antidepressants. At certain dosage these meds are very effective at treating nerve pain and many other issues.
They both came with horrible side effects including shaking, unbelievable drowsiness, chronic thirst, problems with my sight, restlessness, weight gain, huge forgetfulness, swollen glands and basically being off my trolly! I took varying doses of these meds, increasing the dose with my doctors guidance.
A proceedure called Gamma Knife was suggested which is radio therapy into the nerve in my head. This option scared me so I decided to try acupuncture. He worked his magic and it really did work but it’s just not financially viable to keep up a weekly appointment I’m afraid.
I’ve just visited a Pain Specialist in the Sports Surgery Clinic in Santry – what a gaff! – and have now been booked in for a procedure involving needles into my neck and skull… I can’t even think about it.. to treat my wonky nerve. I may have preferred the Gamma Knife procedure!
This consultant has suggested I try the antidepressant medication in a low dose and just at night time. And I don’t know what to do.
I bought them; they’re up beside my bed. Perhaps at this lower dose they will be side effect free but it’s only after three weeks you begin to see any results.
You see, they are altering the chemicals in my brain and I’m not sure I’m cool with that.
But does that trump the random pain?
I think I’ll sleep on it.
The fabulous Gary Crossan, my Marathon Coach for the Amphibian King Operation 42km, was in touch with me on Monday last with my orders for last week… 3 x 20min runs. I was dead set on sticking to it, even thought I’m bricking it that I’ll never make the distance – but he’s the expert and has done this hundreds of time. I am a complete novice.
I was being restricted in my runs so my shin splints could heal a little and I ended up going against the professional advice, even though I swore I wouldn’t do it. I was actually really surprised with myself when I went over on not one, not two but all three of my runs! The last one I went over spectacularly by a whopping 25mins. What a wally! I felt like such an eejit telling him.
So, from now on I do things by the book. I trust in Gary to get me to the start and finish line in October. This week is 3x20mins running with 4x20mins on the foam roller.
So for the moment it’s Depth over Distance….
Sitting on the bench... 