everybody hurts sometimes

There's almost something wrong about paying some stranger a semi-vast amount of money to cause you a certain amount of pain. Almost, I say.

Not that I've ever done proper personal training before (apart from setting up random weights/cardio programs by default with people at YMCA), but I guess I did go into this with some idea of what to expect. A good level of motivation, someone to push me to an appropriate level, and an educated estimate of the kind of goals I can achieve by the time I get enlisted.

So it all started off quite harmless. I picked out a trainer (male with a four letter name, not to be too fussy) and we spent the first session in a little consulting room. Took some measurements, didn't do anything more strenuous than a few situps, so things seemed almost too low key. Compared to one of my managers, who managed to throw up after six minutes on an exercise bike during her first personal training session, I thought I got off pretty easy.

My first session was three days ago and I'm still feeling the effects of it. I'm yet to figure out whether this is a good or a bad thing. I possibly made the mistake of telling my trainer that my legs were in pretty good shape, so I'd spent the past couple of months working on core stability and upper body. I must admit that after the workout, those areas of my body weren't rendered completely useless, but my legs were thrashed.

I think what he figured was that he could work my legs a lot harder than my upper body, but that only meant subsequent days of hobbling around and making old man noises every time I had to squat to get drinks out of the bar, or sit down in a car, or ease myself onto a toilet seat. There's the teensiest part of me that knows all this pain means that my muscles will eventually rebuild and be stronger than they were before, but in the meantime I'm almost regretting what I have to go through in order to get that strength.

Such exquisite pain that I haven't experienced for years, possibly since the first time I started going to gyms, which I guess is proof of how far I could push myself given half a chance. But who wants to take that chance? Stairs at work were not fun at all yesterday, and even though I've done some light cardio and upper body work in the meantime, I'm not sure I'm ready to punish my legs with some more work just yet. I think the moral of the story is, don't tell your trainer that you have any particular strengths... because they know exactly how to turn them into weaknesses within thirty minutes.

The handy thing about working with two guys that have just finished personal training courses, is that I can get a little free advice on active recovery. Oh, and a bit of a hand with proper stretching! I must admit that I'm glad I finally got off my butt to get some real training happening, as tough as it's going to be to forge on through work with a smile (and some degree of grace).

I've also got a certain level of immunity whenever I get poached by other trainers while I'm plugging away at my cardio. God knows how competitive a market it really is, but I think if I work out a realistic budget, I should be able to keep up training and still eat properly, with a little luck!