Category: Cross training

Monday saw Kim and I brave a chilly night to attend Denise’s circuit class at the Dolphin Centre again.

Last week didn’t seem to have a lasting after-effect in my muscles (yes yes, I can’t say what I mean without saying the word stiffness, which I’m sure will elicit a good snigger), so I upped the ante this week by trying a little harder, lifting heavier weights etc.  I’ve certainly been feeling it this week!

Daryl, Tony and Lee helped offset some of the pain of the session by joining in my laughter… they’re great guys to work out with!

I’m reminded after each session we’ve attended that Cliff has been trying to persuade me to get back to all-round exercise for what seems like years now… and I now even remember why I stopped in the first place.  Following my skiing accident, where I broke a collar bone, I was having trouble with the other shoulder and the physio suggested I let the muscle reduce to try to resolve it.

It’s definitely time to move on from that and get fit again and I’m also following the Cliff & Nessie diet at the moment… eating a more hearty lunch every day and, well, generally just eating more!  The endorphin rush after each circuit session is palpable and I feel SO much better generally!  If a little stiff this week!

It was back to Denise’s Dolphin Circuits Class tonight, with seemingly even more people than last week and certainly more whose names I knew.  Last Tuesday I sat down right next to Sharon, a lady at an event I was attending, who said that she had followed me around the circuits class the night before!

There seemed to be more activities tonight too, but there were actually 18 last week as well… it’s just that we couldn’t remember what the missing activity was (oblique curls, of course).

I almost joined the two affable guys (who turned out to be Tony & Lee) who Daryl and I had followed round last week, but at the last moment I joined Daryl and new guy (to me) Al on the basis that I could then more easily bridge the gap between the two groups and have a little fun with all four of them… it felt a little like being in the back row at school at times, so a pretty good choice then!

Kim was working her way around on the opposite side of the hall and we kept exchanging Wallace & Gromit grins through various levels of pain, while Sharon and her friends generally had more serious looks on their faces!

Overall though, thanks to the guys in the naughty corner, my laughter muscles got such a great workout that I might even find it difficult to pull a smile tomorrow!

After last week’s re-acquaintance with circuit training, and with the whole-body aching which chased it through the days that followed, Kim and I returned for a further endorphin rush last night.

The Burgess Hill session was fully booked so we took our custom to the Dolphin in Haywards Heath where the trainer, Denise, had assembled a veritable torture chamber of activities… 17 in all.

The warm-up alone had me gasping for air but with a group of around 37 people we were left a little to our own devices on the activities themselves, so I was able to decide my own limits.

Thankfully I was also able to copy my training partner for the evening, Daryl, otherwise I would still be working out the exercises now.

I say copy, but in fact he chose double the amount of weight than I did each time… strange that!

Overall a great workout!  Probably not as hard-core as Burgess Hill, though maybe that’s because I actually re inflated some old, forgotten muscles last week!