The Zone which is far from comfortable!

For the last sixteen years the one place you could always find me was the gym. The only exception to this, where training is concerned, is when I have a marathon approaching and then I make the effort to pound the streets to get the mileage in! But I love resistance work as well as being very aware of the benefits weight training has on the body both in terms of shape and physiology.

However, like everyone who trains regularly, I’ve fallen into my little comfort zone, doing similar cardio work each gym visit as well as focussing on the same muscle groups when I enter the free weights area of the gym.

The problem with this? Plateau and boredom (and no one wants that!).

Now, anyone who knows me will tell you that, as a rule I don’t play well with others and therefore like to workout on my tod. At the suggestion of joining a running club I actually run away from the idea (oh the irony) as I view it as very important ‘Steph time’. We all need it...a time to decompress, process the day or perhaps work out a mild inner rage if you’ve had to deal with various annoyances during work.

However, on meeting Penny and Gerry who formulated The Naked Trainer, I was persuaded to not only step outside the gym and into Bushy Park, but also train with...OTHER PEOPLE.

• What if I couldn’t keep up with everyone else?

• What if (and this was a biggy) I didn’t get a good workout and then had to continue seeing Penny and Gerry on a social basis and then try and explain why I didn’t return for another session?!!!

Oh the trauma! And yet extremely short lived and my mind put to rest within the first five minutes of my first training session with them!

Not only was I out of my mental comfort zone of training in the gym, alone, but The Naked Trainer made my body work in such a way I got to enjoy DOMS* for two days afterwards. Such an amazing feeling, and quite frankly when DOMS stop occurring you need to change it up, which can be tricky when you’re only motivating yourself. So to finally be out of my physical comfort zone has been fantastic.

I love the huge variety within one training session, swinging kettlebells, sprints, squats (just to name a few!). I love the fact that I’m physically exhausted. I love knowing I have DOMS coming my way the next day. And, dare I say it, I love being out of the gym mixing with people who are all there for the same reason: to increase fitness, change body shape and, essentially feel good.

Moreover I also love the fact that both Penny and Gerry (how many times can I say it, it just rolls off the tongue!) ‘walk their talk’. They look amazing and sound amazing (the enthusiasm is infectious) so when the sweat is dripping off me and my legs are like jelly somehow their motivation gets me through, and I don’t need to worry when my technique falters either because before I know it one of them is shouting at me or (perhaps more scarily) standing in front of me making the necessary corrections so I’m engaging the muscle groups I should be as well as keeping me injury free!

In fact the only part of the whole process I find personally frustrating is that I can’t massage myself the next day to speed up my recovery in between sessions but I guess there’s the pleasure of revenge when I get The Naked Trainer on my massage table feeling the full wrath of my elbows!

For more information on training sessions with The Naked Trainer please visit their website

Go on...get out of your comfort zone!

*delayed onset of muscle soreness