Fight Camp Week 4 - Done!

This week was a short one for me.  I missed Monday and Tuesday's sessions because I was away for a long weekend, so only got to Thursday and Friday's sessions.  Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to do exercise when I was away, the weather was a bit nuts so I was restricted to indoors and the hotel rooms were too small or the floors way to creaky for me to do any jumping around.  Instead, we walked miles and miles and miles.  My calves were killing me by the time we got back and are still feeling a bit tight.

My 'official photographer'/motivational coach/trainer/friend, Sheena,  was back on top form today, and assisted me in getting the photographs for me to  put together my little montage!   However, what was meant to be me standing posing to get a few pics done turned into Mistress Walker cracking the whip and had me doing a mini workout, I had only finished this mornings session a few minutes prior.  God forbid she ever gets into Personal Training, her clients woud be quivering wrecks by the end! So, in honour of my hard work and becuase it has been a whole week since I last updated I spent a little time making something special.

(You can click on the image below to see a bigger version)

I've been thinking about something the Fight Camp trainers keep saying (shouting!) during the sessions, "push through the pain".  Easier said than done, right?  

When you have been pushing yourself and your body starts to feel heavy and tired, your muscles feel like they don't have the power left in them to keep going, and the pain in your muscles has you shaking, where do you get that little bit extra to keep going and not give up?  When it comes down to it, is it a case of mind over matter?  How do you ignore the fact that your body is screaming at you to stop and let it rest?  Is it actually mental strength that seperates us from professional athletes?  

I know that when I get to that point where I feel like I want to give up, thats when I need to push harder and drive through to make a difference to my personal fitness levels.  It's constantly pushing and not listening to my body when it gets tired that I need to work on.  I do get frustrated and impatient with myself at times, because I want to push harder and I want to be able to work through the pain, but I think its something that comes with time and practice.  I am coming to the realisation that it is more of a mental battle than a physical one.  My body is going to do what I tell it to, and if I start listening to that weak inner voice that says 'its okay, i know its sore, lets have a wee rest' or 'you can't do this, stop', that is me being mentally weak.  I think I need to work on my mind, whip it into shape by doing some mind/willpower burpees with a pushup.  

I have been doing a bit of reading on the topic and I found this quote from Arnold Schwarzenegger (poor guy has been getting some bad press recently), he is talking about pumping iron, but I think it demonstrates the mental strength required to become better at anything.

"A beginner does eight repetitions of a certain exercise with his maximum weight on the barbell. As soon as it hurts, he thinks about stopping. I work beyond this point, which means I tell my mind that as soon as it starts aching it is growing. Growing is something unusual for the body when you are over eighteen. The body isn’t used to ten, eleven, or twelve reps with a maximum weight. Then I do ten or fifteen sets of this in a row. No human body was ever prepared for this and suddenly it is making itself grow to handle this new challenge, growing through this pain area. Experiencing this pain in my muscles and aching and going on is my challenge. The last three or four reps is what makes the muscles grow. This area of pain divides a champion from someone who is not a champion. That’s what most people lack, having the guts to go on and just say they’ll go through the pain no matter what happens. I have no fear of fainting. I do squats until I fall over and pass out. So what? It’s not going to kill me. I wake up five minutes later and I’m OK. A lot of other athletes are afraid of this. So they don’t pass out. They don’t go on.” 

The weight.  So when I was away at the weekend, I popped along to bots to weigh myself, stood on the scales and according to the boots in Liverpool I was nearly a stone heavier!!! WHAT!!! Aye, that's what I said as well! Decided they must be wrong, all my clothes are a good bit looser on me since I started Fight Camp so I know i'm losing something.  Got home and got on my scales and according to them I am the same as when I started. Whew! What does that mean then? Don't know, but I did measure myself before I started and again two weeks ago.  At that point I hd lost an inch on my bust, waist and hips.  So I know I am losing something.  I won't be weighing myself again until the end of Fight Camp, but I will measure myself over the weekend and check how the inches are doing.  Shan't let it discourage me, just makes me a bit more determined to push myself harder next week.    


Until next time (",) xxx