1 week down 11 to go !

So the Saturday night before the start of my 12WBT I spent it preparing for the next 12 weeks. You'd think I would have been out drinking beer and tearing into a couple of Quarter pounders but I understand where Michelle is coming from when she urges her team of 12WBTer's to be prepared. Its so instrumental to be prepared and organised if you want to lead a healthy life. It's a little bit like how we do things on the beach as lifeguards. We are prepared to handle just about any situation as quickly as humanly possible and we do daily checks to ensure that equipment is working and ready to go. If we didn't then things wouldn't run smoothly and problems would arise.

Sunday morning I ripped right into my first weekly surprise for week 1, a fitness test. It involved a 1 km (1000 meters) run and a few other strength tests such as push ups and sit ups to name a few. I felt okay but I know there is much, MUCH more work to do to get back to my best. 

My first week has gone well so far. I've been prepared for each day and made sure I fit in at least 1 training session in each day. I like to mix up my training so on Tuesday night after already completing a weights session I went along to a swim squad. When you swim in a squad you push yourself a lot harder than you would if you were just going to the pool on your own. That night I swam over 3km and felt pretty good considering I haven't swum squad since I was 13. As far as I'm concerned swimming is one of the best exercises you can do. Its low impact and you work every muscle in your body. 


The next morning we started our lifeguard induction and to kick things off all the boys were invited to take a class with the crew at a new gym that has recently opened up in Bondi called Shift60. Its run by a couple of super friendly and very knowledgeable guys named Damien and Nick. Their interval based workouts are a combination of aerobic conditioning and functional resistance training and is suited to all levels of fitness. After the morning session I was hooked and after a long day working down in the office at Bondi I backed up for a second class that evening. Nick and Damien thought I was a little crazy but when you walk out of a session covered in sweat and feeling amazing its like a drug and you just want more.

I always knew the first week was going to be easy for me as I'm in the zone and all I am thinking about is staying on top of things like eating well and keeping my training consistent. Its the next couple of weeks that worry me. Thats when old habits start to come back and my mind starts trying to play the "Oh you can miss 1 session" or "Its okay, one burger won't matter" so I have decided to take measures to ensure I am reminded of where I want to be in 12 weeks. I have made the wall paper on my iPhone the list of my goals and I've also made little posters of my goals and placed them in strategic places around my house. Every time I walk past them I make a point of reading them to myself, sometimes out loud. Some may say its silly but I have no doubt many successes have come from silly ideas.

Friday rolled around pretty quick and that meant Lifeguard Sportsman's day. Every year we have a team bonding day where we get together and compete in a selected group of sporting events. Some are main stream and others are just fun. The teams are drawn out of a hat except for the winners and last place team from the year before. (2010 winners Yatsey & Whippet, losers Maxi & Gonzo) They must stay together and try and either reclaim their crown or dig their way out of last place and hand over the wooden spoon. This year we were met with some fantastic weather conditions and some events that were going to keep everyone worried they may end up with the spoon. Fortunately for Myself and team mate Benny Sutherland we came in 6th place behind the winners Whippet and Yatsey. Others weren't so lucky with Bisho and Max Ayshford claiming the "wooden spoon" coming in dead last. Check out the video below for a wrap up of all the days fun. (please note video may be to large to load on mobile devices).

I had plans for making all my Saturday's super training sessions something different and fun but for this weekend due to the extremely hot weather I was called into work so I just smashed out a stairs session early morning then did a quick power weights session in my lunch break. Check out the picture's I took on Saturday below. I shot them on my iPhone 4 and stitched together in photoshop. The cameras on mobile phones are getting so good it's crazy.

So it's 1 week down and there is 11 to go. The hardest part for me this week was when the boys were celebrating the sportsman's day with a couple of beers and I was drinking water. I'm not a heavy drinker but I do quite enjoy a beer. Sometimes you need to make sacrifices if you want something bad enough and feeling one hundred times better is well worth it. Next week isn't as busy for me so I can really plan my sessions and get 100 percent out of them. Does anyone have any suggestions for my Super Fun Saturday Session ? I was thinking I might either head down to Cronulla and try some dragon boat racing or get to the nearest indoor climbing gym and spend a couple of hours there climbing.


Thanks everyone for stopping by :)


Live Your Dreams !


Reidy