Week 4: It's all about the pole !

WOW. What an awesome week. So excited to be 1/3 of the way through my 12WBT but I can assure you it hasn't been rosy. This week I have really been struggling with my "inner Labrador" (as Mish puts it). In my down time between work and training I find myself walking around the house looking for things to snack on. Its really lucky that our cupboards have nothing that could do a lot of damage in them or I could be in all sorts. 


The training I have been looking forward to the most lately has been swim squad. As a kid, my sisters and I used to train a lot in the pool, being coached by some of the best in Sydney. Both my sisters were top class, with one of them making it to the Pan Pacific games to come home with a few medals. I, on the other hand, found my sweet tooth and skipped training to pig out on lollies and junk food. Thats when I stacked on the kilos as an early teen and gave up on exercise. Since starting my 12WBT I have found a pool with legendary coach Steve Alderman. Steve used to coach some of Australia's best olympians at the Sydney university pool over in Randwick. He has been really helping me with my stroke and is motivating me to push the button to reach my sub 11min for 800m goal. Many of the other lifeguard boys have been coming to his swim squads on a Tuesday and Thursday night which give them a fun feel.

On Wednesday morning I did my weekly weigh in. I was a little disappointed to find I had only lost 0.2 of a kilo. Although I am of the understanding that I have pretty much lost the majority of the fat I had put on and will now, hopefully start to actually gain weight in the form of muscle !


Wednesday night I added a little extra to my session at Shift 60 by riding my push bike to the studio, which, might I add is at the top of a very steep hill. Not only did I smash 770 calories all up, I also got my heart rate up to 184 beats per minute. I am only new to training with a heart rate monitor but I'm absolutely loving it. To be able to monitor your progress as you go is so interesting. It really allows you to push yourself harder and faster every time you train. Do yourself a favour people, GET ONE !

If you have ever watched the episodes of Bondi Rescue when we have the Lifeguard challenge you would have seen Chappo and I have some friendly rivalry. Well this year the banta has already begun with Chappo recently joining twitter and using it as a tool to try and put me off my game. Im quietly confident I can take him down but he assures me and everyone else who care to listen to his dribble that he may have a few tricks up his sleeve this year. I reckon he is all talk "blah blah blah". The Lifeguard challenge this year has been moved forward to mid december and will be a different format so I reckon its anyones game. Bring it on !

Iron Men

This weeks Super Saturday began at 6am with my 2nd 12WBT Fitness Test. I was expecting big things after all the training I had been doing but was sadly disappointed when my time for the 1000m sprint was 8 seconds slower than my 1st 4 weeks earlier. Even though we did extend the course a little after I used a GPS earlier in the week and found the course we had done originally was 30m short I was still expecting a big improvement. After taking into account a 12 hour day of serious manual labouring for a friend the day before I put it down to fatigue and am determined to smash the next one in 4 weeks time. On a brighter note, my flatmate Angela smashed her time and together all our other tests improved dramatically so I still had something to smile about.

Straight from the beach we raced up Bondi road to Shift60 for the 7am "Full Throttle" class. Jessie and I were joined by fellow lifeguard, Corey O and the lovely Amelia Burton. "Meels" as she's better know, is a walking, talking health and fitness encyclopaedia that loves to run marathons. You would have seen her putting the beautiful Kerri anne Kennerley through her paces most mornings on her weekday TV show called, Mornings with Kerri Anne. We became friends when we had a little bet on twitter. The wager was who would do the best time for the Sydney half marathon a few years back. Believe it or not, I won the bet and Meels donated my winnings to the McGrath foundation for me ! Since then we have become good friends, meeting up to sometimes run with a local running club called Sydney Striders. Using her powers of motivation she some how convinced me to do my very first marathon up on the Gold Coast only to take off on me at the 32km mark and smash me by about 20min. Maybe it was payback for the half marathon, maybe not, but either way the feeling of completion after finishing my very first full marathon was unbelievable and I have her to thank.


Our full throttle class was a ripper. All 4 of us were pushing each other to the max on the treadmill intervals. Again I got my heart rate above the 180 beats per minute, was covered in sweat and absolutely knackered by the end.

After a hot shower and quick healthy breakfast Jessie, Corey and I were back in the car headed to The Pole Dancing Academy in Bondi Junction for a Super Saturday Fun Session of Pole dancing. I have always admired what these very fit and extremely strong girls and guys do and thought why not? How bad could I be at it? When we arrived out the front, by chance, our instructor named Shimmy was parking her car and recognised us, especially Corey. Funnily enough he had taught her how to surf 10 years ago. We got straight up there and into a warm up, it wasn't easy and really showed my lack of flexibility. Before we got started on leaning tricks with the pole in walked Aboriginal pole dancing legend and "Australia's got talent" semi finalist, Matty Shields. He was there to practice but was more than happy to say hello, have a chat and even give us some tips.  See Matty's mind blowing semi final performance below:

Now, you'd think having Shimmy and Matty (who placed 3rd at the World Pole Dancing championships as a team in budapest earlier year) as our instructors, we were destined to walk out of there, well, pretty good pole dancers. Ill let you all be the judge, check out the video below and let me know what you think in the comments section. Please be kind :)

Pole Dancing was one of the most fun but also hardest things I have ever done in my life. Its really given me a whole new respect for what these wonderful performers do and I can't begin to imagine the time and effort they put in on a day to day basis to perfect this beautiful art. If you have ever thought about giving it a try I highly recommend it. Don't be scared off because of its level of difficulty, like anything, it just takes time and practice.


Thanks to everyone that sent me emails wanting to SHIFT60, I was blown away. Really wish I could take everyone along. Looking forward to smashing out a Shift 60 session with Melissa Williams and Michaela Banks, its going to be loads of fun !


Today is Lazy Sunday for me. I'm gonna take some photos, learn some guitar, walk the dog and watch some Rugby. Come on Wallabies. 


Thanks again for stopping by, hope everyone has had a great week.


BRING ON WEEK 5 !


Cheers


Reidy