Once We Were Sloths 2

Four months on and it is about operating at newer fitness levels that seem to occur on a weekly basis.

In terms of weight I have hovered between 96 – 99 kg but now that weight is built around a newer and firmer body configuration. The inability to drop more weight has been extremely frustrating despite the more positive side which is that I have kept the 20+ kilos off I have lost since I started in late 2009.

I have offset the frustration in the weight department against the fitness gains and other positive changes.

My waist has gone from 104 cm to 102 cm and my pants size from 97cm to 95 cm.

Since the start of the new year I have increased exercise classes from 2 hours of circuit class a week with 1-3 hours of badminton to:

• 2 hours of circuit (done at higher levels of intensity and faster recovery)
• 1-2 hours of badminton
• 2 hours of Spin
• 1 hour of Body Combat
• 1 hour of Pump

A strong keenness to add more sessions but university semester is beginning and will only be able to do early morning classes and evening classes (which I haven’t tried yet).

The most noticeable change has been my flexibility (in Sloth 1 – the increase in flexibility had been noticeable but now it is at a whole other level). Each week there is a surprising but much appreciated moment (or several) when I do something and then realised that I couldn’t do that previously:

• Rise from a low chair without using my hands.
• Grab my ankle for a quad stretch.
• Lay in bed and bring my knee up to my chest.
• Do a squat and instead of meeting resistance within nano seconds I keep squatting lower and lower.
• I can now twist my body almost 180 degrees.

In terms of fitness I find that not only do I have the capacity and energy for extra exercise sessions (sometimes 2 on the same day) but I am putting in more effort during those sessions.

The beginning see - Once we were sloths - A tale of slow conversion