#MyFitJourney: Week 1 And I’m On A Mission To See How Much My Body Can Change

After the over-indulgence of Christmas, I was very happy to take up the challenge of a body transformation and I signed up to six weeks of intensive Reformer Pilates with Platinum Pilates.

The idea was that I was going to kickstart my healthy January and jump straight into my first class immediately after our first day back in the office. I second-guessed my decision when I was snoozing off at my desk on Monday morning at 11am.

With the knowledge that I was going to have to pose for a photograph in my crop top for my before photo, I tried to ditch the Dairy Milk on January 1st. That gave me four days to debloat after the copious amounts of Christmas dinners I was inhaling at every possible opportunity.

The lovely Annie Kirwin is my instructor and she promised me that we’ll see a big change after the six weeks so fingers crossed I can live up to her expectations. The incentive isn’t to lose any weight as I already lead an active lifestyle, but I want to see exactly how much my body can physically change with this amount of intensive exercise.

Here’s week one…

The programme

So, I’m doing four classes of Reformer Pilates a week, which is like regular Pilates that’s done on a bed-like frame as apposed to a mat. There’s a flat platform on the frame which is called the carriage and that’s attached to another part of the machine by a set of springs.

The springs provide choices of different levels of resistance. It sounds complicated and you really need to sit on a machine to get the gist of things.

There’s a whole bunch of exercises that you can do on the machine including squats, lunges, crunches, press-ups, you name it! Each week, the intensity levels are going to increase and each week I’ll hopefully be getting more toned, fit and flexible. (fingers crossed).

I fell off the machine and landed on my back which was pretty embarrassing.

My verdict

I’d done a couple of classes before at my local gym but as soon as I met Annie, I knew this was going to be at an entirely different level.

We jumped straight in and Annie asked me what my goal was, which we decided was toning my arms and stomach in particular.

Immediately, Annie was able to point out interesting things about my body that I’d never even thought about before. For instance, the reason my knees lean inwards is because my glute muscles aren’t very strong. My posture also needs some work and she was instantly able to spot that I had an old injury in my right foot.

There’s no slacking when it’s just the two of you.

The first class began very pleasantly but soon I was sweating, profusely. I’m not a great squatter so I found them particularly tough, especially with the added weight of the Reformer machine.

I fell off the machine too and landed on my back which was pretty embarrassing. Don’t worry, I didn’t hurt myself and this doesn’t happen often. I was actually the first person who’s ever managed to fall off a machine in ANY of their four studios. So that’s an accomplishment in itself, if everything else goes arseways.

Our first few sessions were one-on-one which was incredibly beneficial. I think you can be a bit lazy when you’re in a class, but there’s no slacking when it’s just the two of you.

Throughout the week, Annie really stretched me out and made me push my body more than I ever possibly could without her guidance. We upped the tempo towards the end of the week and our sessions did become more difficult.

I obviously haven’t seen any physical changes yet but I have to say, my mood has definitely improved and I’ve left every class feeling happy, relaxed and content in the fact that I’ve done a good workout. Let’s see what next week brings.

Annie Says

“Genevieve is already in good shape so weight loss isn’t so much an objective for us in this challenge. It’s more about toning, strength and flexibility. We’re working to get some fantastic definition in her arms and tummy and to strengthen her core and build stability.

“After our first session, we highlighted some tightness in her hips and glutes so we’ll do lots of lovely hip opening exercises to increase her mobility and flexibility there.

“Like a lot of girls, Genevieve’s glutes aren’t the strongest, so we’ll do some tough work to strengthen them up. Genevieve’s a super hard worker and very focused so I’m really excited to see where we can take her body in six weeks!”

Tags:

• body
• diet
• exercise
• fitness
• GenFit
• health
• Pilates
• Reformer Pilates