Fitness Challenge - Week 6

IF THIS was Rocky, I'd have done the last six weeks in the form of a 90 second montage.

But it's not, and I haven't. The reality is, getting in shape takes time. You've got to put in the hard yards.

"I collapsed over the finish line with nothing left in me. 'Yeah, maybe we were a bit cruel on you there,' mused Sean. Really?"

I'm not generally known for my patience, so keeping me interested has been a big part of my training so far. Every week at Strength and Performance brings something new or routines and drills I haven't done before.

They're all more punishing than the last, but it's sort of like going through progressively harder baddies on a computer game. And the bigger the are, the harder I normally fall over.

The first session of this week was a horrifying case in point. Yes there were some sled pulls and sledgehammers to test myself against, but we ended with a special treat - 'prowler suicide'.

I work off the basis that nothing with the word 'suicide' in the title is going to be particularly fun. The prowler - you'll know it by now - was brought inside as Zoran laid out a course the length of the gym.

Push there, pull back. Push to there, drag back. Both were horrible and I felt like I was trying to move a double decker bus full of Texans.

But the last session was worse. Zoran laid out four cones. Push to the first on low handles, to each cone, then back on the high handles. By the end of that, I collapsed over the finish line with nothing left in me.

'Yeah, maybe we were a bit cruel on you there,' mused Sean. Really?

They also took the mickey out of my Dangermouse t shirt later in the week, for a session that was more varied, but just as effective - see the videos below.

I'm starting to get comments about how much weight I've lost - 8lbs so far - and I feel in much better shape, even in this short space of time. I'm quicker, stronger and more flexible. 

When I got in, Rocky IV was on the telly. I watched the bit where he went up into the mountains, grew a beard and got into the shape of his life to slap Ivan Drago around and avenge Apollo Creed.

Not a kettlebell in sight. Hollywood eh?

www.strengthandperformance.co.uk