1 Month Personal Training Update

One month in from starting my personal training sessions at TRAIN Manchester with the fabulous Sarah Harradine of Squatbot and I can honestly say my life has changed.

No longer am I reaching for crisps at my desk to occupy myself during work. No longer am I coming home after a long day at work, sticking in a microwave meal because I’m short on time and grabbing a glass of wine on my own to unwind.

Instead, I’m going straight from work to the gym, conscious of what I’m fulling my body with, working as hard on my body as I have been doing on my career and trying to create the best version of myself in health and fitness as I do in my job and blogging.

Change in Mindset

If someone told me I would have made such a big change in myself four weeks ago, you would have had me on the floor in stitches. In fact, I had almost become renown in my family and friendship circle as ‘the one who hated exercise’ and would rather sit with a glass of wine and watch sport rather than ever dreaming of joining in myself.

Heck, I’m no angel now but the fact that I have been sticking to three personal training sessions per week at a Crossfit inspired gym is a change I never could have imagined. I’ve been working hard, lifting some heavy weights and monitoring my calorie intake daily to ensure I’m staying balanced throughout the week.

Sure, I still have a bottle of wine and a pizza at the weekend, but now I make sure that if I am indulging on a Saturday I’ll compensate for it by eating more protein and veggies on a Friday. And that’s one of the most important changes my coach Sarah has brought to my lifestyle: balance.

In fact, I mentally feel much more positive, uplifted and am sleeping better at night. All things that everyone tells you are benefits of regular exercise, but all things I never truly believed I would see in myself.

Change in Body

Of course, I didn’t want to just do Personal Training to change my mindset (although I have found this to actually be the most important turning point for myself).

Changing my body was also important to me and although I’m still happy being squishy and curvy in some areas, Sarah has definitely brought out some significant results in myself that I couldn’t have expected.

After working out an average of three times a week with Sarah based on functional movement and strength training, I am pleased to report that during my first measure in I have lost 9cm from my waist, and 15cm from my hips.

To be honest, I could hardly believe the change myself. I hadn’t noticed any rapid difference but it has given me motivation to keep going. When people ask how much weight I’ve lost, I say I honestly couldn’t tell you. Sarah doesn’t concentrate on weight and I personally am not interested in how much I weigh – we are much more interested in how strong I get, how much easier I move and feeling more comfortable in my clothes. Dropping a dress size or two would just be a personal bonus for me.

Next Steps

I now hope to carry on my personal training sessions with Sarah at TRAIN Manchester in Heald Green (budget and schedule allowing!) and am also looking to take out a gym membership at another local gym so I can top up my strength workouts with a little swimming and classes on my days off from Sarah.

If you are local to Manchester and are interested in personal training sessions, I would highly recommend The Squat Bot! You can find out more about Sarah here and inquire about her PT sessions here.