Starting Personal Training at TRAIN Manchester

Here’s a sentence I never thought I’d be writing: I started personal training sessions. Yep. Me. In a gym. Training. Can you believe? I barely can and I think my friends and family are still in shock. As I’ve made no secret, I’ve never been one for exercise. Over the years I’ve experimented with dancing and running and trying to remain somewhat balanced but over the past two years working in my busy office job, time has ran away with me and I’ve got lazy and uncomfortable. So, it was time to make a change.

My Personal Trainer

Two weeks ago I embarked on a fitness journey with the incredible Personal Trainer Sarah Harradine,  gym instructor at Train Manchester Heald Green in South Manchester, right next to Manchester Airport. Train Manchester is a specialist CrossFit and functional movement gym (arguably the best CrossFit gyms in Manchester I’m told by my fitness friends) and Sarah is the most enthusiastic and knowledgeable person about health an fitness I know.

Not only is Sarah a qualified Personal Trainer, she also has a wealth of fitness industry experience having worked for Reebok and MyProtein, and in her spare time also runs the inspiriting Squatbot blog and Instagram page. Although Sarah is absolute gym junkie and loves all different types of workouts, she specialises in functional movements and is totally dedicated to helping me grow strong. Aside from having a wealth of knowledge about workouts and nutrition, she is always positive, forward-thinking and never fails to push me whilst also raising my spirits. She is a total Superwoman!

You can find out more about Sarah here and inquire about her PT sessions here.

What is Functional Movement training?

I’m sure if you’re a big Instagram user you’ll have seen a lot of referrals to Crossfit, which is similar to functional movement. “#CrossFit” hashtagged images, a lot of ‘girls who lift’ memes or even overheard the gym lads at work boast about how much they lift at their gym sessions after work. But what actually is functional movement training?

To be honest, I had no idea before I started my own Personal Training journey, but it turns out that it’s varied exercises performed at high intensity. This means that your workouts will probably vary from day-to-day and incorporate a mixture of exercises taken from gymnastics, weightlifting, running, rowing and more.

For me, Sarah is training me to get four core exercises perfect (deadlift, squat, bench press and shoulder press – I think!) and each session adds more interesting and intense variants into the mix to get my whole body working. The aim is to have a strong, functional body that is fit and healthy for me.

My favourite exercise

My favourite exercise so far is the hip thrust – or the ‘bum thrust’ as I like to call it. We did this on my second session and after nearly two different hours of me struggling through moves, Sarah excitedly proclaimed ‘we just found your move!’. Of course the bum thrust is my move. Of course! My friends have made lots of jokes about how I’m well practiced at the bum thrusts – and lets be honest it is hilarious – but Sarah reassures me that the glutes are the biggest muscles on the body and so it’s very important to work the booty. Here I am thrusting a solid 50kg on my third session.

My least favourite area to work out? The core. At the end of every session Sarah takes me through a couple of reps of three main exercises (for now – more will be built in soon), including the ‘dead bug’ move (lying on your back with opposite arms and legs moving outwards), the plank and the boat (sitting back and slowly lifting opposite knees from the ground). Although it’s the least enjoyable bit, Sarah always reminds me how important it is  – once you get the core strong, everything else will start to follow.

How often do I work out?

I’m working out with Sarah three times a week and I’ve been doing it for two weeks now. To be honest, I can’t see myself stopping any time soon. I usually go to the gym straight from work on a Monday and Wednesday evening and then also on a Saturday morning to get a weekend workout in.

I feel the days balance out really well for me and help to keep me on track – working out in the evenings also means I don’t get bored at home on my own and crack open a bottle of wine and a chocolate bar to chow down on when I have nothing better to do.Knowing Sarah is there waiting for me also leaves me feeling accountable – I know I wouldn’t be motivated enough at this stage to work out on my own.

My progress so far

As for progress, Sarah told me last night that I have come on leaps and bounds (yesterday I dead lifted 50kg, leg pressed 103kg and hip thrust 50kg) in two weeks and honestly, I’m feeling pretty proud of myself. Let’s face it, I’m never gonna be a body builder and nor am I gonna be an Instagram bikini model with abs of steel, but then that’s not my goal either. I simply want to get into a good routine and feel strong in my own body (although a bit of extra confidence for summer holiday swimsuit season wouldn’t go a miss!).

If you want to embark on a fitness journey too, you can book a session with my Personal Trainer, Sarah, here.