Last week, I did something positively drastic.  I mean that in the literal AND metaphoric sense.

Last week, I put myself and my fitness in the capable hands of a personal trainer.

It was not a decision I made lightly, in fact I had deliberated about it for weeks before even looking for anyone specific.  But it was something I decided I had to do. For the sake of my running, and my overall fitness it had to be a personal trainer. I’ve tried online pilates videos, they just weren’t doing anything for me as I couldn’t interact with them (and it was far too easy to put it off until ‘tomorrow’). I couldn’t find a suitable class in a suitable location at a suitable time and even if I had I know I’d have been intimidated and timid and then wouldn’t have gotten much out of it. I knew a PT would be expensive, but I spent a lot of time looking at my budget and making sacrifices and changes to help with the cost.  As an investment, it is worth making the sacrifices for, right?!

So once I decided that a PT was the way to go, I had to find one! In searching for a PT I had two main requirements. Firstly, that they were accessible (in terms of availability and location) and secondly that they were not a ‘drill sergeant’ type’.  Of course, they had to be affordable too. And thus I found Michael from mypersonaltrainer.ie. I contacted him via his website, explained what I was looking for and asked if he could help. He was in touch with me pretty quickly, within a day I think, which I took to be a good sign!

From my initial consultation with him I felt really at ease. He’s personable, friendly and definitely not a ‘drill sergeant’.  As I explained to him at our meeting, I get enough abuse and bullying in my normal life, I was not about to pay someone to bully me further! Luckily, Michael is a more positive, encouraging PT (as evidenced by the testimonials he receives and which I can now vouch for!).

Most importantly though, he cares about my goals, and what I want to achieve.  He really puts the personal into personal training. He’s not selling me a programme or sticking to a cookie-cutter routine.  He gets that I’m a runner, and that I want to improve my running by getting my core strength up and improve my overall muscle tone.  So everything he has me do has a reason and he doesn’t just tell me what to do, he explains what it’s doing for me.  This move is helping develop my core, that move is strengthening my back, this move is strengthening my legs and so on.

So for the moment, Michael has me doing some resistance work with my legs (ouch!), some weights for my arms and back, and some pilates-type moves combined with weights for my core. I feel so comfortable and confident doing these things now! It helps to have someone showing me what to do and correcting me if I’m getting it wrong.  Also, it’s a fine line between pushing oneself and overexerting oneself, but I know Michael’s got my back on this too. I could easily go overboard with the weights and moves because I’m so excited about doing them, but Michael doesn’t let me overdo it either.

Of course, it’s not all roses and happiness! My sessions are hard work and take a lot of effort! There are times when I’m gritting my teeth, red-face and sweating buckets muttering ‘I hate this!’  But the hate doesn’t last long. Because, when I’m gaining muscle tone and core strength and thus becoming a better runner, it is all so worth it.

Isn’t it?!