Don't Confuse Sweating with Progress

Bathed in their own sweat and fresh from Tuesday’s bootcamp class Mary said her goodbye to Jane and told her she would see her again for 7pm Pilates class tomorrow evening.

Mary had been attending her local bootcamp class three times per week for eight weeks but was disappointed to have noticed that her initial progress in fitness and strength had dropped off drastically and although she could now squat and lunge with her own body weight and burpees were just slightly less nauseating she still felt that doing endless rounds of box jumps, light kettlebell swings, skipping, running, push ups off her knees etc left her feeling bored and miles away from getting her first pull up or push up off her knees.

Shehadenjoyed the classes in her first few weeks as she was coming from total inactivity because life just got so busy after returning back to work six months after having her second child. Yes she toned up a little but wanted to get stronger, drop a bit more body fat and touch her toes without feeling like her hamstrings were going to snap.

She thought that the Pilates class would help with her mobility but noticed that the class focused more on holding her core tight and very little actual stretching.

Mary was just a little tired of sweating as it wasn’t delivering the progress she wanted and decided that next week she would try out another trainer in her area that seemed to have a different approach to training. Mary was surprised to discover how important her mobility was to her progress as she struggled to pass a basic screen the coach had her take her (See Improve your Mobility article).

It made sense to her as to why she thought her back was weak when her hamstrings and hips were so tight and apart from 30secs stretching here and there this was something that no one had addressed with her.

She then proceeded to relearn all the movements she thought she had perfected in her classes. She learned the importance of breathing correctly and how that influences her ability to stay tight in virtually all movements. She began to question what she had been doing in Pilates class as a basic hollow hold even her 6yr old daughter was doing all the time in her gymnastics class was making her shake like a leaf. In her new training sessions, Mary finished with conditioning or fitness work where she had her heart rate up and again was shocked to learn that this part of the session was not the priority – initially fixing her poor mobility and getting her stronger was far far more important.

She had gotten so used to thinking that unless every session had her gasping for breath that it was a waste of time. However, moving is great,  just make sure it’s in the direction of progressive progress NOT just exercise for the sake of exercise.

I recommend you look for the following attributes when you join a gym, start a bootcamp class or start to work with a trainer:-

1) Is there proper focus on form and correct performance of the movement

2) Is mobility an integral part of the programme

3) Are you seeing progression in your strength and capacity to workout and

4) Are you seeing results in how you look and feel beyond the initial bump to be expected from starting to work out.