Ze lovely Sarah Devlin!

A little over a month ago I started on my journey to fitness once and for all, by enlisting the help of the lovely Sarah to help me navigate the jungle known as “Doing More Exercise Than Just Walking to the Bus Stop Each Day“.

It was an unknown world to me, full of strange creatures such as the wild lunge squat, the dreaded tricep dip, which tend to travel in packs of ten…(at this stage, I hear they get more prevalent the further into the jungle we go), the gentle plie (plee-yay) and the common press up. There are also some ultra rare beasts known as ‘rest periods’, but we haven’t seen too many of those during our travels.

Dreaded tricep dip, for reference!

So what have I learned so far on my trip? Here are a few of my discoveries.

♥ I am capable of so, so, SO much more than I ever thought possible. Despite being in the early stages of training, I had very low expectations of how much exercise my body could cope with. The great thing about this style of training is that we work on so many different areas (eg. not just cardio, although there is some) that most muscle groups are nicely exhausted by the end of the session.

♥ I was scared at first. In the past I’ve heard of trainers who make you work out until you can’t see / throw up / emotionally break down. My training sessions are not like this! By no means will Sarah let me slack off, but she’s not there to make me cry or be sick.

♥ My bum, thighs & tummy are getting tighter and stronger all the time. How do I know this? Well first up it’s the aches and pains that come the day / two days after training!! This has got to be the worst part, but I’m told it will get better in time. It just means I’m working muscles that have been taking it easy for WAY too long!!

Secondly, I can visibly see / feel that these areas are getting firmer and it’s such a great feeling. As a reminder, I’m pretty small already and not trying to lose weight, but I’m very happy to be getting firmer and more toned as that was my goal 🙂

A pic of me at the beach after some workouts… oh wait. Maybe one day?

♥ Better posture – as you can imagine, running a website requires a fair bit of computer time. My ‘real job’ also involves a hefty amount of staring at screens also, so partially rounded shoulders tend to come with the territory.

We’ve been working on my posture, strengthening up the back / shoulder / chest muscles and even the work on the core helps too! I’ve definitely noticed an improvement which makes me super happy! My spine is beginning to ♥ me again.

So overall starting personal training is definitely one of the best things I’ve ever done for my health & wellbeing and I’m only just beginning to see the results.

I can’t wait to see what happens as I continue with it!

If you want to find out more about Sarah see her website!

Tell me your personal training stories of joy / woe!

Be well,

Annette

xoxo

Personal Training Diary, Day 1.

I have to be honest with you, I’m a little scared about what I’ve gotten myself into. See, despite running a website dedicated to health & beauty and being a keen yoga goer, my cardio and strength generally resemble that of a sea cucumber.

I found Sarah Devlin on a random trawl through Gumtree, I think I was looking for a cute vintage bike. I clicked through to her website and was greeted by an ultra lovely looking page stating the following:

♥ I want to create long, lean muscles for you, boost your energy levels and make you look and feel fantastic.

♥ I am friendly, personable and motivating and I don’t think a personal trainer has to be shouty or intimidating.

♥ I want you to have fun and be comfortable with me while you are working as hard as you possibly can.

I was won over, so we teed up a time to have my first-ever personal training sesh (eek!).

My strength & cardio capacity resemble that of my good friend here.

We met up at a local lake / park / generally beautiful area, which I surmised would make the pain a little more bearable. There were swans and lots of puppy dogs, so I ended up focusing on them to help get me through!

Sarah listened to my concerns about a high cardio workout, so we mainly worked on strength, with heaps of exercise variations (but still working each area of the body to its limit). I didn’t escape cardio altogether though, damn, but I’m told it’s for the best!

She has a very encouraging training style and is very much focused on making sure you have correct posture / alignment, which is great for a complete novice like me who has little idea of how to hold my body correctly in the exercises.

Another thing I love is the mix of pilates and dance moves in the session, I really feel like Sarah understands women’s bodies and knows how to bring out the best in me, even if I feel like complaining.

Hello new found body part!

Post first workout I make an interesting discovery – I have triceps???! Yes, they’re calling my name for the first time I can probably ever remember and they’re not pleased with me after happily lying dormant for all these years!

The next day I felt surprisingly good, however as the day wore on my muscles grew increasingly weary and the day after that they were rebelling to the point that it was a big effort to move myself around!

No pain no gain right?

Stay tuned for Part Two of my adventures in Perth Personal Training next week! x

Web: Sarah Devlin
E-mail: sarah@sarahdevlin.com
Phone: 0431 365 342

Prices start from $70, depending on session frequency and distance to travel, contact Sarah for more info

Have any questions? If you’re currently seeing or thinking about seeing a Personal Trainer I’d love to hear from you!

Be well,

Annette

xoxo