Heidi's YP Get Fit Blog: Week three - Pushing through the pain…and hitting the ice-pack
Throughout September, web sub editor Heidi will train at Versus Performance in Muay Thai, MMA and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Being Young Post's resident beauty guru and make-up expert, this is foreign territory for her. Check in with Heidi's blog posts every Saturday for an update on how she's doing and where she's aching
Mike putting me through my paces in my private session on Thursday.The odds were not in my favour this week. And, okay, I may have unintentionally volunteered myself for one of my mishaps, but still.
On Tuesday I missed Muay Thai because the day before I made a rather silly decision to go to the beach with a T3 on the way, and promptly got sick. It turns out missing just one session can make a huge difference, because my private session on Thursday left me so tired and sore. Mike spent a bit more time again on fitness this week, and I only managed to get through four three-minute rounds.
I mentioned during one of our one-minute breaks that since I started training at Versus, my neck and back has been hurting less, even with all the hours I spend in front of the computer. So towards the end of my hour, Mike showed me a few stretches and strengthening exercises that can help minimise my aches.
One involved curling two kettlebells up to my chest and then lifting them up above my head. I loved the challenge of this exercise, it's something I've never tried before and I felt so happy I actually managed to do it right. As in, I didn't drop the kettlebells on my head and kill myself!
The next morning, however, I realised just how sore that move left me, when every muscle between my shoulders and wrists felt so weak and tired, I couldn't handle putting on my full face of makeup. Do you have any idea how much control it takes to stipple on foundation with a slanted kabuki brush for that naturally even coverage? Or how steady your hand must be to draw on a subtle winged eyeliner look?
None of that was happening that morning. That's how sore my arms were. Thanks, Mike.
When Saturday rolled around, I was really excited to go back and get stuck into my two sessions. But when I arrived (*ahem*slightly late*ahem*) there was no one else there for the MMA class, so I asked if I could just wait till the 2:00pm Muay Thai class instead, and as I was getting ready for that, Merry walked in and we immediately partnered up.
For a good 40 minutes we exchanged kicks and blocks. Every now and then Merry would take a moment to give me advice or show me how to improve a certain move, and then offer words of encouragement when I tried it out.
I was enjoying myself and feeling really positive about keeping up with Merry and the rest of the class when I heard a pop. A split second later, I realised I not only heard the pop, but I felt it...in my left ankle.
“Are you okay?” Merry, bless her, looked at me with concern.
“Yeah, I just twisted my ankle,” I told her as I hobbled over to the wall to sit down and to remove my gloves and shin-guards.
By the time Mike walked over with an ice-pack for my ankle, Merry had helped me take off my guards and had started to massage my foot and ankle.
So I ended up sitting out the rest of the day and watching the end of my Muay Thai class. When it ended, a few guys went on to practise their kicks in sets of ten on a punching bag. That poor, poor punching bag...
I also decided to stay to watch the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu class, just in case there was something I can pick up from watching others practise.
“You won't believe how much Max picks up just by watching,” Quinton told me when I went to sit by him half-way through the class.
I'm not sure how much I managed to pick up from watching, since it looked...tricky. But I guess I'll find out next week.
How did I spend the rest of my day after I left Versus? I cancelled shopping plans with a friend and went home to laze on my couch with my ankle elevated, with an ice-pack around my injury and a kitty on my tummy.