Does it get any easier?

A new season of Michelle Bridges 12WBT is about to begin and I'm going back for my third and final round. Already I've had a number of people ask 'Does it get any easier?'.

The truth is, it does and it doesn't.

Yes, 5am starts get easier. Yes, as you see the benefits (losing weight, growing muscle, getting faster) your enthusiasm for health and fitness grows. In this sense it does get easier. But easy is not what we're after here because, if you want to continually improve (lose weight, get fitter, get faster, jump higher) you need to move out of your comfort zone and this requires dedication persistence and above-all, courage.

Over the years people have said 'but it's easy for you because ...'  but I want to put this out there - it's not easy. It's tiring, it's boring and it is so hard. But this is only because I've deliberately made it so by setting new goals.

For me, the hardest thing has been allowing myself to compete (half-marathons and triathlons) when I know I'm not going to win, in fact there are times when I come in last. Times when people who've trained less than me have beat me. But by doing so I've been able to move on both physically and emotionally. I've learned not to compare myself with others, but to measure and celebrate my own achievements. I've learned that the safe place where you know you can win, is not the place you grow and improve.

I can't tell you how hard this has been. Seeing people packed up and going home when I am still finishing my race is hard, in fact it is heart breaking. The temptation to compare myself to others rather than look at my own achievements is persistent. Training for hours knowing that my improvements are going to be modest is the pits. But the lessons I've learned and continue to learn are priceless.

For a muscle to grow and develop, we first need to injure it. By lifting heavier weights, or more reps we create tiny tears in our muscles, but it is in the recovery from those tears that our muscles grow stronger.

Our heart is a muscle too.

So does it get easier? Only if you let it.

A tri-ing sport

So the months of muscles are sadly over and the triathlon training has begun, and, wow, is it time consuming. The problem is I'm not training for one sport, I'm training for three. I've read that in triathlon training you're supposed to concentrate on your weakness, but what happens when you analyse your times and work out that every aspect of your triathlon (swim, run, cycle and transition) are your weakness.

Triathlon training should be periodised across a year, with a foundation, preparation and competition phase.  I, however, have chosen to start my training right in the middle of the season.

So, I'm concentrating on technique and strength and hoping that these (rather than fitness training) will help me improve my times. So, what does a week's triathlon training look like.

Monday- Easy swimming technique practice followed by "Brick" session (extended spin class and treadmill run)

Tuesday morning - Weights
Tuesday afternoon-  swimming stroke correction

Wednesday -  1.5 km ocean swim with the Manly Bold and Beautiful crew from Manly to Shelly and back again. (This can be followed by a run to Queenscliff beach and back)

Thursday - Weights

Friday Morning - yoga
Friday evening- Manly dualthlon - Shelly beach swim and run to Queeenscliff and back.

Saturday morning 32 km bike ride with the Bay Bug group around Homebush Bay
Saturday afternoon - Indoor climbing (this is not part of the training, but I just can't give it up!)

Sunday - rest or light yoga and meditation

All this and I am doing the shortest competition distance triathlon, a sprint distance of 750m swim, 20km ride and 5km run. Can you imagine how someone who does a iron man triathlon (3.8 km swim, 180 km ride and a marathon) must train.

Months of Muscle: Losing and Winning

So, you know about the month of muscle but what what you may not know is, at the end of it all there is a prize, with a trophy.

When I was a kid my sister had trophies, and medals. I'm guessing if i saw them now they would be small plasticky things. They are probably also a lot smaller than I remember ***, but boy I used to spend time staring at those trophies ... and wishing.

So the thought of winning that prize kept me motivated, and, like the other awesome people who did the program with me, I thought I was in with a chance.

Sadly, it was not to be **** and last night, at the finale party I started to get a little down. And then someone did something special. The winner of the last round pulled plastic medals out of her purse and hung one around each of our necks. In an instant I was reminded that we were all winners. I didn't take that medal off all night and at the end of the night I hung it with my triathlon, half marathon and city to surf medals as a reminder of just how far the month of muscles has brought me.

But the medal reminded me of much more. It reminded me that my original goal was to wear my bikini to finale night and whilst I had technically worn my bikini (I threw an orange see-through dress over the top) I hadn't really fulfilled my goal. So I whisked my dress off and danced, hands above head in bikini and high heels.

And suddenly ... I was the winner ...


*** I've found that as I've aged things have become smaller. The big pineapple and the big banana in particular.

**** You should see the abs on the fantastic guy that did win ...

Months of Muscle: The results

So, what does three months of struggle and strategic application of fake tan get you:

• 55 push-ups on toes in one minute
• Wall squat for five minutes and 20 seconds
• 5 chins ups
• 120kg leg press
• Almost 1 minute off my 1km sprint time trial
• 2.4 kg of new muscle
• 500gm less of fat

And this ...

Now bring on the triathlon season ...

Months of Muscle: The affair

It started off as nothing at all. A few flirtatious moments. The odd sideways glance. But isn't that the way these things always start?

Pretty soon, the heat picked up and I found that I couldn't stop thinking ... what if?

Then there was the physical contact. It was supposed to be nothing, but the heat and intensity of the passion couldn't be denied. I kept going back for more.

It meant nothing, I swear. Not then. Not like us. Did I ever think it would lead me to break my commitments, all my promises to you? No. it's just, well, we'd become repetitive. Every day, every week began to seem the same. Day in, day out, our relationship had become a hard slog.

I thought 'one time can't hurt' but one time was enough to get me going back for more. The passion when we were together was intense. The laughter , the sweat, and the tears.

Then the demands started. Demands on my mind, demands on my time. Suddenly,  there were commitments, financially and emotionally, and my new love became hard to hide. Now, I know, there is no going back, my heart has moved on.

I'm sorry months of muscles I'm leaving you ... for a triathlon ...

Super Saturday

Anyone doing the Michelle Bridge's program will know what Super Saturday means. Torture!

In the Lean and Fit program (last round) Super Saturday meant burning a minimum of 1000 calories. Achieving a 1000 calorie burn took two hours of running and three hours of indoor climbing **.  In the Months of Muscles Michelle and her team have developed new forms of torture, including triple sets, drop sets, supersets, compound sets and pyramid sets of weights aimed at killing even the strongest of muscles, followed by 3 rounds of a circuit of absolutely unthinkable activities, including my all time favourite (not) the Turkish-Get-Up. ***

But today's Super Saturday is the toughest yet. Because this week we're doing Super Sunday instead and today is a rest day.

Bet you didn't know we got a rest day, but there's one a week, and for good reason. The rest day gives our muscles time to recover, to repair and to grow. It is the rest days really that help us achieve our goals as without a rest day we wouldn't see such dramatic improvement.

But, between you and I, I struggle on rest days. I think I should be busy, I think I should be doing something. I think about my goals and feel frustrated I'm not actually doing anything to help myself move towards them.

Except I am- somewhere deep inside I know that. I need to learn to take it easy, to give some control over to trust in everything the experts say, and take a rest day. It's just not as easy as it sounds.



**'Super Saturday' inevitably leads to 'in bed by 8.30 Saturday night'

*** I'm not sure why the Turkish get the blame for this hideous exercise. I don't suppose it is the national pass-time in Turkey but it has definitely put me off traveling there just in case I find whole suburbs of people lying on the floor holding weights above their heads, standing up with weight still lifted above head and then lying down again all red-faced and panting.

Months of Muscle: It's just not working out

Since embarking on the Months of Muscles a new word has entered my vocabulary. No, not just my vocabulary but my head. That word is 'training'.

You see, I never used to 'train' I used to 'workout'.

So, what's the difference? Simple, 'working out' is really about what you see in the mirror. Training is pushing yourself to see how far you've come. But more than that, training is about setting, and reaching, a goal. Training has a purpose, a destination. Athletes train. Gymnasts train. Normal people, people like me, workout.

And my training doesn't only happen in the gym but in the kitchen, and, for the first time I'm not thinking about diet as a way to control weight but as a way of fueling my body to help me meet my goals.

When you tell people you are training they will automatically ask 'What for?'. And, up until this year, I would not have been able to give them an answer. But now, with goals firmly set in place I can.