Simon Goodred Blog

An almighty hail storm set the rather ominous scene as five brave souls and a rather psychotic trainer
battled the elements all in the name of fitness! As we arrived at Romiley (thankfully, post the downpours!) and dressed for action, we had no idea what was to follow. When our trainer Finn led us into a boggy field decked in combat gear a slight anxiety started to materialise! The initial warm up included a testing series of stretching, jogging and crawling along in the mud exercises, regularly punctuated by press ups due to shoe laces being undone, not following instructions or worse still, not sounding enthusiastic enough! Allowed a quick breather before the main circuit commenced the glazed mud spattered faces said it all – this was not going to be a walk in the park! The main circuit comprised a series of activities to work the legs, arms, and core. Taking each in turn, we had to undertake a minute on each exercise before stumbling on to the next. After taking on some much needed water it was time to do it all again, this time with a quick burst of 10 seconds on each activity. To make it interesting we had to run to our next desired activity, with the poor soul arriving the length of the field and back due to our indiscretions. After a pair exercise, with more punishment for the runners up, we went through a series of leg stretches before our final test. A group exercise - the aim was to move between two cones by crawling through a ‘human tunnel’ in turn, one at a time, rebuilding our tunnel as we went along. Set two minutes to complete the task else facing the forfeit of a further task we managed to complete it successfully with seconds remaining – and with no bodily extremities injured in the process. A series of cool down exercises finished our workout followed by the humiliation of posing for photographs! Despite the sodden mass of tired bodies trudging back to the changing rooms there was a real sense of achievement fostered amongst us for having survived the ordeal, notwithstanding any plans for going to gym, running, or indeed any activity that did not involve a hot bath and rest confined to the scrap heap. Surely what ever lies in wait can not be as utterly exhausting and testing as the hour spent in a Romiley field one Sunday in March?

Simon.


Finn (the Personal Trainer says….)


Everyone did really well on Sunday, I thought a combination of heavy rain, hailstone and terror would have scared people off but people still turned up albeit wearing three to four layers each. I don't really think people knew what to expect and there were a few shocked faces when I started screaming and pointing. The warm-up got rid of those extra layers quick enough but I had to punish everyone for one person not tying their shoelaces properly.
The first circuit was a combination of upper/lower body work, a full minute on each station with people racing to the next one with me snapping at their heels. One thing that really impressed me was that no one cried off or stopped outright, everyone put in 100% effort, no one gave up and no one let the team down. If you can keep to that level of commitment and intensity throughout your training you'll be making leaps and bounds. I was expecting excuses or asking for extra breaks but everyone made a fantastic commitment to the session. A few team games later people were barking order at each other, and I just watched the ordered chaos as people screamed directions, stop-go commands and encouragement to ensure a winning time.
Great work, impressive effort and a great photofinish.

Next week, cage fighting.