4: And breathe out…

On occasions it feels as though I'm swimming against the tide. Being a Piscean must have something to do with it. For the uninitiated, that star sign is represented by two fish swimming in different directions. There has to be a conflict of interest within me somewhere. If there's an easy and a hard way to do something, the chances are I'll choose the more difficult route.

Who knew breathing could be so difficult?

As I pant and struggle my way through the super-sets of exercises, that Mr Bremner has lined-up for me each week, one thing has become apparent. I appear to breathe in when I should be expelling air and vice-versa.

I can feel Luke's - and my own - frustration. I often start exercises with the correct breathing pattern, but somewhere in the middle of a set something happens. Suddenly I'm out of sync again. Thankfully I'm told not to worry about it too much - plus I'm beginning to get better but only slightly.

In addition to my twice weekly visits to Luke's Jamaica Street gym I'm regularly working-out at home too - mostly stretching exercises to strengthen my core muscles and make my body more pliable. To help me, I've recently invested in a gym ball and a foam roller.

Unfortunately I received a malfunctioned gym ball. It's mischievous and misbehaves at every opportunity. If I try to roll it towards me using my feet, it'll decide to have a laugh and go left or right instead. At the moment I've put it in the "naughty corner" until it decides to play nicely.

Another thing that I've discovered is that foam rollers are not soft - in the same way that snow is not soft when you act like Bambi on skis and crash all the time! It's not often that the words 'foam' and 'Ouch!' go together, but one seems to follow another quite quickly in my currently vocabulary. I'm yet to be convinced by a tweet I read from a sporty nephew who assured me that "…foam roller exercises were fun!"

That all said, what's clearly evident is that after one month's personal training at Luke Bremner Fitness I'm slimmer, lighter, and more flexible than I was at the start of April. Plus I got a chat-up compliment from an assistant working in a local shop yesterday. Bonus!

3: Tipping the scales

Ask anyone who knows me and they'll tell you I've always been an early adopter of technology. I won't deny it - I simply love new gadgets.

Prior to starting my fitness training, Luke asked me to keep a record of everything I ate over a four day period. This was to help him analyse my diet, and provide recommendations to me on what I needed to change. On reflection I only did an adequate job of this task. Everything was sketchy and rather vague. A cup of this… a portion of that. 

After I'd submitted my half-hearted attempt, Luke then showed me an example of somebody else's diet sheet. Every item was weighed and all the information was formatted into regular meal slots - making it precise and easy for Luke to review and comment on. It was then that I realised a good physique is made in the kitchen as well as in the gym.

I needed to get my act together and up my game. My thinking was that if I'm serious about getting fit - which I am - I need to be able to present Luke with clear information about my diet so he can pass professional judgement on what I'm eating and drinking. 

I decided to take advantage of Apple's iCloud feature and created a diet sheet template in Pages. This enables me to fill in my diet sheet on my laptop, iPad or iPhone. As the form is always with me it's easy for me to note down when and what I eat or drink.

For the first week I religiously weighed food items and measured liquids. The main problem I encountered was the inaccuracy of my kitchen scales - which were themselves nearly twenty years old. It was time to invest in something more modern.

Without thinking I was on UK kitchen and homeware retailer Lakeland's website and discovered their Sensor Scale. The product description included terms like super-shiny, LED display, futuristic form and touch-panel. Every geek-button in my body had been pressed. Not wishing to wait for an online order, I was soon marching along Edinburgh's Princes Street to buy one from my local store.

The feature I like most about these scales is the tare function. I can continue to reset the scales back to 0 grams (or ounces if you prefer imperial weights) and add another item. This includes putting mixing bowls, salad boxes, and plates on the scales before you add the ingredients. Suddenly preparing food and recording what each item weighs became a whole lot easier. 

On Thursday Luke took my body measurements again to see how I'm progressing. To say I'm thrilled with the results would be an understatement. I've already lost 5cm (2 inches) from my waistline as well as my chest. My body fat is heading downward as is my weight - I'm 2.3kg (5 lbs) lighter than I was when I started exercising and eating correctly two weeks ago.

I'm aware that everything will probably plateau out soon - but for now I'll take the compliments that I've been receiving from my professional network and from family about "the slimmer" me. 

2: Squeeze, ease and hold

My driving instructor, Mrs Wiles, was a real character. As a 17 year old I spent six fabulous months getting to know her, as she taught me to manoeuvre her car around the roads of suburban Surrey.

Like all novice drivers I found there was almost too much information to take on-board at the start. Coordination - especially with a manual gearbox - is key. Mrs Wiles had amazing phrases that helped her students to remember what to do. "Woodpecker!" she'd shout, if you'd forgotten to cancel the indicator. On twisty country lanes you'd be told "If you can't see stay in three. If you can see some more, get into four." which aided gear selection. Hill starts were always accompanied by "Squeeze, ease and hold. Squeeze the accelerator, ease the clutch and then hold them there m'dear." Ah! Happy memories. She really was unique.

This whole exercising correctly business is just as confusing as learning to drive was. Again there's lots of information to take on-board and remember. Over the past week Luke, at Luke Bremner Fitness, has introduced me to some 'helpful' phrases which are designed to assist me whilst I exercise. 'Start in neutral', 'Soft knees', 'Lots of chins', 'Back pocket' and 'Pencil' are gradually being engrained in my head. 

Luke is still taking things at my pace - which I'm very thankful for - plus he's continuing to evaluate my overall posture, balance and flexibility. It's amazing how sharp his eye for detail is. Often it's the simple things that he gets me to do - like standing correctly - that have the biggest impact. Suddenly I'm finding that I'm walking around town with my head-up, shoulders back and chest out. I know it sounds a bit old-school, but I feel as though I've become a good five centimetres taller over the last few days.

I'm used to walking around Edinburgh as it's a relatively compact city and often find it faster than taking public transport at certain times of the day. Walking has been even higher on my agenda since starting my fitness regime. Patrick, a design chum of mine, showed me an app recently called Moves*. It has a beautifully simple timeline interface and is a breeze to use. What I've found astonishing, since buying the app, is just how far I walk each day. The app doesn't just cover walking, it automatically recognises when you run, cycle, or take some form of transport. You can add places and tell the app when you're in the gym. In addition you can export your data, which is all very clever indeed. If you're the owner of a smart phone and are looking for a pedometer with lots of additions, then I can certainly recommend Moves. For me, its already been worth the money I paid for it.

06 May 2014 - As a footnote to this blog Moves was recently acquired by Facebook. Despite assuring users that Moves would remain independent, updated Terms and Conditions enable Moves to pass personal data to Facebook. As a result I've removed the app from my phone and am now looking for a similar one which does the same thing.

1: No more excuses

"There seem to be a lot of excuses in that sentence Derek."

This was the very frank response I received from my chum Simon, earlier this year when I was in Bristol, and we were chatting about why I hadn't been exercising.

He was right of course.

Fast forward to March and I read a post on LinkedIn from personal trainer Luke Bremner which informs his professional network that he's moving into his own gym in Edinburgh's New Town at the beginning of April.

I'd helped Luke with the branding for Luke Bremner Fitness a couple of years ago. He suggested then that I ought to get into the gym - but I'd quickly erected barriers and made more excuses.

For many of us there is a catch 22 situation regarding regular exercise. For me personally I've wanted to get into shape for a little while, but have never investigated any of the mainstream gyms. The thought of being in a room with people who are already "in-shape" is rather intimidating. On reflection this is just one more excuse.

After reading Luke's post I decided to that it was about time I invested in me i.e. in my fitness and well-being.

I've now taken the bull by the horns and signed-up for 2 one-hour sessions each week for the next 6 months. My thinking was this length time would demonstrate (i) my commitment and seriousness in what I want to achieve and (ii) enable Luke and me to work on toning-up my body gradually - so things aren't too much of a shock to the system.

On 01 April I met Luke at his new gym. It's a nice space. It feels private and relaxed - despite the array of gym equipment that's positioned around the room. At this initial meeting Luke explained his approach and we went through my goals and incentives - of which there are many. A nice gentle introduction.

The following day I was back in Jamaica Street and Luke was taking body measurements and photos of me. An important procedure, as we need them for comparisons in the future. This was followed by a full and detail analysis of my diet - which I thought was relatively healthy - but turns out to be loaded with sugar and carbohydrates.

Instead of overwhelming me with info, Luke has just focussed his attention on one aspect of my diet - breakfast. I need to get that right before moving on and looking at the other meals. However within the space of 24 hours I'd started making changes everywhere. Yes, I have been focussing on breakfast as Luke requested, but it's amazing how easy planning and structuring other meals of the day have suddenly become.

For my final visit of the week Luke assessed my flexibility and posture. I was rubbish - as expected! However some kind and motivational words from Mr Bremner kept me going. Despite being a driver and a motorcyclist I still have problems identifying left and right. So trying to sort out my front/back pelvic motion was a bit of a nightmare all round.

This is other thing that has happened in the last week. I've suddenly started to acquire a whole new language - gluts, quads, triceps, pecs. Yes, I did anatomy at art school - but we only drew skeletons we never learnt what bones or muscles were called.

Anyway Luke has set me excersies to do this week, which I've been endeavouring to do to the best of my ability. In summary, I've made a start and there are now no more excuses. That in itself already makes me happy.