essential blog
Get Fit Or Die Trying
It’s been a month since we started training with Tim and Leon of Tim
Gold Fitness and already we feel the difference. The variety of
training as much as the personal approach with the guys is probably
what has struck us the most. The training tales place at their
stunning villa, where everything they need to put us through our paces
is there. The one thing that has struck me about our sessions is how
fast they go, the guys make it interesting and with the odd bit of
banter flying back and forward throughout the workout, they are also
fun.
Week one saw us enjoying resistance training for the first time. After a
proper stretch, which starts every session, we get to work. Using towels
and their own strength, they put us through a variety of exercises. The
bicep curl for example sees us grip the towel and work against their
resistance to complete the curl and on the way down, provide out own
resistance to stop them returning to the starting position easily, hence
the name of the training I guess. We adopt the same routine with every
exercise, meaning we are working twice as hard as we would be just
lifting weights in the gym. As well as the resistance aspect of the work
out, there is also an emphasis put on improving balance and when the
workout is completed we stretch for a good 15 mins, another discipline
that is important at Tim Gold fitness. It’s an enjoyable workout, one
that flies by but also one where you know you are working hard.
Week two and we are up on the roof of the stunning Gold villa and the
view is spectacular. We can see right across the countryside and over to
Dalt Villa. This session we will be working mainly on Body Balance and
stretching. Tim takes the first session and runs us through some tricky
balance enhancing exercises. This is another example of what sets Tim
Gold fitness apart from other training regimes, the variety of the
training is important, we are only in our second week and we are
covering a discipline that I have never tried before in all the years I
have been flitting in and out of gyms. The personal interaction is
clearly an important one and it adds motivation to get the work out done
properly. Leon takes over for the second part of the session and gives
us several great stretching exercises. It’s clear we have to work on our
balance and stretching techniques but, even at our level, we feel the
benefit immediately.
Week three and we move from the main gym area around the pool to the
tennis court below, where Tim has laid out a circuits course. Eight
different exercises in the rotation to be done twice. Luckily it’s not
the hottest day in Ibiza and there is a good bit of cloud cover, Tim
informs us that he likes using the circuits but the weather in the
height of the season restricts the use of them. Circuits’ works
everything, obviously the core takes the brunt of the exercise but using
the TRX we also work chest and back and with the ropes, we are
challenged to pull Tim towards us, not the easiest thing as he is
pulling away from us at the same time! Some sprints in between the cones
break up the pain slightly, although they do leave is out of breath and
finishing up with abdominal stretching sit ups as Tim throws the
medicine ball at us just about finishes us off! This session is a much
tougher cardio work out that the others and, once again, provides more
variety.
Week four sees us return to the tennis court for a slight variation on
the circuits for the first half of the session before Leon takes over
for some kick boxing. The circuits incorporate some of the exercises
from the previous session so we have a good idea what we are doing,
although there are a few abdominal exercises thrown into to the mix. The
scissors, using then TRX and stretching our abs is a personal favourite,
he says sarcastically. The interaction between us and Tim and Leon while
we are training really adds to the experience, we work hard throughout
but enjoy a bit of banter along the way. It adds a competitive edge to
the training and makes us work that bit harder. They do get involved in
the exercises too, so they are not just standing around barking orders
at us for an hour. Next up, after a not so gentle circuit warm up, we
head upstairs to the side of the pool for some basic kickboxing. But not
before we do some preparatory stretching first. We work on some punches
before adding them together to make a combination, then the same with
kicks, before having a full range of movements. Leo holds the pads and
doesn’t look too worried when I am attacking. It’s fair to say that he
braces himself much more when he’s on the end of some punches and kicks
from Charlie!
Our first month of training has flown in, a combination of a great
variety of sessions and the craziness of closing party season, where
time disappears. As Ibiza settles down to post summer calm, Tim and Leon
are preparing diet plans and looking to step our training up to three
sessions a week. Their personal approach to training is refreshing, they
have a vested interest in making sure that we perform well every time we
train, and the programme that they construct will deliver the results
that we are looking for, if we stick to the regime. When you see the
amount of effort that they put in on our behalf, there is extra
motivation to make sure we live up to their expectations, for me, this
is the sign of a great training relationship. Watch this space…