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I’ve got a little bit of a confession to make. My week back into light training has been… well, a little embarrassing!!!

Why? Well I went down the local gym the other day to do some light weights when I saw some of the ‘bull heads’ pushing 400kg on the leg press. Normally, that sort of weight is food and drink to me and I’m sure when I walked over to the machine they would have thought, who is this tall, skinny guy? I did some light 250kg weights to warm up but guess what? When I went to push up 400kg I couldn’t. My legs were rested against the weights but they wouldn’t budge. I was trapped and had to ask for assistance. God! How embarrassing. The guys at the gym were quite good and helped me off the machine. They didn’t know who I was and they were offering me some basic gym advice, I felt like such a novice. I’ve been away from the gym for six weeks and I’d obviously lost much more fitness than I thought.

I’ve got to say, it is my most embarrassing gym moment. Even more embarrassing than when I slipped and broke both my wrists after I  tried to power lift 107kg!

What else? Well I’ve been doing a bit of running and a few sprints to gently get back up to speed, although it has been hard work coming back. Why? Well I’ve just enjoyed three weeks off – my longest break for years doing absolutely no exercise.

I’ve enjoyed drinking a bit of alcohol and eating pizza but even I got a bit of a shock when I weighed myself on my first day back into training. I’d put on a stone in weight!

My fighting weight is normally about 84kg but I’d gone up above 90kg. I’m not too concerned though, I’m a pretty disciplined athlete and I’ll soon be able to shed the weight.

I’ve also got another funny story for you. I received a free bike from my builder. He is carrying out a total renovation of my flat and I mentioned to him I was thinking of buying a bike to ride around Hampstead Heath. He may have kindly offered the bike for free but I know why?  I realised about 50m into my first ride that one of the wheels was all buckled and it was quite dangerous to ride. I had to walk back from the Heath pushing it and grumbling that I’ll have to get it fixed.

The other piece of news I have is that I’m now carrying out some work with Frank Attoh, the coach to the other top British long jumper Greg Rutherford. Peter Stanley, my old coach, is fully aware of the situation and it makes sense to have a fresh motivation and train with a group that lives only three or four mile from my house.

Hopefully next time I blog I will have shed a bit of weight and be more than matching those guys at the gym on the leg press!

Cheers

Chris