A Week in the Life of The 10-Week Trim Down
Monday: It’s check-in day! I upload all my stats to Ivan’s app: weight, body measurements, progress photos, and a quick note about how the last week went and anything special about the upcoming week (travel, busy days, etc). Around lunchtime, Ivan sends my check-in feedback and I use that to plan my week. I take all the work-outs that he’s put into the schedule and add them to my personal diary to ensure they’re fully visible as I schedule work commitments (and my social life). Sometimes I’ll move things around to accommodate my schedule - as long as the work-outs get done, it’s ok if it’s a different day! In the evening, I complete a 30-minute cardio session on the elliptical machine while watching an episode of Shameless.
Tuesday: It’s a gym day and I’ve got a 20-minute lower body circuit to complete. I feel great after the circuit so decide to download an on-demand core circuit from the app and add that in. In total, I spend 27 minutes in the gym.
Wednesday: It’s a beautiful day so even though cardio isn’t on my schedule, I do a lovely 45-minute run around the neighborhood before work. I listen to Glennon Doyle’s “We Can Do Hard Things” podcast while I go. There’s a gym session scheduled but I move that to tomorrow because I want to take advantage of the sunshine!
Thursday: Back in the gym for yesterday’s 20-minute upper body session that I moved to today. Ivan’s app tracks my personal bests and I’m excited to see that I’ve hit another one today with both reps and weight in the dumbbell bench press. I like to push myself- if I did 22 reps last time with this exercise, I’ll try to push for 23.
Friday: Another gym day (because I moved the schedule around) for legs and core. Legs feel great afterwards so I head outside for an evening run. Instead of my usual park path, I decide to head across town to Central London to see the holiday decorations around Covent Garden (no podcast today, Christmas carols all the way!). It’s a little crowded and I’m dodging people left and right but it sure was pretty. My 45-minute run turned into 55-minutes but I’m not mad!
Saturday: This is always my off-day. I’m exhausted from the week and get my cardio through errands (making an effort to walk vs. taking the subway/bus/driving) and weights through multiple loads of laundry (I get in a few squats as I load the machine). Ivan has helped me find ways to sneak exercise into my daily life and it has definitely helped my step count and strength. Today, I got in 28,957 steps by walking for all my holiday gift shopping and trips to multiple grocery stores. (Why one grocery store can’t have everything I need is another blog post.)
Sunday: I’ve always said “Sundays are for sweating” so usually try to get in a gym AND cardio session. I feel a little sluggish when I wake up so I go right to the gym to just "get it done. Five minutes in and I’m enjoying myself through the upper body work-out. Another personal best with the dumbbell isometric bicep curls (something I found really difficult when I started the program) and I’m confident enough to add in an additional set after my regular three are completed. Back at home, I eat two scrambled eggs with cheese and turkey bacon, watch another episode of Shameless, and then go for a soggy 5-mile run along the Thames (listening to the Elf the Musical soundtrack because I’m still in a holiday mood - feeling sparklejollytwinklejingly). When I get back, it’s only 11:30 and I’ve got the rest of the day to do “Sunday stuff.”
Weekly recap: So that’s the week: four cardio sessions (one more than was in my program plan) and four gym sessions. In total, I spent 100 minutes in the gym across the week and another 120 running. That’s just under four hours. I feel great, my body looks good (she says, humbly), and I know I’m stronger than I was last Sunday. I’ve also got more energy. Not sure what I did with this time before I started my Ivan De Fitness journey but I’m quite happy with the time investment now!
-Susan, London.