Boot camp started off with a consultation with my mentor Sarah. We organised a plan for improving my tennis skills by meeting weekly and working on my serve. I have never been able to serve and this was something I was keen to start as soon as possible. Since meeting Sarah in the first week for tennis practise my serve was all over the place, barely being able to serve into the box. Even after only three sessions my serve has improved significantly. During the last session, my serve was a lot more consistent and more powerful. I am very grateful to Sarah for her help and advice.
I have continued to attend gym classes throughout the last three weeks such as Ab Attack, Ski Fit, Body Pump and Sport Pilates. This is to improve my fitness so each week I have been pushing myself further. I have seen improvements in Body Pump where I am now adding higher weights. Another way to improve my fitness was to start running again. Before the Xercise Factor I would run on occasion, but my goal has been to run 10k. On Monday, I plucked up the courage to do it! I was dreading doing it but afterwards I felt such a sense of achievement, although I did ache a lot for a few days afterwards! My goal now is to complete a 10k run in under an hour.
At the start of the second week I met Sarah in the gym to work on my weak shoulders and knees. From doing triceps dips and squats, Sarah pointed out that I have hyper extension in my joints which I was previously unaware of. This means that I have to try to keep softness in my joints when exercising as to not over extend my joints at the risk of injury. Due to Sarah spotting weakness in my wrists in the previous week during tennis, she has taught me several techniques and exercises which I can use to strengthen them and illuminate this issue. Doing these exercises on my weaker joints has been tough and sometimes painful as I am really trying to push myself. I am starting to see improvements but it’s going to take a lot more work.
I am very grateful for the opportunity so far, I have learnt so much but I have so much I would love to continue to achieve. Sarah has been a great mentor and I enjoy meeting her several times a week, in the gym and on the tennis court. She keeps me motivated and is always there for advice and help.