FITNESS REVIEW Go from couch potato to full-on fitness fiend

This content was taken from Bath Life issue 396. This information was correct at the time

HARRY’S GAME Harriet Noble is up for anything as she goes from couch potato to full-on fitness fiend through The F45 Challenge Photos by Betty Bhandari

I want to be your sledgehammer: Harriet in action girl mode

BAPTISM OF FIRE How can the 45 minutes not be up yet? Seriously. How can this class still not be over? I’m doing what are innocently called ‘bunny hops’, where I have to jump over a bench from side to side, feet and legs together, hands holding onto either side. I am raining sweat onto the bench, my legs are in screaming agony, my heart is pounding and I can’t believe I forgot to wear a sports bra. I’ve been lifting, squatting, jumping, rowing, biking, yanking on ropes, climbing like a geriatric spider forwards and backwards, all while a trainer shouts out things like “you’re a legend” and “remember what you came here for” and “you’re all winners.” I’ve never felt less like a winner.

Finally a noise goes off, signalling the end. I feel like I could not have gone on a second longer but, as I look around, everyone is smiling, giving each other high fives and there are lots of phrases like “you smashed it” and “great workout” to be heard.

Great workout? Sorry, was anyone else in the same class as me? This was the most painful, hurty, never-want-to do-it-again torture I think I have ever experienced. Except, the thing is, I do have to do it again. And again. And again. Because I’ve just signed up to do an eight-week challenge, chock-a-block full of these classes, with a matching diet regime. Oh, heaven help me. The gym in question is Australian-born F45; it’s something of a workout phenomenon, having gone well and truly international, with a huge following of people who love this tough, back to basics kind of exercise. The one in Bath opened earlier this year and is owned by rugby star James Haskell. They run these eight-week challenges, which – if you put the work in – promise to transform you and your bod. The exercise is high intensity circuit training, and the classes are split into either cardio sessions or muscle resistance training, with the Saturday classes mixing up the two.

This couldn’t come at a better time for me. I’m feeling overweight, unfit, unhealthy; my weight has crept up over the last few years and I now can’t fit into 80 per cent of my wardrobe. But I am also scared stiff – it strikes me that people that attend F45 are all gym nuts to start off with; I know I am going to struggle to keep up.

Just before the challenge starts you get weighed and measured. I am, just like I expected, overweight and categorized charmingly as ‘pre-obesity’.

WEEK 1-2 I’ve been told that the first two weeks of this challenge are the hardest, and they weren’t joking. The preliminary diet is very restrictive, which means no gluten, dairy, and – the worst thing for me – no caffeine. Sitting down at my desk without hugging

my habitual mug of Earl Grey tea makes me almost weepy. The lack of caffeine gives me really bad headaches, my energy levels are low and the classes remain near impossible for me; I just try to get through them. I do three classes a week; I physically can’t do any more, as I am so achy following the classes and I need the recovery period (every time I sneeze, or reach up to get a mug from a cupboard, my abdomen aches). I am weighing myself every day and not really losing any weight, so I feel like all my hard work is not really paying off. Also irksome to me is the cheerleady mentality of the F45 challenge; the high fives at the end of each workout and the supportive “you can do it” shout-outs rub me up all the wrong way. I spend a lot of time rolling eyes and I’m a grumpy, grumpy, grumpy bear. WEEK 3-7 Week three is the game changer moment for me. Firstly, I try on and can fit into my size 10 skinny jeans (after less than three weeks! I can’t believe it!); secondly, the gym, which once felt like a rather intimidating place, now feels familiar and friendly. I start to recognise the same faces and we chat about how we are finding the diet and everyone is, universally, really, really friendly.

On advice from the trainers, I have stopped weighing myself completely and, despite a few wilder weekends of weddings and birthday parties, where the diet went out the window, I stick to the rules and the exercise regime. I can feel myself getting fitter, am now going four to five times a week, and can tell my body is getting stronger with every session.

The biggest change, though, is in my head. I don’t exactly look forward to the classes, but I don’t dread them anymore. While I find the classes so damn tough, they are also a great stress-buster. When I’m in class, running madly around, I am not thinking about work or deadlines or anything that normally plays on my mind – I am 100 percent in the moment.

There are also some revelations about exercise for me. Weights, which I always found boring, I discover I really like. You get so much help and support from the trainers – I learn how to lift them properly and safely, and every week I feel I can do better than the last week. Also, one of the other great things is that the gym sessions are never the same – literally never – so you are never bored. The cardio sessions remain the toughest for me, but I learn to control my breathing, to help me through the tough patches. I even stop rolling my eyes every time one of the trainers shouts out something like “let’s get this party started” before a class and when I give someone a high five, I really mean it, because, quite frankly, it is hard and everyone does deserve a big well done. The compulsory high five “I am raining sweat, my legs screaming with agony”

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WEEK 8 AND THE FINAL WEIGH IN In the last few weeks I am training nearly every day. I have long ago forgotten about what I weigh, but I can see and feel that my body has changed.

I’ve had some lovely comments from family, friends and work colleagues; lots saying that I look smaller or toned, but most saying I look like I’ve got a spring in my step. My size 12 clothes are now in a suitcase under my bed, and I’ve dusted off all my size 10 (and a few size 8) items.

So, what were the results? Well, at the final weigh-in I’m relieved to see that I am now no longer categorised as pre-obesity. My body fat has dropped by 3.8 per cent, I’ve lost just over a stone, and across all the categories of weight, BMI and fat mass, I am now happily in the ‘normal’ box.

So, would I recommend this challenge to people? Abso-blooming-lutely.

There are lots of gyms in Bath but there are a few things that distinguish F45 gym for the others.

The support from the trainers and the cameradie from the others doing the gym challenge is phenomenal – this is what makes this challenge.The trainers teach every session with boundless amounts of energy and commitment, and there’s a level of care and attention that I’ve never experienced from any other gyms. For example, in my last week I finally managed to do an exercise that I’d previously never been able to (jumping onto a big box; doesn’t sound a big deal, I admit, but it seemed like a skyscraper to me). Chris, one of the trainers, notices and says, “That’s the first time you’ve done that, isn’t it, Harry? Well done, that’s amazing” – and gives me a high five. I know it’s the first time I’ve managed to do it, but there’s loads of us doing the challenge and I would never expect anyone else to clock that. As much as my cynical, grumpy old self doesn’t want to admit it, I’m feeling, just a smidgeon, like a bit of a winner. n For more: f45training.co.uk

5 MINUTES WITH JAMES HASKELL

So, James, do you like a morning or an afternoon workout? I prefer an afternoon workout. Part of your body that you always want to work hard on, and are keen to improve? My chest.

Best post-workout snack? Protein shake – peanut butter, banana, chocolate protein powder and oats.

Favourite exercise? Burpies.

Nooo! You’re just saying that. Nobody likes burpies. No, I do. I hate them but I love them, they’re just so good.

Least favourite exercise? For me, because of my toes, lunges. And the part of your bod that you’re chuffed with? My arms.

What’s your guilty workout music? Will Young.

Lastly, what do you love about Bath? The great selection of restaurants you’ve got here. I really enjoyed going to The Olive Tree with my wife – that was wicked. James came down to DJ at one of the classes