6 week Body Transformation course with the PT Barn

I’ve not posted in a while and the reason is that I have been absolutely knackered!

Six weeks ago I started a 6 week body transformation course with Scotty from The PT Barn.  The 6 week course is an intensive course with four sessions a week; three of which are bootcamp sessions and one is strike, which I have described to people as cardio boxing (pad work).  I knew this was going to test me and push me way outside the limits of my comfort zone but I hit a plateau earlier in the year and was determined to change things up so signed up for the challenge.

I knew Scotty from Nuclear and so I knew fun Scotty, I knew Scotty covered in mud playing at the Nuclear summer party running around and going head first down the Death Slide.  I am not sure I was prepared for Scotty PT who is there to get results for every member of the group.  I feel like Scotty PT is Scotty’s alter ego – he is harsh and he shouts and means business.  Scotty we can put Christmas baubles in his beard and he smiles.

I am the girl who doesn’t like to go to the weights section in the gym because quite frankly I have no idea what I am doing, I won’t go to a class for the first time on my own, I am easily intimidated and I am also generally telling everyone I am the slowest etc so even signing up to this for me was a pretty big deal.

However, there were 22 people on the course and one massive thing for me was that they were all lovely!  The course is really geared around teamwork and is done in such a clever way that it caters for people of all abilities so you never end up in a situation where you feel you are always last or people are waiting for you.  For me in terms of confidence this made a huge difference.  Now obviously you know who is stronger, quicker etc so I didn’t come away thinking yeah I am like Usain Bolt but I didn’t come away thinking oh god I’ve held up 21 other people – this matters!

Over the 6 weeks there were 24 sessions and I missed two but this was due to an OCR (Nuclear Fallout 12k) and a duathlon, both of which I was already signed up to.  Out of the 24 sessions not a single one was the same.  Every session was structured differently so you had no idea what to expect aside from knowing you were there to work hard and push yourself.  The bootcamp sessions are held on a rec site and surrounding woods so involves running on grass, hills, trails, difference exercises, intervals, weights, stretchers and many more.

Never before have I played ultimate frisbee – its frisbee but not as you know it!  A coded message to navigate through the woods for clues using a map and walkie talkies doing exercises as we got to check points before collecting tyres of varying sizes and stretchers and navigating back.

It’s not just about weight loss, or strength training, its also about getting healthier all round.  There is a private facebook group for those on the course including those past members and so there is a lot of chats, exchanging of hints and tips, general chat and food ideas and again really supportive.  Scotty is also part of this group and available for support whenever you need it.

In addition to the sessions there are sets of exercises to complete daily in the morning and evening and access to some equipment should you need to borrow it.  There are stretches to be done in addition and you are given a therapy band to use for some of the sets and stretches.

Prior to starting the course everyone completes a consultation with Scotty and you go through what you want to achieve, set goals and also get weighed and have body measurements done – such a lovely process that anyone who has had done will know involving callipers to check body fat and if that did not motivate me then I don’t know what will!

It was not easy and I am not going to say it was as that would be a lie.  It was intense, it was hard, I am not sure I have ever sweated as much as I did in some of the sessions, I got used to that feeling of thinking I may be sick at some point during most sessions and I may have had a complete wobble at the start where I messaged Scotty worried I was not good enough and was out of my depth to which I had a lovely reply reassuring me that was not the case and so I gave myself a mental slap and got on with it.

Pad work for me was something totally new and I am still looking for where my power is hiding but I am giving it a good go and pads and gloves will be purchased soon so I can work on this at home too.

At the beginning of the course I ran 14.5 lengths of the football pitch in ten minutes and on the last week I was 1 meter short of 16 lengths in the same time.

In the last session at the barn we tackled monkey bars – before the course I could basically hang, literally no movement and in the final session with a lot of encouragement from my team I managed three in the barn and whilst I realise a lot of people can do loads more I was chuffed with that as it is progress and I moved and didn’t fall in a heap on the floor or on my arse!

All of the above for £150!  Have I sold it to you? I’ve signed up for the next course in January as I am still part way through my fitness and weight loss journey – lets do this!