4 GoodGymers turned up for a very sweaty HIIT circuit combined with some cardio and core at St Nicholas' Park.

We started off with a short warm-up around the goalposts as the weather did most of the work for us and after some dynamic stretches we were ready to go. Alex opted for a "simple" bodyweight 10 minute AMRAP circuit consisting of:

15 squats 10 lunges 8 lunge/calf raises 10 jump squats 250m lap

As a group we started of very strong, powering through the first 3 exercises with ease, even with Philip swapping his squats for press-ups. The first signs of trouble began to appear at the by the 5th jump squat of round 1, at which point we began to realise that we may have grossly underestimated the challenge ahead. Nevertheless, we powered through the first 250m with James taking (and maintaining) a strong lead. Rounds two and three were a painful blur of huffing, puffing and lead legs - the final rounding marking the longest 10 minutes of our lives.

Once we'd slowed our heart rates down to an acceptable level, we went straight in with a tough core session. Although only ten exercises were performed, each was performed in a superset with mountain climbers and rest was kept low at 20 seconds. As Keziah rightly pointed out, 1 minute never feels longer than it does during a plank. After a brief discussion about planking world records, we finished off with a steady 1km (4 times around the goal posts). The final lap was a (literal) race to the finish with Keziah baiting us with a slow jog at first and turning on the jets on the final bend to take the win.

All in all a great session and it was lovely to see some familiar faces after such a long time in lockdown! Well done to Keziah for completing her first training session with us, 'twas a tough one! Also big shoutout to James for putting us all to shame despite recently coming back from injury.

Next Wednesday is likely to be another training session and don't forget we have a mission at Northleigh this Saturday!