This morning we got up for breakfast at 8. Giant pile of scrambled eggs and steamed broccoli. (Seems when they asked last night what I was allergic to I forgot to say eggs.) Erica wanted to start a workout at 9. We have schedules that tell us when all the classes are – most open to the public. The gym is huge – three floors worth. First floor is an open air gym with a lot of stuff like the ProClub Willows facility.
Second floor has weights and is air conditioned.
Third floor has cardio equipment and the yoga room – also air conditioned.
This is the view from the treadmill. Difficult to complain about exercising when you are looking at this.
9am class most days is a cross fit type class. I was like “no way – I’m observing”. Cuz a bunch of hard body locals showed up – and my worst fear is over doing it and being so sore tomorrow that I can’t walk. Erica chickened out too. So we just sat and watched. Then Erica did hot yoga while I went to meet my trainer – Anthony. Nice guy. Australian who has lived here for 15 years. I was like “uh oh” when I saw he was obviously a body builder type – again for fear he would overwork me. But as we went through all my intake paperwork, he was like “you are right to be afraid of overdoing it” and then went on with a philosophy that sounded a lot like my ProClub trainer Tiffany back home. So that’s good.
And then off to the gym. Anthony wanted to do some light cardio to check my heart rate. He put me on the treadmill on no incline and 2 MPH walking speed. Didn’t get a bump in heart rate. So he started increasing speed and incline. Much to my surprise, my heart rate didn’t go above 110 and I wasn’t even winded. But my legs started to burn and get weak. So, my fatigue issue isn’t so much heart and lungs as it is lack of muscle tone. Good to know. Then down to the open-air gym for squats, lunges, overhead weight lifts, and yes push-ups. I could do three pushups in a row before my arms would give out. Anthony was like “it’s obvious you trained in a gym with a good trainer because your form is great”. Hooray for Tiffany – apparently, I have some muscle memory.
Then a protein shake. Anthony says the diet here isn’t actually Keto despite being advertised as such – it doesn’t have enough fat. So he is going to tell the kitchen to increase my fat content. We shall see… But meanwhile the protein shake was plant protein powder (since I can’t eat the whey or soy ones that taste better) with water. It was nearly awful. I might see if I can get them to use coconut milk in place of the water tomorrow which would improve the texture as well as the taste and add fat. Lunch was chicken curry that was good.
After lunch I went back to my room and read while Erica was with her trainer. After which we went back to the restaurant where the infinity pool is and hung out. In the afternoons the pool is shaded – so we could hop in and float around without sunscreen.
The restaurant and pool have stunning views.
There are tons of sail boats here. I can imagine bringing Apsaras here someday.
Then time for our ice baths. They have this tub into which they dump 4 ice chunks – each about 8” x 8” x 18”. You wait for it to cool down the water to freezing cold and then get in for 10 minutes. Then into the steam room, and back into the ice water. Supposed to keep your muscles from getting sore. We shall see. As an extra precaution, I also took a half a tonalgen (muscle relaxer) before heading to bed.
After the ice bath it was time for evening yoga. A sort of stretching class not intended for anything other than meditation and flexibility. Hard to explain but you use these hammock like things hanging from the ceiling to help you stretch. It was actually pretty fun.
Then time for our massages. In your room on the bed. I fell asleep like 6 times. Then back to the roof top for dinner - grilled tuna with a salad. Still not enough fat in my view, but at least zero carbs and tasty. There are sailboats coming and going from the harbor here even at night.
Ok, so other than needing to improve the protein shakes, as Erica says “this place doesn’t suck”. I was super encouraged that I made it through both my workout with the trainer and the stretching yoga class and I didn’t collapse. Oh, and I’m determined to never take the elevator – so I’ve hoofed it up and down probably 15 or 20 flights of stairs today. If I can keep this up all week, maybe by the time I return I will have a jump start on some muscle tone.