I take a great deal of satisfaction in saying that I think Jeff and I have finally found the trainer that we need to be working with. Only after I communicated this fact to a few friends did I realize how worried they were for me as I struggled to make it through the workouts of trainer #2, Becky. They were afraid that I would assume that my bad experience with Becky was my fault, not hers, and quit two months in.

Instead, I took a recommendation from Kat, and set up a training session with her new trainer, Val. Kat was pretty sure I'd like her, and after Friday and Saturday's sessions, I think I can safely say I'm now working with the trainer I probably should've had all along.

I've not wanted to say much about my experiences with working with Val until I'd had a chance to try out her weights regimen for me. For the most part, a cardio workout is a no-brainer for a personal trainer: 30-60 minutes of your preferred cardio activity, done to the intensity that's correct for you. (Target heart rate, exertion level, etc.) There's not a lot of ways that it can be jazzed up; a cardio workout is what it is. There's artistry involved in crafting a weight-training workout regimen, though. Exercise order is almost as important as the individual exercises themselves; a good weights routine requires good time management, letting you rest one group of muscles while you work another.

Kat had prepared me for Val's methodology by mentioning the phrases "super sets" and "giant sets" to me. (Which led me to Buffy-style 'research mode.') At first, the concept of a "giant set" didn't make much sense. I then remembered all the time I'd spent sitting on weight machines, waiting for X seconds to go by so that I could complete the second set and move on to the next machine.

At that point I was still on weight regimen #3 (Becky's set). I applied this theory the the exercises I was doing at the time, and realized by changing their order, I could gain more rest periods for each muscle group, while spending less time exercising overall. I tried it once, and was an immediate convert. It made perfect sense. I finished faster, and felt like I'd managed to concentrate my workout down into the least amount of time necessary to complete it - without shortchanging my rest periods.

Before I did Val's routine for the first time today, I worried a bit about completion time - it seemed like a long list (24 exercises). Val understood what most of you already know: I've chosen to make my workouts a primary focus of my life right now. My answer to the question "How much time are you willing to spend in the gym?" is consistently answered by "However much time I need to see results."

When I looked at how she'd written it out, I realized that all the exercises (with one exception) were grouped into sets of four, none of which worked the same sets of muscles. I realized that with a bit of planning, this could go pretty fast: at the beginning, set up a station in the back of the gym with my mat, my physio ball, water bottle, etc. For each set of four exercises, set up the appropriate machines and grab the right dumbbells. Since I was supposed to do two sets (ten reps each) for each exercise, I'd cycle through the four exercises two times each, unloading the machines the second time around, and then set up the next four.

Val's first weights routine for me (all crunch work is done while balanced on a stability/physio ball):

('e' meaning 'each'. An upright row of 20e means that I'm holding 20-pound dumbbells in each hand - NOT a total of twenty pounds overall.)

By round:

1. Load a barbell, set up the squats machine, 20-pound dumbbells.
2. Set up the chest press and leg extension machines, 15-pound dumbbells.
3. Set up the leg curl machine and use the 15-pound dumbbells again.
4. Set up the seated lat pulldown machine, the inner-thigh machine, and 15-pound dumbbells.
5. Set up the seated row and outer thigh machines, and 10- and 8-pound dumbbells.
6. Set up standing lat pulldown and calf-raise machines, and 20-pound dumbbells.

It's slick. It's fast. It keeps me thinking, and it keeps me moving. If a machine is busy, I pull the next exercise for that muscle group and work it instead. I finished the workout in a hair under sixty minutes, which is the shortest amount of time I've spent on weight training since starting in January. I'm slightly stiff in my lats, especially my right side, but everything else just feels well-worked. A little tired, but properly worked.

It's a good feeling.

On Saturday, I kept saying to Val, "I can do more. I can do more than this." She insisted - rightly, I realized - that I not increase weight on all the machines at once: "We're only doing a partial run here. Run through this workout as it stands on Monday, and see how you feel about it when you've done two sets each of every exercise on the list. Then, if you still think it's too light, you can increase weight."

I came home yesterday knowing that eight of the 24 exercises were too easy (4 of those were ab exercises); two were screamingly difficult but ultimately manageable, and the rest (14/24) were just about right. I sat down on the couch, applied head scritchies to the nearest cat, and thought, "That's how it's supposed to work."

* * * * *

I rarely talk about my major weight-loss goals, mostly because I think I'd rather wait and talk about them when they're a little closer to reality. I do have lots of smaller goals, though. I've decided that every time I drop another ten pounds from my start weight, I'll pick up the next book in Neil Gaiman's Sandman series. I have the first book, and I desperately want all of them, but I need a reason to buy that many comic books. There are more books in the series than ten-pound increments I need to lose, but it's a start.

I'm refusing to cheat - I'm counting the tens from my start weight, not from the interim weight I crept up to as my muscle-building outstripped my fat loss. So, technically, I have seven pounds to go, not four, before I get the first book. Oh, if only I could convince myself to count the pounds that fluctuated back and forth during the conversion period!

I'm ordering the new jeans from Land's End Real Soon Now™.

I'm twenty-three pounds away from ordering the silk I need to sew a new pair of silk pajamas.

In time.

Want a comparison on how far I've come? Take a look at the first weights workout I was given, back in January. Even by my standards, that's progress.