Beautification Project
Week One: SELF ASSESMENT

As a card-carrying lazy person, it's rare that I work up a sweat. I might get a light glow from the constant march from sofa to fridge, but other that that, you couldn't call me active. Or fit.

So imagine my surprise when my editor called and asked if I wanted to test run a personal trainer. After the initial scoffing - and a promise from her that she would do it with me - I reluctantly agreed. This could be the key to unleash that hot, hard body I know I have in me.

Fast forward to Tuesday morning at 8am, when we all meet at the Urban Junkies HQ. After the initial piss-taking at the state of my trainers (dusty, ten years old), we get down to business. I presumed that our trainer, Jonny Lomax, would have us breathless in the first session, but instead there were questionnaires to fill in, blood pressure to take and a careful assessment of strength/fitness.

Lomax, who's been training for 10 years, has an unusual approach to all this. First he didn't weigh us, or get mad about our love of cigarettes, or our tendency to neck a few bottles of wine on a Wednesday night. He believes that you can improve your fitness in just a half hour a week, and that we'll naturally clean up our lifestyles when we start to see results.

The good news: I'm pretty healthy, considering my sedentary lifestyle.

I'm also surprisingly strong and flexible, even more than my editor who used to be a 'professional gymnast' (ed.: Emma, you were not more flexible, just stronger, but he said I'd still beat you in a fight. TR). I'm also lumbaric, which means my bum sticks out. But I have no real physiological issues to prevent Jonny from working me really hard.