The Gym Works: Tring

Today I had my first personal training session with Tom Davenport at the newly refurbished, rebranded and under new ownership The Gym Works gymnasium situated at the bottom of the high street in Tring; it was formerly Harvey’s and had a reputation locally as a bit of a muscly meathead-only zone but they’ve totally rebuilt it into a fresh and friendly gym open and welcoming to all ages, for men and women, non-contract memberships and walk-in’s available to the public. I’ve been a bit of an early bird and jumped into a lesson with Tom whilst the redecoration is still underway but as I always like to think, the early bird catches the worm, it’s almost summer and I certainly don’t want to be the fat worm, so this bird needs to get flapping off some late-Christmas calories with a good burn out.

After dropping the children at school I headed to The Gym Works for my first ever personal training experience and I was both nervous about my ability to go the full hog and excited about working with a professional trainer as opposed to a workout DVD in my lounge once in a blue moon and the odd walk to the shops and back.

Newly Refurbished, Rebranded & Under New Ownership The Gym Works: Tring (Formerly Harvey’s)

Parking in the main car park at the bottom of the high street in Tring, I walked around the corner to The Gym Works and was greeted with a warm welcome by the friendly personal trainer Tom Davenport. Feeling like a bit of a skinny sparrow in comparison to his huge arms and broad shoulders, it served as a great motivation to see how working out can give you the ultimate body and his positivity and ability instantly put me at ease and inspired me to give it my all.

After a tour of the facilities and a few questions about what I wanted to achieve, we established that I would benefit most from toning up, burning off some body fat and generally increasing my stamina and agility. So we began with a session of H.I.I.T, which for exercise dummies like me stands for High Intensity Interval Training – doesn’t that sound like fun! Argh!

Tom Put Me To The Test With Some High Intensity Interval Training

Tom walked me through each exercise by demonstrating what to do, how to do it and how it would benefit my body. We covered four different routines at various durations and rest periods between to maximise my heart rate and burn off some body fat, now that’s what I’m talking about.

My H.I.I.T Session Consisted Of:
15 seconds of the ‘Ice Skater’
15 seconds to rest

15 seconds of ‘Ice Skater’
15 seconds of ‘Burpee’
15 seconds of rest

15 seconds of ‘Ice Skater’
15 seconds of ‘Burpee’
15 seconds of ‘Hot Hands’
15 seconds of rest

15 seconds of ‘Ice Skater’
15 seconds of ‘Burpee’
15 seconds of ‘Hot Hands’
15 seconds of ‘Running’ 2x forward 2x back)
15 seconds of rest

As you beast it out for fifteen seconds at a time it gives you the power to know that you don’t have to do it for hours on end so you really give it your all for a short hit, then catch your breath for a second and go at it again so it’s so much easier to do but with faster results because it’s intervals. And for someone who was a little hungover and full of last nights pizza, I think I did pretty well! It got my heart racing, my blood pumping and my adrenaline going which left me feeling amazing and confident to take on some more punishment.

We then moved onto some Goblet Squats with a 12kg kettle bell, as if squatting isn’t punishment enough on it’s own, throwing in a nice weight to hold really worked my thighs and bum a treat. I did three sets of twelve reps of squats and was shaking like bambi after.

The TRX Workout Was Great Fun

This was followed by some TRX work which consists of a series of straps hanging from the ceiling so that you can use your bodyweight against itself to really push your workout harder.

My Second Workout Consisted Of:
Goblet squats with a 12kg kettle bell – 3 sets of 12 reps
TRX single leg squats – 3 sets of 12 reps
TRX squat jump – 3 sets of 12 reps
Repeated twice through

And afterwards I felt like Mr Soft as my legs were burning and turned to jelly so I knew I’d gone hard. The great thing about having Tom as a personal trainer is that he kept me in line throughout, he corrected my posture, slowed down my movements and made sure I really worked each area properly to get the maximum out of the workout. If I’d have been at home using a DVD I know for a fact I wouldn’t have squatted as deep, wouldn’t have held it as long and would have probably hunched over like a goblin so my results would have been weaker.

I Managed To Bench Press 20kgs

We then headed downstairs to the weights and I had a little go on the bench press, which was another first for me! And although I have little sparrow stick arms I managed to lift just the bar of 20kgs for three sets of ten. Get in there!

Finally we finished up with a nice run on the treadmill for several minutes before a cheeky sauna, sun bed and some nutritional advice from Tom so that I could finish off my workout with a low-fat meal. And I have to say my first experience of personal training was fantastic. It possibly helped that I had an eye-candy action-man for an instructor, and that I was shown how to do each routine safely at a pace that I could handle and given help and advice throughout.

I Cooled Down With A Jog On The Treadmill

The Gym Works is a great venue for anyone looking to get fit, feel great and have the body of their dreams. It’s very rare that you find a gym that appeals to both men and women and makes all age ranges feel comfortable. Throughout my tour and personal training session I came across all kinds of people in a relaxed and welcoming atmosphere, I loved how everyone was cheerful and chatty and the fact that people weren’t there to pout and pose in mirrors, just workout and feel great about themselves.

If you want to get fit for summer as well as all year round, look and feel great and have a workout tailored to suit your needs then take a trip to The Gym Works! I did!

You can visit The Gym Works website here!

You can visit Tom Davenport’s personal training website here!