G-Day: the moment of truth

D-day — or should that be G-Day (gut day) — had arrived.

It felt like the morning of an exam. You know you’ve done all the prep — in this case gym hours — yet you’re still not sure how it’s going to turn out.

Six weeks on from starting the Lose the Gut programme, it was time to find out whether I had managed to shed some midrift and replace it with a ripped, oiled six-pack.

Okay, so that’s a little optimistic — we can’t all have the body sculpture of Wolverine — but it was results day and time for Court House head trainer Colin Ayliffe to measure me up for the second time.

After a diet and lifestyle overhaul, charging head first into the programme’s three stages — Corrective, Strength and Power — and enduring intense battles with kettlebells, medicine balls and a seemingly never-ending number of squats, I was ready.

“Hit me with the fat test,” I told Colin, who as a qualified CHEK practitioner was ready with the full repertoire of measuring kit.

The results? Well, Ryan Gosling’s washboard stomach is safe for now BUT I had indeed lost some gut.

A total of 8mm to be exact, which may not sound like a life-changing amount but added to the other areas of fat loss around my body means I’ve lost nearly 3cm.

After first discovering an alarming weight gain of 4.4lbs, Colin’s relief at the subsequent positive results spoke more of his suspicion  I was sneaking off to Mr Chicken after each gym session than pride at the progress I had made.

But these were, and these are his words not mine, “great results” from just six weeks of what is normally a 10-12 week programme.

The real revelation, though, is what you can’t see in the pictures or the fact sheet, see above.

It’s in how I’ve felt now I’m shovelling less crap into my system, eating right and working my body correctly. It’s addictive because, quite simply, I feel better, although I’d have probably have given a different answer after my first spinning class.

Blood pressure

The improved blood pressure is a sign of improved health over the programme, while the posture stats reveal I have been, quite literally, straightened out.

My hip imbalance has been corrected, although any euphoria on that front  was cut short by Colin’s assessment that I was now “almost normal”.

Both hips are now eight degrees, with four to seven the target.

My ungainly hunch is heading in the right direction and, more obviously, the horrible slouch in my spine has improved by six degrees.

As you can see by the target figures, I am not yet fully “normal”. 

That is, apparently, understandable  after “years of imbalance”, which is not, sadly, the first time I have heard those words.

So, in layman’s terms, I’ve gained muscle (the only explanation for the weight gain!), lost fat and improved posture.

I am, in all meanings of the phrase, walking tall. Gut day turn out to be a good day.

Now, though, I confess, it’s time for a few days without a squat or a possessed lunge jump.

But after a breather, I’ll be back among the kettlebells trying to shift another millimetre and, more importantly, feeling all the better for it.

This is the sixth and final ‘Lose the Gut’ column of the six-week programme. For more information email Court House head trainer Colin Ayliffe at cayliffe@courthouse. Huge thank you to Colin and Court House for their help with this column.