Martin Mägi’s honest confession: why do I respect pink dumbbells?
Sparta sports club member Martin Mägi tossed aside all prejudice and went to a PumpFX class led by Indrek Verro, together with Martin’s wife. What did the hardcore gym rat survive in Martin’s first-ever “pink dumbbell class”? Read Martin’s entertaining report.
“I’m a pretty experienced guy. I’ve done the Smolov squat program, among other things, and I know what hard training means. I went to Pump with my wife to get ‘a bit of aerobic work’. Everyone knows PumpFX is the workout for women who can’t find small enough dumbbells in a real gym, right?
Indrek is a really pleasant coach who explains the exercises with real expertise and says that things are done a little differently here than in the gym. The advice is to take some weight off at the start. What do you mean? Squat with less than 15 kilos? No way.
The technique session begins. I love squats and I do them properly, ass to grass. Indrek says you don’t have to squat that deep, but it’s up to you.
Deadlifts follow. I love deadlifts. Next come back rows, chest presses and other delicious basic exercises. I love these exercises and go at them with full pleasure. Indrek smiles.
Training with the old hands
The technique session ends, my skin is pleasantly damp, and in come the Pump FX old hands. The music starts thumping, Indrek counts the beat – 1,2, 3, 4 – 1, 2, 3, 4. At one point I get mixed up, and Indrek smiles briskly and encouragingly. Indrek stops the music and says the warm-up is over, add some weight. That was only the warm-up? Gasping, I watch my self-esteem trickle onto the floor together with my sweat. I drink water and don’t add any weight. I don’t take any off either, though I should.
The squat sequence starts from the top and already seems quite long. Finally Indrek begins to count: 4! 3! 2! 1! Instead of relief comes the news from Indrek: sixteen more reps. I look at my wife, who isn’t even breathing hard. Holy mother of God, is she now squatting deeper than me?!
At last the leg work is over. “On your backs!” calls Indrek, and thank God, I get to throw myself down.
Back! Deadlift! Back row! Clean! My head is spinning slightly. The women next to me have broken a sweat. Indrek looks like they haven’t trained at all, cracking jokes and bursting with energy.
Biceps! Back rows again! I’m out of strength. I haven’t counted repetitions for ages now, only the minutes until the end of the workout. There are twenty of them. I start slacking off and stand a little more upright, hoping it will win me a couple of minutes. Indrek looks across the room and says, don’t stand so upright.
“Respect, ladies!”
Triceps! Bend forward and extend your arm back. With that small dumbbell. My arm won’t move with that small dumbbell anymore, I don’t believe it and check what is written on it. It’s a three-kilo one. There’s no way I can’t move it.
Take the bar again, underhand grip, announces Indrek. The bar has ten kilos on it, but my fingers quietly give way as if it were a hundred. That’s it: fifteen minutes before the end, I’m out of strength and my workout is over.
Gasping in the corridor, I wonder when I was last this wrecked. I can’t remember. Pump FX was harder than running in the forest in winter in the army with full gear and a gas mask. My vision has gone black from the effort in leg training before, but I have never been as drained of energy as I am now.
In the studio, the women keep swinging their dumbbells. R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Now I know why that song is at the end. I go to wash up, but I don’t feel like a quitter. I really did give a hundred percent.
The next day I walk around with a smile. I tell everyone how I went to Pump FX for the first time, what I felt there and how I failed. I recommend that every man who goes to the gym find the time, the right intensity and put Pump FX into the program. I have found myself a new serious challenge, and Pump FX gets a permanent place in my training plan.
Pink dumbbells for now, honestly.”
Author: Martin Mägi
Source:Turg.Fitness.ee
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