Writing the Cape Grace blog can sometimes have great benefits, like having to experience a personal training session followed by a sports massage so I can report to you about it. Well, the truth is it hurt (and I loved it)!

Now, I’m no masochist, the reason I loved that it hurt was because I knew it was doing me good. Hurt is too strong a word really, it’s just that the extreme effort causing your body to shake can feel akin to the kind of pain you know you need. With an Honours degree in Sports Science from Stellenbosch, Cape Grace Personal Trainer, Gideon Maree, makes it clear that, ‘No pain, no gain’ is not part of his philosophy. He can easily distinguish between pushing it too far and pushing you to reach your potential. This he did with consummate skill and had me doing squats to help improve the stability of my hip and knee joints and tighten up the glutes, which have become slack due to sitting at a desk.

Bend…. and stretch

Gideon also did a posture assessment and a “posture lesson” to show me what good posture should be when in a seated position. He then proceeded to give me exercises to improve my deportment by using a Theraband to strengthen the pectorals and back extensors and open up the chest, pulling the shoulders back and down.

Floor work was mostly Pilates-based with slow, controlled movements focusing on core strength and some wicked abdominal crunches (which far too quickly got me to the burn). I got homework too; rowing exercises and even more squats.

One simple session in the Cape Grace gym with Gideon was enough to bring about an enlightened new awareness about my personal health. Lucky for me, it didn’t stop there! Gideon uses sports massage as an additional tool to help him find out more about your body and create an even more personalised training schedule. You guessed it; next up on the cards was a sports massage!

You’ll have to look out for the detailed blog post about that but I will say that Gideon found some hellishly tight knots and proceeded to unravel them. Ouch!

Note: This post was written by our chief blogger Carrie Hampton, and we have no sympathy for her at all.