Fit Brit at Chatham Fitness First.

Sean Blyth

Labeled as the UK's best gym challenge is a brave statement. I have entered many gym challenges and by no means is this the best in the UK.

Having said that there is such huge potential for this challenge, because having tried it today at Fitness First in Chatham, you can actually see what in terms of benefits it can offer a club. Sadly though, it looks like Chatham, will not see any. Well not for the short term because the good news is, I have the fastest time, the bad news, is that I am the only person who has done it there and I'm not even a member! But it's early days and Phil, a very fit personal trainer will no doubt blast me out of the water - or at least I hope he does. The winning times I would expect to be maybe sub 12.

Steve (Personal Trainer Chatham Fitness First)

I was met by Steve and this was followed by a short bit of confusion on locating the gym challenge forms and bit of searching, but eventually we found them and for a 10am schedule we eventually kicked off around 10:20. Friendly and likeable Steve talked me sensibly through the challenge, what was expected and the sequence of challenges. It was to be completed in a working gym with other members around, so safety was an issue - thankfully at that time in the morning it was not very busy.

How did it go?

The time taken was considerably less then my first attempt in Medway Park Gym (18:20) This is not because I have suddenly become incredibly fit, more to the fact that the placing of equipment was set up reasonably close together, so I knew the time would be shorter. I guess if anything, the row to the shoulder press reflects a poor time, mainly due to having to move from one of the gym to the other to be able to do the shoulder press (+20 seconds or so) but really that was my only gripe.

The Camberley Ice Breaker saw Steve Dowse bike 3km in 4mins 14 using Life Fitness on level 15, so I was pretty happy with my bike, however the 1000m run at the end was quite poor. I started off after completing my squats in three sets of ten and still flooded with lactic and at a leisurely 10kph had me cruising getting rid of the lactic - soon brought it up steadily 15 to end of a 17 kph dash. Steve gave good advice during the dash and urged me on, which is what you need when your heart rate is riding on the edge of the earths atmosphere and turning blue !

The top guys will more or less boom the Life Fitness Treadmill at 20 kph all the way. Max out on the Bike and possibly, take it fairly easy on the Row , so they save some energy for later. So really it is the bike, run and to a degree the squat that will win this race. The Bench and Shoulder is by no means challenging enough.

Conclusion

It is so frustrating to complete a challenge and lose a sense of community in a gym. I am not a member but I could see the benefit of a Brit Fit Challenge Day held on a Sunday with possibly a BBQ and social gathering of local members - plus local gym members and something that could quite possible see one of Chatham's finest hours as a club, but I suspect this will never be the case. It will return to completing the challenge by yourself, not seeing the splits for what you did on the day and being a memory of a tough day ... but that's about it .