The bridal fitness challenge: week 3 Two sessions of twenty sit ups, has become three sessions; while my twenty minute cardio routine at the end of hour, is now 23 minutes long at a higher speed. Three minutes may not sound like much of a hike, but believe me, when you are ready to slide off the machine into a heap at 20 minutes, 180 seconds of more pain is pretty hard to endure. I am also really starting to appreciate the science underpinning the workout my charming trainers, Ross and Michael, are putting me through. On the morning we are training my shoulders (apparently an important area to work out especially if you sit all day typing at a desk), Michael cleverly fatigues my shoulder muscles to such an extent, (through several painful exercises), that when he asks me to do a plank (think a held press up for 30 seconds without movement), my abs have to kick in and do the work. By exhausting one part of my body, he can ensure that the next part of my anatomy he wants to train will do the work in the following exercise. Obviously, at the time, sweating and breathing through gritted teeth, I don't much appreciate this strategy, feeling utterly duped into working out my poor abs as my shoulders nearly cave in. However, upon reflection, I am impressed by such tactics. My clothes have continued to feel looser and apart from a few hiccups (read one KitKat), I am sticking to a healthy diet - with a lowered calorie intake. Weirdly when I think about the wedding dress for inspiration during my low points, it does nothing. I now just want to get fit for me, in spite of the wedding, and finally change the way I live my life - preferably without the 6am starts.