There's something weird about me.

Except for the first one, I've not been hurting after my 60-minute sessions at California Fitness. I don't think it's because my muscles aren't being worked out enough; I do genuinely feel the burn during the sets, to the point of nausea. I just don't really continue hurting after that. I wonder why that is?

The closest I got to hurting was after this sessions's full-on Cable Cross machine workout.

I've always thought those things were really scary and intimidating-looking. It's got a heavy central structure within which sits the weight column, and two huge steel arms that swivel 180 degrees on a single plane. From these arms are retractable steel cables, that you pull on for (adjustable) resistance.

Sounds scary already, no? I always imagined one of those arms crashing down on my head, or the cable snapping and lashing my neck open. Or getting an arm stuck in the moving parts. 'Cos if you know me at all, you'll know I've got a real knack for getting myself into life-threatening situations, such as driving myself off a cliff or provoking a gentle, sweet dog into biting my eye out (almost).

Enter my patient California Fitness trainer, James. With him, I managed to subdue the beast in the Cable Cross machine, working out every. single. body. part. in the process. Did you know you could do that? By being a little creative with the cables and handles and all, you can complete an entire workout in one spot. (to the man waiting beside the machine, sucks to be you, ha ha. sorry.)

You can also convince yourself that you're on the way to becoming part of the Cirque Du Soleil troupe! There was this exercise I did: My heels were propped on the base of the machine, my body leant forward, in guy push-up stance, except my hands weren't touching the floor at all. I was suspended from the cables by my hands pushing down on the handles, my feet as the pivot. Then I did push-ups. Or I told myself I was doing push-ups. I think my trainer got more of a work out than i did by trying to keep clumsy ol' me from sprawling to the floor.

After that session, I finally started hurting.

What am I saying? My trainer's probably trying to be nice to me, afterall i'm less than halfway through the 16 sessions. He HAS said that things will get progressively harder.

Session 5's tomorrow.

I'm scared.