I've been wanting to see how many times I can do pull ups with 25% of my body weight attached to me so over the weekend I tried it out. I managed almost 5 pull ups, not in the most perfect form, but I was pretty proud of myself so I thought I'd just share it.
Showing posts with label Strength training. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Strength training. Show all posts
Monday, November 19, 2012
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Week 4 Fitness Program Update!
I've just reached the week 4 milestone of this 12 week "program" I've created for myself which if you weren't following from the beginning is basically a 12 week goal I've set for myself to work out 5 days a week, follow a healthy low-carb diet, get stronger and feel better overall. So here is the update on what has happened over the last 4 weeks.
So, to recap the last 4 weeks, I've pretty much followed my meal plan about 80% to 90% of the time. As you may recall, at the end of week 1 I went to a wedding and had loads of yummy food. I had done well up until that day and what was supposed to be a cheat meal ended up being a cheat day. Mondays to Fridays of the last 4 weeks have been good. I allow myself my much needed Sushi or Japanese bento lunch once a week and the rest of the days I have my usual chicken salad. As for snacks, I've been sticking to nuts strictly but allowed myself some Aero Mint chocolate this week.
Now, I have to tell you about last weekend's dinner. We had some friends over on Saturday night and one of our friends is vegetarian. Because I don't really know how to cook vegetarian meals my husband and I decided to order from a nice little local Indian restaurant down the street from us. It was Northern Indian food which for us non vegetarians included some creamy butter chicken, lamb cooked in creamy yogurt sauce, briyani, naan bread and a few other dishes. Dessert was a chocolate tart from Waitrose which after everyone left I ate another 2 pieces making my dessert count for the night 3 quarters of a personal pizza sized tart!!! I just couldn't help myself.
During this week, I also treated myself to a few little Parisian "twinkies" which my colleague brought for me from Paris. I know this all sounds like a lot but if you look at all the good meals and snacks I ate, the bad ones really only accounted for about 10% of my meals and snacks. The reason I'm pointing this out is because for those of you out there who feel guilty when you do allow yourself some treats like this, you shouldn't feel guilty. It's an awful and unhealthy mental cycle and as long as you're doing good most of the time, you should focus on that and not let yourself feel bad.
The first 2 weeks I managed to get to the gym 4 days but the last 2 weeks were 6 day gym days. As usual it was 3 days of Bartendaz, one day of leg training alone or with my trainer and for the last two weeks I started taking Hula Hoop class. It's offered at my gym and is just a super fun and surprisingly challenging workout. I did about 30 minutes of cardio before the Hula Hoop classes but that's about all the cardio I do. I'm pretty happy how well I've kept up!!
At the beginning of all this I mentioned I wanted to be able to do 20 chin ups and didn't think it would happen in 12 weeks but that I would keep trying. Well, some of you may have seen the video and surprisingly I reached the 20 goal already. I didn't think it would happen that quickly but it did and my new goal is to be able to accomplish a muscle up!!! This is incredibly hard and realistically speaking it could take months and months but I am working towards that right now. I've started training Bartendaz with 3kg ankle weights and hope to increase that slowly in order to get stronger.
Everyone always says that the diet and workouts go hand in hand and if you stick to both you will see results. I don't measure myself but in terms of weight, I have gone down 1kg in the last 4 weeks. Considering I don't do cardio I strongly believe none of that weight was muscle but more likely a combination of fat and water!!!
Here's some updated photos!! I think 4 weeks have made some sort of difference and I believe it's just a matter of commitment to see results!!
Diet Update:
So, to recap the last 4 weeks, I've pretty much followed my meal plan about 80% to 90% of the time. As you may recall, at the end of week 1 I went to a wedding and had loads of yummy food. I had done well up until that day and what was supposed to be a cheat meal ended up being a cheat day. Mondays to Fridays of the last 4 weeks have been good. I allow myself my much needed Sushi or Japanese bento lunch once a week and the rest of the days I have my usual chicken salad. As for snacks, I've been sticking to nuts strictly but allowed myself some Aero Mint chocolate this week.
Now, I have to tell you about last weekend's dinner. We had some friends over on Saturday night and one of our friends is vegetarian. Because I don't really know how to cook vegetarian meals my husband and I decided to order from a nice little local Indian restaurant down the street from us. It was Northern Indian food which for us non vegetarians included some creamy butter chicken, lamb cooked in creamy yogurt sauce, briyani, naan bread and a few other dishes. Dessert was a chocolate tart from Waitrose which after everyone left I ate another 2 pieces making my dessert count for the night 3 quarters of a personal pizza sized tart!!! I just couldn't help myself.
During this week, I also treated myself to a few little Parisian "twinkies" which my colleague brought for me from Paris. I know this all sounds like a lot but if you look at all the good meals and snacks I ate, the bad ones really only accounted for about 10% of my meals and snacks. The reason I'm pointing this out is because for those of you out there who feel guilty when you do allow yourself some treats like this, you shouldn't feel guilty. It's an awful and unhealthy mental cycle and as long as you're doing good most of the time, you should focus on that and not let yourself feel bad.
Workout Update:
The first 2 weeks I managed to get to the gym 4 days but the last 2 weeks were 6 day gym days. As usual it was 3 days of Bartendaz, one day of leg training alone or with my trainer and for the last two weeks I started taking Hula Hoop class. It's offered at my gym and is just a super fun and surprisingly challenging workout. I did about 30 minutes of cardio before the Hula Hoop classes but that's about all the cardio I do. I'm pretty happy how well I've kept up!!
Strength Update:
At the beginning of all this I mentioned I wanted to be able to do 20 chin ups and didn't think it would happen in 12 weeks but that I would keep trying. Well, some of you may have seen the video and surprisingly I reached the 20 goal already. I didn't think it would happen that quickly but it did and my new goal is to be able to accomplish a muscle up!!! This is incredibly hard and realistically speaking it could take months and months but I am working towards that right now. I've started training Bartendaz with 3kg ankle weights and hope to increase that slowly in order to get stronger.
Weight & Body Update:
Everyone always says that the diet and workouts go hand in hand and if you stick to both you will see results. I don't measure myself but in terms of weight, I have gone down 1kg in the last 4 weeks. Considering I don't do cardio I strongly believe none of that weight was muscle but more likely a combination of fat and water!!!
Here's some updated photos!! I think 4 weeks have made some sort of difference and I believe it's just a matter of commitment to see results!!
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Something to Think About!!!
My friend shared this on her Facebook page!! I think this is so true!!! Thanks for sharing Cherry Fernandes!!!
Monday, October 1, 2012
Today's Bartendaz Workout!!!
Today was a Bartendaz day for me! I went during lunch, which is not something I do every Monday but I really wanted to get a workout in today and get home early.
Lunch hour Bartendaz classes only go for about 40 minutes but for such a high intensity class with little rest throughout, 40 minutes is all you need.
Here's the breakdown of what we did today!!
Chin Ups: 6 reps x 5 sets (alternating with partner)
Pull Ups: 6 reps x 5 sets (alternating with partner)
Military Push Ups: 10 reps x 5 sests (rest time only long enough to switch positions with partner)
Diamond Push Ups: 10 reps x 5 sets (rest time only long enough to switch positions with partner)
Lunges 20 reps (10 on each side) x 3 sets (I have knee problems. Others were doing power lunges)
Squats with Calf Raises 20 reps x 3 sets (Again, others were doing jumping squats)
Flutter Kicks (abs) 10 reps followed by Cycles (abs) 10 reps x 3 sets with no break in between.
Finally we ended with 2 rounds of the following with no break in between:
6 Chin Ups
6 Pull Ups
10 Military Push Ups
10 Diamond Push Ups
15 Lunges
15 Squats with Calf Raises
15 Flutters
15 Cycles
The crazy thing about todays workout was that it was one of the easiest days we've had in a long time!!!
Lunch hour Bartendaz classes only go for about 40 minutes but for such a high intensity class with little rest throughout, 40 minutes is all you need.
Here's the breakdown of what we did today!!
Chin Ups: 6 reps x 5 sets (alternating with partner)
Pull Ups: 6 reps x 5 sets (alternating with partner)
Military Push Ups: 10 reps x 5 sests (rest time only long enough to switch positions with partner)
Diamond Push Ups: 10 reps x 5 sets (rest time only long enough to switch positions with partner)
Lunges 20 reps (10 on each side) x 3 sets (I have knee problems. Others were doing power lunges)
Squats with Calf Raises 20 reps x 3 sets (Again, others were doing jumping squats)
Flutter Kicks (abs) 10 reps followed by Cycles (abs) 10 reps x 3 sets with no break in between.
Finally we ended with 2 rounds of the following with no break in between:
6 Chin Ups
6 Pull Ups
10 Military Push Ups
10 Diamond Push Ups
15 Lunges
15 Squats with Calf Raises
15 Flutters
15 Cycles
The crazy thing about todays workout was that it was one of the easiest days we've had in a long time!!!
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