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 fitness blog. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fitness blog. Show all posts
Monday, November 19, 2012
Strength Training Week 7 Update!
I'm back again on week 7 of my 12 week get fitter, lose some weight, challenge myself program and since my last update I've come up with a few more goals. I don't know if I'll reach some of these by the end of the 12 weeks but I will certainly try my best to progress.
When I last left you, I had managed to complete 20 chin ups and set a goal to master at least 1 muscle up. I'm still working on that and get a little closer every week. However, the new challenges I've set for myself are:
1) muscle up
2) plyometric pull ups (lower bar to top bar)
3) dumbell press my own body weight (currently weigh 41kg and aiming to lose 1kg and bench 40kg)
4) squat my own boday weight (currently weigh 41kg and aiming to lose 1kg and squat 40kg)
Well, I've managed some narrow to wide grip plyometric pull ups and managed my first lower to upper bar plyometric pull ups the other day but only a hand full and they scared me. I think it's just the fear of not being able to catch the top bar and falling off my step box. You can check out my narrow to wide grip plyos in the video below.
As for dumbell presses, I'm benching 16kg x 2 dumbells (6 reps). With dumbells at my gym going up in increments of 2kg, I'm just 2 dumbell weights away from benching my own body weight.
And finally, I've managed to squat 30kgs (8 reps). I have been experiencing knee problems for years and people always say you shouldn't squat with your knees past your toes, but I've been doing squats with my trainer the Polliquin way, all the way down, knees past the toes and my knees have never felt better. I'm not going to go into detail about why it's better because frankly, I'm not 100% clear on the explanation but if you want to find out more, you can google Charles Polliquin.
I am at the gym 5 to 6 days a week. I'm doing 3 days of bartendaz class, 1 day of leg training with weights including 30 to 40 min of muscle up practice, 1 day of upper body training with weights and 1 day of hula hoop.
So, I am doing 5 days of intensive training with 1 day of rest and 1 day of something fun and low intensity. I know it sounds like a lot but my muscles do get a rest 2 days a week and on Tuesday, my first day of bartendaz in the week, I feel rested and usually stronger than the last week.
As I mentioned before, I have a personal trainer who has been helping me with my knee rehab. We've been doing only legs for months but now, he's added upper body to my program in order to help me get stronger for my muscle ups.
My current upper body workout involves:
1) Weighted pull ups - 1 count up, 3 counts down and dead hang for 1 second (4-6 reps with 8.5kg this week)
2) Dumbell press (6 reps with 16kg x 2 this week). We've been doing these because the dip bars at the gym are very wide and although I can do weighted dips, the width of the bar puts a lot of strain on my shoulders as I have a very narrow frame.
3) Zottoman bicep curls (6 reps with 4 kg dumbells)
4) Tricep extensions (6 reps with 4 kg dumbells)
5) Seated cable row
I haven't dropped another kilo since my last update but to be honest I've been having a lot of difficulty in the last two weeks sticking to the low carb diet. I was hungry all the time last week and filling up on carbs, only to realize this week it's probably because I'm so bored of chicken breast...which I never really liked to begin with but eat all the time in my salad for lunch because its cheap and my husband likes it. And...because of this dislike for chicken breast, I haven't been putting enough in my lunch and therefore end up feeling super hungry because I'm not getting enough protein to fill my stomach. So, this week, I'm back on track with my salad topped up with smoked mackerel and mixed seafood. It's a bit pricey but not as pricey as running off to Pret for a couple sandwiches that don't even keep me full for long. I guess that would be my one tip for anyone trying not to overeat. When you're hungry, don't snack on cookies, biscuits or any other kind of carbs. Have more protein as it stays in your stomach longer and keeps you feeling full for longer.
In addition to that, I think I've developed some kind of mild elbow tendonitis. I may get it checked out, but so far, 2 days of rest a week, tennis ball massages, some NSAID and ice have been working and as far as I know, this seems to be very common with people who train in bartendaz or crossfit.
Anyway, that's the update for now. Check out my narrow to wide grip plyometric pull ups below.
When I last left you, I had managed to complete 20 chin ups and set a goal to master at least 1 muscle up. I'm still working on that and get a little closer every week. However, the new challenges I've set for myself are:
1) muscle up
2) plyometric pull ups (lower bar to top bar)
3) dumbell press my own body weight (currently weigh 41kg and aiming to lose 1kg and bench 40kg)
4) squat my own boday weight (currently weigh 41kg and aiming to lose 1kg and squat 40kg)
Where am I right now?
Well, I've managed some narrow to wide grip plyometric pull ups and managed my first lower to upper bar plyometric pull ups the other day but only a hand full and they scared me. I think it's just the fear of not being able to catch the top bar and falling off my step box. You can check out my narrow to wide grip plyos in the video below.
As for dumbell presses, I'm benching 16kg x 2 dumbells (6 reps). With dumbells at my gym going up in increments of 2kg, I'm just 2 dumbell weights away from benching my own body weight.
And finally, I've managed to squat 30kgs (8 reps). I have been experiencing knee problems for years and people always say you shouldn't squat with your knees past your toes, but I've been doing squats with my trainer the Polliquin way, all the way down, knees past the toes and my knees have never felt better. I'm not going to go into detail about why it's better because frankly, I'm not 100% clear on the explanation but if you want to find out more, you can google Charles Polliquin.
My training:
I am at the gym 5 to 6 days a week. I'm doing 3 days of bartendaz class, 1 day of leg training with weights including 30 to 40 min of muscle up practice, 1 day of upper body training with weights and 1 day of hula hoop.
So, I am doing 5 days of intensive training with 1 day of rest and 1 day of something fun and low intensity. I know it sounds like a lot but my muscles do get a rest 2 days a week and on Tuesday, my first day of bartendaz in the week, I feel rested and usually stronger than the last week.
As I mentioned before, I have a personal trainer who has been helping me with my knee rehab. We've been doing only legs for months but now, he's added upper body to my program in order to help me get stronger for my muscle ups.
My current upper body workout involves:
1) Weighted pull ups - 1 count up, 3 counts down and dead hang for 1 second (4-6 reps with 8.5kg this week)
2) Dumbell press (6 reps with 16kg x 2 this week). We've been doing these because the dip bars at the gym are very wide and although I can do weighted dips, the width of the bar puts a lot of strain on my shoulders as I have a very narrow frame.
3) Zottoman bicep curls (6 reps with 4 kg dumbells)
4) Tricep extensions (6 reps with 4 kg dumbells)
5) Seated cable row
Thoughts for the week:
I haven't dropped another kilo since my last update but to be honest I've been having a lot of difficulty in the last two weeks sticking to the low carb diet. I was hungry all the time last week and filling up on carbs, only to realize this week it's probably because I'm so bored of chicken breast...which I never really liked to begin with but eat all the time in my salad for lunch because its cheap and my husband likes it. And...because of this dislike for chicken breast, I haven't been putting enough in my lunch and therefore end up feeling super hungry because I'm not getting enough protein to fill my stomach. So, this week, I'm back on track with my salad topped up with smoked mackerel and mixed seafood. It's a bit pricey but not as pricey as running off to Pret for a couple sandwiches that don't even keep me full for long. I guess that would be my one tip for anyone trying not to overeat. When you're hungry, don't snack on cookies, biscuits or any other kind of carbs. Have more protein as it stays in your stomach longer and keeps you feeling full for longer.
In addition to that, I think I've developed some kind of mild elbow tendonitis. I may get it checked out, but so far, 2 days of rest a week, tennis ball massages, some NSAID and ice have been working and as far as I know, this seems to be very common with people who train in bartendaz or crossfit.
Anyway, that's the update for now. Check out my narrow to wide grip plyometric pull ups below.
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!!
Friday, October 19, 2012
What You May Not Know About SUGAR!!!!
I love dessert and even when I'm on my 12 week low-carb diet I find it hard not to have a cheat meal every week or two that consists of dessert. I've always found information and documentaries on nutrition really interesting and over the last few years have started to get the idea that sugar is the devil!! It's worse than fat and it's probably the cause of all the obesity related diseases out there in the world. Having said all that, I do find it hard not to have dessert every now and then!
Many of you may not realize it but sugar in the form of fructose is found in all processed foods and it reacts in your body just like alcohol does. So, if you're a pregnant or breastfeeding mom, a parent who lectures their kids against drinking alcohol, someone who grabs the low fat food (which often has a crazy amount of sugar), someone who thinks that natural sugar alternatives like agave is okay for you or someone who has just never really given the negative effects of sugar much thought, this is a good video to watch!!
Many of you may not realize it but sugar in the form of fructose is found in all processed foods and it reacts in your body just like alcohol does. So, if you're a pregnant or breastfeeding mom, a parent who lectures their kids against drinking alcohol, someone who grabs the low fat food (which often has a crazy amount of sugar), someone who thinks that natural sugar alternatives like agave is okay for you or someone who has just never really given the negative effects of sugar much thought, this is a good video to watch!!
Sunday, October 14, 2012
20 Chin Ups Thanks to Bartendaz Training!!!
Didn't think I'd reach 20 so fast!! Well, maybe half a chin up short!! Gotta reach 20 with pull ups now!!!
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!!!
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Week 1 Diet Fail!!!
So it's been just over a week since I started on my 12 week program of trying to eat better and making it to the gym 5 days a week. Unfortunately, week 1 did not go as well as planned.
In terms of the gym, I did make it 4 days in week 1 in which 3 of those days were Bartendaz classes. I had planned to go once more on Sunday, but a long day and a late night on Saturday lead me to sleep in and have a super lazy day. But I'd say 4 is still pretty good. I'm not going to allow myself to feel guilty over 1 less day of gym.
Now, you're probably wondering how I did in the food department!! Well, it was all pretty good until Saturday rolled around. I was at a friend's wedding and I wasn't going to say no to all the delicious food they had ordered.
Here's the damage!!!
*Not shown in the list of photos is my appetizer which was a small fried calamari salad.
Remember I mentioned a cheat meal once a week? Well, a cheat meal should be all I have but this was more of a cheat day!! Not so good!! But again, I think it's important not to feel guilty and not to be overly picky and avoid eating at an event such as a wedding where your friends have put a lot of thought into the meal they have chosen for their guests.
So, I'm not feeling so bad about that but I am feeling bad about the 2 pieces of toast with peanut butter and Nutella on Monday morning. I was just incredibly exhausted and didn't have time to make my eggs and smoked salmon breakfast.
The rest of the day went on better and it's important to just get right back into it when you had a weekend that wasn't so great in the diet department!!
In terms of the gym, I did make it 4 days in week 1 in which 3 of those days were Bartendaz classes. I had planned to go once more on Sunday, but a long day and a late night on Saturday lead me to sleep in and have a super lazy day. But I'd say 4 is still pretty good. I'm not going to allow myself to feel guilty over 1 less day of gym.
Now, you're probably wondering how I did in the food department!! Well, it was all pretty good until Saturday rolled around. I was at a friend's wedding and I wasn't going to say no to all the delicious food they had ordered.
Here's the damage!!!
 |
| The delicious wedding cake. Some kind of strawberries and cream cake. |
 |
| Pastries and scones!!! I had one of each!!! |
 |
| Salmon with pasta for dinner!!! |
 |
| Chocolate brownie without the ice cream for dessert!!! |
Remember I mentioned a cheat meal once a week? Well, a cheat meal should be all I have but this was more of a cheat day!! Not so good!! But again, I think it's important not to feel guilty and not to be overly picky and avoid eating at an event such as a wedding where your friends have put a lot of thought into the meal they have chosen for their guests.
So, I'm not feeling so bad about that but I am feeling bad about the 2 pieces of toast with peanut butter and Nutella on Monday morning. I was just incredibly exhausted and didn't have time to make my eggs and smoked salmon breakfast.
The rest of the day went on better and it's important to just get right back into it when you had a weekend that wasn't so great in the diet department!!
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Bikini Photos!!!
For those of you who opened this blog post thinking you were going to get to see a bunch of bikini photos of me... well...you're wrong.
I know there are many conservatives out there reading my blog posts and have probably been shocked that I had put photos of myself in a bikini in my previous post about my weight ups and downs. Well, I just wanted to let you know that the photos were not put up there to parade myself in a bikini for the whole world to see. This is not me, trying to put up sexy photos of myself out of vanity. This is me trying to document my ability to be disciplined and achieve a goal that at my fitness level is incredibly hard to achieve. We see shows about fat people losing weight all the time, but it's much harder for an already fit person to achieve an even greater level of fitness physically and in terms of performance.
If you're opening up the fitness blogs to gawk at my photos, show them to everyone and judge and gossip about how I could even think about putting bikini photos (and/or photos of me in a sports bra) of myself on the Internet then you should be gawking at yourself, telling everyone, judging and gossiping about yourself for being judgmental and for gossiping. From a moral and even a religious standpoint, judgement and gossip is equally as bad if not worse because it involves the feelings of another person.
So, if you opened this blog thinking you were going to get more ammunition for your gossip and judgement, I suggest you re-evaluate your thoughts and your mind. If you can't read the fitness blogs without judgement and gossip then I suggest you don't read it at all until you have become a better and more understanding person!!!! After all, your judgment and gossip are immoral and you wouldn't want to be more or just as immoral as someone who puts bikini photos of themselves on the Internet would you??
I know there are many conservatives out there reading my blog posts and have probably been shocked that I had put photos of myself in a bikini in my previous post about my weight ups and downs. Well, I just wanted to let you know that the photos were not put up there to parade myself in a bikini for the whole world to see. This is not me, trying to put up sexy photos of myself out of vanity. This is me trying to document my ability to be disciplined and achieve a goal that at my fitness level is incredibly hard to achieve. We see shows about fat people losing weight all the time, but it's much harder for an already fit person to achieve an even greater level of fitness physically and in terms of performance.
If you're opening up the fitness blogs to gawk at my photos, show them to everyone and judge and gossip about how I could even think about putting bikini photos (and/or photos of me in a sports bra) of myself on the Internet then you should be gawking at yourself, telling everyone, judging and gossiping about yourself for being judgmental and for gossiping. From a moral and even a religious standpoint, judgement and gossip is equally as bad if not worse because it involves the feelings of another person.
So, if you opened this blog thinking you were going to get more ammunition for your gossip and judgement, I suggest you re-evaluate your thoughts and your mind. If you can't read the fitness blogs without judgement and gossip then I suggest you don't read it at all until you have become a better and more understanding person!!!! After all, your judgment and gossip are immoral and you wouldn't want to be more or just as immoral as someone who puts bikini photos of themselves on the Internet would you??
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