Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Killer LBWO

Yup, my LBWO was awesome this morning:

Lunges: 12x8lbs, 10x10lbs, 8x12lbs, 6x20lbs, 12x12lbs
Sideway Lunges: 12x12lbs

Squats:12x10lbs, 10x12lbs, 8x15lbs, 6x20lbs, 12x12lbs
Single-leg squats w/ one leg behind on a bench: 12x12lbs

Seated Leg Press for Calves w/ toes straight: 12x205lbs, 10x210lbs, 8x215lbs, 6x225lbs, 12x220lbs
Seated Leg Press for Calves w/ toes pointed inward: 12x220lbs

Hip Adductor: 2x12x85lbs, 12x90lbs
Hip Abductor: 2x12x85lbs, 12x90lbs

The weights on the lunges & squats represent dumbell weights on each hand.

After LBWO, I then proceeded to a 20 minutes cardio session on the indoor rower.

My legs (esp. the butt) are still sore, but in a good way. It's going to be painful tomorrow climbing up the stairs.

Eating is okay. I heard a rumor at work that my department is going to be re-organized and I got totally depressed. I ended up going to Subway w/ a friend for lunch.

Anyways, here are my meals:

Coffee
M1: BFL RTD shake
M2: Tuna on 6" honey oat bread w/ provolone cheese, lettuce, & hot peppers, diet coke (not too much), baked Lays -- NOT GOOD!!!
M3: apple, low fat string cheese
Coffee
M4: EFL Hot Stuff Chili

I couldn't get M5 in because I am just soooooo tired. I think I need to get more sleep. So, I'm sacrificing M5 for a much needed rest. At this point, I think it's actually going to be better for me.

Anyways, this temporary depression thing was so stupid. Later on, as I thought more about it, I realized that if I do get re-orged into a different department, it might actually not be too bad. DUH! It's a new opportunity and I may actually learn new things that would benefit me in the long run. Needless to say, I felt really stupid afterwards and I am kicking myself for letting it ruin my meals.

Tomorrow will hopefully be better with meals.

Monday, January 30, 2006

I DID IT!!!!!!!!!!! I DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After months of trying, I finally did it.....2.0 miles in 20 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyways, here's my workout this morning:

Workout

STRETCHING
CARDIO: 5 minutes walking on the treadmill (warm-up)
STRETCHING
CARDIO: 20 minutes HIIT running on the treadmill @ 0.5 incline (2.0 MILES!!!!!), 5 minutes walking (cool-down)
STRETCHING
ABS: Ab Bootcamp

HIIT
Level 5: 5.5 mph
Level 6: 5.6 mph
Level 7: 5.8 mph
Level 8: 6.0 mph
Level 9: 6.2 mph
Level 10: 6.5-6.9 mph (minutes 18 & 19)

The next goal is to run Level 6 at 6.0 mph.

Today was so beautiful also, so I headed out and did my 2.6 miles walk after lunch.

Eating is okay. I've been snacking. Someone at work brought in some kind of pineapple & walnut cake and left it in the kitchen. It was soooo good. I also had some sweet potato chips. Tomorrow, I will eat clean.

Yoga - Revisited
(For Katie)

The yoga video I used yesterday is called "Healing Yoga For Common Conditions". There's a video that I want to get called "AM/PM Yoga for Beginners with Rodney Yee". It's supposed to be 20 minutes each session. Here's a great internet video store: http://www.collagevideo.com/. They tell you what level the video is geared for and they also have 60 seconds preview.

If you're a total beginner, I recommend attending at least a couple yoga classes. The instructor will guide through the proper positions, which you really can't get from the videos. A good instructor will actually walk around the class and help the students get into the proper positions. Once you're familiar with the yoga basics, you may decide to just practice on your own.

I am planning on doing yoga in addition to the 6 BFL workout. I'm just doing really basic stuff, mostly geared towards improving flexibility. In addition, I'm only going to do, at the most, 30-minutes sessions at a time. If I do become advanced where the practice actually becomes more for strengthening, I may have to re-evaluate and substitute it for one of my weight lifting workout.

Sunday, January 29, 2006

Yoga

Today is supposed to be my free day from workout, but I decided to do yoga instead. What a revelation! I used to do yoga religiously about 2 years ago. I had to stop because I moved and there was no yoga centers nearby. Anyways, I discovered that I suck in yoga. This morning, I followed a beginner's yoga video, and I was barely making it. My whole body was shaking, my flexibility was almost non-existent, and muscles that I didn't know I had were hurting. Just a simple downward-facing dog was a challenge. I used to be fairly good at it. Not advanced where you can stand on your head, but good enough that I can actually bend forward with my legs straight and my palms flat on the floor.

Needless to say, I had a good workout. And I realized how much I miss yoga. I forgot what a great overall body workout it is if you do it correctly. As you hold a position for a specific length of time, you can actually feel your heart beating fast, hence, it could be considered cardio. And obviously, it's also great for strengthening. It also improves your flexibility, helps your body stay in alignment, and helps in preventing injuries.

In light of today's revelation, I'm going to add the following fitness goal for this year:

Do yoga at least once a week.

Saturday, January 28, 2006

Runner's High

Today's workout was awesome. Since it's Saturday, I went to the weekend gym. It wasn't as crowded as 2 weeks ago, but it was still too hot in there! Anyways, here goes:

Workout

UBWO: BFL style (lats, tri, bi, chest, shoulders)
STRETCHING
CARDIO: Treadmill (3 mins walking, 30 minutes running @ 5.7-6.0 mph & 0.5 incline, 2 mins walking)
STRETCHING

I didn't think I was going to last with the running, but once I got going, I just wanted to go on and on. First, I wanted to do just up to 20 minutes, then just till' ending of the song "Fighter" by Christina Aguilera on my iPOD, then just to 28 minutes, and before you know it, I was running up to 3.0 miles. It felt so awesome! And to top it all of, no leg pains whatsoever. Yay!!!

Meals were also fairly clean:

Meals

M1: Protein shake
M2: Protein bar
M3: baked tilapia, brown rice, steamed spinach
M4: EFL vanilla mouse (1/2 serving)
M5: baked tilapia, brown rice, steamed spinach
M6: EFL vanilla mouse (1/2 serving)

Workout is done for week 4. Tomorrow's a free day for workout, and one free meal.

Friday, January 27, 2006

Spinning? What's that?

Okay, I didn't make it to spinning AGAIN! I just couldn't get up early enough. I still made it to the gym this morning, but I had to settle with the stationary bike for my 20 minutes HIIT.

Workout

CARDIO: 20 minutes HIIT, 15 minutes moderate intensity on the stairmaster
STRETCHING
ABS: crunches on the ball w/ dumbells, leg lifts, pilates

The stationary bike in my gym is retarded. I was cycling my A@@ off, my legs were burning, and I was sweating like a pig. But according to the calories counter on the bike I only burned 80 calories in 20 minutes. HUH?!? Oh well. I felt my 10, and that's all matter.

Meals

Well, I had to have a cheat meal today due to work. We had an off-site luncheon at a fancy Chinese restaurant to celebrate a milestone for one of the projects I was involved in.

Coffee with skim milk & splenda (post-workout)
M1: Cinnamon protein pancake
M2 (CHEAT): Egg drop soup, Appetizer (egg roll & rib), Main Entrees (Honey Walnut Shrimp, Beef & Brocolli, Sweet & Sour Pork, Lo-Mein, General Tso's Chicken), Dessert (Fruits, Almond Cookies).
M3: EFL Turkey Meatloaf, brown rice, steamed spinach
M4: EFL Vanilla Mouse (plan)

I was so full after lunch that I couldn't eat until dinner time. The food was soooooo good! And I was good too. There were tons of left-overs and we were allowed to take them home, but I didn't.

Oh, and I sat with 2 girls who are both in weight watchers. When I asked if they work out, they were like "Huh?". OKAY.....

Dancing With The Stars (Some Random Thoughts)

Okay, I am such a dork! I voted today on the internet for Drew Lachey. Looks like he's staying, so YAY!

The Pussycat Dolls look soooo awesome. I wonder what workout they do to stay in that great shape?

Man, some of those women wear really skimpy clothes! I wonder how they could dance and keep their clothes on at the same time?

P needs to go!

Thursday, January 26, 2006

I'm back!

Huge improvement today from yesterday. I feel re-energized! I probably just needed some rest. Made it to the gym first thing in the morning and had a killer workout:

Workout

LBWO: BFL style (quad, hams, calves); hip adductor, 3 reps; hip abductor, 3 reps
Stretch
CARDIO: 30 minutes on the treadmill, alternating between walking on an incline (4.0) and running at 5.5 mph.
Stretch

I was just going to walk on the treadmill, but a woman got on the treadmill next to mine and started running. It fired up my competitive drive - who would have thought I had it in me? So far, my legs are fine.

I used the leg machines rather than lunges & squats today for my LBWO. I hit my 10's in all the LBWO muscle groups; however, since I haven't used the machines in a long time, my weights were low. For example, for the leg extensions, I only did 12X35lbs, 10X40lbs, 8X45lbs, 6X50lbs, 12X40lbs. I did the exercises really slow to really feel the burn.

Previously, when I was using the leg machines on a regular basis, I started experiencing shin splints, especially as I increased the weights. I then switched to squats & lunges for LBWO. I decided today to re-introduce the leg machines for my LBWO for added variety, and then increase my weights very gradually to avoid injury. At least, that's the plan.

Oh, and I weighed myself today, courtesy of the built-in scale on the treadmill. According to the thing, I weigh 110 lbs - 2 lbs down from 4 weeks ago.

Tomorrow, I'm going to try to make it to the 6:15 am spinning class as make up for the class I missed yesterday.

Meals

M1: Cinnamon protein pancake
M2: EFL turkey meatloaf, brown rice, steamed spinach
M3: apple, low-fat string cheese
M4: BFL RTD shake
M5: grilled salmon, brown rice, steamed spinach (plan)
M6: EFL pistachio pudding (plan)

Yes, it looks like I may be able to pull off a 6-meals day.

I also had 2 cups of coffee (1 in the morning & 1 in the afternoon). I usually have it with a dash of skim milk & a little bit of splenda. I don't count coffee as a meal. More like a fat-burner. It's cheap, and probably safer.

Taxes!
First of all, I think most Americans are over-taxed as it is. I didn't really pay attention to it until I became a homeowner. I don't know what it's like in other states, but Pennsylvania kills you with taxes! For me, not only do I have to pay state, federal, property, and sales taxes, but I have to pay TWO local taxes - one called earned income tax and one for school tax (this is in addition to the school tax that's already embedded in the property tax).

So, as if we're not taxed enough, some genius people in the PA congress proposed a bill to impose a 6% tax on gym membership! WTF!?! On one hand, the government claims that they're concerned about the growing number of obese people in this country. On the other hand, they have no qualms proposing a bill that would discourage some people from being fit. Stuff like this just pisses me off.

If that bill gets passed, I will definitely cancel my gym membership. Not because I can't afford it, but for the principle of it. Also, I will have to buy my own home gym equipment. I'm lucky that my house has a full finished basement, so space will not be a problem. And, just so the government doesn't get a penny more, I will drive to Delaware (no sales tax!) to buy these gym equipment.

Maybe there's more reason now to get that treadmill....and maybe a Bowflex ;)

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

What a downer!

Well, I didn't make it to spinning class this morning. And I didn't make it to the gym first thing in the morning either. I think this challenge has finally gotten the better of me. The exhaustion hit me yesterday. I just had to take a nap after coming home from work, and I didn't wake up until 8 pm. This morning, I woke up early enough, but I just didn't have the energy to get out of bed.

The good news is I made it up by going to the gym at 10 am. Thank God for company gyms!

Workout

CARDIO: 20 minutes HIIT on the elliptical, 10 minutes moderate intensity going backwards on the elliptical.
STRETCH
ABS: medicine ball exercises, knee ups, pilates

I was still feeling lethargic going into the workout, but once I started it's like someone lit a match up my behind! I was actually kicking a@@! According to the display, I burned an excess of 300 calories at the 20-minutes mark. Normally at this timepoint, I would just be passing 290 calories. I guess this kind of prove that there's really no good time to workout. Yes, you do burn "stored" fat in the morning, but you burn more calories overall later in the day since you have more energy. I still plan to do my workout in the morning. For one thing, it frees up your time for the rest of the day. And second, it worked for me during my first challenge. Why fix something that ain't broke?

Anyways, here's what I ate today:

Meals

M1: Cinnamon Protein Pancake
M2: EFL Roast Beef (w/ baby carrots & baby red potatoes)
M3: BFL RTD shake
M4: brown rice, grilled salmon, spinach
M5: EFL vanilla mouse

I finally finished the roast beef that I made last week. I froze some of them and that's what I've been eating for lunch this week. I made EFL turkey meatloaf today, which I will have for my lunches starting tomorrow.

Gym Gripe - continued

I took Katie's & Jennifer's advice (Thank you gals!) and dropped an anonymous note in my gym's suggestion box (see blog entry from 2 days ago), basically expressing my displeasure about that HUGE desk in the exercise room. We'll see what happens.

The Biggest Loser

I sooooo love this show. I don't know if it's PMS or hormones, but tonight's show was just emotional for me. I was especially touched by the 2 teenagers in the show and how their mothers started crying during the daughters' intial weigh-in. It was a realization for them that they're partially responsible for the current conditions of their daughters. The one daughter, who is only 16, actually has the first sign of adult diabetes! What's sad is that this is probably a representation of what a lot of our youths are going through nowadays. America is just going downhill when it comes to health and fitness, and it's starting younger and younger.

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

C2W4D23

I can't believe that I'm into week 4 and I've been consistently going to the gym in the morning and doing the workout on an empty stomach.

Anyways, today's workout is as follows:

UBWO: BFL style
Arm & Leg Stretches
CARDIO: 27 minutes running on the treadmill at 5.5-6.0 mph & 0.5 incline (moderate intensity).
Leg Stretches

So that's 2 straight days of running. So far my, my knees, shins, ankles, feet, etc. are fine. I've had problems before and tried not to run on consecutive days. However today, I just wanted to run. I was going to do jump ropes, but I get so bored with it.

Who would have thought I would actually come to like running? Me, who was never into sport and was a band geek in high school. Before BFL, I couldn't even run 2 minutes straight without wanting to pass out. I've definitely come a long way.

The weather was mild and sunny today too, so after lunch I went on my usual walk - total 2.6 miles.

Tomorrow is spinning. Hope I wake up in time to make it to class.

Complement

I got complemented today by my friend. She told me I look really lean, but in a good, healthy way. I had to get her assurance that I don't look anorexic. Anyways, she asked me how much I weighed. Since I haven't been weighing myself, I told her my weight from my last weigh-in about 3 weeks ago, which was 112 lbs. She said that I look like I might be around 100 lbs.

Now, I'm only 5'1 so 100 lbs. is probably fine. I doubt I'm 100 lbs though and I won't be finding out until week 6 of the challenge. I wouldn't be surprise if my weight remained the same. I'd like to think that the fact that I weigh more than I look is due to all those nice muscles ;)

I have noticed that my size 2 pants are starting to get a little bit loose on the waist. However, the fit is still the same around the hip & thigh areas. I'm not looking to loose any more weight or reduce my size further (except maybe around the legs). Truthfully, I don't even know what the ideal weight for my height is supposed to be. However, I am looking to get more muscle definitions, which I hope to accomplish with this challenge.

Monday, January 23, 2006

So close yet so far...

Today is cardio - HIIT and I made it to the gym first thing this morning.

Workout went like this:

Leg Stretches
WARM-UP: 5 minutes walking on the treadmill @ 3.5 - 3.8 mph & 0.5 incline
Leg Stretches
CARDIO: 20 minutes HIIT on the treadmill, followed by 5 minutes walking cool-down
Leg Stretches
ABS: Ab Bootcamp

Now for the cardio...I WAS SOOOOO CLOSE!!! I did not hit the 2 miles in 20 minutes goal, but I set a personal best - 1.98 miles/20 minutes. Not bad! My routine went like this:

Level 5: 5.3 mph
Level 6: 5.5 mph
Level 7: 5.7 mph
Level 8: 6.0 mph
Level 9: 6.2 mph
Level 10: 6.5-6.8 mph

All done on a 0.5 incline. I had to run Level 10 for 2 minutes (Minutes 18 & 19).

I am not discouraged though. I am so close I can almost taste it. I'll try again next Monday. I did notice that my running is getting stronger. My heart rate felt fine, even the Level 10. My legs though was getting tired at 6.8 mph. I think it will only get better with time.

I had to forego my lunchtime walk since it was wet all day.

Overall, an excellent day with the workout and eating is clean so far.

Gym Gripe
Since my company gym has changed management during the end of last year, a lot of improvements have been made - new equipment (treadmills, ellipticals, stairmasters, captain's chair, etc.), better floor arrangements, etc. After years of using out-of-date equipment, this was indeed a good thing. Well, I was optimistic about the whole thing, until last week.

I came in one morning and right in the middle of the exercise room is this big monolith of a desk. Now, they have a small desk already set up by the door of the exercise room and out of the way, which I feel is sufficient. This only serves as a seating area for people on duty. There's already a large desk and seating area by the gym entrance, and then an office area in the back. The small desk that was on the exercise room was replaced by this THING.

Now, my gripe is I would rather put that space to better use and get more equipment - for example, a cable machine with more stations, a stairmill, a good incline bench with multiple levels for ab workout - countless of possibilities! I noticed the other morning that a couple of people that work there were making fun of this enormous THING, so I'm not the only person that have this opinion.

I'm thinking dropping an anonymous note in the suggestion box. There might be plans underway that would justify installing this THING, but I wanted to make sure that the gym management is aware that there are better options from where it stands right now.

Sunday, January 22, 2006

I wish I have a treadmill...

There's a severe storm & flood warning tomorrow, which is supposed to last ALL DAY! Commuting to work tomorrow morning is going to be a nightmare! It's times like this when I wish I have more workout equipment in my basement, like a treadmill. If I have one, I can work out at home & not worry about getting to the gym at an ungodly hour. I can get take my time getting to work.

Anyways, today is my free day both for workout & eating. Eating was definitely a free day! This morning, I ended up walking w/ my parents at the park by their house. Total miles walked is approx. 2.4 miles.

So this concludes C2W3. Onward to C2W4! Workout has been awesome! Eating needs some work.

Tomorrow morning is another attempt at the 2 miles in 20 minutes goal.

Wish me luck!

And for fun...

Your IQ Is 110
Your Logical Intelligence is Below Average
Your Verbal Intelligence is Genius
Your Mathematical Intelligence is Exceptional
Your General Knowledge is Average
A Quick and Dirty IQ Test

Saturday, January 21, 2006

C2W3D20

I'm at my parents' right now. Workout is still going strong! The eating part is so-so....I'm not even going to talk about it. Overall, not too bad.

I went to the gym near here this morning. It's an all women's gym, but it's not like Curves. It has all kinds of regular gym equipment, which is good enough for me. It's the cheapest around here too - $7/visit - and the people there are really nice. The only thing is the walls and all the equipment are painted this bright yellow color. What is up with that?

Anyways, my workout went like this:

WARMUP - 1 min walking at 3.5 mph & 1% incline, 5 min running at 5.0 mph & 1% incline
LBWO - BFL style (hams, quads, calves), 3 sets of 12 reps wide leg squat with heavy weights for the inner thighs, 3 sets of 12 reps adductor machine.
STRETCH
CARDIO - 25 minutes walking/running (mostly walking on a steep incline, ran .25 miles at 5.5 mph)
ABS - 2 sets 12 reps leg up using the captain's chair

After lunch, I went for a walk with my parents. We went to this park with a walking/jogging trail around it (approx. 0.4 miles). The weather was sunny this morning, but got cloudy by the time we got to the park. Fortunately, the temperature was still mild. We went around 4 times, which totaled approximately 1.6 miles. Not too bad. We usually go around 6 times, but my mom was experiencing some foot pain due to a fall she had over New Year's eve.

Arch pains
I've been experiencing some pain on the arch of my left foot since Thursday. On Thursday, I ran 3 miles on the treadmill & walked 2.6 miles. I was fine after the run, but I noticed the pain a little after the walk. I strongly suspect it's the shoes. I have this pair Saucony running shoes that I bought on eBay really cheap, and I keep it under my desk for my lunch time walks. Since I bought these shoes, I've had nothing but problems with it. First, it was blistering on my heels, so I bought heel guards. Now, it's the arch. I should probably buy some Dr. Scholl's inserts for arch support.

Who would have thought something like this was going to happen? I thought any athletic shoes are okay for walking. Also, Saucony is supposed to be one of the better running shoes around.

I am hoping that my arch feels better by Monday for my running HIIT. Tomorrow is my free day, so it should give my arch some time to rest. I've been stretching and icing it, so maybe that will help also.

Gym Observation
I've seen my share of wacky things at the gym but today just take the cake. There was a girl on the treadmill next to mine while I was doing my warmup. This girl was wearing a pair of Daisy Duke, shredded jean shorts and a corduroy hat. WHAT IS UP WITH THAT? Anyways, this girl was doing all kinds of wierd arm movements and she kept fixing her hat as if she was posing. She also looked like she was working really hard. But when I glanced at her treadmill screen, she was only walking 3.0 mph on a 1% incline. I surreptitiously looked at her screen while I was walking behind her and saw that she walked 3.57 miles and and her time was like 13 minutes. At first I did a double-take, but then realized she must have been walking 1 hour, 13 minutes. I guess if she has been walking that long, she was probably tired by then.

She looked fit though, with nicely cut arms. Maybe 20 minutes HIIT cardio is not the way to go, but 1 hour 13 minutes of light cardio. Hmmmm...makes you think ;=0.

Friday, January 20, 2006

TGIF!!!

...And it didn't come soon enough!

I know I only had a 4-day working week due to MLK Day last Monday, but this week seemed to just drag on and on.

Anyways, today is CARDIO-HIIT day and I made it to gym this morning. I did the 20 minutes INTENSE HIIT on the elliptical with an extra 10 minutes tagged on at the end, also on the elliptical, going backwards and at moderate intensity. I then proceeded with my ABS workout, BFL style, doing crunches on a ball with dumbells.

Overall a very good workout.

The weather held up and it is just beautiful today. After lunch, I changed into my sneakers, grabbed my iPOD, and went for a brisk walk to the walking/jogging trail at work. Total miles walked is 2.6 miles.

Eating-wise, I've been good so far. However, I am going to a retirement party this afternoon, so I am hoping I can resist temptation.

Also this weekend, I'm going to my parents' place. I'm bringing some protein shakes and hope for the best. They're not exactly into clean eating. I've tried to enlighten them, but old habits are hard to break. I doubt I'll be eating super clean this weekend, so I will have to rely on moderation.

I only have to be strong for one day because Sunday is my free day. Yeah! There's some kind of a feast at church on Sunday and you can bet I will definitely partake!

Thursday, January 19, 2006

A tribute to Julie Whitt...

A true BFL and fitness inspiration:

http://www.helpjuliewhitt.com/video/

C2W3D18

Today's workout was a success! (If only I can say the same thing about the eating part.)

Made it to the gym first thing this morning. And I was early enough that I was able to do both UBWO and non-HIIT cardio.

First, UBWO. I made sure I hit level 10's in all upper-body muscle groups. I was lucky enough to have the cable machine all to myself, so I tried this new shoulder exercise where you're in between 2 stations and pull the handles to the center in front of you. I don't know if I'm explaining it correctly, but I see a lot of people doing this exercise. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like I'm strong enough to load up on the weights. Hopefully, it will improve with time.

Next stop, the treadmill. I ran approx. 3 miles straight! Yay! I walked the first 3 minutes then ran the whole way after that. Between the start of the run and 25 minutes, my average was about 5.6 mph. I then increased the speed to 6.0-6.1 mph until I achieved 3 miles, which happened around 32+ minutes. I then slowed down gradually until I got to a walking pace and stopped at 35 minutes.

Today's run is sort of a revelation for me. It looks like I can stay at around 5.5 - 6.0 mph pace for a long time. So on Monday for my running HIIT, I may be able to increase my speed, and maybe, just maybe, hit that 2 miles in 20 minutes goal. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Today's weather was also pretty nice. Sunny and mild (mid-40's F) and NO WIND. I ate my lunch quickly and headed out for a walk. I went to the walking/jogging trail at work and went around the circular trail twice. There were a lot of people there, which was good. Total miles walked between my building and the trail and twice around the trail was approx. 2.6 miles.

Tomorrow's weather is supposed to be even better. It's predicted go to up to 60F! Now, I'm not holding my breath since the weather forecasts have been letting me down recently. However, if the forecast actually comes true, you can be sure I'll be on that trail with my iPOD tomorrow.

As for the eating...it was good for the most part (so far). It was someone's b-day today in my office area, and they brought in carrot cake and left it in the kitchen. I'm ashamed to say that I ate some. However, I only ate a really thin piece - almost transparent. I just had to satisfy my sweet tooth.

Last night's episode of The Biggest Loser was such a motivation. I'm glad the red team won, as they have been my favorite from the beginning. However, I am equally impressed by both teams since they all worked hard and it showed. Can't wait for next week's episode. It's supposed to be between 2 families who are restaurant owners. Should be good.

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Spinning

Yay! I actually made it to spinning class this morning!!! And what a feat it was too, not just because I made it through such a tough class, but I actually made it to the gym in in this crazy weather.

Did I mention this January is just crazy weather-wise? Woke up today at 5 am and turned on the tv. Wouldn't you know, temperature was 64 F!!! WTF!!! It's January in Pennsylvania for crying out loud! Not that I'm complaining, mind you. I like to keep my heating bill low, thank you very much!

The problem is the howling wind! 50 mph wind gusts! It was like this last Saturday night too and the noise just kept me up. Also the stress...all I could think of was my roof and sindings coming off (LOL)!!! Thankfully, nothing like that happened. And BELIEVE ME, I checked. Not even a single shingle out of place. I'm knocking on wood that my house stays intact today also.

Anyways, this morning was just too windy and a little bit rainy. I had to navigate through fallen branches and flying garbage cans. Thankfully, not too many people were on the road yet.

Going back to the workout....spinning was awesome. I haven't done spinning in weeks, but I thought I did pretty well. We have this instructor named Pat, and she is tough! People around the gym have started calling her classes "Pain with Pat". She's a grandma too!!! It was 45 minutes and I definitely reached my 10's several times. I made sure to stretch afterwards to minimize the soreness.

I also did ABS workout after spinning following the AB Bootcamp routine.

So C2W3D17 workout is done. So far so good.....

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Couscous

I am exhausted!!! I ended up walking all afternoon today at work and didn't go home until 7:30 pm. Because of it, my eating has not been perfect. I ended up making couscous for dinner as my source of carbs. I was planning on making brown rice, but it takes FOREVER to cook - approx. 1 hour with the rice cooker.

Anyways, I checked the nutrition profile of couscous, and it's like 200 calories per serving of 1 cup and 40g of CARBS! YIKES!!! Needless to say, I only ate maybe half a portion and just slightly increased my portions of protein and veggies.

The good news is I made it to the gym this morning for an awesome session of LBWO. Although, I got there a little bit late and wasn't able to squeeze in some cardio. However, I met my goal of doing my LBWO so I am still happy it. The cardio is sort of an extra so I am not too disappointed that it didn't get done.

Tomorrow is cardio-HIIT day. I am planning on going to the 6:15 am spinning class. I have to get up super early and be on my way by 5:30 am.

On that note, I'll be signing off for tonight to catch some ZZZZZZZZs...

Monday, January 16, 2006

HIIT Me Baby One More Time!!!

I'm back to running on the treadmill for my HIIT, and it felt grrrreeeeaaaatttt!!! After 2 weeks of not running for HIIT coz of my right knee, today is like coming home! Still no 2 miles in 20 minutes, but I am confident that it is only a matter of time.

I started out stretching, then walking for 5 minutes, then stretching again. After that, it was on to HIIT. I did the 20 minutes HIIT and continued running until 21 minutes, just to get to the 2 mile marker, then continued walking on a high incline until 3 miles. Did more stretching after that, then on to ABS (knee ups, incline bench exercises, medicine ball exercises).

Why so much stretching? Well, when I started running, I had a lot of problems with shin splints. A friend of mine who ran for most of her life suggested A LOT of stretching. She was the one who told me to stretch, walk for 5 minutes, stretch again, run, then stretch afterwards. It worked for me and I've been doing it ever since.

Another thing that helped my shin splints is getting the right shoes. I used to get sneakers the same size as my regular shoes. After researching on the internet, I learned that you should get sneakers that are at least 1/2 size bigger than your regular shoes. Another friend also suggested Asics gel sneakers and I've been lucky enough to have it work for me. It's probably a better idea to actually go to an honest-to-goodness running shoes store where they analyze the way you run and make recommendations. Unfortunately, there's none of that kind around my area.

Moving on....I also went to the GNC today. Got some protein powders in both chocolate and vanilla flavors. AND...I got an awesome deal on the EFL RTD shakes...$2 for a pack of 4...AND...they're not expired!!! I definitely stocked up!

Today, since I'm off for Martin Luther King's Day, I'm cleaning my house top to bottom, do some laundry, and FINALLY put away the Christmas Tree. I'm committed to get all of these done today since my class starts tomorrow.

I wonder how much extra calories all those houseworks burns....

Tonight is the 2nd part of the season premiere of 24! Last night's episode was AWESOME!!! I cannot wait to see the continuation tonight!!!

Saturday, January 14, 2006

Crazy January!

Weather today sucks! It's been cloudy and drizzling all day! The good news is, it actually warm for January...55 F at 7 am! It supposedly went up to 60 F. Unfortunately, what good is that if you can't do anything outside anyways coz of the rain?

It's now night time, and the temperature is supposed to drop to winter-like. Snow showers are predicted for tomorrow morning. Then on Monday, it's back to fairly mild (like 45 F), and then it's supposed to get warmer again later on in the week. I guess nature's making up for the extremely cold December. Not that I'm complaining. I like it warm...keeps my heating bill low.

Anyways, I made it to morning workout today. I woke up around 7 am, but my "weekend" gym doesn't open until 8 am. I had some coffee, watched TV, left the house at like 9:15am, and I was at the gym by 9:25 am. The gym was soooo crowded!!! I cannot wait until these New Year's resolution gym goers get over it.

Thankfully, my "weekday" gym, which happens to be at work, doesn't get this crowded in the morning. I guess people who goes to my work gym are more lax and do not want to be bothered with getting up in the morning earlier than usual just to make it to the gym and still be able to be at their work area on time. Lunch times get extremely crowded though and I am glad I stopped going at that time.

Anyways, working out at my "weekend" gym is always a pleasure. It's fairly new, so all the equipment are also fairly new. They have this program called "EZ-Fit" in which you pay for only 20 gym days that you can use anytime within a year's period for only $100 ($5/day). It's convenient and worth it since this gym is closer than my work gym and they're open most of the time. Other than weekdays, my work gym is only open 8 am - 12 pm on Saturdays and closed on Sundays and holidays.

Anyways, on to today's workout. C2W2D13. Needless to say, it was awesome.

UBWO: triceps, lats, chest, shoulders, biceps (BFL style) - definitely hit level 10's!!!
STRETCH (both arms and legs)
CARDIO: walking/running on the treadmill at 1.0 incline (0:00-3:00 walking 3.5-3.8 mph; 3:00-5:00 running 4.5 mph; 5:00-26:00 running 5.0-6.0 mph; 26:00-31+ walking 3.8 mph)
STRETCH (legs)

Total walked/ran is 2.55 miles in 31 plus minutes. I wanted to do 3 miles of just 3 minutes walking for cooldown, but I was exhausted! Keep in mind, all I had was coffee that morning and my workout is later than what I'm used to. I think my energy reserve was just depleted. My shirt was all drenched it was disgusting! I think the fact that there was just too much people and the gym was just plain stuffy didn't help. I was going to run errands after working out since next door there's a Walmart, GNC, and a supermarket. But I needed a shower REALLY BAD! I don't know if I smelled, but I wouldn't be surprised if I did!

Okay, I have a gym observation for today. There was a woman who hopped on the treadmill next to mine as I was doing my cooldown. She's probably in her 30's, and pretty thin. Anyways, she had her treadmill set at 14.9 incline and 6.1 mph! Now, normally I would say more power to her, but she was doing the strangest thing. She would alternate between running and walking, but when she runs, she's holding on to the side of her treadmill for dear life and she looks like her feet was barely skimming the floor. I would bet that she's getting more of a upper body workout than a lower body workout. Then when she's walking, she's like holding on to the handle bars for dear life. It was such a strange routine.

Well, I also kind of noticed her earlier while she and I were doing weights. She would set her weights to really high, which extremely compromises her technique and posture. You can tell that she was struggling to just move the weights a little bit. She needs to hire a trainer to show her the proper form, or at least read some fitness books. I'm afraid she will injure herself one of these days.

I went to the supermarket today and bought tons of groceries. I'm making cinnamon pancakes and easy veggie quiche, which I got from the tracker forum. I plan to freeze some of these. I'm also planning on making EFL shrimp scampi for next week's dinners and EFL Roast Beef for next week's lunches. The roast beef makes 8 servings, so some will be frozen as well.

Right now, I'm making multi-grain whole wheat bread using my bread maker. Hope it turns out good.

Tomorrow is my day off from working out. It is also my free day! Yay! I have one more meal (dinner), and maybe a snack later on, and C2W2 is in the books!

Monday is Martin Luther King's Day and I am off from work. Which means it's a long weekend for me and I'm going back to my "weekend" gym on Monday.

Friday, January 13, 2006

It's a beautiful day....NOT!!!

All week, the weather report has been predicting another Indian Summer today...sunny, at least 60 F. Well, today comes and it's been cloudy & foggy ALL DAY, and it didn't even go above 48 F. Needless to say, my planned walk around lunch time was canned.

I'll never trust the weather report again!

It's C2W2D12 of my BFL challenge. Made it to the gym this morning and did the following:

CARDIO: 20 minutes HIIT on the elliptical, 10 minutes moderate, steady-state intensity going backwards on the elliptical.
ABS: a variety of abs exercise using a medicine ball, pilates core exercises, captain's chair

I also incorporated some pilates back exercise into my abs routine.

Tomorrow is UBWO, then rest on Sunday. I cannot wait!

Also, my right calf feels so much better. There's still some tenderness, but most of the time, I don't even notice it anymore. Yay! I might try running on the treadmill tomorrow, right after UBWO.

I just found out yesterday from the BFL tracker website that a cup of bananas have 200 calories and tons of sugar! YIKES!!! I'm used to eating a banana a day. I guess bananas are out right now (or at least limited).

Speaking of food, I'm thinking of logging in my meals in this blog, along with my workouts. I'm just hesitant because I don't want to get obsessed with counting calories. It's just too much work, between updating this blog, keeping up with the tracker and other fitness related websites, reading BFL blogs, work, school (which starts next week), and just life in general, when will I have time to relax? I might just log in what I ate without figuring out the calories. I'll play it by ear.

Just checked the BFL website guestbook today. Chris Cary, the brains behind the BFL Audio Timekeeper, left a message to say that he mailed my CDs while he was in Denver for the EAS BFL Expo! I can't wait!

I hope I make it to the gym tomorrow. It's supposed to rain and I usually get lazy and stay home when the weather is bad. I do have a back-up. If it's raining a lot, like nonstop thunderstorm, I'll work out in my basement using hand weights and one of my cardio videos.

Thursday, January 12, 2006

Indian Summer

Workout this morning went awesome. I was at work by 6:30 am, went to my desk to check email, then walked over to the gym.

Morning workout routine went like this:

WARM-UP: 1 minute slow walk then 5 minutes fast walk w/ incline on the treadmill
LBWO: BFL style (quads, hamstring, CALVES!!!), leg adductor and abductor machines (3 X 12 each)
CARDIO: 20 minutes moderate intensity rowing machine
STRETCH

My right calf felt better. Still sore and tender, but a lot more manageable. I used the seated leg press machine for the calf exercise. I set the weight stacks lower than what I'm used to doing, but I didn't want to overdo it and make it worse. I normally set the weights at 200, 205, 210, 215, and 205 lbs. for 12, 10, 8, 6, and 12 reps, respectively. However, today I went 150, 155, 160, and 165 lbs. I didn't bother doing the last 12 reps w/ different exercise. I still got a good workout, although I definitely did not hit a 10 for calves.

The good news is I increased the weights for my lunges and squats. Yay, me!

I ended up having lunch with a friend in the cafeteria. I got shrimp fajitas with 3 PIECES OF FRIGGIN SHRIMP, peppers, salsa, and a little guacamole (probably not BFL friendly) in a wrap. I was so pissed about the shrimp. They make this dish on the spot and the whole time they were making it, all I could think of was "That's not even a whole protein portion!!!". Granted, the shrimps were jumbo size, BUT STILL!!! I probably should have said something, but I hate confrontations so I just let it go. The wraps were kept warm on the side, but I would have prefered to have them toast the whole thing after everything has been assembled. To top it all off, the whole thing costs $5.08 (with tax)! A little pricey for 3 PIECES OF SHRIMP!!!

Anyways, the weather here today is just BEAUTIFUL!!! It's in the middle of January in Pennsylvania and the temperature is 60 F!!! How awesome is that! I definitely took advantage of it. After lunch, I met my boss for a one-on-one, which only lasted 30 minutes. Afterwards, I changed into my sneakers, took my iPOD, and went out for a walk. I was in a waiting phase with a project I'm working on, so I was able to indulge today. Anyways, my plantsite just happen to have a little park-like area with a paved trail surrounding it, so I headed over there. The trail was empty since it was way after lunch time and I'm sure most people have work to do. Anyways, the walk from my building to the trail is about .6 miles and the trail is about .7 miles. I went around the trail twice, so between that and the walk to and from my building, I racked up approximately 2.6 miles!!! Not bad! It was just so nice and I didn't even need a jacket or a sweater! I'm going to try to do it again tomorrow since the weather is supposed to be the same.

I saw The Biggest Loser last night. I'm definitely rooting for the red team, and I was so happy that they won both the challenge and the weigh-in. I just couldn't bring myself to cheer for the blue team because the blonde in the blue team was just a bitch. The red team was just more down to earth. Of course, it could just be due to editing that she was made to appear bitchy. Both teams are still inspirational and I would love to see all of them succeed, if not as the biggest loser, then for overall improving their health and way of life. I definitely cannot wait for the conclusion next week!

Audio Timekeeper

Okay, I took the plunge.

I just ordered both BFL audio timekeeper CDs. It got such great reviews on the BFL guestbook. I'm really excited! I can't wait to load it into my iPOD and see if it takes my workout to a higher level!

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

A blah day...

I feel like crap right now. Not flu-like, just crap. I sort of have the chills too. I went home early today and took a nap. I'll try to go to bed early tonight and hopefully, that will help me feel better by tomorrow. I was planning on making some EFL golden pancakes for breakfast, but I don't know if I'll have the energy. I usually make a bunch, freeze them in ziploc bags, and take them to work for breakfast.

As for today's workout, I got up early and I was at the gym by 6:45 am. I was planning on going to the 6:15 am spinning class, but couldn't bring myself to get up earlier. For me to make it to class, I will have to be out the door by 5:30am. My work/gym is approx. 20 minutes from my house, but it takes at least 5 minutes to walk from the parking lot to the gym, then some time to set up my bike, then about 5 minutes to change. I guess I can wear my gym clothes on the way there, but I have this fear of forgetting something important, like underwears! So, since my gym has a laundry service, I just take advantage of it. Also, this is a popular class so if I want to reserve a spot, I will have to go early. I also like to get a bike next to the counters on this one side of the room. I like to put my water bottle on it for easy reach.

Anyways, in lieu of spinning, my workout was as follows:

CARDIO: 20 minutes HIIT then 10 minutes moderate steady pace on the stationary bike
EXTRA LONG STRETCHES (special attention to my calves - explanation later)
ABS: crunches on the ball with weights (BFL style,) side crunches on the ball with feet against the wall (24 reps each side)

I don't know what's going on, but my right calf still hurts from Sunday's LBWO. Yesterday, I was limping all day because of it. I iced it last night and it feels better today. I can actually walk straight! But it still feels tender to the touch. I plan on applying a hot pack tonight and pray that it helps. As you can see, the pain did not stop me from completing my workout this morning, so I'm proud of that at least. I'm really worried though since tomorrow's my LBWO. If it's still sore, I might skip calf exercises and do something else.

Today's gym observation - There's this girl who's a regular at the gym. She's probably in her 20s and in pretty good shape. What struck me though is she reads a magazine every time she runs on the treadmill. She doesn't run all out, maybe moderate speed on a stead pace, but still!!! How can you read with all that movement?! I personally couldn't do it. Maybe she just looks at the pictures. Who knows! Hey, that's a great idea!!! Get a magazine with a picture of a really fit woman - someone you would aspire to be, and maybe that could serve as a motivation. I should try that sometime.

Speaking of motivation, I think there's a 2-hours Biggest Loser special tonight. Should be good.

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

You can't touch this - Hammer Time!

The day started out bad, but turned out to be good.

I found out that I left $20 in the money dispenser at the supermarket last Sunday. The supermarket was crazy crowded and I just wanted to get out of there. I went to the self serve counter and took out an additional $20 from my ATM card. This morning, I looked inside my wallet and realized what I did. Bummer! The good news is that it's only $20 and not more. Note to self...just go to the regular counter next time. At least the cashier will hand you the money.

My workout this morning was awesome! First, I warmed up on the treadmill by walking 6 minutes. I then proceeded with the UBWO, BFL style. Afterwards, I ran on the treadmill! Yeah! I'm back to running, baby! I miss it so much! I haven't ran since hurting my knee New Year's eve.

Anyways, I only did light to moderate running. I wanted to ease myself into it and just see how I felt. My routine went like this:

0:00-12:00 moderate to fast pace walking on a 2.0 incline
12:00-15:00 jogging at 4.5 mph 0.5 incline (I'm short so this is jogging for me!!!)
15:00-25:00 jogging/running increasing to 5.0 mph 0.5 incline
25:00-28:00 jogging/running 5.5/5.6 mph 0.5 incline
28:00-30:00 walking cool-down.

Total = 16 minutes jogging/running. It's probably not impressive to a lot of people, but it is for me. Like I said, I'm short and I'm just not a natural runner. I had to work myself up to it.

During my UBWO, I had a lot of opportunities to observe my gym surrounding. The following people grabbed my notice:

1) Fart Woman! This lady was a regular, but I stopped seeing her towards the end of last year. Well, now she's back. She's about middle aged, a little overweight, and only does very light exercise. God bless her though for just doing it. Anyways, I used to see her in one of the empty classrooms when I do abs or walking lunges and she does her own thing. When she does crunches, she farts as she lifts up! I can sometimes hear it through my headphones! It cracks me up all the time but I never say anything. It might be a medical condition, so I just keep everything to myself.

2) There's this guy (nice guy too) that wears these MC Hammer pants (hence, the title of today's blog). I'm not sure if this is a regular wear for the gym, but he's the only one I see wearing it. Everytime I see him, I start singing "You can't touch this..." in my head (LOL).

3) There this guy at the gym, who I think is new. I never saw him before. Anyways, I just happened to glance at his feet and noticed that his sneakers have holes in them. It's not because his shoes are old, it's how the shoes are made. It's sneakers, but it almost looks like sandals. I've never seen it before! I guess it would be good for ventilation. It would probably be strange for me not being able to wear socks.

Actually, I shouldn't be making comments about gym fashion. My gym outfit consists of wrinkled shirts and pants. We have laundry service at my gym so my clothes gets washed with other clothes and I wear the same thing everyday. It gets washed with industrial grade laundry soap, dried, and squished into our assigned tiny cubby holes. I usually wear $5 Old Navy flag shirts and whatever pants/shorts are on sale at Marshall's. I don't even match sometimes! I really don't care - I just want to go in, work out, shower, and leave!

My gym (it's a company gym, by the way) is offering martial arts/self-defense classes. There's orientation tomorrow during lunch time so I might check it out.

Monday, January 09, 2006

Sore....

I woke up this morning sore from yesterday's LBWO. But, I was determined, so I went ahead and did 20 minutes HIIT on the elliptical with 10 minutes moderate pace going backwards. I also did the ab bootcamp after that. Nevertheless, I am even more sore now. Hopefully, it'll be better tomorrow.

The bread machine experiment turned out great...big difference between my homemade whole wheat bread compared to the loafs bought in the supermarket. For one thing, the homemade bread is noticeably fresher, as well as overall better for you since it doesn't have additional preservatives. And it smells so good! One thing though is that I programmed it for medium crust, as the recipe suggested, but the outside turned out crustier that I would like. My co-worker who owns a bread machine says that this is usually the case with whole wheat breads since it is typically dense. So, she suggested programing it for light crust next time.

Oh yeah, I cut off the ends of the bread and I am currently making bread crumbs out of it since I can't find whole wheat bread crumbs anywhere. I just shredded them in small pieces and put them in the oven to dry. I'll put them in a ziploc bag, crush them, and store them in the freezer. We'll see how it goes.

I had the EFL beef stir fry that I made last night for lunch today. The only thing is some pieces of the brocolli slaw turned out kind of woody. I don't know if it's because I overcooked it or if I just got a bad batch.

I'm making the EFL tuna casserole right now for dinner. I've made this dish many times already and I love it. It actually tastes better the next day.

Sunday, January 08, 2006

EFL's Beef Stir Fry

I just tried the Beef Stir Fry recipe from the EFL book. It's pretty good. I increased the measurements to 5 servings. I then divided it into 5 containers and stored them in the refrigerator for this week's lunches.

Can I just say, I love the EFL book. I've made several recipes from the book and they all turned out pretty good. I recommend the Beef Stir Fry, Turkey Goulash, Turkey Meatloaf, Chicken Parmesan, Indian Chicken, and Golden Pancake.

I got a bread machine for Christmas so I'm trying it out right now for the first time. I'm making the honey whole wheat bread recipe from the manual. We'll see how it goes. So far it's easy. You just add the ingredients in the order that's written, select the program, press start, and wait. A couple of my co-workers use the bread machine and they absolutely love it.

Peanut butter cookies

I was watching Paula Deen last night on Food TV. I think the episode was on healthy cooking (sort of). Anyways, she made this peanut butter cookies which looks interesting. I'm posting it here while I can still remember it for future reference. I'll probably make it one of these days. Anyways, here's the recipe:

1 cup peanut butter (I'd use the natural kind)
1 cup splenda
1 whole egg (I'll try substituting maybe 2 egg whites or even egg beaters)

1. Mix all the ingredients with a fork.
2. Make into balls and place in cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. When you make the balls, you may use a little bit of flour just to keep from sticking to your hands. (Maybe instead of flour, use protein powder?)
3. Press the balls with a fork dipped in splenda. (The splenda part of this step is optional)
4. Bake in a 350C oven for about 12 minutes or until done.

Today's Workout...

LBWO: BFL style
CARDIO: step aerobic video with Kathy Smith (?), 23 minutes, moderate

Success for the week!

Normally, I use Sunday as a free day for meals. But last night the family and I went to a Japanese Hibachi restaurant. I had onion soup, salad, sushi appetizer, 2 pieces shrimp, lean steak, and fried banana desert. It was a total pig out! Luckily, I ate clean for the rest of the day yesterday. I plan to eat clean today which meakes last night's meal the only "free meal" for the week.

Body Type

Went to www.bodybuilding.com and this is what I found:


What Is Your Body Type?

Your score is 2.17.

Your body is closest to a Mesomorph. You have a naturally fit body but to maintain it or improve it you should exercise and diet correctly for your type. Strength training can be done more often and for longer sessions then would be good for an Ectomorph, but you must still be carefull not to overdo it. You should train with moderate to heavy weighs and at a moderate pace, not resting too long between sets. You will find you gain muscle quite easy (some women and even men might not want to get too bulky, but this won't happen suddenly. When you are happy with your muscle size simply train to maintain it). Stick to a good healthy diet to keep you lean and muscular, and watch for any slow creeping fat gains. Engage in and enjoy aerobic activities, sports, etc. but do not overdo.

Not sure if this is correct. My legs tend to be fat no matter what I do.

Saturday, January 07, 2006

Today's Fitness Log...

Nothing to report for today. I was planning on going to the gym this morning to do LBWO but my parents, brothers, and their significant others wanted to come over to my house and they didn't tell me what time. So I stayed home and did no exercise. I did some cleaning though. I do plan to go to the gym tomorrow to do LBWO and maybe some light/moderate cardio. If I don't go, I'll try to work out in my basement using freeweights and a ball, and maybe pop in a step DVD.

However, I was good this week. I did all my workout early in the morning on an empty stomach and it looks like this:

Monday (while using the gym by my parent's house)
CARDIO: 5 minutes bike (I was planning to do my HIIT on it, but the bikes in this gym were shaky so I got off), 20 minutes HIIT on the elliptical, 10 minutes Lifestyle stepper (kicked my butt! Unfortunately, there's nothing like this in my regular gym)
ABS: incline bench, captain's chair

Tuesday (back to my work gym, which means back to work..ugghhh!!!)
WARM-UP: 5 minutes on the treadmill walking on a steep incline
LBWO: BFL technique using walking lunges, squats with ball on the wall, etc. for gluts, hams, and calves. Leg adductor and abductor (3 sets of 12 each)
CARDIO: 10 minutes treadmill walking on a steep incline

Wednesday
CARDIO: 20 minutes HIIT on the stationary bike, with 10 minutes moderate biking at the end
ABS: crunches on the ball with weights using BFL technique

Thursday
UBWO: BFL technique using free weights & machines
Note: I was in a hurry due to a work deadline so I wasn't able to do more.

Friday
CARDIO: 20 minutes HIIT on the elliptical and 10 minutes moderate level going backwards
ABS: crunches with medicine ball, pilates, captain's chair, one set of back exercise
A lot of walking and climbing up and down the stairs throughout the day at work due to a deadline we needed to meet that day. I ended up leaving work at 10 pm, and it's not a paid overtime!!!

On a side note, the Friday and Saturday before New Year's, I ran on the treadmill for 3.25 miles and 2.5 miles, respectively. My right knee felt sore by Saturday afternoon and I was limping until Sunday. It felt like it was swollen, but it didn't look like it was. I wrapped it and by night time on Sunday, it felt better. This puts a damper on my routine since I normally do my HIIT running on the treadmill on Mondays. I've been trying to get into running more and this just sucks. This week, I did absolutely running to give my knee enough time to heal from whatever is. Hope to start running again next week. Maybe not full HIIT, but 5 minutes of light/moderate speed for warm-up before weight training. This is just so frustrating!

Thoughts about this blog...

I've always loved to read other people's blogs, particularly when it comes to fitness. Thought I'd start one just to have some accountability on my fitness goals, and also to have a sounding board to some random thoughts in my head.

Just as a warning, I will not be posting anything too personal (ie: family & relationship issues)!!! I'm still leary about someone I know reading this blog and figuring out who is. It's not exactly anonymous, but I'm still shy.