In this case the Stick is a massage stick which is used to massage key muscles. I confess to having mixed feelings because a person I trust in these matters is singing praises but I can’t yet feel immediate benefit, except when I’ve completed 850 kettlebell swings with full tension(I was aiming for more but form went), and am beginning to stiffen up.
At present I am massaging my bum, lats, hipflexor, quads and traps (I never thought I’d use those words together in a sentence and know what I meant!) 2 sets of 20 each side. My hip flexor, bum and quads should help my core and the traps and lats are working on shoulders. I do this 3 or 4 times a day. I dare not do bum and hip flexor at work, I’d get the sack if someone walked in on me! So usually nearer 3 times.
Along with that is joint mobility. I am a fan of this- really helped me when I hurt my back- in fact I was talking about the benefits of joint mobility only today with a colleague. A different set with feet and knees which I really like.
Next comes the stretches- reach and roll to activate my lats, ASLR and walkout (which is a killer!) to activate my reluctant core. Then first stage get up practise. As you can guess the warm up etc can take as long as the workout- but I’m flexible and well stretched and that is worth it’s weight in gold.
Today I didn’t return from work until 7pm and really want some sleep so am having a rest day-it’s too late to work out and I’ve some work to do tonight. This could mean two workouts together this week-oh well can’t be helped.Time for a massage whist I cook tea…
Semoga yang dimaksud dengan body sikspek itu bener begini, hihihihi… (tuh kan, tulisannya aja gak tau gimana, hahahaha), pokoknya bodi ade rai gitu dehh….
Ini pesenan ibu Elly untuk ulangtahun suami… Temanya fitnes, hiasannya juga seperti yang diminta beliau…. Suaminya badannya harus kekar gitu katanya, hihihihi, trus semua barang2nya merknya Nike…
Lester Burnham: (running astride fit neighbors) I figured you guys might be able to give me some pointers. I need to shape up. Fast. Jim Olmeyer: Are you just looking to lose weight, or do you want increased strength and flexibility as well? Lester: I want to look good naked!
-from American Beauty
When I made the decision to stop “running seriously” three years ago, I realized that I had only been running for one purpose for too long. I asked myself, “If your body were to look the same whether you ran or not, would you still run regularly?” An unequivocal “no” resounded through my disturbed mind. I put my shoes in my closet and laced them up twice a week at most.
I have always conflated my body image into my sexual identity. The unhealthy marriage was consummated in 1995 when I hit puberty. I felt extremely uncomfortable in my own skin. To make a long story short, I made my period go away. The thought of developing breasts and hips absolutely terrified me, so I started exercising and virtually stopped eating. A year later, running saved my life. I felt entitled to eat again, and I gained self-confidence from excelling at something other than schoolwork (“Athlete” sounded better than “bookworm.”).
“Bootylicious” topped the charts the summer before my senior year in high school. Its sexy, charismatic message failed to reach me.
Fast forward two years. Competing in collegiate sports put me in the best physical shape of my life, but I managed to keep subtle “lady lumps” throughout the years of intense training. Never before had I received so much attention from the opposite sex. I felt at once exhilarated and horrified. After three progressively problematic incidents, I started forcing myself to throw up. My experiences and surroundings seemed to convey to me that my body and my desires had provoked predatory behavior: My burgeoning sexuality could and would be used against me. When my breasts and hips refused to disappear, I tried to “act like a man.” I felt more attracted to women than ever before and feigned apathy toward “catching feelings.” I became aggressive, power hungry, and, occasionally, hateful. None of these pretenses worked, of course, and I started to fear the monster I was becoming.
I quit bulimia cold turkey when I left New Haven. My distance runs became fewer and occurred further between. I gained a nominal amount of weight and an immense amount of self-respect. I now run mostly to feel good. Looking good is just a fringe benefit.
First let me say that this first 5K race that I just completed was the most rewarding experience ever. I think that even though is was tough going at times, I am hooked on this type of running. At least I now know that I can do this. There are no more excuses for me.
I started off the day by getting up at 2:30 Am; mainly because I could sleep. I had a good breakfast of Steel Cut Oats and an egg white omelet. I thought that this would be a good combination to help give me the energy I need to do this run. It was a good decision, looking back at it now.
I did arrive to the race area a bit early and that got me a bit nervous because it gave me extra time to think about what I was about ready to embark on. This too was a good decision because it gave me time to really ingest the whole experience and get a feel of what this was all about. Plus the extra time allowed me to get my timing chip and music ready as well. The before I knew it 7 AM was here and the run was about ready to start and boy was I nervous, yet excited to be apart of this run.
I was in the middle of the pack and like a couple people suggested I did my best to start off slow. Boy was getting started tough, really tough. I wasn’t even into a ½ mile and I already doubted that I could finish this. That doubt didn’t last long though because once I start something I am the type of person that will finish what I started no matter how long it takes.
I then started getting a bit worried about my breathing and heart rate as well. I thought I was hyperventilating, but still not sure if that’s what it was or not. All I do know is that there was a period that my heart rate reached 182 (148 in my target HR). Inside I was really freaking out because my HR has never gotten that high before and the thing was that I wasn’t even running that fast. So in order to get it down a bit and get better control over my breathing I had to really slow down to a fast walk. That slower pace really did help me get better control of the situation. All this occurred around the 1 mile mark.
It seemed like at the 1 mile mark I was doing a bit better with my pace and HR, which was now around 156 or so. That was something I was more comfortable with and my breathing at the same time was better as well. Now don’t get me wrong it was still rough but yet it was then I knew and gained the confidence that I could do this.
I think that the last mile or so were I might have picked up the pace a bit because I knew the finish line was in reaching distance. At this point I was even passing other person that passed me by earlier and that was a nice feeling. I was also not feeling any pain or discomfort at all, especially with my knee. All in all I was feeling pretty good about this and before I knew it I was taking the final turn and there is was… the FINISH LINE!!! What a site that was. This is when I really picked up the pace and sprinted the last 100 or so yards. The crowd was cheering me and others as we crossed the finish line and it really had me choked up inside. I have been on this journey for a bit now and for the first time in my life, as I crossed the finish line, I felt like I was an athlete, a runner, a part of wonderful group of people, and that I was were I really wanted to be.
It’s hard for me to truly put into words the true depth of this experience. It was awesome to say the least. I felt a sense of pride in myself that I have never experience before.
After I caught my breath I then went were the other gathered as we waited for the awards ceremony and I had a chance to talk with a couple other runners before I headed back home. It gave me a chance to really be a part of this whole experience and one that I look forward to being in again.
Once I got home was hen the tiredness and leg soreness started to set in. It wasn’t too bad though and it’s something I could bare with; at least till I was able to sit in the hot tub. Now I just wonder what I’ll feel like in the morning. That’s when the real soreness usually set in on me. You know what though, it doesn’t really matter. I am feeling on top of the word and this accomplishment is just one of many that I plan on tackling head on.
My thanks go out to all of you for your wonderful support, encouragement and kind words. It all means a lot to me.
Now I just need a bit more chill time… Catch you all real soon.
So the results are (unofficial for now):
Time @ 35:12 minutes
Calories burned 1025 in that period
Overall Finish 117 out of 140
Pictures and official times will be posted as soon as I am notified.
Friday, September 4, 2009
It’s Friday and so far this week I have done really well. This morning I was 146.8 lbs!!! I have lost 3.2lbs since September 1st. I know, I know, it’s just water weight, but it’s encouraging none the less. I noticed that there are certain times of the day which I find more difficult than others. For example, I find the mid afternoon and evenings difficult. Usually I try not to eat anything before bed, but last night I was so hungry that I had a few dry roasted unsalted nuts and a glass of skim milk. And what do you know, I woke up weighing one pound less than I did yesterday! I also stuck to my planned workouts all week. I do not go to the gym on the weekends because the kids are home and there’s just too much going on with the boys’ hockey and school work, etc.
One thing that has caused me to overeat in the past is that I really don’t like to feel uncomfortable emotions, such as anger, loneliness, boredom, worry, etc. I have gotten really good at not feeling strong emotions by just eating whenever I felt stressed. The food would calm me down and I could just ignore what I was feeling. But last night I was upset and I just had to deal with it. My son’s bike was stolen (and it was kinda my fault) and everyone was very upset. I felt so bad! After it happened I just wanted to go in my bedroom and binge on some chocolate. Then I said to myself: you feel bad – so what? Just wait a few moments and the feeling will pass. It’s just feelings after all! And it worked! The feeling passed, and I didn’t ruin all the progress of my first week by pigging out.
Soon I will be putting up new pages with details of the eating and exercise program that I am following!
If you are a body builder or a person determined to gain mass quickly you must have experienced that at certain times you experience fatigue even before beginning your workout session. This occurs due to over-training during the earlier session. Overtraining leads to symptoms such as increased pulse rate, weak appetite, sleeplessness, weight loss, irritation, and high blood pressure. It has devastating effects on your muscles as it causes hormonal imbalance. Overtraining decreases the level of testosterone and thyroxine and increases the level of cortisol which inhibits the process of muscle building.
Additionally, overtraining causes serious problems with the metabolism and immune system of the body. In case of metabolism, there is excessive accumulation of lactic acid in muscles and overtraining damages the connective tissues. Immune system is your security from external agents such as viruses, germs and bacteria that cause diseases. Overtraining reduces the count of antibodies that slows down the effect of the immune system and leaves you susceptible to various diseases.
Therefore, prevention from overtraining is very important. For beginners it is crucial that you assess accurately as to how much weights you can lift and the number of reps that you can perform each time. You must measure the amount of time that you body takes to recover fully from the previous workout session. If you feel any fatigue before beginning your workout, you must stop exercising immediately. Further training at low intensity is detrimental and will cause muscle loss.
Other important factors that need to be highly considered are proper nutrition and sleep. Proper nutrition will allow you to build muscles faster and reduce the recovery time. Ensure that you do not miss your daily breakfast and have three to four nutritious meals during the day. (If you are trying to lose fat then this does not apply) Have heavier meals one hour after your workout session. At this juncture, your body will be in the best position to absorb the nutrition. Adequate sleep is a necessity and care should be taken that one gets at least eight hours of sleep every night, as this is the time when muscle formation occurs.
Not much new happening on the home-front, but I thought I’d post to say hi and to give you a bit of an update to what’s been happening.
As most of you are aware I am on a nice vacation and am staying locally because there is things I want to accomplish here. Plus I avoid the stress of packing, traveling and all the other stuff associate with a vacation away from home.
I am still planning to do my first 5K race on Saturday. I am a bit nervous and unprepared for it, but it still won’t stop me from crossing the finish line. I set this goal months ago and being a man of my word it’s something I plan on sticking with. I have only done a couple of trail 5K runs so I really don’t feel totally prepared for this. I guess I’ll find out on Saturday how well I do. To be honest it really doesn’t matter how I fare in this. What I feel is important is that I am sticking with it and will do my best no matter how hard it might be. Who knows I might even surprise myself in how well I do.
I also had my fitness evaluation with Paul and as soon as I get those results I’ll be posting them as well on the Evaluation page. I didn’t do that well weight wise though for the 8 weeks. I only lost 3 pounds and I am not sure how the rest fared in all this. All I know is that it was a wake up call for me and come November when I have my next evaluation it will surely be a different story.
There are some other revelations that I have come up with as well and a big thanks goes to Paul for helping me realize some of the things that cause me to sabotage my progress. The three things that really cause me to binge eat and to get off my program are:
Negative and Self destructive thinking.
To concerned and worried about what others think of me, how I look, act and present myself.
Always reflecting on the past and the behaviours that caused me to gain the weight.
So these are the things that I will be working on and making sure I don’t allow these issues to hinder my progress and goals. By dwelling on these is only causing me harm and creating unhealthy patterns. So by eliminating them I am sure to move forward and live in the present and allow the past to be exactly that, the past.
I know there was more I wanted to say but I need to get back to studying the ACE. I also hope to stop by all your blogs for a visit as well.
All in all everthing is going quite well, busy, but well!
Hope you all have a healthy, safe and enjoyable week-end.
