30 Days

Today is the start of a new month and another 30 days of intensive training with my cousin. I decided to do this again because I'm working on my CPT (Certified Personal Trainer) exam and thought that learning by doing will help me retain the information easier.

I've also decided to blog about it again so I can document the pain that I'll be going through. And painful it is! Day 1 started with 2 workouts! One in the morning and one at night. My cousin has set a pretty ambitious goal of losing 2.5% body fat so I'm sure they'll be more of these double workouts in the days to come. I may not be able to wake up tomorrow morning but at least I'll have two workouts done!

Big thanks to my cousin for taking the time out of his busy day to train me as well as impart his vast amounts of experience and knowledge. Without his help, I wouldn't last a minute.

Until tomorrow...

A blessing and a curse...

We downgraded our cable recently and I have to say it's been quite liberating. Although, spending more time on the internet has proven to be an even bigger distraction. Not only do I have the ENTIRE web to command my attention, I recently started watching shows on hulu.com - BIG MISTAKE! For someone with no will power at all, it's gonna be quite a challenge for me to keep from getting addicted to even more shows than when I was just watching good old regular TV. Starting school again doesn't help either, but I'll save that post for another day - when I finish watching one...more...show.

Driving home the other day...

I noticed a sedan with 2 LCD screens in the backrests, both of them turned on! What's the point? Yes, we know, you have money and you know how to spend it frivolously. But most of the time, you drive short distances around the city by yourself. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for spending money on a car entertainment system for a good purpose. e.g. In a minivan...on a long road trip with 2 screaming kids...asking "Are we there yet?" every chance they get. I say spend the money so your can arrive at your destination with some sanity.

The 3 year return policy...

A customer of ours came in the other day asking for a refund on something they purchased 3 years ago! Their reason: they're not happy with it. I'm all for trying to satisfy our customers and giving the best customer service possible but this was ridiculous. If it takes you 3 years to realize you're not happy with what you bought, it's more than just buyer's remorse, you've got other issues. Who would even have the nerve to go into a store and ask for a refund after 3 years?

Although, given the economic climate of the world today, maybe more people will start doing this. I'm going to Nordstrom tonight to return the shoes I bought 4 years ago cause I'm just not happy with them. You think they'll take them back?

Where to find motivation...

I've been lazy these past few weeks with my daily workout. It's getting increasingly difficult to find the motivation to keep it up. Now that the weather's colder and the days are shorter it'll be even more of a challenge. What motivates you to do something you don't want to?

I'm back...finally!

After a long hiatus from blogging, I've finally gathered enough thoughts to start up again.

Here's my first:

The human body is amazing! I just found muscles on me that I never knew existed.

For those of you that love to keep up with what's happening in other people's lives, you can now subscribe to my blog via RSS. Look over to the right ----> for the subscribe link.

Are we too late?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080710/ts_afp/warmingantarcticaice;_ylt=ArZMK41d3y2pkbbWI8l406134T0D

Day 30 of 30

Yesterday was the beginning of my first week without the guidance of Mr. Pain. It was also my first day back to work. I have to say, I'm pretty proud of myself for 1) getting through the "30 days" and 2) actually getting up early enough to workout on my own.

A little clarification about my 30 day journey. It was actually 28 days, 2 of the days overlapped my return to work.

Here's a quick recap of my "28 days":
81 - Highest % drop of fat on my body (pectoris muscles)
28 - Days off work
20 - Actual days of working out
6 - Pounds lost
5 - Pounds of muscle gained
1 - New me

Looking back, I'm proud to say I accomplished everything I set out to do. Yesterday was not the end, but the beginning of a new lifestyle. I'll continue to post on my progress and hopefully influence others to do what I'm doing. I know it's already working cause Minnie has gotten bit by the exercise bug. You go girl!! I'm proud of you :)

I owe a debt of gratitude to Mr. Pain (aka Brian, aka my cousin) without whom this would have been a lot harder. His knowledge, experience and most of all guidance was definitely key to my success. Thanks Mr. Pain!

Until tomorrow...

Day 23 of 30

Today is the second day of my final week in this 30 day journey. I was extremely exhausted after yesterday's workout. My carb free diet and late nights hanging out during the weekend really wore me out. I am so craving sweets!! All I want is one Krispy Kreme doughnut! A traditional glazed, hot outta the fryer, still dripping with sugary goodness, doughnut. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. Instead, I took a nap in the afternoon and went to sleep early last night to recover.

Today's a different story. The extra sleep really gave me the extra energy to push hard during my workout. We concentrated on the upper body. Mr. Pain's getting me ready for the end of the 30 days when I'll be doing the programs on my own. He's been getting me used to each exercise in the 4 programs he's put together, each about an hour long. Each program will be of different intensity levels as well as target specific parts of my body. Hopefully without Mr. Pain's guidance everyday, I'll be able to push myself just as hard.

Tuesday is usually the body fat and weight measurement day. Today's no exception. I was extremely happy to see that I've lost 6 pounds since last week's weigh in. I weighed 185 last week and today's weight is 179!! It feels awesome to finally see some weight drop. I feel great and this is only the beginning.

I'll post more tomorrow, my cardio day.

Day 19 of 30

I didn't have a chance to post yesterday. I think the modified diet and added exercise is taking a toll on my body. For the remainder of my 30 days, I'll be eating only meat and vegetables. No carbs at all. So after my workout yesterday I was extremely tired.

Today was another interesting day. Started out the same but during my workout I got this intense headache in the back of my head. Much more intense then the one's I've felt in the past. After stopping the workout, Mr. Pain asked the owner of the studio, who's a licensed holistic practitioner, to see if he could pinpoint the cause. I'm not quite sure how to describe what he did next but it was nothing like seeing a regular doctor. In short, he placed these small vials of "stuff" in my hand and with my arm raised, he would press down. He repeated this many times with several different vials, sometimes placing them at different points on my body. After alternating between vials for about 10 minutes, he wrote out some supplements that I should take to help with the problems isolated through these "tests."

I left the studio with the supplements that I'm to take for the next three weeks. I've never seen or have had any experience with a holistic "healer" before. Needless to say, I'm a bit skeptical but since all the supplements are natural and made by a company called Standard Process http://www.standardprocess.com/display/router.aspx I'm willing to try it. They're way cheaper then prescription meds.

Any of you have any experience with holistic healing?

I'm becoming more aware each day that there's so much humans don't understand. We're bombarded every waking moment with messages about how to live, think, feel that we're really forgetting there's an enormous universe out there and a time scale that's beyond imagination. I think Carl Sagan illustrated this best in his series Cosmos when he equated time in this Universe with a calendar year. All of recorded human history is but a few seconds of existence!

Just something to wrap your mind around...

Day 17 of 30

Today was a relatively easy day for me. Woke up around 10AM and went to do my weekly cardio. I was instructed by Mr. Pain to do a 30 minute workout instead of the typical hour I was doing before my 30 day journey began. The 30 minutes consist of a 5 minute warm up followed by 2 minutes at 130-140 SPM (Strides Per Minute) then down to about 90 SPM for 1 minute, all at level 9. After 20 minutes of alternating, I cool down for 5 minutes. Relatively easy compared to the exercises Mr. Pain has me do! Afterward, it's "Hey! Protein!”

Since there's nothing much to write about today, I thought I'd post about why I decided to commit to these 30 days (finally huh?) I'm sure some of you are probably thinking it's a midlife crisis. It seems like the most logical explanation but also a very sad one for me since I'm only 35. =( But since you can probably interpret a "midlife" crisis in many different ways, it may not be that far from the truth.

I'd like to think of it more as a realization.

What do I realize?

I realize that we live in a new world. A world that's seeing a far greater rate of increase in population and "progress" than when our parents were growing up. I'm seeing a planet being polluted and our food sources contaminated. I'm seeing global warming and climate change happen right before our eyes. If our life's purpose is to procreate, what are we leaving to our children?

So what does this have to do with me working out for 30 days?

I decided that I needed to rebalance my life in these 30 days, both mentally and physically. I’m sure many of you have heard people say that without good health, nothing else really matters. I've heard that so many times from so many people much wiser than me, so I decided to finally take action. I don’t plan to change the world in these 30 days. I have more modest goals. Simply to build a strong foundation for a healthy lifestyle. With a healthy mind and body, I will be better equipped to understand what my role is on this planet.

What do you think?

Day 16 of 30

Today's workout really kicked my ass! It's around 5 p.m. in the afternoon and I'm still struggling to type this. My fingers are OK, it's my arms that are having trouble squeezing together close enough to type. It feels like someone's constantly trying to pull my arms to the left and right of my body. It's not really painful, just a little uncomfortable.

Obviously today we concentrated on my upper body. We did a lot of pulling and pushing exercises starting with a reverse push up. It’s exactly what it sounds like. My body was suspended in the air on two parallel bars with one harness for each leg. With my body horizontal to the ground and one arm on each bar, I pulled my weight up past the two bars as far as I could. I got past the bars maybe once. Right after that exercise I knew I was in for a serious workout. My upper body has always been weaker than my lower body and today's workout proved it. The reverse pull up was paired with, yes, you guessed it, push ups! We continued with a typical chin up exercise with one of the weight machines paired with the shoulder press. Not much to explain there except I could hardly finish the sets after the reverse push ups. We moved on to an AB exercise. Luckily it wasn’t the dreaded AB machine but a simple weight pull using my abs. Finally the workout ended with a simple medicine ball exercise. This particular exercise Mr. Pain had me do looks and feels like your trying to fill a bucket with water on either your left or right side and toss it over the opposite shoulder. Not as easy as it sounds.

The one thing keeping me going through the workout? You got it! My “Hey” protein shake! YUM!

I’m exhausted. Good thing tomorrow’s a cardio day!

Looking forward to tomorrow...

Day 15 of 30

I think for the first time, I'm actually posting the day of my workout! No posts this weekend though. I know I previously said that I would blog everyday but I think laziness got the best of me this weekend. I had a great weekend! Minnie and I went to a wedding in Oakland at Hs. Lordships at the Berkeley marina. It was a Japanese/Vietnamese wedding. Here's a picture of the beautiful view of the Golden Gate Bridge right outside the restaurant.










After the wedding we went to Circa for E and K's birthday celebration. It was good to see a lot of my friends for the first time after I started my 30 days. Everyone was very supportive of me taking the time off. Can't say the same for my increased facial hair.












Another early start today. I usually get to Mr. Pain's studio by 8:30AM and I'm scheduled for that time for the rest of the week, in case any of you want to join. Our concentration today was on the legs. After the warm up, we did some step work. This was paired with a rubber band pull with my legs. I'd lay on a bench and Mr. Pain would hold a rubber band on my ankles while I pulled it toward my butt. After a few sets, we moved to squats and the ab machine. We ended the workout with another exercise using a giant rubber band. While the rubber band is held tight on my hip, I'd squat down and pull as quickly as I could with my legs while Mr. Pain controls the tension by pulling harder or softer. That was today's workout.

What I look forward to the most after my workout is having my protein shake. Here's a picture of the whey protein I use. One day last week, Minnie walks out to the kitchen and sees the container on the table turned exactly like the picture below.















She's since renamed it "Hey!" protein! I'll be adding that to my list of her interesting quotes.

Looking forward to tomorrow...

Day 12 of 30

Today is the first day of Summer and one of the hottest days of the year so far. I'm sweating while writing this, even after taking a shower! If sweating helped to lose weight, I'd probably have gotten to my goal weight after the first week. That's how much I sweat.

It was an early start today. I'm getting used to waking up early, which will definitely help me get an earlier start after my 30 days. Today, Brian (I've decided to nickname him Mr. Pain) had me go out to the park near the studio and work on the dreaded sled! I posted yesterday that the ab machine was my least favorite piece of equipment. I lied! It's the sled that I really, really HATE! For those of you that don't know or ever heard of this sled thing, it's exactly what it sounds like, a metal sled topped with weight that's pulled either walking/running forward or backwards. Not only am I pulling the weight, but the friction from the grass makes it an even more difficult exercise. Mr. Pain has had me do this twice now and after each time I've felt like throwing up. It was that intense. My legs felt like they were going to explode!! The sled is actually a really versatile piece of equipment, working most of the leg muscles as well as the back and ab muscles. I'll be posting a video of my sled workout the next time we use it.

Not only is today the first day of Summer, it's also the half way point in my 30 day journey. I think my body's gotten used to the daily workout. I haven't gotten nearly as sore as the first week. I'm pretty sure it's not because of the intensity of each workout cause it seems like the intensity has increased since I started. I'm extremely happy to have gotten this far. Eating right, exercising, and staying positive is paying off!

Looking forward to the weekend...

Day 11 of 30

One of these days, I'll post on the actual day of my workout! I don't know why it's so difficult. Most likely cause I'm lazy.

Here's a picture I forgot to post of the dreaded ab machine.

Notice there are no weights on this machine, just body weight is all that's needed. With all the other exercises I'm doing, this is the one I dislike the most. Could the reason be that the part of my body that needs the most work are my abs? Most likely.

So today started off early for me. Health wise I'm doing ok. Soreness is no longer an issue (thank God!) I still feel some soreness but nothing like when I first started.

I'll make an effort to post on the day of tomorrow...

Day 10 of 30

Lucky for me it's a rest day today. I was up late last night playing RB6 (Rainbow Six) with the guys. Always a fun time.

By "rest" I mean no scheduled workout with Brian. I did however have to do some exercise in the form cardio. My cardio workout usually consists of about 1 hour on the elliptical machine but Brian tweaked it a bit and is having me do a more intense 30 minute workout.

One thing that's getting me through each workout is I get to drink this protein shake afterward. It's really good! Besides fruit, it's probably the only other thing that I can have that's sweet. I make the shake with 8 oz of Odwalla Blueberry B and 2 scoops of whey protein. It's delicious! It's what I look forward to everyday after my workout.

Back to the grind tomorrow...

Day 9 of 30

I woke up today with a mild throbbing headache. I had a feeling it's linked to the soreness I'm feeling in my left arm. After mentioning it to Brian, he immediately started to massage the arm. I almost started crying, tears welled up in my eyes, as he pressed hard (very hard) on each individual muscle. After a few minutes of excruciating pain, he stopped and my headache miraculously disappeared. I was somewhat in awe and very grateful the headache was gone but still in doubt, thinking it was only a quick fix and the headache would return as soon as I started my workout. It didn't! My workout was still intense as usual but the hour went by quick without the burden of the headache.

Our concentration today was on the upper body. Brian has started to incorporate some weight into the workout. We started on some of the more recognizable exercises today like the bench press, shoulder press, and one arm dumbbell pull up. He's still keeping it interesting and having me do different exercises everyday. Guess that's why he's the professional trainer.

Here's a picture of Brian at his studio.












See any resemblance? He is my cousin after all.

It was an incredibly beautiful day today. Driving back from Oakland, the fog had lifted from the previous day and the sky was as blue as the ocean (not the Bay). Seeing the Sun out always lifts my spirit. I felt really good about today's workout. Seems like I've reached a turning point in terms of my body not being so sore after each session. I'm glad I won't have to blog about my soreness for much longer.

Until tomorrow...

Day 8 of 30

Today was an early start. Woke up around 7 am with my upper body still feeling really sore from Friday's workout. I have this throbbing headache that doesn't seem to want to go away. I was not in the mood to workout. Luckily we concentrated on my lower body. Again we did a lot of interesting exercises. Since I'm writing this a day after, it's hard for me to remember everything we did but it was quite a workout. I had a headache the whole time!

I do not feel well today. I'm not sure if it's from recovering from being sick or my body feeling the increase in activity but I just don't have the energy to do anything.

I keep telling myself to stay positive and not think about the pain.

Until tomorrow...

Day 7 of 30

I'm sore. Nuf said.

Until tomorrow...

Day 6 of 30

I woke up today sore! Very sore! My arms feel like Jello. Every movement of my arms reminds me of how sore I am. But it feels kinda like when you get one of those feel good bruises that you keep pushing on.

So today is a rest day but I've decided to blog everyday for the next 30 days, even on rest days. Not much to add today. Did I mention I'm sore?

Until tomorrow...