Currently viewing the tag: "gym"

Saturday was a chill out rest day and technically a cheat day.

But today it was a full out cardio session. 1 hour on the cross ramp and then 200 quality ab crunches.

If you’re wondering how I got through a torturous hour.. it will be music. Music is what fuels me and this is what i was listening to..well some of it anyway. ^_^

On another note.. The gym i’m at Celebrity Fitness has a new membership card and i really like the new look of it hehe.

Can you see it? What do you think of the new Celebrity Fitness card? ^_^

This will be one of the first blog posts that will talk about me as a fitness nut.. So are you having trouble getting motivated to go to the dreaded gym? 0908-motivation.jpgLet me  just say, that it’s really really hard to try and motivate yourself. Especially if you are lazy. The world around us has made everything so convenient that we become comfortable. so comfortable that you are willing to let things slide. When i say slide, i’m referring to ones health and fitness level. I too have that guilty pleasure of where i’ll just say “Oh there’s always tomorrow, i can do it (gym it/sweat it out/whatever) then.” Truth of the matter is this.. when you say you will do it tomorrow… more often than not, you don’t. Because saying you will is lip service and actually doing it is another thing all together. ok so before i continue to rant. I’ll just jump straight to it. What is the few ways you can start yourself out into getting back into a healthy lifestyle? Here are just a few that i wanted to share.

  1. Don’t PROCRASTINATE The more you say you’ll do it tomorrow, you’ll never really get to starting. I highly suggest the minute you say you want to workout. Just get to it. Don’t waste another precious minute, sitting at the comp, chilling out with your drink. NO GET UP and go go go. I guarantee, usually the day you begin a workout, that will also be the day you don’t feel like stopping

2. Have a GOAL This is one of the best motivations for yourself. Look in the mirror, honestly ask yourself are you satisfied with your current physique or health regime? When you have a GOAL, you have a vision of what you want to attain. It could be that six pack, it could be just to get into that new pair of jeans. Whatever it is, set a goal. i find that in having goal, you have better focus and focus will give you drive. Make realistic goals of course, but then again i would also say, just aim big! When you aim for a big goal from your training sessions, you will see results faster.

3. Get someone to be your FITNESS WITNESS I personally always think it’s cool to declare how you want to reach your goal or put your words into action. I say this cause, it makes you accountable to what you’ve just said. So when you say you want to gym to someone, they can pretty much hold you accountable. Make sure you get a friend who has the same thinking as you. Some would call it a gym buddy. Its hard to find one, but always good to have. When one side slacks the other should.. i would think help in pushing the other. But don’t let their excuses be yours. If they can’t make it on a planned day, go alone.

4. Start with what you LIKE to do When starting out at the gym, don’t go doing a workout for a body part you dislike doing. Go straight for the ones that you have fun with. Working out is meant to be fun, so when it becomes a BCT – Bore, Chore and Torture – you’ve just killed your motivation. So if you happen to like doing only cardio do that (although a lot of people  i’ve met, HATE cardio lol), if you like working out on the arms then go do that. Start your first workout with something FUN! You’ll then feel like continuing the procedure. ^_~

5. Sign up to a GYM.. Ok wait wait,  let me clarify. You may not necessarily need to sign up to one, however in doing so. You become obligated to starting your gym regimen. Why? Simple your money is going down the drain if you don’t workout (**note this method may not work for everyone). So make use of the gym! You are already paying anyway, you might as well work it out to get your money’s worth.

6. Buy some new GYM CLOTHES AND GADGETS Another point i need to clarify. It does not only pertain to gym clothes by the way. It could also be you spending money to buy that new pair of shoes, or that new pair of earphones. You’ve already invested in items that is meant to help you get the body you want. This may seem pointless to you, but think of it this way. Say you’ve already bought that hot Nike top.. now don’t you wanna go show it off at the gym? Or say you’ve already bought that new Ipod. Now go make use of it! ^_^

7. Get a real GOOD MUSIC PLAYLIST A sure fire way to get you motivated. Listen to tunes that really kick ass! Music is one of the best motivators in the world. It sets the mood for you.  I know when i listen to songs like Usher’s More with the NBA players playing in the music video, it will always get me motivated. Plus listening to music, allows you to zone out and concentrate on what you need to do at the gym. Less talk more doing.

8. Find one CELEBRITY Do you envy the body of  celebrities? or maybe just one celeb? Take a picture of them and keep it in your phone, wallet, place it on your wall. Take a good look at that Celeb of your and say to yourself that you want to work to something close- if not- that bod. Get you mental strength churning to want to get up and make a change for yourself.

9.Watch the AN INSPIRING VIDEO LIKE BIGGEST LOSER I’m not sure about you, but out of all the reality series on television. I highly recommend you watch this one. no where else will you see such determination by people to want to lose weight and have a better lifestyle. You can make fun of it but seriously, this is an awesome show that has to be watched. If those contestants don’t motivate you, i don’t know what will. lol. :P If that doesn’t rock your boat… just get on youtube and go find a video that will get your blood boiling to get up and do something.

10. To attract the OPPOSITE SEX This is probably the most shallowest of reasons to head to the gym. Well gimme a break, it’s a known fact that the reason that anyone would want to look better – other than for themselves of course – is so they can attract the other gender. If meeting hunkie guys or cute girls at the gym is the way for you to workout, then hey go do it. Whatever that gets you motivated ^_~ i know it sounds shallow it does, but for some people this WORKS! Soooo  i wouldn’t knock it. :P

Remind yourself that nothing is going to change if you change nothing. In other words, if you don’t do your workout, your body is not going to have any reason to adjust as a result of that workout. You need to invest the time and effort to reap the rewards. There you go, the 10 ways to get yourself motivated to head to the gym. Now that you’re done reading this, go out there and make yourself proud by having a good sweat. ^_^

The past month or so, I’ve been keeping tab on my health and my fitness regime. It’s a hard thing to keep yourself healthy, workout, eat right and then work during the day (with a job or without a job included). Ever since I started mocap regularly and met my friend Zawen, he’s been feeding my daily dosages of fitness input which I can also discuss and enquire about. So much fun! I’m not being sarcastic. Among them, he’s been pretty much helping me to plan what my workout schedule should be like. As well as giving me the heads up on which fitness “necessity” and ”accessory” to buy.  Currently i’m doing cardio at least 4 times a week now. Ranging from a 20 minute session if i don’t have time to a 50 minute session when I do. Ultimately I would love to be doing my cardio in the morning which is to be very frank the best time cause that is when the body is raring to burn calories for the previous days food storage. To keep the burn continuous throughout best to do the cardio in the morning. But that’s not meant to be for now. As an alternative it’s in the evening, after everything else during the day. Then there is of course the weight session.  I’ve started back on weights again properly. But before that I want to go into introducing my gym companions which are a must haves. They are.. ***drum roll…..kadush***  

Gym Companion #1 – Syntha 6

 

monicabrantsyntha6

I actually bought Syntha 6 just last year in September as you can read here: My Syntha-6 and Gakic, but I stopped taking it for nearly a year. I’m back on it now and taking it consistently i didn’t think it would finish so fast. I consume the protein shake usually in the morning and then another one after workout. You can say it’s like part of my breakfast. I mix the protein powder which 1/3 along with organic soy milk with a hint of vanilla, water pop in 3 ice cubes… shakey shakey and there ya go. Instant chocolate protein drink. It’s pretty yummy too, after you get used to the whey protein taste. I need my protein to replenish the muscles I’ve torn in the process of either cardio or weights. More so if I did weight resistance for the day. By the way the model with the product is Monica Brant. She is probably one of the best in the fitness industry and is a role model to a number of people internationally. She is one soure of inspiration here :)    

Gym Companion #2 – Lipo 6

 

lipo6

Then we come to the thing that is suppose to help with burning the stubborn fat. I was using Hydroxycut before, then I decided to give Lipo 6  a try. I’ve seen it many times in my favourite fit magazine Oxygen Mag and Muscle & Fitness: Hers. I never used them cause well it cost pretty high, however one has to invest in oneself somewhere right? Using Hydroxycut with consistent exercise and watching the diet – I can’t say I’ve seen immediate results but I will say that I can see small differences, especially in the arms and legs while working out. Plus these capsules are suppose to pack more energy which i do feel. I feel like I can cardio / run longer. Appettite seems to wan a bit too after eating it. Lets see what happens.     

Gym Companion #3 – Itouch = IFitness

 

ifit

My last gym companion has already been introduced actually here on Itouch’ ed Me. What I want to share is the program I bought from the Itunes store which was very cheap and is now my buddy when I do weight resistance. Why do I love it?  iFitness provides images of people performing over 110 exercises, and categorizes them by the body region that each exercise targets. Simply choose a target, tap on an exercise, and you are presented with a picture of someone performing the exercise.  

ifitness

  Tap on the pencil icon at the top right and jot down what you did for your workout that day. Create your own workout regimes on a daily or routine basis. Monitor everything with the logs.  

ifitness2

It’s super helpful and if I don’t understand an exercise or I want to know which muscle part the exercise is hitting, just tap on the image of the person performing the exercise and you have a detailed explanation. Pretty handy right :) Including the music and video playback of course. There you have it. The 3 main companions.
For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been hitting it hard on the threadmill almost everyday for about a session ranging from 30 minutes – 40 minutes. According to my trainer pal, I’m not allowed to skip and I have been doing my best to not skip. Trying to keep a record of this, I haven’t been logging it down on paper so much. Rather I’ve been keeping track by stating it on my plurk. So far I’ve been a good girl. But still can’t really compete with the time I trained for the competition for WSFFM, partial sports aerobics there. I kinda miss it actually and makes me a feel a tad bit sad, that I’m not doing it anymore. But that’s me swaying to yet another topic.  So yeah, I was outta shape for a reasonably good amount of time. For 6 months, I didn’t see my gym, I wasted about 175 a month to a gym I wasn’t going to (that’s BAD!) and neither did i see drop of sweat (that SUCKS!). This was me before.  I think Mister G had recorded this while I was practising with girls for our routine then. This was 3 years ago.. crap. What I’m doing here is called the pancake. I hated it.. but it was so cool when I could finally do it. Torturous too.. don’t think i can now. Basically your suppose to split into a side split and then roll forward while closing your legs behind you.  

pdvd_002

 

pdvd_003

Still don’t get it? Lemme show video lol..  That las bit that was a pancake.. Working out is probably the hardest thing to do. Cause you have to constantly motivate your ownself. As they say it’s your body. And if you wanna waste it to shreds go ahead and be a bum. People all make the excuses that they don’t have time to go for a workout. But when I think about it now.. is purely bad excuses. It’s only 30 to 40 minutes in a day to do some sort of cardio. Like skipping or jogging. Heck the road is there for you. Go walk la! No one is torturing you to sprint. Even a few minutes is great for your health.  When my friend said he wanted to help work me out. Honestly I felt nervous a bit. Reason being, your workout is like a relationship. It’s about whether you can commit to keeping it steady and letting it grow. So likewise.. my body and muscles become my new relationship that I need to keep pushing.  Right now I’m considering to tryout Pushmore after much rave by it by another friend. But i’ve no one to go with :( pleh… whatever.