Week #13 - Booze Booze Snooze.

Hello Hello,

Blogging from the office here so I'll keep it short and simple; as simple as I can be that is.

So yeah, week #12 is missing a post as I was at my relatives place in Kuantan, Pahang and they didn't have any internet. That and I was drinking waaaay too much for Chinese New Year. Did a lot of boozing this past week as well so here's the damage. I'm 66kgs now and look.... more or less the same, maybe developing a belly again.

Beer belly in the making? Le-gasp.

Well now, I've gotten used to my regiment again and feel a whole lot stronger that I was two weeks back so it's time to up the ante!

Amir's Get Back Into Shape Routine (part two)
4 sets of 15 Swiss Ball Push-ups
4 sets of 15 Bicycle Crunches
4 sets of 12 Swiss Ball Bench Presses
5 sets of 6(or as much as I can do) Chin-ups
Workout days : Mon, Wed, Fri

Cardio Training : 1 hour / 200 sets of Jumping Jacks each morning

That should help me lose the belly that's starting to take shape. Let's hope it works eh?

Anyways, I mentioned something about getting adequate rest and what not and yes, it's quite obvious that you NEED rest but how much is too much and how little is too little? The general rule is 8 hours of sleep each night at regular hours. It is true but to a certain extent of course, I personally find that I need at least 9 hours of sleep a day due to the uncertain nature of my work and it has so far worked in the past 3 weeks as I don't seem to feel any weaker during the weekend.

The best way to gauge if you're getting enough rest is this, set a workout routine for yourself and by the second or third session if you feel that you can seem to complete your sets then you're not getting enough rest. It's a no-brainer but you'd be suprised by how many people get demotivated by this. What and when you eat are determining factors as well but that's logic really, just don't work out when you're starving and don't workout till after you've digested your food. Simple.

If you stick to this closely you should either lose weight consistently and feel fresh everyday or just maintain your current body shape but still feel good. If it's the latter, you're not pushing yourself enough then. Heh.

Well, I need to get back to work.

Cheerio.

WEEK #11 - Super Long Cheat Period.

Greetings...

Yeah, yeah, I know, I took a month and then some more off my work out regiment. I don't feel that great about it either but what to do. When your fiancee comes back from Christmas break and you've got an insane amount of work the first week of the new year, you'd think twice about working out eh? I know, Excuse #9000.

So did I hit my goal for December 2008? The answer is YES, I did. I was 65 kgs during Christmas and did I gain any weight during my long break? The answer is also YES, I did. I was 67 kgs during the first week of January and now I'm back at 65.5 kgs. How do I look? Let's take a look shall we?

Decent but I've lost some muscle definition...

Not too great but I'm trying to get back in shape. I've lost a lot of muscle thanks to slacking off and drinking waaaay too much booze during the holiday season. Stated in my previous post, I did indeed get myself a Swiss Ball and it's really great! You can really feel the strain it puts on muscles that you don't usually use and it does make simple things like push-ups and sit-ups more challenging!

Here's my current workout plan; something I need to stick to for at least two weeks to get back into shape. I can't even stick to circuit training, that's how much weaker I am since I took the month off.

Amir's Get Back Into Shape Routine
3 sets of 15 Swiss Ball Push-ups
3 sets of 15 Bicycle Crunches
3 sets of 12 Swiss Ball Bench Presses
3 sets of 6(or as much as I can do) Chin-ups
Workout days : Mon, Wed, Fri

So that's that, I do it one workout at a time. The only issue I have are meal times. I usually eat my lunch around 1-2pm which is fine but dinner is the issue, I have my dinner around 8, 9 or even 10pm sometimes. So I sometimes get to full for workouts. What I'm thinking now is to have lunch at 3pm or so, head home, hit my routine first THEN have dinner. Which is what I've been doing for the past week. I hope this helps.

Oh yeah, I was supposed to talk about how sleep affects your weight loss and muscle gains but I'm too tired (see: lazy) to talk about it. I'll post it at the end of this week. Hopefully.

We'll see...

till then,
Cheerio.

Week #8 - Lazy man is lazy.

Hello, apologies are in order. Haven't worked out for the entire week ever since Atifi got back and I suppose that's bad but I'm gonna take it as a well deserved break from working out. I will however start back next week, Week #9.

Just weighed myself and I'm now at 67kgs so that's not really good... Looks like my self-discipline failed me during the holiday season. This will be my only cheat week till... well hopefully till Atifi comes back again in June. :D

In other news, I finally got myself a Swiss Ball and I hope that'll help me get more results from my current workout plan.

Well that's that. Happy New Year people.

Week #7 - ???

Sorry for the missed update. Things.... have been a little unexpected. I can't use the scale right now, it's not in my room that's why. Another Christmas gift for myself this year! One with body fat percentage on it as well.

I'll update first thing tomorrow morning when the scale is unoccupied. :P

Week #6 - So-So

Well, after a week of Circuit Training. Here's what I look like:-

New room, not new camera, not mine actually.

So, I'm back at 66.5kgs. Not too sure what's with the raise, could be lack of sleep; I've only been getting something like 4-5 hours of sleep a day. It could be me not consuming enough protein to build muscle. I have no idea, maybe I'm not pushing myself hard enough during training.

However, Circuit Training is TOUGH. Really tough. By the 4th lap I'm usually begging for mercy so it makes me work up a real good sweat. I'm gonna watch my diet more closely next week and the only snacks I'll eat in between meals are gonna be fruits. I have a feeling "Choc o' Clock" at the office might play a part in my 500g raise in body weight.

In other news, I'll be getting new weights and finally, a Swiss Ball! Something useful for Christmas I suppose. :D

Well, that's that. Let's see what next has to show!

Peace.

Week #5 - Moving Places.

Yohoho, 'tis getting closer and closer to christmas. Here's this week's progress picture.

Really bad photo, why did I tuck my chin in?

Anyhoo, weighed myself first thing in the morning and I'm at 66kgs flat. So while it's a small dip, it's working out pretty nicely. This certainly helped me feel a bit better after waking up with a hangover. Mezcal + Herbal Therapy = Major Headache.

This week was a test of sorts. I dropped walking completely. Did weight training every night after work before I went to sleep. To manage to still lose weight has surprised me really. All I need to do is increase the intensity of my workout and I should be able to make up for the lack of brisk walking. Had to sacrifice two days of weight training this week due to me packing up my huge collection of books and dvds and whathaveyous. I'm pretty sure running up and down the stairs in my current place helped offset my lack of work out on those two days.

Here's what I've been thinking of doing. It's called Circuit Training. So it's something similar to HIIT but involving weight training. My circuit works like this:-

Mon, Wed, Fri
Elevated Pushups (15 reps) -> Bicycle Crunches (20 reps) -> Chin Ups (10 reps)

Tue, Thurs, Sat
Dumbbell Squats (8 reps w/ 21 kgs) -> Calf Raise (12 reps) -> Dumbbell Lunges (12 reps w/ 21kgs) -> Dumbbell Shrugs (12 reps w/ 21kgs)

Circuit is repeated 5 times with 2 minutes of rest in between each circuit.

That's the current plan, I've actually tried it on Wednesday and it felt good and really had a similar effect to HIIT. So I'll stick to it for the next week and see if my body can cope. Heh. Work hours are pretty good right now so I'm usually at the office for not longer than 10 hours. Well, I've gotta get back to moving. Will post pictures of my new room hopefully.

Peace.

Week #4 - Work Begins!

*yawns*

Good Morning/Afternoon.

First things first, let's see how I look like on week #4.

Alright I suppose...

Anyways, I hit the 66kg mark this week! Well, 66.5kg actually. But nevertheless, I managed to shed off a lot of the partying weight I picked up last week! Another kilogram or two and I'll finally hit my first goal! It'll be tough though. Why?

I have just started working.

Full-time.

As a Jr. Video Editor.

That means 12-16 hour workdays, 5-6 days a week. How the hell am I gonna get the time to work out?

So far, I've been managing to cram in my strength training as outlined in my most recent post. There is a nice strain I experience every time I do the routines though. I suppose pushing my body when it's mentally and physically tired is sort of good, results wise that is. But there is one thing that sort of bums me out though.

I can't go for my walks anymore. It's just not possible at 10pm at night, well it sort of is, but nobody is crazy enough to join me. I'm pretty sure somebody will tell me to do it early in the morning before I head off to the office but here's how it'll end up, time wise.

5:00am (wake up and go for my walk) -> 7:30am (return from my walk) -> 9:00am (head to work) -> 10:00pm (return from work) -> 11:00pm (hit the weights) -> 12:30am (sleep)
4 hours and 30 minutes of sleep!

Here's the schedule I wish I could do but nobody wants to join me in doing:-

8:30am (wake up) -> 9:00am (head to work) -> 10:00pm (return from work) -> 10:30pm (go for walk + hit the weights) -> 1:00am (Sleep)
7 hours and 30 minutes of sleep!

Makes sense to me to cram it all at night. I could cut down the amount of time I go out for my walk as well. But there is a really big difference in the amount of sleep I get. But for now, I'll just do my weights. Ah yes, I stopped working out on weekends as I think I'd have the best opportunity to recover my battered mind and aching body.

Well, that's that. Let's hope I'll still be able to lose weight and gain some muscle despite working like a crazy.