Showing posts with label 30 Day Beach Body Challenge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 30 Day Beach Body Challenge. Show all posts

Thursday 2 January 2014

Day 29 - Still In Progress

I know I know, i supposed to complete my 30 Day Beach Body Program by now. That's what I determined to do too but sometimes things just don't unfold as per our plan, and this is definitely one of those.

28th Dec 2013. We went to Grand Palace (under the hot sun, of course), and went shopping at Siam Paragon. By the time we reached Waterford Service Apartment, it was around 8:30pm and I had terrible headache. I wanted to go for massage but Ah Wei and En insisted that there's no fun to go shopping without me. So I followed them to Siam Paragon again, as a kind hearted gesture. We ended up in night market after Siam Paragon was closed. By the time we reached our service apartment, had hot-water-foot-soak, showered, and finally climbed up to our bed, it was way passed midnight.

29th Dec 2013, aka Day 29 of the program, I woke up at 7:45am. Felt slightly better than previous night but I knew I haven't recover fully. I decided to do the 50 Curtsy Lunges as per the program, and I did. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough energy for the 100 I didn't want to over stress my body so on 29th Dec 2013, I completed only half of Day 29. 'Catch up at home next year', I told myself.

I gave myself 2 days off after came back from Bangkok, and today supposed be the day I catchup on the workout. I woke up at 5:50am, and started some simple punching, followed by 10 froggies as warmups. While doing the lunges, out of sudden, I had unstoppable sneezing. After 30 lunges and maybe more than 100 sneezes, I decided that I shouldn't insist to continue using my mind power, but listen to my body instead. I went back to my bed, hid under my blanket, and rested until 6:45am.

First working day of 2014, I sneezed and sneezed and sneezed. My boss shooed me to get mc. So here I am, after a good 2 hours nap, now sitting in my garden writing this blog post during working hours.

What a way to start 2014.


Tuesday 31 December 2013

Day 27 & 28 - Staying Healthy in Bangkok

I kept my promise to myself: I still woke up early for my 30 Day Beach Body Challenge, even when we were on family trip at Bangkok.

Day 27 = 100 Russian Twists + 4x60s planks
Day 28 = 25 push ups + 200 seal jacks

First day in Bangkok, I woke up at 6:30am. Had some skaters as warmup before i started the program. The parquet floor was cold but I have no choice but to place my butt on it for 100 Russian twists. Without the dumbbells, the twists are slightly easier. The killing part was the planks. Maybe because Bangkok is furthers away from the equator, I felt harder to support my own weight :p

Second day in Bangkok, I delayed my wake up time to 7am. Day 28 workout consists of one of the workout that I hate most, and one of the workout I love most:
En taught me how to do the pushups correctly. Right posture or not, push ups are still extremely difficult for me. Luckily Wei also couldn't do it so this actually made me feel not as bad. Haha!
I love seal jacks because it's exactly those workouts that your primary school PE teachers want you to do. This makes me feel youthful :)


Thursday 26 December 2013

Day 26 - Boxing Day

How can I not start my Boxing Day with Punches as warmup? :)
 
After the punches, I started with 100 bicycle crunches. Now I'm getting better at this, at least I can do 80 bicycle crunches in a row without break. Not to discourage myself, I completed the first 100 by doing only bicycle (without crunches) for the balance 20.

Then, I switched to 50 butt kicks. Seems easy but I can only manage to do 50 before the break. So I decided to do 25 crunch kicks on each leg to make it 100 butt kicks.

Before I headed to work, I did another 100 bicycle crunches.

However, Day 26 actually consists of 200 bicycle crunches and 200 butt kickers. It means I still owe myself 100 butt kickers this morning.

How to catch up? Well, I completed the balance 100 with 50 side crunch kicks on each leg after work, before we head to airport :)


Wednesday 25 December 2013

Day 25 - You Better Workout, You Better Not Cry

"You better workout, you better not cry, you better not shout I'm telling you why, supermen and plank jacks are fun."

I started my Christmas holiday with 100 supermen and 200 plank jacks.

I broke the 100 supermen into two sessions with yoga cat pose in between to balance up the strain.

For 200 plank jacks, I broke into two sessions two. In between I squeeze in some mountain climbers so that my bare feet could relief from the impact of jumping jacks.

This is a great way to start off my holiday as this set of workout is great for my self esteem. Something I need during the break, after the hectic year end schedule.


Tuesday 24 December 2013

Day 24 - Keep Moving

I started my day with 25 wood chops on each hand as warm ups. I used dumbbell for this workout as I want to make sure my arms got enough resistance when doing this.

After the warmups, I started the 200 mountain climbers. Mountain climbers are slightly harder than i wish, but as fun as I want. You can vary the pace as you wish, as if facing slopes with different difficulties. You have to keep moving because you need the momentum to push you through. I observed tights muscles, core muscles, and arms muscles working real hard.

Wei asked if I'll continue this program when we are at Bangkok later. Of course I will! I have completed more than 80% by then, why should I stop? I must keep moving! That is something I promised myself. This month is a preview and 2014 will be the real start :)


Monday 23 December 2013

Day 23 - Piece of Cake :)

Today is one of the easiest day, 50 reverse lunges and 100 skaters. Both are my type of workout, not too hard, good enough to tone muscle, and can have lots of fun if you have good imagination :)
After a hectic weekend, I was not able to jump start to my workout. Instead, I snoozed and snoozed until I have to sacrifice my stretching and breathing exercise. Went straight to warm up using skaters then reverse lunges. 
I still have time to do a quick browsing through Facebook before went off to work. So, I think I really burnt a piece of cake worth of calorie with piece of cake workout.


Sunday 22 December 2013

Day 22 - Happy Winter Solstice

Mum woke me up early in the morning for last minute tangyuan disaster rescue op. Hence I didn't start my workout as soon as I wake up as per original plan. I started my day by preparing the tangyuan instead. I always love preparing tangyuan as that's the only time that adult playing Play-Doh and not being weird.

After getting the tangyuan ready, I nt back to my room, and started the 35 burpee pushups and 200 standing sided abs crunches. As you can predict, I hate anything with the word pushups. It added a hint of 'almost impossible'. With will power, I did 17 of burpee pushups, followed by 200 standing sided abs crunches, and completed the balance 18 burpee pushups.

It's tiring, but it's Winter Solstice! Cool breeze, family gathering, and managed to complete 35 burpee pushups. Satisfying :)


Saturday 21 December 2013

Day 21 - Catch Up

Because I didn't complete my Day 20, I redesign Day 21 to catch up what i missed yesterday.

Original design of Day 21 = 200 punches + 200 bicycle

My Day 21= 15 burpees + 2x30s planks + 100 bicycles (alternate between 20 bicycles and 20 bicycle crunches) + 200 punches + 100 bicycles (alternate between 20 bicycles + bicycle crunches) + 1x60s plank + 15 burpees.

It's fun to do the workout with so many variety. But I have to pay the price. Now I'm resting in my garden. My core muscles are crying in pain.

Lesson of the day: Never procrastinate! or you will have to pay the price.


Day 20 - Fail to Follow

Because of last minute present shopping and Christmas cakes collection, I went to bed around 1am.
So on Day 20 morning, I snoozed and snoozed and snoozed, and when I finally made up my mind to wake up, it is already 6:45am. Since I still have to rush to office to deliver the cakes and presents, I know I have no choice but to split today session into two.

Day 20 =  75 burpees and 4x60s planks. Not extremely difficult, but definitely not something that I can easily completed in minutes. I chose to do a 60s plank, 30 burpees and another 60s plank before I took a quick shower and drove to work.

My original plan was to catch up the balance after dinner. But somehow I ended up watching Star Trek Bluray marathon so I decided to catch up the balance 2x 60s plank and 35 burpees on Day 21.

I hope this is the first and the last time I fail to follow the program as per design.


Friday 20 December 2013

Day 19 - As Easy As Warm Up

Not trying to be cocky here, but Day 19 is really easy.

200 high knees are good enough to exercise butt and core muscles but mild enough to keep you going. I am very proud of myself when I completed my 200th high knees and I believe this is very good for self-esteem.

Same for superman. I kind of like this workout because of the name. It is fun, and you can vary your pace as you like. Completing 100 supermen are not as hard as it sound, but I always have problem with the breathing. Instead of inhale while you lower your arms and legs back down, I always did it the other way round. I hope I can correct my breathing habit in the future.

Meanwhile, I just feel good about myself :)


Wednesday 18 December 2013

Day 18 - Scarier Than Push Ups

You: "Name one workout that is scarier than push ups"
Me: " TRICEPS DIPS!!!"

Day 18 consists of 100 Triceps dips and 50 squat jumps. I was supposed to do this at 6am, like I always do. However, today I overslept. Somehow I snoozed the alarm and the moment when I gained conscious again, it was already 7am and I have 10 minutes left to get ready to go to work.

So, today I came home earlier. The first thing I did was to go straight to my room, and started my workout. I knew it's almost impossible for me to do the 100 triceps dips, so I decided to break it into 2 sessions. I planned to do 50 triceps dips, 50 squat jumps, and 50 triceps dips again. Well, plan is just a plan.

Reality: 25 triceps dips - break - 10 triceps dips - break - 15 triceps dips - 50 squat jumps - 25 triceps dips - break - 15 triceps dips - break - 10 triceps dips

Now, while I'm typing this blog post, I can feel my muscles screaming for help. THIS is definitely scarier than push ups!


Tuesday 17 December 2013

Day 17 - Getting Better, Even in Push Ups

When I say I'm getting better, I am not really good at this yet, but at least I'm better than I were before. Very low benchmark, I know, but don't day say "the only person you should try to be better than, is the person you were yesterday"?

When I saw "35 push ups", I almost wanted to give up. Sound impossible. I don't know how my arms can survive the session. Worse still, "35 push ups" are combined with "100 mountain climbers". Arms workout overloaded! I couldn't decide which one to start first.

At the end, I decided that instead of focusing on what I cannot do, I should focus on the possible. So I started my workout with "100 mountain climbers". To my surprise, I have totally no problem with this. 100 without break, with alternate speed of fast and slow in between.

After the 100 mountain climbers, here come the real challenge: 35 push ups. I can't really do the push ups with the correct posture. I can't keep my elbows tight into the torso. They keep on flaring out during ascending and descending. However, I don't care. I only want to make sure I can survive the 35 push ups, with or without correct posture.

Without focusing on the posture, I have my mind fixed on drawing all energy to my arms. I went up and down, up and down, and without realising I already did 15 push ups! By 18th, I really couldn't do it anymore so I switched to the easier variation with my knees on the floor and completed the rest. I know, I still haven't completed the whole workout as it was designed, but, still, I'm proud of my progress :)


Monday 16 December 2013

Day 16 - Good Momentum

I started to suspect that the workouts seem easier these days because of the momentum. I'm on day 16 now. My muscles are trained to understand that they cannot stay in the relax mode all the time like what they did for the past few years. So one by one, they started to cooperate, and some of the workouts become easier and easier.

My "big aunty" is visiting. I skipped my normal stretching routine, did some simple warm up, then started Day 16, which designed as 50 donkey kicks and 50 curtesy lunges.

Donkey kicks are pretty easy for me. I have no problem completing 25 on each leg. After the 50 donkey kicks, I even added another 10 in each leg with dumbbells.

Curtesy lunges are fun. I prefer this than the normal lunges. The workout steps are smoother compare to the lunges that I always having problem to link each steps together. Again, I successfully completed the 50 without breaks in between :)


Saturday 14 December 2013

Day 14 - How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck

Day 14 = 50 Wood Chops + 50 Squat Jumps

I decided to start my day with squat jumps because today I have relatively shorter time for my workouts. So after my warm ups, I prefer to have something that can pump the heart then follow by something easier to cool down.

Squat jumps are high intensity workout. As always, I can't finished the said numbers in one go. I broke these 50 into 3 sets of 20-20-20. Still, my quad muscles sore! I doubted if I can still walk after the session but apparently it was not that bad after all.

Wood chops are easier than it seems on the video clip. I like the fact that I can feel my abdominal muscle and my arm muscle working hard while I myself not really suffering (rare case!) And this is also one of the few workouts that I can do the required number without break and rest.

The only problem (for me only la~) with this workout is the name - wood chops. I can't stop smiling when "chopping".

This work out reminded me of my crazy cousin, Mathew, who can't stop laughing when he watched the following video clip. I agree that this tongue twister is fun, but it's him that made everyone of us wanted to learn this tongue twister too. 

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
He would chuck, he would, as much as he could, and chuck as much as a woodchuck would if a woodchuck could chuck wood.







Friday 13 December 2013

Day 13 - Fooled by Own Perception

I thought Day 13 should be easy. At least, from the videos, Day 13 seems easy.

Since I'm not working today, I allow myself to snooze the alarm for 2 times before I get up to my Hour of Power. "I can finish the 30 Day Beach Body Challenge in few minutes so I can steal a few minutes to sleep", that's my own excuse when I snoozed my alarm.

I started my 30 Day Beach Body Challenge with 50 forward lunges. I stopped at first 10 because I found this easy. I continued the another 40 with dumbbells.

Everything seems according to plan until I started the plank walks.....

When I first saw the name of the workout, I imagined it involving moving around while planking. But when i watched the video, it shows movements on that same spot, seems super easy. Besides, I have done many planks by now. "How hard can this be?" I asked myself.

Well, it is not something that I can handle. Instead of doing continuously 50 in a few minutes like I imagined, I have to take a break after every 10 plank walks and it took me almost 15 minutes to finally complete all 50!!

This is exactly why The Wise One told us to practice non-judgement. One can easily fooled by own perception. 



Thursday 12 December 2013

Day 12 - One of the Easiest

Day 12 = 200 punches + 200 butt kicks

I can't imagine how to do punches since the "30 Day Beach Body Workout" website doesn't provide any video or instruction on how to do this. So I went to Youtube and did a quick search. This is what I found, and this is REALLY easy, even for someone like me. I think I will add in some variation next time, maybe using dumbbells instead.

While I was punching to the air, I can't help but thinking of how old folks call Mahjong an exercise. Really, these 2 "exercises" have a lot in common. First of all, you don't move other parts of your body except your hands. Secondly, you do virtual exercise. While punches are basically punching air, Mahjong is a virtual swimming. So next time your parents or grandparents tell you they have to go exercise, don't laugh, they are telling the truth!

After the easy warmup, I started the 200 butt kicks. When I read the instruction of How to Do Butt Kickers Exercise link provided by the "30 Day Beach Body Workout", it mentions "butt kicks are effective warmup exercise". I imagined this as something easy. I was too lazy to read so I skipped the instruction and go straight to the video provided. To my surprise, the video instruction shows that butt kickers are not easy at all. The video is 10 full minutes. I decided I can come back to this when I have time in the future so I stop watching after 2 variations. I decided only stick to these two.
The first variation is quite hard. I have problem even for the balancing but I managed to do 50 kicks on each leg. After 100 kicks of this, I decided to move to the side-butt-kicks but then I decided that 10 kicks on each leg is good enough for today.

So what did I do after total 120 of butt kickers? I decided that I must find something easier to follow for today. So I search again and found this on YouTube, and I totally agree that THIS is an effective warmup exercise. Much easier, and the heart started to pump at higher rate in seconds. Love this! I think I'm going to keep this for my future routine too :)


Day 11 - I'm So Weak!

I know I'm weak, but I don't know I'm THIS weak.

Day 11 consists of 25 push ups and 75 tricep dips. My arm can only support my weight for less than 5 push ups. To prevent myself from giving up, and also due to time constrain, I choose to convert the balance 20 into something easier: push ups from my knees.

However, the actual nightmare comes after the pushups. The tricep dips are much harder than I have imagined. My tricep just not strong enough to support my own weight for 75 times of full dips. I ended up splitting this into 15-10-10-10-10-20. Can you imagine? I almost cried when doing this. Can't believe I have let my body performance deviated until this level.

Must work harder!