After 100 bicycles, I noticed obvious ache on my shoulder. I think I strained my muscles but my mum said I must have lymph node inflammation. I hope this won't affect my squats and skaters tomorrow.
Sunday 8 December 2013
Day 8 - Muscle Pain or Lymph Node Inflamation?
As I said earlier, this program is well design. When I thought I cannot move my legs anymore, after the squatting and jumping jacks, surprisingly, I can still do well in the 50 donkey kicks. I kind of love the donkey kicks. However, I think I need a mirror to check if my posture is correct.
Saturday 7 December 2013
Birth Month Concluded
OK, I'm crazy. I admit. But I think I am"experienced" enough to have the privilege to celebrate birth-month instead of birth-day.
First of all, Wei Wei and En En came back on the first weekend of November. So we had a very nice dinner at Miraku.
The next day, we had a very simple afternoon tea in the garden. Second aunt and my cousins were here too. It was a rainy day. We enjoyed the cool breeze, had great chat and great fun and great nap in the garden.
Wei and I went to Haagan Dazs to collect my free scoop of ice-cream. We met a sort-of-OCD worker there. We ordered "ice-cream-on-brownie". He said "ON brownie? Not at the side?" We said yes, on brownie. The photo on the right shows how it was served. Brownie on one side, the scoop of ice-cream at the other side, and all the cream / peanuts are separated too. I guessed he must have hate people mixing everything together :)
The day before my birthday, I received a extremely thoughtful gift from a lovely friend. I was so touched! Really can't thank her enough. This gift also started to make me think of getting a craft class in year 2014. I haven't learn a new skill for too long already!
The night before my birthday, I had a very simple dinner at Patio with a group of energetic youth. I'm charged :)
When I reached my office on my birthday, there's a lovely note on my table. I love this small little surprise. The even more surprise fact: that ribbon is an origami! Hand made! By that little girl herself!
I love it :)
Though everyone was super busy, we managed to have a very simple and sweet birthday celebration at one of our favorite lunch spot. I enjoyed that to the max.
Too bad that we have to leave BH eating alone as all of us have to rushed back to factory before the gate is closed.
The night of my birthday, I be the best daughter in town, having the simplest meal with my dad and mum at home :) After the dinner, I sat in front of my computer writing thank you notes to everyone that sent their wishes.
The next morning, another lovely gift on my desk. That Gerbera really made my day! It has this vibrant orange that says "cheer up and be happy"
The week after that, we had our usual "selves-birthday-celebration" but this round the guys have more important things to do so two of us had a ladies night out at Abbey Road instead. Lots of catch up to do.
The next night, meet up with another 2 girl friends for catch up too. Most of our friends are already married with kids, so it is always easier to make the appointment happened if it is only 3 of us...... Sign of getting older....
En came back again for bridge run. I forced him to buy me dinner again. Haha! Though the credit card bill will be settled by me later but it is really fun to let your brother start practicing to buy you dinner.
After we sent En to airport, finally I can have mother-daughter date. Mum is an expert shopper. We shopped for hours until even her cannot stand anymore so she called home, asked papa to settle his own dinner, while we had some simple food at Canton-i. So, finally the real 母难日celebration.
Of course, Christmas is just one month away. How can I not set up the Christmas Tree in the office? (Why is this my birth month celebration too you may ask? Well, THIS is something that never fail to make me happy too)
Then, on the last week of my birth-month (ei, my birthday falls on 7th of November so of course 1st of December is still the last week!), I suddenly decided to give myself some challenges. I picked 30 Day Beach Body Challenge because it is more challenging than anything else (at least for me la~). I have been a lazy bum for years and it is sure hard to break the inertia (My physic teacher said 动者恒动、静着恒静）. I'm glad that I have progress well so far :)
To conclude my birth-month, I decided to buy myself a birthday present.
I have a lot of excuses to ease my guilt in buying this: it is my birthday present, this thing is much cheaper than it used to be, this is a delayed gratification, i don't want to get sick in a backpack trip so i need to properly keep warm but all my current winter jackets are too bulky......
So, this is how I concluded my birth-month celebration. I'd like to thank everyone of you, everyone in my life, for giving me such a wonderful, blissful, meaningful life.
First of all, Wei Wei and En En came back on the first weekend of November. So we had a very nice dinner at Miraku.
The next day, we had a very simple afternoon tea in the garden. Second aunt and my cousins were here too. It was a rainy day. We enjoyed the cool breeze, had great chat and great fun and great nap in the garden.
Wei and I went to Haagan Dazs to collect my free scoop of ice-cream. We met a sort-of-OCD worker there. We ordered "ice-cream-on-brownie". He said "ON brownie? Not at the side?" We said yes, on brownie. The photo on the right shows how it was served. Brownie on one side, the scoop of ice-cream at the other side, and all the cream / peanuts are separated too. I guessed he must have hate people mixing everything together :)
Anyway, after the short break, I bought home 3 pints of Haagen-Dazs so that we can share with everyone. Mum always loves the fruity flavor and dad always loves Belgium Chocolate.
The day before my birthday, I received a extremely thoughtful gift from a lovely friend. I was so touched! Really can't thank her enough. This gift also started to make me think of getting a craft class in year 2014. I haven't learn a new skill for too long already!
The night before my birthday, I had a very simple dinner at Patio with a group of energetic youth. I'm charged :)
I love it :)
Too bad that we have to leave BH eating alone as all of us have to rushed back to factory before the gate is closed.
The night of my birthday, I be the best daughter in town, having the simplest meal with my dad and mum at home :) After the dinner, I sat in front of my computer writing thank you notes to everyone that sent their wishes.
The next morning, another lovely gift on my desk. That Gerbera really made my day! It has this vibrant orange that says "cheer up and be happy"
The week after that, we had our usual "selves-birthday-celebration" but this round the guys have more important things to do so two of us had a ladies night out at Abbey Road instead. Lots of catch up to do.
The next night, meet up with another 2 girl friends for catch up too. Most of our friends are already married with kids, so it is always easier to make the appointment happened if it is only 3 of us...... Sign of getting older....
En came back again for bridge run. I forced him to buy me dinner again. Haha! Though the credit card bill will be settled by me later but it is really fun to let your brother start practicing to buy you dinner.
After we sent En to airport, finally I can have mother-daughter date. Mum is an expert shopper. We shopped for hours until even her cannot stand anymore so she called home, asked papa to settle his own dinner, while we had some simple food at Canton-i. So, finally the real 母难日celebration.
Of course, Christmas is just one month away. How can I not set up the Christmas Tree in the office? (Why is this my birth month celebration too you may ask? Well, THIS is something that never fail to make me happy too)
Then, on the last week of my birth-month (ei, my birthday falls on 7th of November so of course 1st of December is still the last week!), I suddenly decided to give myself some challenges. I picked 30 Day Beach Body Challenge because it is more challenging than anything else (at least for me la~). I have been a lazy bum for years and it is sure hard to break the inertia (My physic teacher said 动者恒动、静着恒静）. I'm glad that I have progress well so far :)
To conclude my birth-month, I decided to buy myself a birthday present.I have a lot of excuses to ease my guilt in buying this: it is my birthday present, this thing is much cheaper than it used to be, this is a delayed gratification, i don't want to get sick in a backpack trip so i need to properly keep warm but all my current winter jackets are too bulky......
So, this is how I concluded my birth-month celebration. I'd like to thank everyone of you, everyone in my life, for giving me such a wonderful, blissful, meaningful life.
Day 7 - Another Victory
Day 7 is probably the hardest. It's Saturday. I have been waking up early for the last 6 days and this is Saturday! My shoulder angel and the shoulder devil had almost 30 minutes of debate before I finally determine that I MUST DO THIS. To have the discipline to do what you want to do is the real freedom afterall. I see this as a personal small victory, beating the stepping bugs :)
Day 7 = 200 jumping jacks + 3 60 seconds plank
So I started a simple warmup (have you noticed my procrastination causing I skipped my normal stretching routine?) and went straight to jumping jacks. I thought I will suffer for this routine as my tight muscles are still crying in pain after Day 6 50 squats. Apparently they designed this challenge well. Each day you are forced to use different sets of muscles. I can still easily make it to 100 without problem. (Most probably because this exercise brings back a lot of memory. I bet every Malaysians does this in their primary school days)
I stopped at 100th and started the 60 seconds plank. I thought this should be easier than it was since I have had planks on the first 2 days. Well, I'm just being naive. These planks still kill me as always.
How I did it on Day 7: 100 jumping jacks --> 60s plank --> 100 jumping jacks --> 60s plank --> dumbbell lifting (to rest my abdomen muscles) --> 30 planks --> (rest again) --> 30 planks
Day 7 = 200 jumping jacks + 3 60 seconds plank
So I started a simple warmup (have you noticed my procrastination causing I skipped my normal stretching routine?) and went straight to jumping jacks. I thought I will suffer for this routine as my tight muscles are still crying in pain after Day 6 50 squats. Apparently they designed this challenge well. Each day you are forced to use different sets of muscles. I can still easily make it to 100 without problem. (Most probably because this exercise brings back a lot of memory. I bet every Malaysians does this in their primary school days)
I stopped at 100th and started the 60 seconds plank. I thought this should be easier than it was since I have had planks on the first 2 days. Well, I'm just being naive. These planks still kill me as always.
How I did it on Day 7: 100 jumping jacks --> 60s plank --> 100 jumping jacks --> 60s plank --> dumbbell lifting (to rest my abdomen muscles) --> 30 planks --> (rest again) --> 30 planks
Friday 6 December 2013
Day 6 - Oh My Back!
I'm not sure which has more truth: Day 4 onwards the exercises are easier, or because my body is fitter compare to few days ago so I don't feel as much pain during the process as before?
Day 6 consiste of 50 supermans and 50 squats. I warmed up with 20 high kicks, then started with the 50 supermans. Though now I can carry on the full set exercise without breaks in the middle, still, while I'm sitting here writing this blog, I still can feel the pain in my back! I seldom use the muscles over thee so now I have to pay the price.
For the squats, instead of following exactly the 30 days challenge, I modified it to the 3-1-2 squatting so I can kill 2 birds with 1 stone :)
Day 6 consiste of 50 supermans and 50 squats. I warmed up with 20 high kicks, then started with the 50 supermans. Though now I can carry on the full set exercise without breaks in the middle, still, while I'm sitting here writing this blog, I still can feel the pain in my back! I seldom use the muscles over thee so now I have to pay the price.
For the squats, instead of following exactly the 30 days challenge, I modified it to the 3-1-2 squatting so I can kill 2 birds with 1 stone :)
Thursday 5 December 2013
柳暗花明又一村
昨天我因有要事在身得到Burma Road走一趟，却因为找不到泊车位而阴差阳错地来到Lengkok Burma。
有别于Burma Road的繁忙喧哗，这里朴素幽静。我喜欢这个环境，也不介意得走得比较远，就在这儿泊车。
在我的泊车位不远处、在一片绿荫当中，有个小小的小贩中心。我来得迟，大多数都已经收档了。（安娣说过了三点就没有办公族来吃饭，所以大家都在三点左右就收档）
我们点了一碗面线羹和一碟Roti Babi。
在树荫下、沙地上，摆着一张张高低不平的桌子，我们就坐在那儿闲聊，看安娣从容不迫地为我们准备食物。
小贩中心周围全是“走地鸡”，鸡啼声此起彼落，啼着啼着就把童年回忆给提住来了。鸽子们也来凑热闹，咕咕声为幽静的环境添上浓浓乡趣。
与我同行的小妹妹毕竟年纪小，面线羹和Roti Babi都不是这个年代普及的食物，对她而言倒是新奇。而我，虽然这称不上槟城数一数二的美味，但我爱煞在繁华都市当中难得的原始绿肺，所以我也很享受这简单的美味。
由于我们的时间有点儿紧迫，倒没有作太长的逗留。匆匆离去时还在马路边看见母鸡生蛋，我的车子旁还有一颗仍然热乎乎的鸡蛋躺在那儿呢！
下次吧，下次我带上相机再到这儿探索探索。
有别于Burma Road的繁忙喧哗，这里朴素幽静。我喜欢这个环境，也不介意得走得比较远，就在这儿泊车。
在我的泊车位不远处、在一片绿荫当中，有个小小的小贩中心。我来得迟，大多数都已经收档了。（安娣说过了三点就没有办公族来吃饭，所以大家都在三点左右就收档）我们点了一碗面线羹和一碟Roti Babi。
在树荫下、沙地上，摆着一张张高低不平的桌子，我们就坐在那儿闲聊，看安娣从容不迫地为我们准备食物。
小贩中心周围全是“走地鸡”，鸡啼声此起彼落，啼着啼着就把童年回忆给提住来了。鸽子们也来凑热闹，咕咕声为幽静的环境添上浓浓乡趣。
与我同行的小妹妹毕竟年纪小，面线羹和Roti Babi都不是这个年代普及的食物，对她而言倒是新奇。而我，虽然这称不上槟城数一数二的美味，但我爱煞在繁华都市当中难得的原始绿肺，所以我也很享受这简单的美味。
由于我们的时间有点儿紧迫，倒没有作太长的逗留。匆匆离去时还在马路边看见母鸡生蛋，我的车子旁还有一颗仍然热乎乎的鸡蛋躺在那儿呢！
下次吧，下次我带上相机再到这儿探索探索。
Day 5 - Relatively Easy
Day 5 consist of 100 high kicks and 75 Russian twists. Though the names sound intimadating, to my surprise, these are relatively easy.
High kicks are good warming up exercise. Though not as challenging, but you will start to feel your whole body getting warm after around 20 of these. I think I'll use these for my warm up in the future.
Russian twist is more challenging. To me, the balancing act of "sitting-on-the-ground-with-your-knees-bent-and-your-heels-about-two-feet-from-your-bum-and-lean-back-without-rounding-your-spine" is harder than the twist itself. So I actually took some time to practise the balancing act first before I start the twisting with dumbbells. Though not as challenging, I still have to do these 75 in 20-20-15-15 four sessions.
Overall, because of relatively easier, I did enjoy my session today :)
High kicks are good warming up exercise. Though not as challenging, but you will start to feel your whole body getting warm after around 20 of these. I think I'll use these for my warm up in the future.
Russian twist is more challenging. To me, the balancing act of "sitting-on-the-ground-with-your-knees-bent-and-your-heels-about-two-feet-from-your-bum-and-lean-back-without-rounding-your-spine" is harder than the twist itself. So I actually took some time to practise the balancing act first before I start the twisting with dumbbells. Though not as challenging, I still have to do these 75 in 20-20-15-15 four sessions.
Overall, because of relatively easier, I did enjoy my session today :)
Day 4 - Start to Fall in Love with This
Ok, maybe not REALLY fall in love, but at least I enjoyed today session.
Day 4 is 200 crunches (ouch!) and 100 skaters. Crunches are killing me as usual, but skaters are fun! You can just imagine yourself as a Winter Olympic speed skating athlete, trying your best pursuing the gold medal. It's so cool that I didn't even notice that I have done much more than the Challenge required.
Even during my usual dumbbell session, I unintentionally ended up doing the skaters with dumbbells. I guess after this 30 Days Beach Body Challenge, I'm going to put skaters into my daily routine :)
Day 4 is 200 crunches (ouch!) and 100 skaters. Crunches are killing me as usual, but skaters are fun! You can just imagine yourself as a Winter Olympic speed skating athlete, trying your best pursuing the gold medal. It's so cool that I didn't even notice that I have done much more than the Challenge required.
Even during my usual dumbbell session, I unintentionally ended up doing the skaters with dumbbells. I guess after this 30 Days Beach Body Challenge, I'm going to put skaters into my daily routine :)
Tuesday 3 December 2013
Day 3 - Don't Ever Over Estimate Your Capability
OK, so staying in my bed for the visualization may not be a good idea. I accidentally fell asleep when I was half way to the future. When I gained my consciousness again, it was already 6:20am!! (I better change my "Get Grateful and Visualize" session from lying comfortably on the bed, to a sitting position on the floor.) I have to skip the normal stretching exercise. Instead, I immediately started the burpees after warm up.
I watched the burpees video last night, and I thought it must be more fun to do it a bit faster, maybe do it with some upbeat music. So today, I started at a very fast pace. It's fun at the very beginning, but I almost had heart attack at my #15th burpee. Apparently I have over estimated my physical capability.
So instead of continue and finish the 50 burpees, I rested in a lying position, and continued with kickdowns instead. My stomach muscles were already in pain due to the first 2 days crunches, planks and bicycles, so it was actually quite hard to complete the 50 kickdowns in a row too.
So this was how I completed my Day 3: 15 burpees --> 20 kickdowns --> 15 burpees --> 15 kickdowns --> 10 burpees --> 15 kickdowns --> 10 burpees
I watched the burpees video last night, and I thought it must be more fun to do it a bit faster, maybe do it with some upbeat music. So today, I started at a very fast pace. It's fun at the very beginning, but I almost had heart attack at my #15th burpee. Apparently I have over estimated my physical capability.
So instead of continue and finish the 50 burpees, I rested in a lying position, and continued with kickdowns instead. My stomach muscles were already in pain due to the first 2 days crunches, planks and bicycles, so it was actually quite hard to complete the 50 kickdowns in a row too.
So this was how I completed my Day 3: 15 burpees --> 20 kickdowns --> 15 burpees --> 15 kickdowns --> 10 burpees --> 15 kickdowns --> 10 burpees
Monday 2 December 2013
Day 2 - Hour of Power
I felt that something was missing from my Day 1 of 30 Days Beach Body Challenge. So, last night I searched my feelings, and 'ting', a light bulb!
It was the first CD of "Get the Edge" program that fired up my desire to change. Naturally, I missed the "Hour of Power" so I made some modification to my routine.
I woke up at 5:50am this morning. Still lying on my bed, I started the 1:4:2 breathing exercise (inhale for 1 count, hold for 4 counts, exhale for 2 counts), while I visualize about everything that I'm grateful for. I visualize everything I want in my life as if I had already achieved. (I always love this part!)
After the breathing and visualization exercise, I started my stretching exercise on my bench. 15 minutes on each leg.
I normally don't time myself so I get Chinese Traditional Music 流水and平沙落雁 (these 2 pieces add up to around 15 minutes) as my stretching music so that I know when to switch side. Besides, these pieces are calm and peaceful, good for meditation while stretching.
After stretching and warm up, I finally came to the actual "30 Day Beach Body Challenge". Day 2 is 100 bicycles and two 30s planks.
To make sure it's not too boring, I break the planks into 2 different sessions. I started the workout with 30s plank (much easier than yesterday) and followed by the bicycle then 30s plank again.
The bicycles part was easy, but the bicycles crunch part was killing me. So instead of doing 100 bicycle crunches, I did 20 bicycles, 20 bicycle crunches and alternate doing this for 140 times.
After the Day 2 of "30 Day Beach Body Challenge", I had some fun with dumbbell session, dancing to the Faye Wong's 浮躁 before I went to shower and off to work.
It was the first CD of "Get the Edge" program that fired up my desire to change. Naturally, I missed the "Hour of Power" so I made some modification to my routine.
I woke up at 5:50am this morning. Still lying on my bed, I started the 1:4:2 breathing exercise (inhale for 1 count, hold for 4 counts, exhale for 2 counts), while I visualize about everything that I'm grateful for. I visualize everything I want in my life as if I had already achieved. (I always love this part!)
After the breathing and visualization exercise, I started my stretching exercise on my bench. 15 minutes on each leg.
I normally don't time myself so I get Chinese Traditional Music 流水and平沙落雁 (these 2 pieces add up to around 15 minutes) as my stretching music so that I know when to switch side. Besides, these pieces are calm and peaceful, good for meditation while stretching.
After stretching and warm up, I finally came to the actual "30 Day Beach Body Challenge". Day 2 is 100 bicycles and two 30s planks.
To make sure it's not too boring, I break the planks into 2 different sessions. I started the workout with 30s plank (much easier than yesterday) and followed by the bicycle then 30s plank again.
The bicycles part was easy, but the bicycles crunch part was killing me. So instead of doing 100 bicycle crunches, I did 20 bicycles, 20 bicycle crunches and alternate doing this for 140 times.
After the Day 2 of "30 Day Beach Body Challenge", I had some fun with dumbbell session, dancing to the Faye Wong's 浮躁 before I went to shower and off to work.
Sunday 1 December 2013
Day 1 - Accidental Healthy Start (relatively)
I woke up at 6:30am as I promised. (trust me, this is super hard for me, almost never happened on Sundays!) Instead of start my day with warm ups and stretching on my bench, I headed to toilet for "colon cleansing". I guess I had too much oily food the day before, and the 大肠经 really working effectively during this hour.
7am, I started my stretching routine for 30 minutes. Then, I start to follow the 30 Day Beach Body Challenge. The first 60s plank was easy. The 50 crunches were not terribly hard too. It was the second 60s plank that killed me. I couldn't hold. Arms muscles not strong enough, stomach muscles not strong enough, even my back pain! To ensure I won't give up easily, also base on the advice online, I broke this 60s plank into two 30s sessions with a brief 30s rest in between, and I finally made it.
To end my early Sunday workout session, I had some simple dumbbell dance to 蓝莲花(no joke!)
After the workout, I'm super hungry. Mum still sleeping so I ended up with relatively healthy breakfast (山药薏米芡实莲子drink, Jacob's Hi Cal biscuit with tuna, some guavas and a cup of coffee), not what I intended to but there's all I can find with no cooking involve :)
7am, I started my stretching routine for 30 minutes. Then, I start to follow the 30 Day Beach Body Challenge. The first 60s plank was easy. The 50 crunches were not terribly hard too. It was the second 60s plank that killed me. I couldn't hold. Arms muscles not strong enough, stomach muscles not strong enough, even my back pain! To ensure I won't give up easily, also base on the advice online, I broke this 60s plank into two 30s sessions with a brief 30s rest in between, and I finally made it.
To end my early Sunday workout session, I had some simple dumbbell dance to 蓝莲花(no joke!)
After the workout, I'm super hungry. Mum still sleeping so I ended up with relatively healthy breakfast (山药薏米芡实莲子drink, Jacob's Hi Cal biscuit with tuna, some guavas and a cup of coffee), not what I intended to but there's all I can find with no cooking involve :)
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