JusT sOmethIng ThaT I LoVe

Cardio-ing

nadiamohd — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 00:19:36 +0000

I dun like the word ‘cardio’ as I had this 1^st impression that it had to do with sumthing that will make Leong frown again. He loves to make face whenever I failed to achieve his certain target, but when I managed to do it, he clapped. So, that one night, I go thru the bodyguide kit. And I found out that cardio involved exercising with the treadmill/stepper/cycle/cross trainer/rower and others that can strengthen heart and lungs.

Huh, this is not easy after all. The fact that I still haven’t achieved 1.6km within 10 minutes I might be getting the frowning face after all. So, as expected, I started with fast walking on the treadmill, I started with 5.5 and increase the speed but as I reached 6 I started to hold on the handle, thus I decreased the speed until at 5.7 which I can moderately tolerated for the rest 5 minutes (that was a bit too low rite? Aihh..) Next station was the cross trainer. I used to train at level 2, but the trainer now expecting me to be at level 6 while maintaining 120spm, a bit tough for the first time but I think I’ll be getting used to it soon. 10 minutes cardio-ing with the x-trainer, we headed to the stepper. I’d purposely set it at level 3, as I thought I was ok with that level but halfway to the ten minutes, I started to catch up my breath and began to bent down a few times in order to alleviate the pain at the knee. So, at the end of the 5 minutes, I was instructed to start from level 2 and slowly increase the level (and to maintain good posture while on stepper). From there, I continued with the rower. With resistance at level 7, I was required to row at min 550cal/hr, still a bit challenging for me, but I still managed to survive that 10 minutes before the last part of that day; stationary bike. To cycle at level 2 with min 75 rpm, was manageable by me though was not that consistent throughout the cycle duration. Yeay! Finally I completed my 1^st true cardio session that day, though I’d to hear the trainer’s nag much more than before.

Before the session end, I sat down with leong at the lounge and he gave me the lecture again (but with much serious tone) and it did make me feel bad. Part of his talk was straight aimed to me as it was about my attitude (the kind that sometimes serious sometimes play2 during non training session), but for me, I was not the kind who goes to gym to be so tied up with all the work out, sometimes I want to be a bit relax, have a chit-chatting session wif frens, or sometimes I just wasn’t in the mood to work out seriously. If I am going to be the kind that was expected to give 100% undivided attention to all my work out session, I believed 100% by end of this month, my trips to gym will be half than usual. As much as I wanted to shed of this unnecessary fat, I also want to enjoy my work out session. Anyway, it must be that I’d gone a bit overboard, till leong had to point that out to me, well point taken, I’ll try to cut out my leisuring time at gym as much as I can.

Aside from that, he also gave me some important tips and instruction so that I can manage my own cardio session. First to drink lots2 of (warm) water, next to warm up before a cardio session by running on the treadmill at my comfortable speed for 15 minutes and while cardio-ing, always reached at least 50 burned calories for each machine and last but not least levels today is expected to be increase and improve not just to remain constant as it is.

Lower intensity level – cardio

Treadmill – speed 5.7, targets: to increase speed and gradient.

Stepper – level 2, target: to increase level

Cross trainer – level 6, 120spm, target: to increase level

Cycle – level 2, 75rpm, target: to increase level

Rower – 550 cal/hr resistance 7, target: to maintain and achieve more than 550 cal/hr

food talk . .

nadiamohd — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 00:13:32 +0000

We had a food talk just right after the 1^st training session (eating part is the most essential part in losing weight) Leong listed down while explaining on what shud I eat more + what shud I eat less + what shud I not eat at all. In summary:

What shud I eat/drink

source of protein

- egg w/o the yolk

- lean meat

- fish

source of calcium

- milk (he specifically suggested marigold hl, and I love it)

vegetables

fruits – esp anti-oxidant

whole wheat bread instead of white bread

oat

plain water

what shud I reduce

- mangoes/ bananas/ durians – quick source to sugar

what shud I not eat at all

- fast food

- rice (instead, eat pasta)

- carb (at night)

- soda

- sugary drinks

- pastries

- oily / fried food

that is so far that I can remember. So far I follow almost 90% of this listing, it is a good thing that I’m good at improvising recipe so I didn’t find this new healthy eating is difficult to live with. By the way, Leong told me, next session will be the cardio session. Cardio???

the Fitness Test

nadiamohd — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 00:38:54 +0000

The agreement had been signed and the schedule had been fixed. We’re going to have two sessions per week. As the recent training session was such a pain to me, I asked and hinted him in advance that I prefer not to have too tough exercise routine for that 1^st session (as it was on weekdays). Then he gave me the good news and bad news. Good news is that we wont be doing that kind of exercise on that day, and the bad news was it was fitness test day. Fitness test? That phrase did jog my memory of my previous fitness test when I was back at the secondary school and it sucks!. This had caused another round of unnecessary feeling of nervousness and afraid and stress.

so when the day came. leong briefed me the 4 things that i’ll be tested on that day. 1st was running on treadmill for 1.6km (1mile) as fast as i can. The fact that ppl usually can reach 1.6 km within 10 -11 minutes and i only managed to complete it within 16 minutes it was clearly proved that i’d failed the 1st test. it was so hillarious when i recalled that 16 minutes. eventually when i started to run i set the machine at 7.5 (while all this time , i only did brisk walking on treadmill 5 – 5.5) after about 2 minutes running i slowed down the speed an started to hold on the bar handle on and off (of course leong constantly asked me not to hold on the handle) which later causing me to accidentally press the emergency stop button(omg! i already ran for almost 7 minutes and it was already such a torture) just imagine how did i suffered when i have to start all over again at the other treadmill (served me right!)

next was a sit up test. the challenge was to do as many as i can within 1 minutes. and i only managed to do 14. that bad huh? (have to improve on this!) the push up test was not that bad (though leong said that i tipu a bit while doing it) the last test was triceps which i found it was quite easy for the first 10 reps and getting harder for the remaining reps..

u might have guess what his assessment would be..and of course it was not good at all..which i agreed..and he also gave me homework which is to try to achieve 1.6km in 10 minutes..

why him as my trainer?

nadiamohd — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 23:58:33 +0000

At the end of the 3rd bodyfirst session, I and mr.trainer had a discussion. Eventually he was persuading me to sign personal training agreement with him. His point was; if i just go work out as usual wif my frens there is high probability that i won’t achieve my target. He’s right. I may use the treadmill or the stepper or the rower or the cycle or all the machines, but at one point i will find it was such a boring routine and slowly I will start to lose interest to work out. At least by having own personal trainer, I will have a real exercise partner and thus I can always focus on my objectives. He did mention that I had positive attitude while training and it shudnt be any problem for me to attend another 30 sessions with him. I told him I ‘ll think about it (as it was not only about being committed to attend the 30 sessions, I have to consider the $$$$ too..) and he advised me to made up my mind asap as I am already in training mode.

And the matter made me think for the whole week! (mostly on the financial part; is it worth it? Can I cope with other existing financial liabilities? ) then, after the long cny break, I made up my mind. Yup, I signed up for the training session. By the way, reasons for me to choose him as my trainer ..

30% – he’s committed with his all his pt. (he sms-ed to remind me of my sessions)
25% – he knows my limit and I understand he’s limit. (he got his own way to express his dissatisfaction)
20% – he’s an expert
15% – he knew how to motivate me
5% – he seems like a warm person. (frenly + have a good sense of humor )
5% – he has a cute smile (ha ha ha )

That is my requirements. But imho, these are among few criteria that u have to consider before choosing a personal trainer:

- their commitment (asked around or make ur own observation)
- ur commitment
- what u want to achieve
- their expertise (muscle building / body toning / weight management . . .)
- the price compared to no. of sessions (make a survey)
- their personality
- someone who u feel comfortable with (not too comfortable ok)

naTea @ FF 4th episode

nadiamohd — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 10:40:29 +0000

2^nd and last bodyfirst session were very tiring and painful! The 2^nd session took place few days after the first session and involved resistance machine. As per Leong, it was meant to build your strength. But on that day, the main objective was to assess my strength and endurance. I’d try out few machines. Fyi, each equipment utilized varies muscle and info regarding this had been attached together with machine. So, as I was trying out the equipment, my trainer had asked me which part of my body that caused pain while I was using the equipment. And again, after I gave my answers he shaking his head and made the ‘tak puas hati’ face. He explained that I used wrong muscle while using some of the equipment thus causing unnecessary pain to myself. By the end of that session, I felt very2 tired and indeed leong is right, I’m lacking of strength which a female age 26 shud have!

I was sooo fortunate that the last session was scheduled on Friday or else I dunno how on earth I shud move around as I can’t barely walk properly for the next two days. It all started with the weight training. I recall that I did quite a lot of routines such as lunges, triceps, routine using the weights and dumbbell. At that moment, I felt a slight pain but still much2 better than the previous session, so I’m jokingly told my trainer “ nape tak rase sakit?” he just simply answered “nantilaa”, indeed he was telling the truth. After cycling (recovery) which meant that the session had ended, when we were going downstairs, Leong instructed me to hold on the railing. Once I started to step down, my leg started to shiver and I hold the railing much tighter as I finished the steps.

The next two days; sat and Sunday, I just stayed at home despite it was a long holiday. Actually, I was a bit worried whether this is normal or not but as Leong was currently on his CNY hol’s I ignored the pain. And one week later, he sent an sms to me asking about it and yup, it is normal (bcoz I’d just started working out, so I’m still not used to it yet)

naTea @ FF 3rd episode

nadiamohd — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 10:18:26 +0000

my trainer sent a sms to me during the lunch to remind me of the training session on that evening. the sms was a thoughtful gesture of him, but out of nowhere it grew into butterflies in my stomach. frankly speaking, i am much more nervous than feeling excited to attend my first ever training session (which I wonder why the feeling is exactly the same as what I feel when I make the infrequent(twice a year) trip to the clinics/ hospital).

That evening, I found out the culprit behind all this uneasy feelings when I was asked to weight myself. The result is quite unexpected and fast and effective measures had too be taken a.s.a.p. My trainer gave a long talk on body mass and fats and lifestyle. (it’s a good thing that the trainer is cute, though it was lengthy talk, I managed to focus on every single thing that he talked about)

Next, I was asked to walk on the treadmill for 10minutes with 5.5 mph.(the speed that was not manageable by me during that time) so just imagine the hardship that I’d to go through to survive that 10 minutes!(plus Leong constantly told me not to depend on the bar handle..aiyaa!)

Cycling session was next. I was required to reach 2.5km within 5 minutes in level 1. I only managed to reach 2.02km. I still remembered the look on his face but I could not translate it into wordings (lebeh kurang tak puas hati laa)

Then, I tried the stepper (a machine that makes u climbing lots of steps/stairs but lead u to nowhere) being 1st timer, again I was trying hard to survive that 5 minutes and the same thing goes for the rower machine. At the end of the session, Leong gave me his overall initial strength assessment over me and as predicted, I got a looooooong way to go but still achieveable provided with determination and good attitude!

naTea @ FF 2nd episode

nadiamohd — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 10:16:43 +0000

my 1st day at ff wasnt that bad after all. despite the fact that i had to wait for more than 10 minutes before i managed to secure a locker at the changing room. but then from that, i learnt an important tip, if u want to work out after office hr, make sure u reach the gym by 6.00, or else u’ll have to wait patiently (very2 patient) for some ppl who either purposely/unintentionally packing their bag in a slow motion. soon after changing, me n fren heading towards the work out area; where all the machines are. being 1st timer, i headed to the personal trainer counter (where all the pt lepak/checking for their schedule/waiting for their pt session/chit-chatting) and asked for my assigned PT. while waiting for the PT, i cuci mata a bit, watched few hot guys (which i doubt whether they’re gays or not) worked out. There were also a very skinny lady had been running constantly on the treadmill which may made other ppl thinking, “dah kurus mcm tu pun nak exercise ape lagi?” Dear all, exercising is for everybody; whether u’re petite / fat / thin / obese / plump / just nice / etc .. it is not just for losing weight (which is my main objective) , it is more to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

anyway, after a while, i met Leong, the trainer. my 1st impressions of him; what a cute (very) skinny trainer! hehe.. He showed me on how to operate the treadmill. Then, i started brisk walking on the treadmill before i stopped for a lepak and chit chatting session with my fren at the lounge. after a while i showered n packed to go home. and for the first time in this month, i managed to fall asleep within minutes i put my head on the pillow.

What to bring for a work out session?
- a trainer/sports shoe
- a work out outfit
- tumbler/drinking bottle
- mp3 player (working out with musics that u love helped u to achieve more, provided u love to listen to music laa)
- towels / face towel (u can rent it if u forgot to bring one)
- positive attitude

naDia @ FF – 1st episode

nadiamohd — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 05:07:03 +0000

Somewhere in January. inline with my b/f new year resolutions, i decided to accomplish at least one of it; which is to lose weight. so, on that friday me n rakan2 ofis (just 3 of us) went to FF. there we met the membership consultant (he’s quite cute and very good in persuading ppl). after explaining mcm2 about the club, he brought us for a tour at the club. At the end, after not that much consideration, i decided to give it a try. so akhirnye i became the club member. overall i paid around RM256 for admin fee and bodyfirst pack. This bodyfirst pack come with 3 session with Personal Trainer and a set of books (exercising+eating+bodyjournal).beside that i also received a backpack+face towel+drinking bottle. soo excited to start!

what make me choose FF?
- the facilities is good
- good accessibility to public transport n shopping mall
- nearby my office
- based on review by the ex-members/members

what to do before joining a fitness club?
- survey the location/branch
- survey the price
- budget for monthly expenses
- search for cheaper option; membership transfer can always offers u cheaper monthly subscription fee
- come out with a time shedule
- think whether r u ready for that kind of commitment