May
7th

I use to hate exercise. I’d pay $40/month for a gym membership, in which I went like once every couple of months. I would dread every session and try to come up with any excuse not to go. When I started working out regularly, it was very hard to push myself in the beginning because I was unfit, weak and self-conscious. But guess what? I sucked it up and went anyway. Overtime as I persevered, got stronger and saw results, I came to love exercise.

I wrote about getting into the mindset before but let me reiterate it again because it is so important. How you think will dictate how you make choices and if you tell yourself you suck at something, you will suck at it. If you tell yourself you can do it, you will do it.

Doing 100 kettlebell swings or pumping out 100 burpees sucks but I did 90 last time. Why can’t I do 100 today? It’s only 10 more. In my lifetime, I want to run in a marathon, do the Grand Fondo, complete an Iron Man… I know I can run 5 miles. I know I can ride 150 miles. If I can already do those things, I know I can do even more.

I’m no longer unfit, weak and self-conscious. I persevered. I believe in myself.

I have no fear.

That’s why I love exercise.

People don’t like to do things because they’re either lazy or it scares the shit out of them.

That’s how I was with running. It always caused me pain and I never thought I could run for long so I hated it and I never did it. One of the things I wanted to start doing was to do stuff I suck at (or hated) and this was one of them but I forced myself to do it anyway. Now, I love it.

The other day we were running up a hill and my legs started to burn— and I mean burn, but I remember thinking to myself, “man, this feels good.” Erasing the fear makes you embrace it. And I really meant it when I said it felt good!

These days, I look forward to everything and fear nothing. Sure, the thought of doing hours of climbing uphill on a bike scares the shit out of me because I usually want to kill myself while doing it, but when I sign up, I never think about the journey but only crossing the finish line.

Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever. – Lance Armstrong

So how do you make yourself love exercise?

Let go of the fear that you won’t be able to run those 5 miles… that you won’t be able to bike up that hill. Stop being afraid of what you THINK you can’t do. And just do it.

May
1st

I overhead at Bikram’s last week that the second class is always the worse because you know what to expect, and it takes about 5-6 classes before you really get into it. My first class was meh; I thought it would be a lot harder. My second class was horrible; I was bored and couldn’t focus. My third was the “it” class where I really got into it and pushed myself. My fourth class got even better.

• I always go to Bikram’s after days of super intense workout sessions so I get some killer foot cramps while doing some of the standing poses.
• My flexibility has improved even more and I added some of these stretches to my daily post-workout recovery routine.
• During the first couple classes, I discovered what horrible flexibility my ankles had. Must. Improve.
• The heat doesn’t bother me anymore (my biggest fear in the beginning)! I usually forget that it’s even hot when I’m in there… that is until I’m blinded by the sweat dripping into my eyes.
• I use to get bored but now I fight the boredom and make myself focus by reminding myself that I need to focus to make this beneficial.

I’m liking Bikram’s so far but it’s still a once-every-couple-weeks thing for me. Trying to fit in biking, running, swimming and lifting weights/gym is hard enough already and yoga is still at the bottom of the list. I like the feeling of relaxed muscles at the end of a class but it still doesn’t compare to the feeling after a kill-me-now workout! I have 2 more classes to go then I’m going to try Power Yoga at another studio for variety. I will be back at Bikrams if I come across any good deals though.

Apr
26th

I was inspired to do a 100 rep workout yesterday after reading a couple of articles about butt lift, with a bunch of exercises after a 15 mile biking session because I didn’t want to stop!! Is it wrong to be addicted to fitness? One of the exercises I chose were One Legged Glute Raises. I love squats but this is beginning to turn into one of my favorite butt lift exercises because you can really feel the burn (and I love the burn).

I did 100 lifts per leg and the entire time, I was wishing I was doing burpees instead. This was harder than doing 100 burpees?!! I couldn’t even believe how much of a mental struggle it was to finish these reps. I swear there were holes in my butt cheeks by the time I was done. Seriously. I think it was because of the slow speed of the exercise and the fact that you are lying down, whereas when you do burpees, you are continuously moving your entire body, which makes it’s easier to push yourself when you already have all that momentum behind you.

Next time you’re at the gym, try these if you want an extremely satisfying, butt-burning exercise!

[I did these with a bosu ball instead]

Notes on how to do One Legged Glute Raises effectively:

• You should only be using your glutes and hamstrings. That’s why you need to FOCUS.
• FOCUS on squeezing your glutes together to drive your leg up towards the ceiling.
• Never let your back completely touch the ground between reps.
• Do as many as you can without resting to feel the burn.
• You should feel MAJOR ass burn afterwards, especially if it’s your first time. If this isn’t your first time, you need to keep on adding more and more reps.

Apr
10th

TOUGH MUDDER VANCOUVER is on June 23-24 in Whistler, B.C. My friends and I registered a couple of weeks ago and I can’t stop looking at the map because I’m so excited! I’m sure this race will be 10x harder than The Warrior Dash but I’m going to be ready for it (unlike WD). I’ve seen the videos and I’m not nervous … yet … but I’m sure my stomach is going to be occupied with butterflies on the day of.

Probably the toughest event on the planet.

Tough Mudder is a 10-12 mile race with 25 obstacles designed by the British Special Forces to test strength, stamina and mental grit. I say: BRING IT ON.

How fit do you need to be? Basically, you should be in good physical condition – complete slackers need not apply. At a minimum we recommend that you are running regularly (2+ times a week, working up to 5 miles per run), able to do 15-25 push-ups in a row, able to bang out 6 pull-ups in a row (especially the dudes), and able to swim 50 yards without stopping (although you can skip the water obstacles).

I’m not too worried— but knowing me, I’m underestimating the challenge. The biggest obstacle for me is the running part— I can do a 5 mile jog (despite the pain) BUT I hated running (although liking it now that I run with a group) and realized how hard it was for me to motivate myself to keep running. I can push myself to do burpees and bike up hills until my heart is about to give out without thinking twice but I can’t do the same for running. That mental barrier is something I’m still working on but I’m sure my team will make the experience more enjoyable.

Obstacles I’m looking forward to: plunging into ice cold water,  scaling walls, Cliff Hanger and crawling through mud.

Not looking forward to: Death March (that hill looks hauntingly familiar), monkey bars (need to seriously toughen up my bitch-hands) and the electroshock.

Here are some notes from some research I did on training for the Tough Mudder:

Focus:

1. *Running
2. Strength, Endurance and Balance
3. Mental Toughness
4. Muscles used the most in order: Quads, Calves, Biceps, Forearms, Back, Abs, Hamstrings, Shoulders, Chest, Triceps

Training  Plan:

• **Lots of intervals, HIIT and Tabata style training — I think this is the key!
• Incorporate strength training with cardio
• Body-weight & Loaded Weights
• Tons of lower body training (quads, calves…) — will help with uphill running
• Stairmaster to mimic hills — probably with HIIT to save time
• Need to strengthen upper-body and do more pull-ups in a row
• Swimming laps 2x/week
• Running at least 2x/week to condition legs to long distances
• Monkey Bars — I noticed random monkey bars in the corner of the courtyard of my building… I guess this was meant to be!
• Biking to and from work (short 13km per way but hills galore)
• Grouse Grind
• Exercises: push ups, pull ups, squats, lunges, kettlebell swings, burpees, wall balls, balance / BOSU training…

My plan is to continue training as I’m doing now except do a lot more running which may mean sacrificing bike time (boo). This is exactly what I did when I did The Ride to Conquer Cancer last year— I continued my usual workouts and just increased the cardio with lots of biking (mostly with intervals/HIIT/hills). I definitely can’t afford visits to a Canada Drug Pharmacy for meds anymore so I will have to plan this throughly to include recovery days.

Diet:

• EAT LOTS DURING TRAINING! That’s a shitload of cardio you need to be properly fueled for.
• Real foods, good carbs, tons of water and some indulgences are okay.
• Few days before race, maintain a high sodium diet to retain water to prevent dehydration before the race.
• Heavy carbs the night before.
• Light breakfast on day of .
• Drink plenty of water and Gatorade the day before the race.

Other Notes:

• Maintain a good pace. I hope my teammates are good pacers because I suck at pacing.
• Walk if needed but KEEP MOVING. It’s a lot harder to start again if you completely stop.
• Don’t wear cotton as it soaks up water. Wear Dri-Fit.
• Bring workout gloves for more grip during the obstacles.
• Have fun!!
• …and convince Boyfriend to do the race. I’m sure he doesn’t want to do it because he doesn’t want to wait for us. Haha.

Are YOU doing the Tough Mudder? If you are thinking about it and unsure, JUST DO IT. Don’t be afraid of challenges— they only make you stronger. What do you have to lose?

And if you have, do you have any tips?

Mar
27th

Last night, I finally took the plunge and faced one of my biggest fitness “fears” … BIKRAM’S YOGA!

1. I cannot stand heat. I can barely sit in a sauna for long.
2. I have no patience for yoga. It’ssss soooo sssllllooooowww.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t that bad! Physically it wasn’t hard although I can definitely work on my flexibilty a lot more and the heat wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. It was definitely more fierce than my apparently “Fierce” yoga class I took before so I’m satisfied. There were a couple times were I was lying there hoping it would be over soon when it started to feel suffocating but it was pretty easy to push away that thought… and think about something else like what I was going to make for lunch tomorrow (tuna salad + baked yams, by the way).

The hardest part of my Bikram experience was being there in the present and not letting my mind wander off. One reason I would want to continue yoga is to practice patience— and of course, to get a good stretch and increase flexibility. Stretching makes muscles long and lean.

The second [painful] thing were the foot cramps during most of the balancing poses in the beginning. At least I didn’t get them in the middle of the night when I’m sleeping. That’s the most painful thing ever.

The third [annoying] thing was that I was making garlic hummus while waiting for my girlfriend to come to my apartment which I ate a little of. Then I was self-conscious that my breath smelled like garlic the entire time even though I brushed my teeth twice and popped mints. Lesson learned: don’t eat garlic before yoga.

My other friend was ranting about how bad her first experience was to me so I was pretty anxious going there but overall, I think I had a good first experience!

Have you done Bikram’s Yoga before? What was your experience like?