10 posts tagged “workout”

got home around 3:15am, fell alseep at about 4:00am, woke up at 9:30am, did the bodypump class at 10:30am, and then laughed at the instructor when he asked if i was going to the les mills rpm (spin) class at 11:45am.

but what a way to start 2010! yeah baby!

we rung in the new year at ada and hoa's place with all our best friends here in TO. very good party!

i'm a little shocked that we lasted as long as we did but it was worth it.

hoping for the best to all of you and your family!

awhile ago, i ranted about the weird lady that was very persistent in getting my attention even while i was plugged into my tunes and clearly ignoring her.

that wasn't the last time she's tried to get my attention. there's been several occassions where she'll find a cardio machine next to mine and start talking. i can't hear her, but i can see her lips move from my peripheral view. most times, she doesn't talk. but she keeps on turning to look at me, waiting for an in... you know, that moment where i'll turn slightly towards her direction so she can get my attention.

good god. i feel like i have my very own 'eddie' at the gym - you know, that jack russell that keeps on staring at fraser.

and what the hell is up with all this jack russell symbolism in my life? is this some universal way of mocking me???

anyway... today, she caught me in the women's locker room just as i was getting ready to go to my thursday bodypump class. she's so weird. she just comes up and starts talking to me as if we were already in the middle of a conversation.

so the gist of it is - she's noticed that i lost weight and wants to know how i did it.

i size her up and decide to tell her that most of my recent success has been from bodypump. judging by what little i know of her, i had a gutt feeling that she would follow me into this class. and judging by anything i was able to piece together, the class would scare her away.

and so, like a good little stalker, she came to class.

when she got there, she started to say that she has done this class now that she thinks about it. and that it had caused her injuries.

and no, i don't understand why she continued to step up for the class without at least talking to the instuctor first about her past injuries with the class. but she went ahead anyway.

i'll admit, i checked to see her form throughout the class and as i suspected, she did not come close to the correct form in ANY of the exercises that we did. i know the instructor, without wanting to shine the spotlight on her, was trying her very best to speak to the entire class on the proper form in hopes that she would listen. but she did not. and not only was her form off, it was probably the most WAY off form i've ever seen done - in bodypump or anywhere else. she was doing things with that bar that i have never seen before. and anytime she squated or lunged, her knee went WAY past her toes.

all i could think was, "and THAT's why she kept on injuring herself."

as usual, i had to leave before the abs and stretch in order for me to have time to shower, change and go back to work. i didn't stick around but i had a feeling she was looking for me afterwards.

we shall see if she returns next week or not.

WEIRD!

alright - just one more observation that I have to make from my bodypump class, which i wrote about yesterday... okay, maybe two. because there's this little petite brunette who attends the class and she really is just that. petite. but with very noticeable breasts. and not in the bad way. i'm not saying that she's so out of proportion that she might fall over but seriously - she's stacked and well, it's very hard not to notice.

but other then that, i've noticed that on the occassion, we get some male clientele in the class. and without fail, i honestly do not know what they are trying to prove.

there they are, all arms but with a big pop-belly, loading up the weights and ready to go.

not even after the first exercise, are they able to last.

here is where i smirk. way more then towards the teens that i wrote about yesterday because at least those teens proved to us that they weren't there to try and prove anything and were, actually, not the typical, pain in the ass teens we normally stereotype them for.

but these men! exactly what did they think they were trying to do - impress us?

i lose count at all the times they end up dropping their weight right to the ground before we finish a set, creating a huge thud as the instructor, even with the mic, tries to talk over the noise as she brings us all to the finale. at this point, our muscles are starting to shake, sweat is stinging our eyes, and we are doing everything in our power to try and overcome that lactic acid build-up so we can finish the set together - as a team. and basically, just bring it on home.

but that loud thud? that annoying distraction?

it makes me want to just face THAT GUY and say, "did you seriously think that this is about how much you can lift/press? this is about ENDURANCE, baby - not maximum weight. take it outside to the rest of the meat heads if THAT's what you're looking for!"

morons.

so this is probably going to make myself sound pretty horrible... but who doesn't sound horrible once in awhile on the internet? everyone. that's who.

i walked into today's bodypump class about five minutes early, surprised that nearly all the spots were taken. relieved, i did find one spot near the front and yes, while most people do not like being in display for the rest of the room to see, i don't care.

i even have a hole on one of my butt cheek which i have to patch up. but as it's mainly a class of women, whom will see me completely naked after the class in the locker room (and vice versa), does one hole, showing my baby blue panties really make a huge difference?

i don't think so.

as i was saying, i like being up front. not because i like being on display (not caring about who sees my bum with the hole showing that i'm wearing baby blue coloured panties and WANTING to show said bum with the hole that's showing blue panties are two completely different things), but because it helps for me to be close to both the instructor and the mirror. just so i can stay focused and on time. and i don't have some one in front of me that's completely off beat, mucking me up.

i hate that. it's my pet peeve. let that be a warning - if you're going to take a spot in front of me, you had better be awesome.

anyway - the class was packed! and as i didn't look around all that much, i didn't realize that half the class was made up of teen girls until the instructor welcomed the students of some catholic school, where they were participating in the class for the day as part of their gym excursion.

and in the middle of the week, outside of summer vacation, i'm just not use to seeing anyone younger then the age of 23 at my gym - and the 23 year olds are usually either trainers or fitness instructors. the rest of us clientele are usually in our 30's and up. these girls were YOUNG! you know - young enough so that THEY needn't be ashamed for gushing over twilight actors.

now, this is a hard class. and while i've been going to this strength circuit training class from hell since september, i'm still working on increasing the plates of the bar that i use. and the last thing i need are a bunch of teens laughing and pointing at me while snickering to each other, "hee hee - look at that older lady there struggling with half the weight i'm using! and she's got a hole in her pants! YOU CAN TOTALLY SEE HER BLUE UNDERWEAR!"

but something amazing happened. because as we started to do the warm-up, and i couldn't help but to see the reflection of those behind me from the wall mirror, i realized that these teens were actually using 1/3rd to even as low as 1/4tr of the weight that i was using. and they were struggling! like - they were just dying and we only had just done the warm-up!

so it's horrible for me to say, but i enjoyed it immensely as i doubled up my plates for the squats while they were all taking breaks numerous amounts of times, panting and making faces like, "you have GOT to be kidding! she wants us to do what now?" they were having 10 times harder of a time then my first class.

and then i really looked around and saw that some of the regulars are actually older then i am and loading up way more weights.

it gave me inspiration - that with age, we actually can become stronger. and that women today knows what it takes to be kick-ass if they want to be.

okay... so maybe this epiphany was somewhat tainted over the fact that i got to feel better about myself through the struggle and pain of a bunch of teens. but i hope, at the least, that these girls saw a future where they too, can achieve this type of strength and determination.

after all, us old farts know a thing or two about life. :)

i guess you could say that today has so far been all about me.

when your husband is out of town for a good part of the day and your kid is sleeping over at your parents' place, wouldn't you make it all about you? damn right!

after my bodypump class, i did a bit of shopping. mainly - christmas wrapping paper, christmas gift bags and some gift-tissue to go with the bags. but while i was at it, i made a point to stop at the shoe company and winners to finally treat myself to some ankle boots. i'm so happy that i did. the one i got at winners is basic but sleek - fine, black leather, squared-off toes and thick heels (more practical). the one i bought at the shoe company is nice and shiny! and really, just for fun - mainly to wear with jeans:

Shiny_boots

the last thing i did before heading back home was to treat myself to a manicure. it's been way overdue.

i went to one of those drop-in, fast places that only charge $15 for a basic manicure. i've come to the conclusion that the quality isn't any different from some of the more expensive spa's. the extra $10 i have payed for those upscale places have just been that - an upscale place where the ambiance is all very nice and pretty.

the colour? shiny, dark blue, baby. :)

will be sporting them tonight when doug and i head out with friends for some wining and dining.

and i love my boots.

our plans changed for the weekend and ended up being a very quiet one at home. which was just as well - we have so many busy weekends up ahead so a little break won't hurt.

i ended up being the first to be awake on a saturday morning. i quickly packed my gym bag and away i went to my bodypump class. and because the women's gym was on top of the 2nd floor of the superstore, i decided to do some grocery shopping afterwards. convenience at it's finest!

the rest of the afternoon was lazy. after lunch, we were all in the living room... chaeli playing her leapster games, doug reading the paper and me... well, i was reading something. but my eyes were so heavy that after awhile, i just leaned into doug and closed them for a bit.

i think that was my favourite part of the day. sitting on that couch with the two people that i love, just taking in the quietness and peace. but... i couldn't take it much longer. i was just that tired. i ended up going up stairs and napping for almost an hour an a half!

being completely lazy, we ordered in swiss chalet and then watched Up.

sunday wasn't as lazy, though. we got up and went to the zoo for a stroll, and then went shopping. i ended up treating myself to DDR3 for the wii and man... i suck! hopefully, with practice, i'll be a dancing queen but until then, lets just say i'm glad that i'm doing this in the privacy of my basement, away from the public eye.

anyway, it was one of those interesting weekends where nothing significant happened. instead, it was filled with a lot of little things. but for whatever reason, it's those little things that sometimes gives me that exhilerated feeling.

actually, the peppermient mocha at starbucks is a tad too sweet for my taste. but i love the minty flavour so it's hard to resist.

the heaven part really isn't just the drink. it's that i took the day off, got the house cleaning done in the morning (so i know it's out of the way for the weekend), gone for a very good, strength-circuit class from hell, had a very yummy turkey sandwich with sparkling water and am now listing to tunes while surfing at starbucks (god bless 2 hour free hotspot a day here).

the mocha latte is my dessert.

and i have about 2.5 hrs more before i have to go pick up little miss.

i'm loving it!

i admit that i was disappointed that i couldn't take part in nuit blanche this year. while chinese moon festival and my uncle's birthday were celebrated at my aunt and uncles home on the same nute as nuit blanche, that wasn't the reason why i couldn't go. after all, the dinner party ended around 10pm which would have allowed us to go until around 1am (since it's an all night event). but doug had to do the practical part of his course this weekend and had to be up fairly early. a part of me wondered if i should have gone on my own but no. i had to take care of chaeli on my own the next day. and man - it is not easy doing that when all you want to do is sleep!

next year. it's something i hope to do for sure.

anyway, despite the disppointment, it was a wonderful weekend. chaeli stayed at my parents' place on friday night so the anal nerd in me spent friday night cleaning the house and reorganizing chaeli's summer to fall/winter wardrobe. just as i suspected, the pile of 'too small' clothes was three times bigger then the pile of clothes that fits her. but most of them were mix-matches of tops and bottoms that didn't all go well together. geez - that kid sprout up big time this year.

i also went through her huge pile of books on her night stand, which was so huge that half of it was on the floor underneath the little table. her usual bookshelf, which is very small and a part of her closet) was jammed pack. i had to put some of the bigger books on the very top shelf. i'm going to have to invest in a kid's book shelf to put her books away in. while i have no issues deciding on toys to give away, ones that she's outgrown, i have a pretty huge issue with getting rid of books. i do have a small pile of maybe 8 books i'm prepared to donate to her school, but that's about it. she's got so much more that i didn't even make 1/8th of a dent.

doug came home just near the end of my organizing and cleaning. we decided to head out for a late dinner at a local vietnamese restaurant. i had the lemongrass, grilled chicken, rice, shredded pork and fried egg. doug has his usuall vermecelli with an assortment of goodies in it - vietnamese spring roll, beef roll and shrimp paste on sugar cane. we shared a cold spring roll appetizer and some spicy, fried squid appetizer. what i love about vietnamese food is that it's so affordable. with all that we ordered, it only came to $35 after tips and tax.

saturday morning, i headed off to another power-pump class, making it the first time i've done three in a week. it was at 9:30am which helped getting my butt out of bed early. as usual, the class was great, though this instructor probably would not be considered my favourite one of those i've tried. she wasn't bad but her program was a bit too repetitive. not enough was mixed up which made it easier, i felt. i compensated by adding more weights to my routine.

afterwards, i headed up too shop for chaeli's fall/winter wardrobe. while i was at the mall, i also bought some stocking stuffer items for christmas. i was able to get everything done before 1pm which was nice - i had a few hours to relax and unwind before going over to my aunt's place.

dinner was great, as usual. my doctor and his wife joined the party as well and we had such a great night laughing and chatting away. the food was fabulous though i wasn't able to really dive into it as my appetite has shrunken. it was good, though. at one point, i was able to stop and remind myself that i was satisfied. that any more eating would have just been out of habit and pleasure. but that i would suffer later by being overly-stuffed. so rather having more steak or pasta, i opted to having a couple more of the grilled portebello mushrooms (which were just amazing, anyway, but light).

so, i'm on week three of attending this strength circuit class called 'power pump.' it's defintely not as painful as the first week but it's also not any easier. in fact, it will never be easy as i continually add more weights to the program.

the first class left me in such much pain - from neck to calves/shins - that i walked around like frankenstien the next day, prompting a co-worker to take notice, stop in mid-sentence and ask me, "what's wrong with you?"

i told doug what the instructor made us do...

s: we started off with a series of squats that seemed to last forever. i only had 15 lbs in total on my shoulders but by the 50's squat, i thought i was going to die.

d: excellent!

s: and then at the end, we ended off with lunges. i was like, "what? but we already did legs!"

d: *lol*

s: to make matter worse, we did push-ups at the end, too... AFTER we already did chest near the beginning.

d: so don't do them from your toes. just start from the knees.

s: IT WAS FROM MY KNEES!

i do love it, though. i only take the 45 minute class on tuesday and thursday of each week. at this point, i'm not all that sure i could do it a 3rd time in a week (nor have the time) but i would love to work towards that goal.

the best part of a class like this is that i'm getting both my strength and cardio in at the same time. up until now, i was only able to get in 2 or 3 sessions of 20 min. strength training. while that did do something for my muscles, it was boring and totally lacked efficiency.