Fitness log and my OBSESSION with Christine Salus

Hi Fluffiesss, Its been 2 weeks?? 

The days flew by so quickly, halloween came and went, its November now! Mugging period is coming and I'm totally dreading it. For now, I'm just gonna bask in the few happenings in my life, juggle school and work at the same time. Quickly after my last post, I fell sick. It started off as a sore throat which soon manifested into a full on fever. I couldn't do much but I felt really really restless so I did an easy workout to loosen my limbs. Oh, I recently got my mom to start exercising with me! It's not the most fun thing in the world to be exercising with your mother but it sure as hell is funny trying to help her figure out how to keep her form! Perhaps I can try to get some pictures next time....Anyways, here's what I had to start my workout week with. An easy beginner's pilates workout. Really really manageable, even for someone who was done with a cold. 

BEST BEGINNERS PILATES WORKOUT - Slimmer, Stronger Body with this 45 min fitness routine

Extreme Total Body Fat Burning Workout | Level 3- BeFit in 30 Extreme

I supplemented my regular pilates workouts as usual with some additional cardio routines just so to up my metabolism. As soon as I felt fine, this was the first workout that I attempted. 

Power Yoga with Bryan Jones - 1 Hour

I can't exactly remember why I chosed to do a power yoga sequence in place of a cardio routine but it will most likely be because I needed a bloody good stretch and didn't feel like stomping on my floor at 11pm KD. Anyway, I don't recommend anyone with zero background in Yoga to do this because well, it is very likely that you may lose your balance and fall face first on the ground.

Extreme apologies in advance. 

Brace yourself...

Christine Salus HIIT workouts swarming in

So.. I think I've developed an obsession with Christine Salus' HIIT workouts. Let me just say... Her 20min HIITs kills me more than my usual full hour and more workouts. Yup. I've begin substituting her HIITs for Blogilates' cardio workouts because they are much more effective for me at the moment. There are so many workouts out there that tell you 'BRUTAL', 'KILLER', 'EPIC' etc but her workouts are probably all of them combined into one. 

Brutal Bodyweight HIIT | Burn 300 calories in 21 min

Fat Blasting HIIT workout - Sweat, Strengthen & Tone! (Time challenge II)

On my first attempt, I managed to complete this in like.... 30 plus mins I think? I paused the video several times because I was just so tired. My second try was better. I came in at about 25mins. 

How to Increase Your Metabolism - Brutal 30 min HIIT workout

700 Calorie Burn HIIT Home Workout

After all that working out, its time for some regular human activities. I visited a quaint coffee place called 'The Provision Shop' in Duxton area. It is such a lovely place I can't wait to be back again just to soak up the atmosphere.

 I must say tho.. The food was pretty average :/ Not the best cafe food that I've had.

A little walk through the charming old streets of Singapore. If I ever have to leave Singapore, this would be one of the things I would miss most.

In the spirit of Halloween, my friends and I went on a TRIPLE DATE to USS for Halloween Horror Nights! The queueing was insane for the last attraction but it was well worth the wait. I was extremely exhausted by the time we reached the last attraction but I was probably the one that screamed the loudest and even scratched my boyfriend at some point. The Lab, was so well done and I just couldn't handle the size of the aliens towering over me. All I wanted to do was run. 

Along the streets of 'New York', ghouls, gargoyles, zombies roam. I didn't manage to take alot of photos but the set was really really well done. 

And I took some time to come up with my first ever halloween baked goodie for my friends and I: 

Paleo witch fingers!

And as for the weekend after Halloween, I kick started it with a gym session at Energyone with my classmates. 

Our workout session routine (Weight recorded is for my sets):

1. Running on treadmill: 1.2km
2. Lateral arm pulls: 4 sets of 12 reps, 18 to 25kg progressively
3. Tricep push ups on some arm machine: 4 sets of 12 reps, 22 kg support I think? 
4. Regular Squats: 4 sets of 8 reps, 20kg barbell with 15 to 20kg progressively each side
5. Sumo Squats: 4 sets of 8 reps, 20kg barbell with 15 to 20kg progressively each side
6. Walking Lunges: 4 sets, 20kg barbell with 10kg weight
7. Quad extensions: 4 sets of 8 reps, 25kg
8. Hamstring extensions: 4 sets of 8 reps, 25kg

I did an additional round of arm workout because I wanted to work my upper body a little more and build more strength.

I think we couldn't be any crazier by going for a round of creepy mind boggling fun at the Escape room after our workout. We did the resident evil's challenge and it was hard! We weren't allowed to bring in anything, not even our phones, a pen or paper so there was no way for us to cheat. But hey, someone in our group managed to cheat after all. LOL thief in the making.

And finally, the day I've been waiting all week for..
Pak Tor day with my boyfriend! We went to creamier and had our favourite waffles (Altho they didn't taste as good as usual) and ice cream!!! Ice cream days are probably my favourite days lol..

While waitingggggg and waittingggggggggggggg

It came! After almost 30mins of waiting. We probably finished it within like... 15mins or less lol

That marked the end of October. Is it just me or the excitement in the air.. Can you smell Christmas like I do already? 

Happy November guys.. Approximately 2 more months to the 2015. 2 more months to fulfil whatever your goals this year :)

EnergyOne & New workouts!

Hi Fluffies,

Submission for the current module is finally over! Last week, I've finally made my way back into the gym on Wednesday with my uni friends after a long hiatus. I can honestly say, I missed the squat rack. I miss gymming on sunday mornings. It was great being able to work out like this again! We headed to energyOne gym at Toa Payoh Safra. Frankly when I realised i had to pay the $8.85 entrance fee, I was taken aback. I was used to paying between the range of $4 to $5.50 for gym, anything over is pricey.

Photo evidence of our time at the gym KD

I started off my workout session with:

1. Running on treadmill: 1.2km
2. Lateral arm pulls: 4 sets of 12 reps, 18kg 
3. Regular squats on assisted squat machine: 4 sets of 12 reps, 20kg each side
4. Deadlifts: 4 sets of 12 reps, 20kg barbell with 5kg each side
5. Walking lunges: 3 sets of 12 reps, 20kg barbell with 5kg each side
6. Hamstring curls: 2 sets of 12 reps, 18kg
7. Quad extensions: 2 sets of 12 reps, 18kg
8. Talking and laughing: Alot
9. Fun: Alot

But in the end, I gotta say, it was worth it. I had a good butt workout in a clean and pristine environment. So much more hygienic than the gym that I used to frequent. The ultimate highlight was the hot shower and clean towels available. 

My Wednesday ended with a homemade version of Llao Llao and binging on the internet.

So for last week, I've tried 4 new cardio heavy HIIT workouts : 

1. Silent Bodyweight HIIT

As you know I've previously tried and reviewed a HIIT workout from Christine Salus. It was fabulously tiring so I decided to try other workouts from her channel. This Silent Bodyweight HIIT did not disappoint because it was by far one of the hardest silent HIITs that I've done. 

2. Full Body 45 Min Sweat-Fest | Burn 700 Calories | Cardio | Strength | Abs

This one was great. TIRING. But good old effective HIIT workout. I was floored again.

3. How To Get A Perky Butt (HIIT Workout)

This one was tiring and not too bad on the cardio side.  Good cardio and butt toning at the same time!

4. Interval Power Yoga Level 2 Intermediate Backbends Impact HIIT Cardio Weight Loss

In an attempt to replace my scheduled cardio workout and relaxation time, I tried a power yoga HIIT sequence. What??? LOL I have never come across such a combination so I had to try. My verdict? It is tough and not for beginners. It would be better if you have some background in practicing yoga. Or else you could hurt yourself.

And that's all for this week! I hope you have a wonderful, happy and healthy week ahead :)

Metabolic booster workout and legs

Hello Fluffies, 

I haven't been updating much because it's been pretty much blogilates videos everyday. I didn't have time to think about what I really want to do to 'up' my workouts so I just did whatever's on the calendar. 

But for today, I decided to add 2 more workouts to my calendar routine. These are new and I've never done them before.

1. 30 Day Fat Burn: Metabolic Booster Workout:

This one was tiring.. Not as tiring as a full on kick boxing cardio or HIIT workout but still tiring nonetheless. 

2. 30 Day Fat Burn: Legs and Butt Shaper Workout:

This one was... okay? Compared to most blogilates booty workouts, I'd say this is pretty mild. So doable, I can't really feel the burn.

I didn't try the whole 30 day thing. In fact I've never followed any specific diet and exercise plans. I just can't bring myself to cut off all that ice cream and chocolates. My vices.. but they're good for my soul. That's why I've never had the motivation to follow through those 30 day plans, bikini body in 4 weeks kinda thing. I'd much rather take it slow and have no time limit. It's a lifestyle right? Yes. I said yes for you. You have to agree with me lol.

Maybe I'll update again soon after my literature review submission. Until then.. its blogilates videos alll the wayyyy as I drown in school work and my part time job :/

Saturday Cardio & toning and Sunday GYM DAY WITH BOYFRIEND FOR THE FIRST TIME

Hello Fluffies,

Its a week of getting used to new things. For instance, the gym that I've been going to is going to close down soon. I'm gonna start my part time job next weekend which means :( no more gymming on sundays :( no more ice cream sundays :( 

Definitely a lot of planning and scheduling to be done. Oh and my first assignment is due Sept 12th. I think I'm gonna struggle with the 3000 word essay. 

Anyways, I hit the gym with my boyfriend for the first time today! It's leg day for the both of us and we did a few exercises. Not as much as usual but I was sweating ALOT more than usual.. which is quite disgusting coz a bead of my sweat actually dripped onto my boyfriend's lap >.<

What I did:
1. Running with 4 incline:
    1.2km
2. Squats with 15kg weights each side:
    3 sets of 10 reps 
3. Squats with 15kg weights each side with 20kg Barbell:
    3 sets of 8 reps 
4. Hamstring curls with 4kg weight:
    3 sets of 8 reps 
5. Standing kickbacks with 6kg weight:
    3 sets of 10 reps each leg 
6. Standing side swing with 5kg weight:
    2 sets of 10 reps each leg
7. Random punches:
    A few times
8. AB rollers:
    2 failed attempts

That was it for the day. Not alot of work done considering I would usually do dead lifts, walking lunges and quad extensions. But I felt more tired than usual :/

Last night, I went to Crystal jade at Holland Village for the XLB buffet with my friends. It was a buffet, I definitely had to 'prep' and workout before I head out to sin big time. So here's the workout for Saturday's Piggin' Out:

Fitness Blender's 1000 Calorie workout (I DID ONLY DID HIIT PORTION.)

8 minute abs

5 best muffintop melting moves:

Spring fling 1: Toning Workout

Playa Del Plank

Now for the fun bit, here's the food that we had yesterday: 

Gula Melaka Soft serve on Waffles from Sunday Folks

Here's us after Sunday folks because soft serve ain't got nothing on real scooped ice cream

Us at 10pm, feasting our lives away on XLBs...

 

Stacks of XLBs

This was supposed to be dessert after drinks at Wala but everyone was too stuffed so each of us took one home. These cupcakes from Plain Vanilla are awesome. I haven't had a good cupcake in a while!

I had the chocolate banana cupcake and it was dope :>

Handsome boiboiz90

I had the best pocky of my entire life yesterday, courtesy of my boyfriend. If you ever come across Matcha Chocolate pocky please do not let it slip away. Please BUY IT. It's worth the calories honey.

Chocolate Yoghurt 'Popsicles' and Tuesday Legs

Hi fluffiessssssssss...

Today was a tiring day.. Alot of waiting and walking around Toa Payoh waiting for a seller. I always feel so foreign whenever I am in the heartlands. :/

Anyway as promised, pictures of the chocolate yoghurt 'popsicles' that I made yesterday night because they just taste so good to me.

Ooo here's 2 bunnies with weird shaped heads. 

This is really bad food art, I'll try harder next time.

This is just 2 of my yoghurt 'popsicles'. Even though they were so cold, they disappeared in like... 2mins flat. It helps me curb my chocolate cravings of late and I thought I should share this healthy recipe with you guys.. Maybe you can feel inspired to make your own chocolate popsicles or even just chocolate yoghurt shakes!

Ingredients:

200gms of plain/non flavoured yoghurt. (preferably fat-free and free of added sugars. Use greek yoghurt for higher amounts of protein)
A handful of baked/roasted almonds
2 tablespoons of cocoa powder (Do adjust to your licking)
4 pitted medjool dates
Less than a pinch of salt

Because I love the heat in mexican hot chocolate, I've added 2 extra spices:
Splash of Cinnamon
Less than a pinch of cayenne pepper

I intended to do some waist slimming and leg toning workout videos but I got really lazy ( I got home so late :/ ) and settled on doing these videos instead.

1. Perfect legs workout

2. Legs & thighs workout

3. Slimmer inner thighs & runners' calves

Monday soreness and chocolate cravings.

I am procrastinating. 
All i want to do everyday is to workout, watch documentaries on health and fitness, eat fruits and chocolates... How romantic is that. 
Dreading work and suffering from a massive chocolate craving. 

My goodness my love for chocolate knows no boundaries. But my absolute favourite kind of chocolate is actually this:

Chocolate liquor cherries ^^ Every bite is a nostalgia, transporting me back to when I as a 4year old, sitting by the window of a musty room of a B&B, digging into the most fragrant and luxurious chocolate liquor cherry that I will ever have in my life. Which makes me avoid eating it because the ones that are available these days, just aren't as good.

So to curb my chocolate cravings today, I decided to make chocolate popsicles! There are no pictures of the popsicles because they are gone before I remembered to take a picture. But hold up, I'm gonna talk about them tomorrow on my blog when the next batch of 'popsicles' are ready :) this time round, they aren't really popsicles because I decided to put them in jelly moulds instead so that they are more bit sized and it would stop me from eating too much of it. (even though its really healthy for you)


Anyway back to the usual topic, here's today's workout!

Due to my butt still being sore from yesterday's gym workouts, I decided not to do too much of legs today even though on the blogilates workout calendar, it shows that it is legs day today.

1. Navy Seal workout from XHIT daily

I added this into my workout for a little bit of extra cardio

2. Flat Belly Fat Burner POP HIIT

God i hate this workout coz it is so tiring at the last bit. Bicycle crunches that knows no end are a killer!

3. Extreme Abs Workout

New video for this week. Died here too.

4. Corset Workout for Slim waist

5. The push plank challenge

6. Killer legs challenge

7. 3 Minute Thighs

Song challenges really aren't too bad because they will end in about 3 to 4 mins. I like doing them when I am pressed for time or just don't feel like working on a body part for too long. 

Oh and i forgot to mention yesterday. I weighed myself again after a very long time. like... the last time i did, it was probably half a year ago. I've dropped about 1kg or more. I wasn't too excited about it because my biggest fear is actually losing muscle weight because I haven't been going the gym much lately. Muscles are really important because they help you burn fat. 

I used to be 50kg the last time i checked. Now, I am at 48 to 49kg. 

If all I lost was fats, then this would be perfect progress even though it is not fast but at least the number is coming down on the scale :)

Anyway, I'll be back tomorrow with pictures of my chocolate 'popsicles' :)

Sunday Gym and Soy Protein

Hey fluffies,

Today's workout wasn't much :/

No cardio today because I felt quite full from breakfast. :/ 

1. Shoulder and arm raises with resistance tubes:

• 3 sets of 15 reps

2. Squats with 10kg weights each side with 10kg barbell:

• 4 sets of 12 reps

A lot less than what I would usually do. This is because today, I chose to concentrate on having a proper form. With the help of a friend at the gym, I managed to achieve a proper neutral form for squatting and to also squat lower. It felt a lot harder than usual.

3. Stiff leg deadlift with 10kg weights each side with 10kg barbell:

• 4 sets of 12 reps

4. Walking lunges with 2.5kg weights each side with 10kg barbell:

• 4 sets of 12 steps

5. Hamstring extensions with 3kg weights each side with 10kg barbell:

• 4 sets of 12 steps

That was it! But I did break out a sweat and am feeling really tired right now. 

During my gym session, I was listening in on my friends' conversation. 2 of them are currently taking classes to train to be fitness instructors while one of them is a certified fitness instructor. The 2 of them were talking about protein powders, especially Casein. However it didn't sound like they really knew what were the stuffs doing for their bodies. I have personally never drank a full serving of protein shake before. The most I had was sip of chocolate whey protein shake from my friend's cup. I wasn't a fan of it and have always been quite a staunch believer in natural whole foods. 

Which brings to mind what Cassey Ho posted recently about protein:

It's still not going to make me take protein powder because I just prefer to chow down on my proteins like eggs, meat, or maybe protein bars? Which I only take once in a blue moon. 

My friend told me that he's been taking Soy protein for over a year now. It got me thinking because I've been trying to cut down on obvious soy products such as soy milk, tofu, etc as much as possible after reading about how soy beans are genetically modified crops with not much advantages to sing about. 

Soy beans are so widely used around the world as it is the key ingredient in much of the processed foods available. In order to ensure a consistant supply of the crop, the beans are genetically modified and laden with chemicals to ensure 'healthy' crop growth. Soy is also one of the riches sources phytoestrogen, a plant based compound similar to estrogen.

Regarding estrogen,
'The estrogenic hormones are uniquely responsible for the growth and development of female sexual characteristics and reproduction in both humans and animals.'

I wouldn't say that this chart's indication of body fat percentage is accurate but it's a good general depiction of the human bodies at different stages of fat accumulation.

Because of this hormone, women carry more fat deposits in their bodies (which is also why women have curves) 
The reason for this difference is that women at some point in their lives may nourish a fetus and then a baby from their own reserves, so women have to stock energy in the form of fat in anticipation of future pregnancies (and must stock even more energy during the last two trimesters of pregnancy).
So logically speaking, consuming too much soy based products would inhibit fat loss because this hormone would bind onto our fats.

When you consume products like unfermented or non-organic soy base products on a regular basis, you are more than likely consuming toxic estrogen in excess. 

In men and premenopausal women, too much estrogen — a condition called estrogen dominance — causes toxic fat gain, water retention, bloating, and a host of other health and wellness issues.

You must be thinking, its hard to avoid it when you are vegan or simply just love tofu and soy milk.

Good news for vegans who aren't so picky, you get to choose from other legumes such as green beans, lentils, etc. If you have to have milk with your cereal, there's almond milk. Trust me, it is a better pairing for cereals.

For the ones who simply love the taste of soy beans, make sure you go for organic soy beans. Nowadays, organic foods are in abundance so it is really not that hard to find. In fact, I get my organic seeds and beans from my neighbourhood supermarket (NTUC Fairprice).

It is really important to know what you eat, what it does to your body and where it comes from. We worry about diseases and sicknesses and how to fix them after getting diagnosed. But if we could just take a step back and look at the causes of our modern day illnesses, we would realise that most of the problems could have been prevented. 

Sundays are BUTT days!

Hi Fluffies!

Today is a Sunday and my Sundays are usually kicked off with a legs and butts session at the gym.

Here's what I did for my gym session today:

1. Squats with 20kg weights each side with 10kg barbell:

• 3 sets of 12 reps

2. Seated squats with 10kg weights each side with 10kg barbell:

• 3 sets of 12 reps

3. Walking Lunges:

• 4 sets of approximately 12 steps

4. Hamstring resistance band workout (unfortunately I am not very sure what is the level of intensity of the resistance band, but we did increase the resistance by coiling it a few times):

• 3 sets of 15reps each side.

5. Leg extensions with 4kg:

• 3 sets of 12 reps

6. Hamstring extensions with 4kg:

• 3 sets of 12 reps

7. Deadlifts with progressive kettlebell weights. 12kg, 16kg, 20kg and 20kg:

• 4 sets of 12 reps

8. Hyperextensions:

• 4 sets of 12 reps

After which, it was picnic time at botanic gardens for the evening with Joyce!

Photo taken by Joyce, very pretty isnt it!

 We were here at the symphony lake for a mini chopin piano concert. Thank god it stopped raining in the noon and the weather wasn't too hot.

I made gluten-free okonomiyaki for the picnic and brought along some lychees and an apple which i ended up bringing home because we couldn't finish our food. Joyce's spinach and cheese sandwiches were really good and I loved her honeyed walnuts and raisins dessert <3

Yum Tums :)

And cute toddlers!

It was a really good catch up and lazing session with my babe haha :)