The next time I build a home, I would:

1. Have a front door with a hydraulic sliding function. It would have an auto-lock mechanism too. It would be double glazed, and the edge in contact with the frame would be sealed with a thick brush layer.

2. Have a dining table that is overlaid with leather. Underneath the leather and over the wood surface would be a thin layer of high-density foam.

3. My room doors will be made of heavy, solid wood. It would also be a sliding door with a thick brush layer along the edge in contact with the frame and the floor.

4. My windows would be slightly tinted and double glazed.

5. My curtains would be heavy and dual-layered, the inner layer being made of blackout material.

6. My walls between living spaces would be made of solid brick.

(Of course if I lived alone, none of this would be necessary...)
 

I never learn.

Just like when I said I hated my saddlebags, as soon as the above statement left my lips, I regretted it.

I would blog about this session better, except that I don’t remember the names of all the different exercises I was put through for my arms and shoulders. Here’s what I can remember: Shoulder press with increments in weight, shoulder lifts using dumbbells, another kind done with your chest to the bench, arms opening up like a fly… it’s all one painful haze now.

“Honestly speaking, your arms and shoulders are very weak. You have to work harder,” says the trainer.

“jkhcjbdihfgif,” said I, trying to do leg lifts and bicep curls at the same time. This two-in-one exercise was not my idea, obviously. Why would I want to put myself through the embarrassment of arms and legs going every which way when I’d be the first to admit I have extremely poor coordination? Hell, I can’t even clap and sing and the same time, let alone balance on my ass, move my knees in a prescribed direction and lift dumbbells (don’t bend your wrists!).

Who knows? By the end of the next four sessions I could be doing dips, hamstring curls and crunches all at the same time, then I’d be the resident attraction at the gym! WAHAHAHHA… I’m going nuts.

One or two sessions ago, James, my California Fitness trainer, introduced me to drop sets.

If you check it out online, its definition varies slightly, the most common one meaning you decrease your load while increasing your number of reps. For example: 8 reps @ 30lbs, 10 reps @ 25lbs, 15 reps @20lbs. Each of these sets of reps must be done with little to no rest in between.

The benefits also vary: Some sites say it builds muscle but does little for endurance, others say that it builds endurance, i.e. lactic-acid tolerance.

James had me doing 20 reps X 3, starting with a load heavier than what I’m used to, with decrements on the 2^nd and 3^rd sets. 20 reps. And only a few seconds’ break in between. I daresay I was building endurance, not bulk. For bulk, you usually do fewer reps, like 8-10, with a load that is close to or at your maximum potential (I think!).

The burn is insane, and even though by the last set you’re doing pansy weights, you feel like you’re lifting a heavier weight than what you started with. I hate grunters in the gym (it just sounds vulgar and seems show-offy) but I think I let more than a few escape. (I was also thinking, if anyone strolled by at the last set and saw me squealing like piglet at just 10lbs, I would have looked pretty wimpy, ha ha.)

And of all the exercises I did these drop sets on, it had to be at the two that make me feel like hurling and pooing respectively – leg extensions and hamstring curls.

I suppose this will be especially beneficial for those long uphill climbs on my bike though. Can’t wait to go see if all this gym work has helped…!

I remember a long time ago, I went for a Body Pump class and I just about died. I think I spent most of the lesson standing there with just the bar (which alone weighs a lot – to me), un-weighted, looking at all the other participants.

Since then, my use of free weights has been limited to just the eensy dumb bells.

This session, I actually used what James, my California Fitness personal trainer, calls the Olympic bar. I’m guessing it’s because it’s the same bar that the weightlifters use in the Olympics. Alone, that bar weighs something like 18 kilograms, I think.

There’s a machine that holds the bar at a suitable height for you so you don’t have to do the “jerk” part of the “jerk and lift”, but you do need to lift it by yourself. (mehhh…) And then I had to do squats with it. With weights. At one point, my knees actually buckled but thankfully the trainer was there to grab the bar before it came crashing down on me.

Today, the fourth day after that session, my thighs still hurt. Not as bad as the first and second day after, but still! And all this because I said I hated my saddlebags. Next time, I think I’ll keep my mouth shut. =D

But you know, the cool thing about having a trainer is that you try all the things you never dared to, or never thought you could. And I’m kinda proud of myself! This whole thing about working out building self-confidence isn’t just limited to body-image, I think. It’s also a lot about testing your limits and realizing you can do what you never thought possible, and more…

My mind was so filled with bad puns, I ended up not really having a title for this entry at all.

See the thing is, this session was focused entirely on my core muscles. And it was a very long and trying 60 minutes. How many punny headers can you think of? Loads, I’ll bet.

When I got to the California Fitness gym, it was mad crowded so the lazy me thought: Hey! I’ll bet we’ll spend many minutes standing around waiting for machines to be free! Yay me! And then my trainer said, “Looks like all the machines are busy. We’ll spend the entire session here,” he gestured around the floor exercises area, “and do core training. We’ll start with 20 minutes on the StairMaster.”

If it’s possible to double-faint, I would have.

We didn’t do a single normal ab exercise. Everything involved some kind of balancing or body control. It’s hard for me to explain, but here’s one: Imagine your hands on the floor, your feet on a medicine ball, ass in the air, as you squeeze the abs to bring your feet towards you. Kinda worm like, but less graceful (me, that is).

And as fate would have it, there was a sylph-like chick decked out in full Stella McCartney gear, doing ab exercises like they were part of a ballet routine. Boy did I feel like a fat old oaf.

The next day, I was duly rewarded with aching abdominals.

(I should really blog less about liking the pain. Methinks my trainer is taking my words too seriously. Hur.)

other than my gym entries, i've not been blogging much. not been writing much about my life or what's going on, and for those whom i have stopped writing to and are using this blog to find out what's going on, i'm sorry!

i think there are two reasons for this:

1. WORK
It has been not so great for a number of reasons. intepret this however you choose, but i am becoming increasingly indifferent. what keeps me going are the few-and-far-between challenges that really excite me, and my colleagues (well, most of them). especially the colleagues.

what i'm saying is, as i become more indifferent about the stuff that takes up 70% of my time, i have less and less to say.

2. TWITTER
As soon as a thought pops into my head, an interesting one, it goes up on twitter. it gets born and broadcast long before it's had a chance to grow and mature, to extend its veins and stretch its bones, to become meat and blood.

before twitter, it would have had a lot of time to evolve into a solid thought with many arms, legs and feet. and when it had become a full-fledged being, i would debut it here. these days, the moment an observation, a feeling, an epiphany occurs, it's spat out on the blue screen and it dies, because like a premature baby, it wasn't ready.

anyway, i'm so glad it's the end of the week. and boy am i ECSTATIC that i do not have to work, think about work, worry about work or anything-work this weekend. - b l i s s -

i'm making sushi this weekend with The Mother and Carrie! i hope i'm motivated to post pics...