Weakling Injuries, Self-medicating and Self-love

Hey ya’ll – I don’t even know what week it is anymore and I’m so upset that my workout routine has been completely ruined. I actually sprained my Achilles’ tendon back in week 2 so I was out for more than a week limping like a flamingo. I know, second week in and I already injured myself. True weakling. BUT since I’m stubborn as a goat, I actually forced myself to go snowshoeing in Whistler during week 3! It was so much fun but super painful when we were going uphill, but I survived!

The Choister and I did a 2.5 hour hike up in the Callaghan Valley and it was absolutely beautiful! I highly recommend it if you’re planning on visiting Whistler. The snow was perfect and the weather was great when we went (sunny skies and not too cold!). But luckily for us, we left just before the snow storm, so be sure to do your weather forecast research before you go!

Here’s a beautiful picture of me snowshoeing. Ha.

Although this is our fitness/health blog on our Weaklings’ Journey, I wanted to raise the topic on Self-love. For the past few months, I have been incredibly demotivated on everything – school, work, my relationships with people and even communicating with my family. In the past I was incredibly active and volunteer-addicted, and essentially piling on a billion things on myself because I wanted to keep myself busy. However, since ending my full-time co-op term and taking a break from all my extra-curricular activities I felt so lost in life. I know I’m still young and may seem extremely naive but not having the same rush of ‘busyness’ was odd to me and I didn’t know where to go.

A wonderful friend of mine recommended that I read “The Artist’s Way Workbook” by Julia Cameron – I am at a time in my life where I’ve become so confused about my passions and goals and overall just so angry with myself on what I haven’t yet accomplished. The workbook is a 12-week program that allows you to check in with your emotions and lay out the hidden complications that are preventing you from grasping your inner ambitions. The book suggests to do something called morning pages where every morning, you write 750 words (3 pages) of whatever comes to your mind. Even if you don’t know what to write about, you can write that down too (“I don’t know what to write about… my bed was so comfy, etc.”). The morning pages are said to have changed people because a lot of our inner emotions are masked by daily reminders of what we need to do (take out the trash, send an e-mail to so and so, buy milk, etc. and not actually channeling in with our own personal thoughts). So far, I’ve found great joy in writing out my thoughts and I’m excited to see how I will change in the next few weeks.

While the title of this post might have deceived you, I see that books that help guide your emotions can be a form of self-medication on healing yourself from emotional stress. I see emotional strength as a catalyst for obtaining one’s optimal level of health so while I’m pushing myself to get fit, I know emotionally, I am not there yet, but that’s okay! 

I’ve never really been much of a public person when it comes to sharing my emotions, so I’m hoping this post will act as a virtual hug for those who are struggling through the same thing as I am. There’s no way that people do not feel vulnerable at one point in their lives. But acknowledging your vulnerabilities and accepting them is part of the healing process.

So sorry if I sounded like a hippie in this post, but I’m just cutting out the bullshit that fitness and health is all about going to the gym 24/7 and eating like a rabbit. While those things will definitely help the aesthetics of obtaining your ideal physique, it does not make you into a stronger person on an emotional level.

Week 3: 100 Squats x 5 Days

In my last post, I mentioned how I should increase weights because I was comfortable with the current amount I was lifting, but with the tight schedule this week, I was only able to do quick at-home work outs that used NO WEIGHTS.

Usually I would be able to fit in driving to the gym, having a good work out, and driving back home, but I was starting a new job this week (yay!) so each day consisted of 8.5 hours of work + 2 hours of transit + X hours of school related activities and events. I didn’t want to risk being late for work if I were to head to the gym beforehand so I chose to do quick work outs before leaving the house. Once I get adjusted with my schedule (hopefully this week), I will add more time for exercise into my schedule.

Here are the workouts for the week:

Monday, February 10 – 100 squats
Tuesday, February 11 – 100 squats
Wednesday, February 12 – 100 squats
Thursday, February 13 – 100 squats
Friday, February 14 – 100 squats
Saturday, February 15 – Weaklings Hiking Trip around North Vancouver (another Weakling can blog about this!)

The 100 squats I did everyday took me about 7-10 minutes to complete. Each day I woke up around 6:30am and jumped out of my bed and began doing these squats. Around the 25th – 30th squat, my legs began to burn but I kept going at it. Once I started feeling my heart beat increasing, I knew I was on the right track.

Many people overlook the correct squat form, so here’s a video to show you how to squat properly.

Squats are one my favourite exercises because it works out your ENTIRE BODY. Not only does it strengthen your legs, it works out the glutes, hips, thighs, and core!

There are countless articles on the benefits of squats. One of my favourite ones to read is “Squats: 8 Reasons to Do This Misunderstood Exercise” which talks about how squats can make your daily activities much easier to do, burn more fat, and prevent injuries.

Doing solely squats isn’t my ideal workout, but with the lack of time this is the exercise I resorted to. I really need to improve my exercise regime since my body still isn’t feeling sore the next day. I will experiment on some more exercise and update you next week! I will most likely to stick to the beginner’s weight lifting work out that I originally was doing earlier!

Okay, next week my goal is to update you on how sore my body is otherwise I will put $5 in the pot! 

Challenge accepted. Here we go!

Week 2 Workouts + Squatting 50lbs (YAY!)

Hellooooo – long time no update! A few of you followers have been nagging me to post, so here goes!

This Week’s Workouts

Monday, February 3
Squats 40 lbs 8×4
Bench presses 30 lbs 4×5
Bent-over rows 30lbs 8×4
Overhead barbell presses 30lbs 8×4
Stiff-legged deadlifts 40lbs 8×4
Barbell curls 30lbs 8×4
Calf raises 8×4

Thursday, February 6
Squats 40 lbs 8×4
Bench presses 30 lbs 4×5
Bent-over rows 30lbs 8×4
Overhead barbell presses 30lbs 8×4
Stiff-legged deadlifts 40lbs 8×4
Barbell curls 30lbs 8×4
Calf raises 8×4

Saturday, February 8
Squats 45 lbs 8×4
Bench presses 35 lbs 4×5 (struggled to lift this again)
Bent-over rows 35lbs 8×4
Overhead barbell presses 30lbs 8×4
Stiff-legged deadlifts 45lbs 8×4
Barbell curls 30lbs 8×4
Calf raises 8×4

Sunday, February 9
Treadmill: incline 5; speed 5.5 – 5 min (+ 2 min slower speed)
Squats 50 lbs 8×4
Bench presses 30 lbs 8×2.5
Bent-over rows 30lbs 8×4
Overhead barbell presses 30lbs 8×4
Stiff-legged deadlifts 50lbs 8×4
Barbell curls 30lbs 8×4
Calf raises 8×4
Treadmill: incline 5; speed 5.0 – 10 min (+2 min slower speed)
+ random stretches

AND SOME BREAKING NEWS…

I can finally squat 50 lbs.

Okay, to be brutally honest … squatting 50 lbs is a pathetic goal. I recall walking to the squat machine last year and being able to squat +50 lbs. It’s a bit different this time because I am not using the squat rack to help me start my stance – I’m just picking up a barbell and lifting it over my head to begin my squat workout. I’m not too sure what’s better – using a barbell or using the bar + weight add-on’s via the squat machine, so let me know your thoughts on this!

Feeling Comfortable? Lift More!

During my Saturday workout (see above), I went to the gym with KS. He pointed out that I was underestimating myself and that I could probably lift more. At first I was too stubborn to admit he was right, but deep down I knew it was true.

After every workout, I usually anticipate feeling sore the next day but the pain never comes any more… I didn’t really question it and just assumed the stretches I did after lifting prevented me from feeling sore, so I went along with that reasoning. However, I think it’s finally time to challenge myself a bit more and INCREASE MY WEIGHTS.

Oh boy. New challenges, wabam! Things will be a bit more exciting in the next few weeks…

Wish me good luck (seriously!!!) – I will need it.

I <3 Healthy Foods … But I’m human, okay. – Lynnja’s Week 1 Update

Happy (late) Chinese New Year everyone! Although it’s only been a week, I think I’m starting to like my weekly gym routine (gasp)… but for reals, I’m feeling a lot more productive these days since going to the gym after my last class on Wednesdays/Fridays and alternating at my local gym on Tuesdays/Thursdays (only went to the gym 3x this week but here’s hoping I can make it a habit to go 4x a week!).

I shared some healthy meals that I’ve been loving on my Instagram like my Spiced Carrot Coconut Muffins (recipe here!) to stop myself from buying the sugary Starbucks muffins and scones, and my Sesame Shrimp Potato Noodle Salad that I just threw together since I love potato noodles! But today, I decided to take a stab at making my own Radish Kimchi! (Kkakdugi) 🙂 Fermented foods like kimchi, natto, kombucha are AWESOME for your digestive system and this recipe from Maangchi on Youtube was super easy to follow.

My Kkakdugi ❤

I’m also really into trying new super foods like Spirulina so I made a banana-orange spirulina smoothie today:

• 2 bananas
• 1 tablespoon spirulina
• orange juice (diluted with a little water since I found it to be too sweet with just straight OJ)
• ice

Blend and put it in a cool hipster mug.

Spirulina is a natural algae that is great for boosting your immune system and it’s packed with B vitamins and protein. So if you’re at the weakling stage and not ready to commit to taking protein powders, try Spirulina (I bought mine on Amazon since it was a lot cheaper).

So in terms of what exactly I’ve been doing at the gym, it’s really not as hardcore as the other weaklings, but this is generally what’s been working for me:

– 30 mins treadmill (10 mins jog (speed: 5.5/5.6) / 1.5 min sprint (speed: 8.0) / 1 min walk (3.5) /repeat))
– squats (30lbs free weights) 3×10
– bicep curls (15lbs) 2×10
– overhead dumbbell extensions (15 lbs) 2×10
– bicep curls (15lbs) 2×10
– lunges (24 lbs (two 12lbs free weights) 3×10
– calf raises (24 lbs) 2×10
– squats (24 lbs) 2×10
– 20 min bicycle (alternating tension at 5 to 7)

Since learning more about healthy foods in my Hunger Actions program like I mentioned in my previous post, I’ve trained my tastebuds to crave healthier foods (I rarely ever have pop or crave potato chips since I feel like shit afterwards) and it became sort of a weird hobby of mine to always research on different super foods. Adjusting your tastebuds comes with TIME. Of course,  I had my evil cinnamon bun craving after the Choister said we were going to IKEA this weekend… so I had a cinnamon bun and some animal-shaped pasta and it was freaking delicious. I’m human, so sue me.

I’m sure it was especially hard for the Asian weaklings this past weekend because of the Luna New Year goodies, but don’t restrict yourself completely from the things you love! You’re just going to want it more. You need balance in your life and if certain foods give you comfort, just have controlled portions of it – you can work your butt off later in the gym anyway. What I’ve found helpful in training my tastebuds was to keep lots of fruit in our house – that way, if I’m craving something sweet, I can have a piece of fruit.

Again, you have to establish your own healthy habits – so don’t rely on someone else to lecture you on what you should and shouldn’t eat. You know your body better than anyone else, so if you want that cinnamon bun, you go get that cinnamon bun, girlfriend.

Toodle-loo for now fellow weaklings!

A Healthy Weekend – Hike to Petgill Lake and Beyond

At the top of Petgill Lake trail near Squamish

This past Saturday, I joined a few friends and older cousins on a day hike up to Petgill Lake. This trail is up near Squamish, just before the Chief. The hike is about five hours long and quite intense, but it was definitely worth it. The exercise was great, and so was the view at the top! The trail starts out quite steep along a rock wall before entering the main trail leading into the forest. From there, it’s about 2 hours or so to get to Petgill Lake. By the way, this lake was quite disappointing – it was really small, frozen over, and covered in snow! So we kept going and went uphill, all the way to the top (another hour). That’s where the picture above was taken. 

We were getting quite tired along the way, so every time we came across a small frozen over pond, we would joke that we are at Petgill Lake (because that meant it was lunch time). We also carried snowshoes with us because we didn’t know what to expect, but didn’t end up needing them as there was very little snow. We also came across an elaborate logging operation. One of the loggers told us that while the thicker trees could be driven out of the forest via truck, the thinner ones (which were worth over three times more) had to be air-lifted one-by-one via helicopter. You definitely learn something new every day! 🙂 

Hiking is a great full body workout and also good for burning fat. And what better place to go on hikes than right here in Vancouver. There are so many trails, though some are only open in the spring and summer time. Check out a list of trails here. Though hiking is a great workout, it has other benefits too. For me, it was a chance to socialize and catch up with friends and cousins who I don’t get to see much since we’re all very busy with our lives. It was also great to get some fresh air rather than work out in the gym, although it was very cold! 

The Weaklings are hopefully planning a hike on Sat, Feb. 16th. Let us know if you are interested in joining us! 

Kimbo’s First Week: Time to Pay Up!

Not gonna lie – this week was pretty hard to meet my fitness goals due to a little something called…

Tết.

Tết is the annual celebration to welcome the new year in Vietnam. Many people know this as “Lunar New Year” or “Chinese New Year”, but Vietnamese people call it “Tết”.

During this time of the year, you attend a lot of family reunions and eat a LOT of food. There are lots of special dishes prepared just for the New Year, so not eating them would be rude to the chef! I’m currently typing this blog on a full stomach at my grandma’s house. We just finished a huge dinner that included braised pork belly, boiled eggs, and fried rice (oh my!). Maybe I have to learn how to say no… or maybe I just have to wait ‘til Tết is over.

Yeaaaaaah, I need a little more self-control.

On top of eating New Year’s food, I ate out a lot as well. I spent money on fried chicken, bubble tea, iced Chai tea lattes, frozen yogurt, soups, and other quick take-out meals. Ouch. Yes, this is confession time. I must tell you what I ate this week or else I would be living a lie! Most of these items were bought while I was hanging out with friends, so I think I may have to reduce the number of times I go out for dinners.

My not-so-healthy food choices for the week!

Although I met my goal of “exercising at least 3 times per week”, I totally ignored the other half of my goal which was to eat healthy 90% of the time. Therefore, I am going to be the first person to hand in $5 into the pot!

The Key is Prevention

To prevent myself from buying food from the food court or at restaurants, I am going to start buying my own groceries and cooking my own meals. I did that last year and saw a significant improvement in my health as well as my expenses. Tomorrow I will make a trip to the grocery store and stock up on some necessities like oats, spinach, eggs, tuna, lentils, and more!

—

This Week’s Exercises

Monday, January 27: Gym
Treadmill (warm up) – 10 min
Squats – 45lbs 8×3
Stiff-legged deadlifts – 45lbs 8×3
Lunges – 35 lbs 8×3 (each leg)
Russian twists (w/ medicine ball) – 1 min x 3
Crunches – 10×3
Elliptical (cool down) – 5 min

Wednesday, January 29: Home
Push-ups 8×3
Tricep dips 10×3
Squats 10×3
Lunges 16×3
Crunches 12×3
Standing Leg Lifts 8×3

Thursday, January 30: Gym
Squats 45 lbs 8×4
Bench presses 35 lbs 8×2.5 (struggled to lift this)
Bent-over rows 35lbs 8×4
Overhead barbell presses 35lbs 8×4
Stiff-legged deadlifts 35lbs 8×4
Barbell curls 35lbs 8×4
Calf raises 8×4

—

Conclusion & Take-aways

• Allocating set work out times > Spontaneously visiting the gym
• Sticking to a work out routine is better than doing whatever I “feel like doing” so I will be following a beginner’s work out plan suggested by KS via Bodybuilding.com
• Preparing and packing meals will help you save money and decrease your chances of eating unhealthy meals
• The gym is the place where I swear the most – sorry to anyone who has to work out near me.
• I really like doing squats and deadlifts, but I absolutely despise bench presses. Let’s hope I overcome that!

Running & Avocados – Kalz’s Week 1 Update

Happy Chinese New Year! It’s been almost a week since I started the journey!  It’s been pretty interesting seeing the stats on this thing. I’m new to blogging so it’s pretty cool when we were able to see our blog hit 900 views in like 4 days.

For those of you following the 6 (Manaynay joined! So we are up to 6 now) of us started a group chat and it kind of got out of hand. Lynnja made a rule, no whatsapping after midnight….

Progress update:
I can see why people love running so much. There’s a weird sense of happiness when you are right in the middle of the run (around 15 minutes in).  I definitely look forward to running more than push-up/sit-up days. Lets be honest, I’m only doing push-ups and sit-ups for the vanity portion (so I don’t look like a twig).  Surprisingly I’m not as sore as I thought I would be. I have however, developed a deep hatred of push-ups and sit-ups even though it’s the first week. I also found out that the push-up/sit-up app is for 2 days per week, not the original 3 days like I thought. Fail on my part. I guess for the 6^th day of my workout I will just repeat a previous day of push-up/sit-ups.

Apparently GPS Tracking doesn’t like me.

I tried vlogging. I tried. I get distracted looking at my mouth move that I forget what to say. Anyways, In the spirit of healthy eating, here’s a picture of guacamole that we made today at a friends house!

We cut the ingredients too fine so it was too mushy, would’ve liked it chunkier!

Guacamole Recipe:

3 Avocados (Chopped)
1 Tomato (Chopped)
1 Lemon (Squeeze out the juice)
1 Jalapeño pepper (minced)
Salt
Optional: Garlic + Onions for extra flavour!

Then I got bored and decided to try to grow the avocados! I’ve tried it before but the seed died. Let’s see the results this time.  Apparently it takes 6 weeks to grow roots so I guess I’ll have to be patient. I got the instructions HERE.

Here’s all the really boring stuff no one reads:

Day 1: Sunday Jan 26 – Push-up Day 1, Sit-up Day 1
Day 2: Monday Jan 27– Couch to 5K Day 1
Day 3: Tuesday Jan 28 – Push-up Day 2, Sit-up Day 2
Day 4: Wednesday Jan 29– Couch to 5K Day 2
Day 5: Thursday Jan 30– Rest Day
Day 6: Friday Jan 31– – Couch to 5K Day 3

Planned
Day 7: Saturday Feb 1st: Push-up/Sit-up

Talk to you all next time!