Feeling the Burning Sensations

This week has been a totally anaerobic one for exercising. The knee pain has subsided markedly, the layoff from pounding the pavement has allowed for healing.

That comes at a price of course, the endurance is surely taking a beating from this enforced layoff. Guess it boils down the the cliche of having no free lunches in the real world, everything comes with its own sticker price!

What has been good though, is the ten minute mini (micro?) workout in the mornings (and lesser the evenings). Consistency is a good word, and the virtuous cycle built up there is visible. Concentrating on the abdominals, butt and upper body and resulted in a more toned body shape- albeit one hidden (still) by all those flubbery blubbery!

One thing is for sure in these workouts: the number of repetitions has gone up, each rep is better controlled ANDDDD.... the burning sensation in the muscles is THERE!

Which is a good thing, it shows that the muscle tissues are being forced to work harder, breaking down in order to continue holding the body through the reps and subsequently being repaired during the rest cycle throughout the day.

So in yet another paradox of this real world, pain is good! At least to an extent, as it shows the body adapting. BUT.. at the same time, if the pain becomes unbearable, STOP and listen to your body. It is the body's way of stopping you from damaging your own body!

A break, a treat and now a feast!!

Whoa.. am feeling guilty today.

Yesterday's lunch was waaayyyy overboard. The usual lunch kakies went to an Indian restaurant along Coleman Street for a super-delicious, super-calorie naan and curry buffet! One word: I can see evolution kicking in the moment I started. The curries were rich- with heaps of cream, yogurt, and all sorts of other thickening and yummy spices. And the eyes and brain went: 'OMG.. I am going to load up on these super-caloric food, not sure when my next meal would come!' I think I had 4 pieces of naan to mop up all the curries- plus their meats, fish, vegetables.

I thought I heard my stomach cry: 'ENOUGH!' but the eye-brain tag team was too strong for the stomach's protests! The brain focussed the eye and the hand just reached out and grabbed! So the feast was paradoxically, enjoyable for the tastes but bad for guilt-ridden for the conscience. And you my blog has to bear witness to this.

In other, subsumed by the screaming headline, news, my ten minute stretches in the mornings are beginning to show results. The abdominals are stronger- doing the same sets of crunches doesn't seem to hurt so much now. Pushups are also similarly getting easier. Consistency, what I have been writing about, is really kicking in. AND the best part is that it doesn't really take that long, nor that much effort, nor even gear- heck I just exercise in my pyjamas.

The effects has taken about 3weeks to show but hey, come to think of it, the impact (stronger shoulder and arms, tighter abdominals butt) are with me for the rest of the day. And that for me is a good investment.

Break and Treat

This is a picture of a fat me! It is to remind myself of the time, not too long ago (6 months to be precise) where I looked, well, frankly, fat! Or to be more accurate, fatter than I was, and feeling lousy too.

Coming out from a weekend of gym and a long cool run on Tuesday, last night (Wed) was a day-off from the running.

Having breaks in-between is vital for 2 reasons. Physically, it allows the body and muscles to rest, recover from the strenuous activities and also build up muscles to help the body cope with the next round of activity. Mentally, it relieves the body of the 'boredom', we all are fully aware that we are creatures of variety and repeating everything for everyday is a sure-fire recipe for boredom and lack of motivation.

Hence giving myself a treat is a little incentive to keep motivated and on the virtuous path I have been striding so far. My treat for myself was ice-cream, which I shared with my significant other since we met up for lunch. It was yummy.

At the same time however, the consistency theme is ever-present. The 10 minute stretching exercises in the mornings is still present, now supplemented by evening sessions after I am home but before shower. Now, the upper chest muscles are sore, even the abdominals and butt muscles- partly because of the consistency and also I introduced variations into the routine.

This last point is crucial as our muscles becomes efficient at doing something repeatedly due to its evolutionary predilection to save energy. Remember that humans are extremely efficient at storing and minimizing caloric expenditure from our hunter-gatherer days.

So another day of work beckons (groan) while I allow the my consistent morning (and now evenings) exercises to recuperate from their new routine.

Consistency is a Ten Minute word

Yup- the title says it all!

Over the last week, I have been consistently doing my ten minutes (or so) exercises. I can feel the difference from then, repetitions have gone up, control during the movements have improved.

But I can tell you that overcoming the inertia to even THINK about beginning was the toughest part of all. That, and also the first set of exercises on the first day! Man! I can remember it clearly, the abdominal crunches felt like I had a CRT monitor welded to my stomach! I could hardly move that big blob of belly jelly then.

Since then, things have become much better. Crunches are done, twenty at a time, and with control and less laboured breathing at the end of the sets. The muscles are firming up, responding the the ten minute challenge that I am throwing at them. Two things though- one is to continue to push them, the other is to drum up new drills to keep the challenge high.

My other focus is on the shoulders, triceps and chest. Doing pushups helps, but the wobbly jelly arms are a laugh when I recall last week's first (and feeble) attempt. I could manage only two. What with that block of belly jelly and those spindly popeye (pre-spinach) arms.

The trick is of course consistency. DOING it is slowly, even if it is only 5 reps at a time, is BETTER than NOT doing it at all! So get off your lazy bones, or belly and get that ten minute workout in the morning!

Imagine, for a ten minute investment every morning, in a week's time, you can feel the difference! That's not too bad an investment, is it?

Pants are looser

Hmm.. last week's physical workouts have a fairly immediate effect.

On this first working day of April 7th, I feel that my pants are looser. That is good news, all the conditioning exercises in the morning are being to slowly kick in. All the abdominals crunches, push-ups, work on the biggest piece of muscle (the butt!) is having a noticeable effect. The feeling is great. But there is something that worries me.. the knees, I really hope that this current bout of running will not result in a future where knee replacement surgery is that way to go.

There has been conflicting reports on the use/ abuse of knee cartilege. NYT published an article citing some studies which appears to pooh-pooh the whole concept of knee cartilege as the one and only set of tires that we have and would wear out prematurely with rapid use, aka running! Honestly, I hope that that is not true! If there is anything out there that can replace, supplement, reinforce the cartileges, you can be sure I will be the first in line. I like to run, but at the same time, I have petrified as h*ll of busting them. I have many more years to go, and would not want to be wear them out even before I retire!

The pain in the left knee can be felt, a dull low ache on the inside. The last time (2007) which I saw the sports doctor at Changi General Hospital was that the doc confirmed that my knees showed signs of thining, possibly due to my running. Will have to re-start my knee muscle strengthening exercises as taught by the physiotherapist at CGH, to beef up the connecting muscles holding the knee cap to the shin and thigh bone. That means lots of half-squats in the mornings

So, I am resting my knee today, no running.. a break from the runs over the weekends.