40 min workout

Today I managed to do a 40 min workout with pushups, situps, plank, side-plank, crunches, bycicle kicks, and stretches. I've missed a couple of days due to work issues, but hopefully, I'll reduce the misses in the future. Consistency is the key to achievement.

40 min Workout

Today I am back to my full workout routine and I managed to do a 40min workout involving pushups, situps, crunches, plank, side-plank, bicycle kicks and stretches. When working out, it is always important to watch your diet in order to ensure that you are not putting on more than you are burning. But it is also important to eat enough so that you have sufficient energy in order to do your daily activities + a rigorous workout. So eat the correct foods, with lots of protein, fiber and vitamins. Reduce intake of carbohydrates and fats. Fried foods and items such as mayonnaise, sodas, and sweets should be avoided almost entirely.

1.5 hr of Badminton + 35 min workout

Sorry I haven't been posting for the last few days. I actually missed a few workouts due to something which suddenly came up. Anyway I'm now back to my routine, and on track again.

On Thursday I played badminton with the guys for 1.5 hrs which was a good workout; although still not as good as a proper workout which I did yesterday.

I did 35 mins of a proper workout which included pushups, situps, plank, side-plank, crunches, bicycle kicks (new) and stretches.

30 min workout

After having a rest for 2 days after the 10km run, I am back to my workout routine. I managed to do 30mins of pushups, situps, crunches, plank, side-plank and stretches today.

10km in 55mins 23sec

I finally managed to break the 1 hour mark for 10km with my new running technique finishing in 55mins 23secs. I did this on Sunday. So I now need to train for the 21km. But, I hope to be able to finish it first before I focus on improving my time. I have 2 months to prepare for it; and I'm really looking forward to it after the 10km run.

2x40 min workouts

I was able to do 40 min workouts yesterday and today. Each workout comprised of pushups, situps, crunches, plank, side-plank and stretches. I have been getting stronger over the workouts and it was becoming apparent as I was able to do more pushups per set. So I am definitely on the right track.

5km in 29 mins 10 Secs + 45 min workout

On Sunday I managed to break the 30min barrier for my 5km run. I was able to do it in 29 mins and 10 secs. All my previous times were more than 30 mins since my change in running style. So this is the goal I have been waiting for. I now need to break the 60min barrier for my 10km run with my new running style and I will have achieved my second goal.

I also took a rest day yesterday and did a full workout for 40 mins today. I managed to do pushups, situps, crunches, plank, side-plank and stretches.

45 min Workout

Yesterday I was tired, but decided to do the workout anyway. I realized that starting the workout is the most difficult part; but actually doing it is easy. In the end I managed to do a 45 min workout with pushups, situps, crunches, plank, side-plank, and stretches.

Rest day + 40 min workout

I had a rest day yesterday due to having some other work to do. But I was able to complete a 40 min workout of pushups, situps, crunches, plank, side-plank and stretches today. The results are getting good; and progress is now getting visible.

40 min workout

Today I did a 40 min workout comprising of pushups, crunches, situps, plank, side-plank and stretches. I also had a healthy filling dinner with vegetables and egg whites.

A rest day and 45 min workout

I took a rest day yesterday due to the simple fact that I was tired. It happens...and on those days you just gotta rest (just don't rest every other day - once a week is fine). Today I was feeling a little tired, but decided to push through it and start the workout. It was a good decision, because I felt much better during and after the workout. I will have to remember this fact on days that I feel tired and see if I can push myself to start the workout.

Today, I was able to do 45 mins of Pushups, situps, crunches, plank, side-plank and leg raises. I think my body is getting strong enough to try some complicated workouts in bodyrock.tv. I'll give myself another coupe of weeks before trying those workouts.

5km in 30 mins 2 sec

I was able to run 5km in 30 mins 2 secs which is ok. I was hoping to break the 30 min mark; but that only happens in competitive runs. I am rarely able to do that when running by myself. But I think I would be faster in the next competitive run and hope to shatter the 1hr barrier.

2 hrs of badminton and 45 min workouts

On Thursday I played 2 hours of badminton almost without a break. It was a good cardio workout partly due to seasoned players taking part.

On Friday and today I managed to do 45 min workouts with situps, pushups, crunches, plank, side-plank and stretches. I believe these workouts are really improving my strength and fitness.

Advice: For people who are obese and are looking to reduce weight, an important thing to watch is diet. Carbohydrates are really not needed at all, and a protein with vegetable and fruit diet is best when working out and losing weight. Bread, rice, potatoes etc, should be avoided as much as possible.

45 min workout and 40 min run

On Monday I was able to do a 45 min workout with situps, pushups, crunches, plank, side plank and stretches. This was the longest workout I have done so far and it felt really good.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to workout on Tuesday due to working late; but I did find time to do a 40 min run today which also felt good.

Advice: If you are obese or overweight and are looking to reduce weight and develop your muscles, my advice is to run less often than those fitness experts advise. I would suggest running a minimum of once a week and a maximum of 2 times a week; but on the other 5 or 6 days, you should workout (pushups, situps etc...) for at least 40 mins. This is because these exercises develop your muscles while reducing your fat too. Running-cadio reduces fat faster, but because your muscles are not developed, it is very difficult to run long distances before getting too tired to carry on; and you need to run long distances (30 mins at least) in order for the cardio to make a difference. But once your muscles are developed through the exercises, you will find running MUCH easier enabling you to run longer and faster a few months later. Running has other isues such as causing injuries (read my previous post), and I always recommend swimming as the cardio of choice for overweight people.

45 mins of Workout

Today I really wanted to work out earlier because I wasn't able to work out on Saturday. So I started off as soon as I woke up. It felt great to work out in the morning. If I didn't have to work during the weekdays I would do all my workouts in the morning. But I think I would have to restrict this to Saturdays and Sundays starting from this week.

In my 40 mins workout, I tried a couple of other exercises that came out well. The first one was the side plank; which is awesome for the core; and the second was lying face down while stretching the arms out in front and back in while raising the shoulders slightly. This was ok, but still good to add to the list. So my workout today consisted of plank, side plank, pushups, situps, crunches and stretches.

For those who are fat or not muscular, the most common excuse for not doing exercises is that they are sore all over their bodies after the workouts. I would like to highlight that the "after workout soreness" comes because of not using those muscles for a long time. But, as you workout everyday, those muscles get adjusted and after about a couple of weeks, you would no longer feel sore even after a killer workout. So for those people who have this problem, my advice is to bear with it for at least 2 weeks after which the "after workout soreness" will never come back again.

35mins of workout

I felt kinda tired yesterday and put off my workout until late at night after dinner. I don't recommend this. Even though it was 3 hours after dinner, it still didn't feel right. I think the workout should be completed by late evening and dinner eaten an hour afterward.

Anyway my workout was 35 mins of pushups, situps, crunches, plank and stretches. I think I need to up the momentum er workout to see some more results. They're still not coming as fast as I would like.

50 mins of work out

Today I decided to push my workout a little more. I'm seeing results and I was feeling good which was my reason for the extra effort today. So I did 50 mins of pushups, crunches, situps, plank and stretches.

I do believe external influences affect mentality for working out a lot. Some good youtube channels out there do just that through example. Scooby's channel and bodyrock.tv are 2 of the best out there.

10km with hill climb in 1 hr 5 mins 40 sec

Today was the Mount Faber run. It was 10km which is usually easy for me; but the fact that this run had a long uphill segment really slowed me down and was pretty brutal. I would say that this was one of the toughest runs I've done. On the plus side, the run really worked out my core. It took me 1 hr 5 mins and 40 sec to complete it.

Workouts for the past few days

Wednesday: Went to the gym to do some stationary cycling. 40 mins of cycling was brutal, but good for those muscles I've not used in a while.

Thursday: Played badminton with my friends. 1.5 hrs of continuous play was a good cardio workout.

Friday: Did 30 mins of pushups, crunches, situps, stretches and plank. I think sets like these are really improving my strength. Will try to incorporate longer sessions in the future.

40 mins of Working out

Today, I was able to work out for 40 mins with situps, pushup, crunches , plank etc...

I will need to do some cardio tomorrow as I feel I need to sweat out some calories.

Random tip for Runners: Paste band aid or a plaster on your nipples before your run in order to avoid nipple bleeding; which is a very serious problem for runners.

40 mins of swim

I remembered that swimming solved my shin splints a long time ago, and decided to try see if that would work again today. After a 40 min swim (22 laps), I think it might have worked. I will know when I run again next. Today was a good brisk swim after a long time. I think I will swim more often in the future.

35 mins of cycling

Decided to do some cycling today to change the routine a bit. I managed to do 35 mins of non-stop cycling.

Also, I think my shin splints may be back again. I'm going to have to watch my pre-run stretches and take them a bit more seriously in order to avoid shin splints in the future.

5km run in 31 mins and workout

In order to improve on my timing, I decided to run 5km at the track and managed to do it in 31 mins which is a reduction of 1 min from my previous time. If I can reduce my timing to 25mins, I think I will have reached my next goal. This was a couple of days back.

Today I just did a normal workout for 40mins which included push-ups, situps, crunches, plank etc...I must say that the plank is one of the toughest workouts that I have done. I highly recommend it for people wanting to build their upper body.

28 mins run + Workout

Wasn't planning on the run today; but it just happened. So I ran for 28mins and then did a workout of push ups, crunches and stretches. I guess a few more weeks of this and I should start seeing some results. As of today, no results in terms of being ripped; but my fitness level has definitely gone up.

40min run

Yesterday was a day for cardio. After finally getting the energy, I managed to do a 40 min run. It's easier to run for 40 mins on the road than on the track. I guess it's because the track gets boring after a while. I have made a note of the distance (can't measure it though) and plan to do the 40 min run in less than 40 mins the next time round.

45mins of Workout

Today, I decided to focus on just working out with no cardio. I was able to complete 45 mins of pushups, situps, crunches, planks and a variety of stretches. I will have to increase the intensity and add some weights in order to improve my strength. As of today my core strength is still too low; so this is an area for improvement.

5km in 32 mins and Badminton

Wednesday was a day for cardio. So I decided to go for a run in order to train my calf muscles for longer runs using proper technique. Managed to run 5km in 32 mins...it's slow, but I used the proper technique - which is good. Looking to improve on that time.


On Thursday, I played badminton for 1 hour. It was intense, and I worked up a good sweat.

10km in 1hr 1min

Yesterday was the Passion run 10km race. I assume about 10,000 people took part; but official numbers are not out yet. Normally I can run 10km in under 55 mins. My last timing was 51mins. But a few weeks back, I found out that I was not running with the correct technique. Beginners usually make the mistake of running as they were walking...i.e not running on the balls of their feet (front half of the feet). If you don't run on the balls of your feet, the force on impact will transfer to your bone...causing spinal, knee and ankle injuries in the future. The correct technique is to run on the balls of your feet and let the force transfer to your calf muscles. And since I haven't run this way ever, I was still getting used to it...and my calf muscles were not developed enough for 10km runs. This slowed me down to just above the 1 hr mark. I am happy that I was able to make it at 1hr 1min though with just a few weeks on the new technique. I'm sure I will be able to break the 50min barrier after some more practice with my new running technique. Will post my official timing as soon as they are out.

EDIT: The official times are out...and my watch time was almost a perfect match to the official times. The official time is 1hr 0 mins 52 sec.

Been working out mostly, but forgot to post...

So I've been working out....but forgot to update the blog. So just a quick update.

Yesterday: Ran for 25 mins and did situps, pushups, squats and some other exercises for about 30 mins.

I've changed my running style to that of professional runners. Learnt that landing on your heels will cause knee, ankle and spinal injury in the future and that professional runners run on the balls of their feet (front half of their feet) while using their heels only for a fraction of the step. This effectively mean that the force transfers to your calf muscle rather than your bone. So if you haven't run this way before, your calf muscle is going to hurt like crazy after the first run. First time I tried this technique, I couldn't run for 5 days due to the resulting pain. Now that my calf muscles are accustomed, the runs are getting easier.

Today: 40 mins of pushups, situps, squats, the plank, stretches etc... Going to continue with the plan I mentioned in my first post as it seems to be working well.

Will update more often in the future.

19 April 2010 (Monday - Day 4)

Today I did a bunch of situps, pushups and crunches. Didn't work out too long. Just about 40mins. I think I have to up the intensity a little. An hour later, I didn't feel too tired. So the next time will be more reps.

17 April 2010 (Saturday - Day 3)

Got swamped at work for the last 3 days and had to work late. So I finally got an opportunity to run today. I did 5.2km in 32 mins; which is a bit slow for my standards. Will be looking to improve on that and push the time to 45mins (about 7.5km) per run.

12 April 2010 (Monday - Day 2)

Today was not according to plan because I decided to cycle to my exercise area and got carried away. I ended up cycling another 15 mins out giving me a total cycle time of 50 mins (25 up + 25 down). But I also managed to do 40 mins of pushups and situps in between. 1 hr 30 mins of working out is too long; but the over-cycling part will not happen again. So I will be trying to keep it to 1 hour in the subsequent sessions.

11 April 2010 (Sunday - Day 1)

This is a blog to track my progress to getting a ripped body. This is it's primary purpose. The secondary purpose is to enable a means to keep to my schedule in achieving this goal.

I was overweight at 85kg and managed to reduce that to 79kg by eating healthy and swimming 4-5 days a week. In my opinion, running is a dangerous way for obese people to reduce weight. A minimum of 30mins of running is needed to see a reduction in weight; and 30mins of an impact sport such as running for an obese person will surely cause knee, ankle and back injuries. After a few shin splints due to running, I switched to swimming (no impact) which helped me to reduce my weight in 2 months painlessly. Now that I am down to 79kg, I am switching to running and increasing strength to get a ripped body. I would like to lose a little more weight, but losing weight is not my goal right now. Getting a ripped body is....I think in my journey towards that goal, I would lose a lot of weight and so am not worried about it.

The plan is to work out 5-6 days a week alternating running 45mins on one day and cardio exercises the next day. So if all goes according to plan, I will be posting on the days that I do my workouts; which should be 5-6 days a week. I will note that I might not be able to workout on some days due to working late at office and on those days, there will be no post. So today to start off, I ran 23mins non-stop. It's not great, but it's a start...