So That's What It's All About!

My shop has just been relocated and I've been at our new place for a week. For the past week, everytime I went to the back of my shop, I kept hearing Hindi music being blasted from the shop behind ours, and not only that, I kept hearing men grunting (sounded pretty obscene..) I asked my colleague if he knew what shop was behind ours but he didn't know, and he attributed the grunting sounds to men carrying heavy loads during the shift. BUt i thought it wasn't possible, since it wouldnt take them a week to shift..

Today I decided to check out the shop behind us..and ah, it all made sense!

It was a Bowflex exercise equipment shop.

No wonder - all that grunting! The shop assistants must have been doing some resistance training during work!

Ran 6km today.

Motivated to go Wild

Ok, it's obvious I am lacking motivation to blog. Nothing exciting has been happening on the exercise front, except that I have been lazy and skipping my Saturday runs. Gym and short outdoor runs are ongoing but I haven't even run more than 8km in a while now. A case of going from fit to fat. That's not phat :P

I have to buck up soon, I've got my eyes set on the Standard Chartered KL Run...although there's a lot of expectation on this run, I doubt it will be anything like the SIngapore one - considering there is always pilferage happening with the water supplies - the people involved usually nick the water and sell it. Awful isn't it??? How can we ever go international if this continues? (*roll eyes*)

In any case, I've signed up for "Der Wild wild Run" which will be a 10km run on 8th march in Zoo Negara. It will be a nice change of environment, although I'm not so sure the air will be very fresh! I hope I won't be too tired, as I'll be watching Sarah Brightman the night before, plus I am planning to make a day trip to PD on the 8th..

There's nothing like..

There's nothing like a great run to release stress.

Five Ways to Spot a Lousy Personal Trainer

Two of your best friends hired trainers and now they love their workouts. And there's another story in the gossip magazines about an amazingly fit celebrity who thanks her trainer by name. It's about time, you decide, that you get some help yourself. But before you choose your coach, make sure you know what to look for. Yes, it's nice that a prospective personal trainer looks healthy (or handsome), but that's not enough. If you spot any of these five danger signs, physiologist Cedric Bryant of the American Council on Exercise suggests you keep looking.

1. Unprofessional Business Practices: If your trainer doesn't explain his cancellation policies, can't provide references, or doesn't have liability insurance, walk away. These are all signs that a trainer isn't a professional. Most importantly, ask where your trainer got his or her certification: Besides the American Council on Exercise, the American College of Sports Medicine and National Strength and Conditioning Association are the leading fitness certification organizations.

2. The Cling Factor: When you ask how many sessions it should take before you can work out on your own, if the trainer gives a vague answer or tells you about clients he's been seeing weekly for a year or more, be wary. A good trainer will teach you to be independent, he won't cling to your business. After four months, you should be able to set up and operate equipment on your own, use proper technique and monitor your exercise intensity. You can always have a tune-up session later if you plateau or get bored.

3. Diet Know-it-All: The trainer tries to sell you vitamins or protein powder, recommends unusual products, or tells you, you can't eat meat. Trainers are taught basic nutrition and weight-management techniques, but they shouldn't be pushing an agenda about diet or supplements.

4. The Marine: The trainer pushes you too hard. You need to exercise past your comfort zone in order to build stamina and muscles. But it is possible to overdo workouts. If you start to hate your workout, feel chronically sore, or your heart rate stays high well after a round of exercise, you may be over-exercising. Losing your appetite, sleeping badly, or becoming depressed are other possible symptoms of overtraining. If you're not feeling better as a result of your workouts—stronger and more energetic—complain. Or move on.

5. Personality Clash: You just don't like or trust this person. You need to feel comfortable and sure that he or she won't gossip about you or overstep boundaries by talking about other clients, flirting, or telling you more than you want to know.

By Temma Ehrenfeld | Newsweek Web Exclusive

http://www.newsweek.com/id/158159

Jessica Simpson's New Look

I've never been a fan of Jessica Simpson - infact I can't stand her. I hated her in the "These Boots are Made for Walkin'" video, where she was such a tart and slutting around in her bikini washing the car. But with her recent weight gain, my heart goes out to her.

She's been getting a lot of bad publicity and horrible comments on her weight gain, but at the end of the day it only goes to show she is human, and we all have moments where we gain weight due to depression, slow metabolism etc. And people can so SO CRUEL about other people's weight gain.

These pictures above are of course totally unflattering. The high waisted jeans are just a no-no and the thick belt is totally 80's. I've seen other pics of her with her weight gain and she looked far better as she camouflaged it well.

As much as I don't like her, I hope the media stops focusing on her weight gain - there are far better and more important issues to focus on, plus creating the idea that "thin is beautiful" is UNHEALTHY for women.

Indulgent weekend

Ran 5km this morning. Feeling wee bit dizzy, as I had a pretty bad bout of diarrhoea. Spent the weekend overeating: on Saturday I had the English breakfast at La Bodega's, the pigged out at a friend's place. She made lovely Indian food, and her husband made his version of Daim cake, which I had 3 slices. Talk about greed. He used dark chocolate, which i really really love, and could not resist...

Then on Sunday, I had a large bowl of curry laksa for lunch at Gurney Drive @ The Gardens, and in the evening I pigged out at Ole Ole Bali. FElt quite alright until Monday morning, when I woke up for a run but decided the stomach felt a bit weird.

I had some gastric pain as well, I think it was from the tummy upset and not from under eating (obviously not!) As a result, I had plain white bread diet all day yesterday (bleah!). I just cant wait to eat proper food again but am being cautious...

Well, I hope I've lost some weight from all that!