[Fitness]: Conclusion after 1 month
Hullo!~ 
See? I'm really trying hard here!!
I'm posting only one day after my last entry!
Although I have to disappoint everybody who was expecting a Japan related entry. If you're only here for that you might wanna skip this entry! (^-^;)
So, as some of you know I've been talking about working out and stuff a lot lately and Twitter followers probably already know half of what I'm writing here.
It's been a bit over a month since I started working out seriously and I haven't skipped a single workout yet. Yay!~
I'm quite slim, always was. I've been feeling very good. No sudden health problems. No sudden cellulitis. No sudden weight gain. NOTHING!!!
So why would I suddenly wanna start working out?
Well, regular readers know that I've been writing about wanting to do something more for my general health and just move my body - for the longest time! Even before I went to Japan over 3 years ago!
I always was quite sporty as a kid and teenager, but ever since I became a university student I got extremely lazy and basically did nothing anymore.
I guess all the points I've mentioned earlier are the reason why I haven't started working out earlier. I didn't really HAVE a reason. It was not really necessary or ... it's probably better to say "urgent".
Now, what was it that suddenly changed my mind???
Although it happened quite recently I'm not exactly sure myself.
I think it might have started with the recent (just ended this week) season of "The Biggest Loser" (German version).
Seeing all those obese people working so hard really motivated me. I'm not sure if that makes any sense, though *g*
In the end it doesn't matter what caused it. I'm one month into my workouts and it's going well so far.
I'm doing cardio and strength training (both together on the same day due to time management reasons) 3x a week for 30-60+min. each time.
Now, if I were obese I could probably report amazing results by now, but as I'm not I can't!
Really nothing has changed in that one month. I do feel great after those workouts. I feel something is working in my body and my muscles. I don't really feel much fitter or different from before, but it's fun to do it.
I haven't lost any weight at all, but I don't want to anyways. If I get even thinner I would look horrible and count as underweight.
I guess not having any results after just one month is the penalty for being able to eat almost everything without gaining weight easily. My weight doesn't really ever change one way or the other.
My goal is to just move around a lot and stay healthy. I'm definitely sitting too much (sedentary lifestyle anybody?!)!!
I also wanna reduce my body fat which is (according to my new body fat scale) 27% --- not healthy!!
I'm trying to get it down to 22-24%.
My body fat hasn't changed at all in this one month. Guess this will take a long time.
I guess it's a good thing to get more muscles and generally get stronger. Especially stronger spine/back muscles will help a lot! And to get tighter nice abs does not only look nice but also will protect your inner vital parts, too.
I spent a HELL LOT OF TIME in the past month to research all I could find about "fitness" in general. I still feel like there's so much I need to learn.
I also bought some inexpensive workout equipment.
I used the stepper at the beginning, but now it's more like a piece of furniture. I don't like it that much after all *g*
I love skipping, but my apartment's ceiling is too low, so I can't use it in here
.... I just pretend to skip without a jump rope
I haven't used the fitness ball in any of my workouts yet as it's quite new, but I use it as sitting ball to replace my desk chair every now and then.
I'm not sure if it actually works as my back starts hurting after a short while. Maybe I'm doing something wrong, but I like bouncing on it while using my laptop, hehe.
Finally, the hula hoop. I loved it when I was younger and I thought it's definitely a nice way to move around on my rest days.
This one is a killer machine, though!! It has massage knobs and little magnets in it which will stimulate blood circulation.
It will hurt like hell the first few times and most people on Amazon reported that they had black and blue bruises around their belly&hips. I didn't, but it DID hurt the first few times. It's much better now and the massage effect is nice and also stimulates your digestion.
As you can see on the photo it can be taken apart into small pieces and so it's easy to transport!
Yesterday my heart rate monitor finally arrived. Isn't it cute???
Got it from Germany. They have no good ones (and not much to choose from) here in Japan.
I heard that it's a German thing to actually focus on your heart rate while working out. I wonder if that's true.
I also have an exercise mat, but it sucks. It's not skidproof and so for half of all exercises useless.
The thing is that they only sell cheap PVC yoga mats here in Japan and I don't want anything with PVC. In Germany there are a lot of PVC-free and "healthy" yoga mats. Probably gonna get one when I visit there in summer.
I sometimes really have the feeling that Japan doesn't care about their health so much. I couldn't find any warning about PVC mats at all. Do they not know or not care?
Also, most of the mats are just too short for me XD
(The only non-PVC mat I could find is this one.)
Sometimes this kind of stuff (things that are just not available in Japan or difficult to find etc.) is really annoying!
Some of you might want to know what kind of workouts I do.
Well as for cardio I mainly do aerobic stuff, kick boxing, anything I can do at home and is fun: skipping, jumping jacks etc. etc. - there's so much you can do.
As for strength training I do whole body training with my body weight as I don't have any weight lifting equipment (yet).
Also 1 month ago I stumbled across a website called "BodyRock.tv". It's actually quite popular and well-known in the fitness (online) world.
The website is completely free and is run by a married couple. The guy is behind the camera and she's doing the workouts in front of the camera.
Her body is amazing (apart from her silicone boobs *coughs* and maybe a bit too many muscles for my taste) and so I guess a lot of people are motivated.
They put up videos on Youtube of her working out and also explain each workout on their website. If you want to know more about it, just check out there website.
A lot of people recommended this to me, but I thought it's definitely not for beginners (and still think so!!). I just kept watching the videos and browsed through the page. I wanted to get up my general fitness first.
I also thoroughly researched about Zuzanna and read a lot of reviews. A lot of people don't seem to know (although she doesn't hide it) that she used to be working in the erotic business (that also explains her silicone boobs ....).
And even nowadays her videos are shot from angles that are very ... special, but that's what makes their website popular among guys as well. It's not slutty at all and most of the time you will concentrate on the workout itself anyways (at least if you're a straight female XD).
Rumors are that she met her husband during her "porn prime time" and that he's probably a professional cameraman which would explain why the videos are the way they are.
I don't have a problem with her past. She's even been interviewed by several famous fitness magazines and stuff. She seems to know what she's doing.
I'm still not sure if I can trust her completely, though. She says all she ever does are her short workouts and that's how she got that body of hers (plus diet and stuff).
Anyways it's a great and FREE resource for anybody who's working out at home. You'll need some equipment, but not much. And space (which I don't have ...
).
Yesterday I did my first workout ever (one that didn't require any extra equipment) - and that after I had already done a 2h workout!
It wasn't as tough as I thought and the bigger problem for me as a beginner was to get down the moves correctly. Coordination = zero (-___-'') ....
I'm not sure how this will continue from now on, but I'll keep an eye on it and I'll try her workouts for my strength training.
It's also very motivating as there's a huge community following her website, competing in challenges etc.
I'll let you know how it goes.
Other than that I also joined a fitness tracking website. Thanks to you guys I got some nice recommendations
and after reading reviews I decided to go with
Sparkpeople.com!
It's awesome and soooo helpful and definitely great for people who need motivation! You can track your measurements (even create your own), your fitness and your nutrition, too! As I don't wanna lose weight I skip the nutrition tracker, but it's a useful tool!!!
I doubt there's any better website like this out there! If you were looking for one, check it out!
I also want to increase my joint flexibility! Apart from stretching a lot after each workout and even on rest days (one day I wanna be able to do splits! *lol*), I thought I should start yoga.
After looking into it I couldn't decide whether to do Yoga or Pilates. I read that you don't really have to choose one, but can do both. Not as a stupid mixture (Yogilates!?), but one day Yoga the other day Pilates. They seem to work together well with each other that way, but it's really getting too much for me and it seems that Pilates is only effective when done correctly (breathing, equipment, power house, etc.), so I'd rather do that in a course / with a trainer (aka not right now).
That's why I decided to start yoga. As I was so busy with figuring out everything else so far, I tried yoga for the first time today!!!!!
I checked out some beginner videos on Youtube and tried the sun salutation and it was HORRIBLE!!??
How is that supposed to be for beginners???!!! I cannot stand up straight and reach my legs, I cannot do that dog thingie with my feet completely on the floor! I do not have enough strength in my arms yet to hold that position for too long etc.
I thought yoga was supposed to improve your flexibility and not already require a shitload of it??!!!
Ahem.
I tried some other yoga beginner video after that which was really just stretching slowly and conscious breathing. That was a bit nicer.
I know I have a few yoga lovers on my f-list and am really curious about this all. Anybody minds to give me some adivce?
Food is also an issue, of course, but not so much as I don't wanna lose weight.
I think my diet is already quite healthy. I just wanna cook more often and add more fresh and selfmade stuff and stay away from processed food as often as possible.
I didn't really change much about my diet. I try to be more conscious about things. Drink more water (although I think I drank 2L of water every day already anyways), eat vegetables or fruit with each of my meals (that hasn't really been an issue either), etc.
Well, talking about healthy food there's a completely different problem in Japan right now anyways. Basically nobody knows which food is still okay/safe to eat (radiation anyone?). I'm trying to not stress out about it, but of course one has to be careful. That's exhausting!
Example -Today's food:
Breakfast: Muesli (import from Switzerland XD) with fresh fruit (today: strawberries, kiwi fruit and pineapple) - I eat cereal/muesli with fresh fruit every morning.
Sometimes I add plain yogurt, sometimes milk, sometimes soy milk (back in Germany I also would add buttermilk and stuff - doesn't seem to exist here in Japan, though).
Lunch: Salad (some lettuce, broccoli, red and yellow paprika, tomatoes and carrot slices with olive oil and German white wine vinegar ^__^) ... not shown in the photo: I also ate a few slices of German "Sauerbrot" (lucky find at the local supermarket!!!)
Dinner: Was quite tired after the workout, so only white rice with some small grains and vegetables and a yummie smoothie!
Random food/drink encounters lately:
Nyattou!!!! Awwww!!! I love natto (explanation: fermented soy beans are called "natto" / cats don't say "meow" but "nyan" in Japan, thus "nyatto" *lol*).
New Nescafé variations. I liked the Italian Espresso Latte!!!
Alright, that's all.
Wow, that was long, but that's what I get for not updating in such a long time. And there's more to come!! The question is just WHEN [insert crazy laughter here]!!
Thanks for reading and now post away!!~
See? I'm really trying hard here!!
I'm posting only one day after my last entry!
Although I have to disappoint everybody who was expecting a Japan related entry. If you're only here for that you might wanna skip this entry! (^-^;)
So, as some of you know I've been talking about working out and stuff a lot lately and Twitter followers probably already know half of what I'm writing here.
It's been a bit over a month since I started working out seriously and I haven't skipped a single workout yet. Yay!~
I'm quite slim, always was. I've been feeling very good. No sudden health problems. No sudden cellulitis. No sudden weight gain. NOTHING!!!
So why would I suddenly wanna start working out?
Well, regular readers know that I've been writing about wanting to do something more for my general health and just move my body - for the longest time! Even before I went to Japan over 3 years ago!
I always was quite sporty as a kid and teenager, but ever since I became a university student I got extremely lazy and basically did nothing anymore.
I guess all the points I've mentioned earlier are the reason why I haven't started working out earlier. I didn't really HAVE a reason. It was not really necessary or ... it's probably better to say "urgent".
Now, what was it that suddenly changed my mind???
Although it happened quite recently I'm not exactly sure myself.
I think it might have started with the recent (just ended this week) season of "The Biggest Loser" (German version).
Seeing all those obese people working so hard really motivated me. I'm not sure if that makes any sense, though *g*
In the end it doesn't matter what caused it. I'm one month into my workouts and it's going well so far.
I'm doing cardio and strength training (both together on the same day due to time management reasons) 3x a week for 30-60+min. each time.
Now, if I were obese I could probably report amazing results by now, but as I'm not I can't!
Really nothing has changed in that one month. I do feel great after those workouts. I feel something is working in my body and my muscles. I don't really feel much fitter or different from before, but it's fun to do it.
I haven't lost any weight at all, but I don't want to anyways. If I get even thinner I would look horrible and count as underweight.
I guess not having any results after just one month is the penalty for being able to eat almost everything without gaining weight easily. My weight doesn't really ever change one way or the other.
My goal is to just move around a lot and stay healthy. I'm definitely sitting too much (sedentary lifestyle anybody?!)!!
I also wanna reduce my body fat which is (according to my new body fat scale) 27% --- not healthy!!
I'm trying to get it down to 22-24%.
My body fat hasn't changed at all in this one month. Guess this will take a long time.
I guess it's a good thing to get more muscles and generally get stronger. Especially stronger spine/back muscles will help a lot! And to get tighter nice abs does not only look nice but also will protect your inner vital parts, too.
I spent a HELL LOT OF TIME in the past month to research all I could find about "fitness" in general. I still feel like there's so much I need to learn.
I also bought some inexpensive workout equipment.
I used the stepper at the beginning, but now it's more like a piece of furniture. I don't like it that much after all *g*
I love skipping, but my apartment's ceiling is too low, so I can't use it in here
.... I just pretend to skip without a jump rope
I haven't used the fitness ball in any of my workouts yet as it's quite new, but I use it as sitting ball to replace my desk chair every now and then.
I'm not sure if it actually works as my back starts hurting after a short while. Maybe I'm doing something wrong, but I like bouncing on it while using my laptop, hehe.
Finally, the hula hoop. I loved it when I was younger and I thought it's definitely a nice way to move around on my rest days.
This one is a killer machine, though!! It has massage knobs and little magnets in it which will stimulate blood circulation.
It will hurt like hell the first few times and most people on Amazon reported that they had black and blue bruises around their belly&hips. I didn't, but it DID hurt the first few times. It's much better now and the massage effect is nice and also stimulates your digestion.
As you can see on the photo it can be taken apart into small pieces and so it's easy to transport!
Yesterday my heart rate monitor finally arrived. Isn't it cute???
Got it from Germany. They have no good ones (and not much to choose from) here in Japan.
I heard that it's a German thing to actually focus on your heart rate while working out. I wonder if that's true.
I also have an exercise mat, but it sucks. It's not skidproof and so for half of all exercises useless.
The thing is that they only sell cheap PVC yoga mats here in Japan and I don't want anything with PVC. In Germany there are a lot of PVC-free and "healthy" yoga mats. Probably gonna get one when I visit there in summer.
I sometimes really have the feeling that Japan doesn't care about their health so much. I couldn't find any warning about PVC mats at all. Do they not know or not care?
Also, most of the mats are just too short for me XD
(The only non-PVC mat I could find is this one.)
Sometimes this kind of stuff (things that are just not available in Japan or difficult to find etc.) is really annoying!
Some of you might want to know what kind of workouts I do.
Well as for cardio I mainly do aerobic stuff, kick boxing, anything I can do at home and is fun: skipping, jumping jacks etc. etc. - there's so much you can do.
As for strength training I do whole body training with my body weight as I don't have any weight lifting equipment (yet).
Also 1 month ago I stumbled across a website called "BodyRock.tv". It's actually quite popular and well-known in the fitness (online) world.
The website is completely free and is run by a married couple. The guy is behind the camera and she's doing the workouts in front of the camera.
Her body is amazing (apart from her silicone boobs *coughs* and maybe a bit too many muscles for my taste) and so I guess a lot of people are motivated.
They put up videos on Youtube of her working out and also explain each workout on their website. If you want to know more about it, just check out there website.
A lot of people recommended this to me, but I thought it's definitely not for beginners (and still think so!!). I just kept watching the videos and browsed through the page. I wanted to get up my general fitness first.
I also thoroughly researched about Zuzanna and read a lot of reviews. A lot of people don't seem to know (although she doesn't hide it) that she used to be working in the erotic business (that also explains her silicone boobs ....).
And even nowadays her videos are shot from angles that are very ... special, but that's what makes their website popular among guys as well. It's not slutty at all and most of the time you will concentrate on the workout itself anyways (at least if you're a straight female XD).
Rumors are that she met her husband during her "porn prime time" and that he's probably a professional cameraman which would explain why the videos are the way they are.
I don't have a problem with her past. She's even been interviewed by several famous fitness magazines and stuff. She seems to know what she's doing.
I'm still not sure if I can trust her completely, though. She says all she ever does are her short workouts and that's how she got that body of hers (plus diet and stuff).
Anyways it's a great and FREE resource for anybody who's working out at home. You'll need some equipment, but not much. And space (which I don't have ...
).
Yesterday I did my first workout ever (one that didn't require any extra equipment) - and that after I had already done a 2h workout!
It wasn't as tough as I thought and the bigger problem for me as a beginner was to get down the moves correctly. Coordination = zero (-___-'') ....
I'm not sure how this will continue from now on, but I'll keep an eye on it and I'll try her workouts for my strength training.
It's also very motivating as there's a huge community following her website, competing in challenges etc.
I'll let you know how it goes.
Other than that I also joined a fitness tracking website. Thanks to you guys I got some nice recommendations
and after reading reviews I decided to go with
Sparkpeople.com!
It's awesome and soooo helpful and definitely great for people who need motivation! You can track your measurements (even create your own), your fitness and your nutrition, too! As I don't wanna lose weight I skip the nutrition tracker, but it's a useful tool!!!
I doubt there's any better website like this out there! If you were looking for one, check it out!
I also want to increase my joint flexibility! Apart from stretching a lot after each workout and even on rest days (one day I wanna be able to do splits! *lol*), I thought I should start yoga.
After looking into it I couldn't decide whether to do Yoga or Pilates. I read that you don't really have to choose one, but can do both. Not as a stupid mixture (Yogilates!?), but one day Yoga the other day Pilates. They seem to work together well with each other that way, but it's really getting too much for me and it seems that Pilates is only effective when done correctly (breathing, equipment, power house, etc.), so I'd rather do that in a course / with a trainer (aka not right now).
That's why I decided to start yoga. As I was so busy with figuring out everything else so far, I tried yoga for the first time today!!!!!
I checked out some beginner videos on Youtube and tried the sun salutation and it was HORRIBLE!!??
How is that supposed to be for beginners???!!! I cannot stand up straight and reach my legs, I cannot do that dog thingie with my feet completely on the floor! I do not have enough strength in my arms yet to hold that position for too long etc.
I thought yoga was supposed to improve your flexibility and not already require a shitload of it??!!!
Ahem.
I tried some other yoga beginner video after that which was really just stretching slowly and conscious breathing. That was a bit nicer.
I know I have a few yoga lovers on my f-list and am really curious about this all. Anybody minds to give me some adivce?
Food is also an issue, of course, but not so much as I don't wanna lose weight.
I think my diet is already quite healthy. I just wanna cook more often and add more fresh and selfmade stuff and stay away from processed food as often as possible.
I didn't really change much about my diet. I try to be more conscious about things. Drink more water (although I think I drank 2L of water every day already anyways), eat vegetables or fruit with each of my meals (that hasn't really been an issue either), etc.
Well, talking about healthy food there's a completely different problem in Japan right now anyways. Basically nobody knows which food is still okay/safe to eat (radiation anyone?). I'm trying to not stress out about it, but of course one has to be careful. That's exhausting!
Example -Today's food:
Breakfast: Muesli (import from Switzerland XD) with fresh fruit (today: strawberries, kiwi fruit and pineapple) - I eat cereal/muesli with fresh fruit every morning.
Sometimes I add plain yogurt, sometimes milk, sometimes soy milk (back in Germany I also would add buttermilk and stuff - doesn't seem to exist here in Japan, though).
Lunch: Salad (some lettuce, broccoli, red and yellow paprika, tomatoes and carrot slices with olive oil and German white wine vinegar ^__^) ... not shown in the photo: I also ate a few slices of German "Sauerbrot" (lucky find at the local supermarket!!!)
Dinner: Was quite tired after the workout, so only white rice with some small grains and vegetables and a yummie smoothie!
Random food/drink encounters lately:
Nyattou!!!! Awwww!!! I love natto (explanation: fermented soy beans are called "natto" / cats don't say "meow" but "nyan" in Japan, thus "nyatto" *lol*).
New Nescafé variations. I liked the Italian Espresso Latte!!!
Alright, that's all.
Wow, that was long, but that's what I get for not updating in such a long time. And there's more to come!! The question is just WHEN [insert crazy laughter here]!!
Thanks for reading and now post away!!~