I’ve Started to Exercise Again!

Posted in Health, Personal | 6 comments

I know, I rarely post about my personal life, but here’s when the rare happens. Let’s rewind time back to late 2005 and the day I decided to make 2 major changes of my life – going bald and working out plus a minor change in the form of blogging for the first time.

I joined Fitness First in the same month, then at Clark Hatch and exercised for almost a year – burning the fat and lifting weights. I was loving the new me and the self-confidence that came with it.

As I have this habit to ceaselessly challenge myself, this was when my over-enthusiasm got my shoulder injured. I had a rare lapse of concentration and it cost me my left shoulder. I pushed the weight in front of me, and I was was drawing it back, somehow I dropped the strength intensity and the machine pushed the weights back to my shoulder level with my left hand pulled back in the process. I heard a snap of sorts and it was harrowing!

I stopped working out for 3 months after consulting a specialist and having a couple of injections to alleviate the pain. I still carry that lingering irritation until today. This was what made me stop working out all those years ago.

So here I am again 4 years later, August 2010, in an endeavor to shed some fat which is at 17.4% now and be fit once again. My goal is simple – to look decent in time for Christmas and to be in great shape when I return to Kota Kinabalu next year for Kaamatan festival for a week’s holiday.

Celebrity Fitness Subang Parade is now my home 3 days a week. I continued my routine years ago of doing cardio first lifting weights later. I’ve been running for 30 minutes with an aim to improve my distance. My endurance grew at each work out, clocking 2.5km, then 2.8km, 3km, 3.1km, 3.3km, 3.5km and recently 3.6km within 30 minutes. Marrying a fitness junkie was the best thing that has ever happened to me! I got a great package deal and my wife got my package in the form of my fat in return. Not sure how I pulled that one off! Eat your heart out David Blaine!

Guess who's meditating in this cave - April 2007

I’m glad she’s my workout partner, else I would probably end up in the hospital by now with my heart in my hands trying to hit 5km under 30 minutes after a few weeks. What’s my goal you ask? Well, to be able to run 5km in under 30 minutes by November 2010. Unfortunately, my calves do not recover as fast as before in time for the next workout so I’ve been shifting to other machines like cycling and the stepper.

Lifting smaller weights has been so tough on my physical self as well as ego, especially in constant view of other dudes with biceps the size of Singapore strutting their wares. But, I always end up feeling good because most of these guys wear those very tight and small singlets – an extremely high indication of their homosexual orientation. Haha! Of course I won’t tell it to their face, I don’t have a death wish and I like my ass!

I don’t intend to die by the age of 36, the same age my dad died 24 years ago and I’m 4 years away from it. I hell-bent on maintaining a balanced lifestyle to keep me on this earth for the next 4 decades at least!

The Gallivanter's Exercise Regime

Here’s my advice:

YOU have the power to control your life and to decide on your future. So stop thinking that life sucks and the world is unfair, you need to help yourself to maintain your health. It’s no bed of roses so expect hard work in the beginning until it becomes a routine. There is no shortcut in life. Start exercising at least twice a week.

If any of you frequent Celebrity Fitness at Subang Parade on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays after 6:30pm onwards, come look for a bald guy who’s consistently out of breath being trained by a hot bod lady who just happens to be his wife.