Finally...

I finally had time to work out again! Last week, I had almost no time to work out. I had four night shifts, two exams, two quizzes, two lab reports...basically a lot of things going on in my life. Since school is number 1 on my list of priorities, I had to stop working out last week. But after finishing my third exam, I worked out! I didn't have time to go to the gym and lift so I did the workout video that I posted here. I did that workout twice the last time I talked about it and I died. I did it this one time since my one week hiatus and I was exhausted. Thankfully, looking at my numbers, I didn't lose too much of my progress.

If you're interested:
This week's progress after my little vacation:
Crab toe touch: R1 [round 1]: 21, R2: 20
Dive bomber: R1: 6, R2: 7
One leg squat and one leg pike: R1: 6, R2:6
Thigh shrinker exercise: R1: 12, R2:14

Originally:
Crab toe touch: R1 [round 1]: 26, R2: 24
Dive bomber: R1: 6, R2: 5
One leg squat and one leg pike: R1: 6, R2:6
Thigh shrinker exercise: R1: 16, R2: 14

Also due to the fact that I took a week vacation, I'll be extending challenge 2 until October 11th. I'll also be deciding what my next challenge will be!

Deadly

I wish you had been poison. Poison in which could be easy to cure, like a snake bite in which its venom could be sucked out. A type of sickness that can be cured with antibiotics or even the suffering of nasal congestion, coughs, and restless sleep. I wish you had been another, anything but what you are. It's run rampant in my life and as I chase after it, trying to sink myself onto it, it shakes me off and continues to run at breakneck speeds I can't physically do. I wish you had been Anger, like a metal rod put in fire. Red and hot and virtually unchangeable but easily thrown away if I chose to. Or placed back into the fire, manipulated time and time again, and although it may burn me or scar me, at least there's the chance that I can throw it away. I wish you had been Envy, like the green algae that fester the waters of once beautiful ponds. Virtually unable to sweep away or scrape away, or even prevent but still, I could brush it aside to see the waters. Even if it's still there, I can brush it aside wider and wider, wider and wider, until it's at the edges in which they can cling to the water walls attempting to survive. I wish you had been Sloth, like a lazy dangerous beast. At least I could chase you away. Beasts must be afraid of something right? Fire? Noise? I could ask a witch to brew Sloth something special, something that could chase you aside out of your cave. Something in which a caveman or even I could corner and kill, like the once giant sloths that have existed in evolution in which humans have terminated. I wish you had been Gluttony, like those hungry mythical monsters that live in the sea who demand virginal sacrifices from whichever poor country you've ransacked. At least then, I could be the mythical hero from a far away land who have come a long journey to kill you in order to continue my quest for something better. I wish you had been Greed, like the pink pigs run on a farm. At least I could've fattened you up before slaughtering you and it wouldn't have been in a FDA approved manner either. I'd slaughter you in the methods depicted in The Jungle because Greed isn't clean and it doesn't feed anything good but it'd still been better than who you are. I wish you had been Pride. At least I could've smashed mirrors apart and even though I would have seven supposed years of bad luck in an attempt to kill off Pride, at least the years wouldn't be full of you. Even Venus fell down with a mortal lover and at least if I fell down with Pride, I could've started another chain of events that would be better than the mess you're dragging along. But you? You're something that I can't withdraw from. Even when I find myself as far away from it as possible, it'll come chasing after me like a ghost missing the warmth of life. A drop of you, a small sample of you, and your aftertaste can't be washed away. It expands and I try to pull my skin apart to let you out because you're making my skin too tight. You're making me exhale too often when I should be trying to inhale because you're sneaking your fingers to my lungs and squeezing. You're a weapon growing inside of me and yet I can't launch you away. You're not killing me softly either, there is no softness in death, and when I figure out how to exterminate you, you shouldn't smile at me because I won't be killing you softly either.

Top 5 Tips for Working Out

I realized I haven’t posted much about my second challenge other than quick links. Here are some top tips that I’ve heard and followed that have made this second challenge so much fun!

1. Train like a guy. What this means is don’t be afraid of free weights. Don’t be afraid to lift weights, in general. Write down how many sets you did and how much weights you lifted. As you progress, you can keep track of how much stronger you’re getting. You won’t get big either. You’ll get all the results you wanted.

2. Interval training is the best. Seriously, I go out of my way to avoid running. I’ll do it because it is necessary.  However why run for 20, 30, or 45 minutes when you can get the same results in less than 20 minutes? Try this the next time you think you have to run for 30 minutes nonstop to get the results you want: sprint or run as fast as you can for 1 minute, jog for 3 minutes. Repeat. You can apply this type of logic to other exercises [I haven’t tried this with weight lifting yet so I don’t recommend it]. Also interval training for me has been intense. I get burned out in 12 minute workouts and the best part? It’s all I need.

3. Do NOT do isolation exercises. You know you’ve done it, the times you’ve hit the gym and ONLY worked on legs or arms or abs. Think about all those guys you’ve seen with monstrous arms but the rest of their body looks normal. Yes, that’s what can happen to you too. Do exercises that work multiple body parts.

4. Doing cardio everyday gives you results. My friend told me that I didn’t have to spend any time doing sit ups or anything so long as I do cardio. He told me by doing cardio and remembering to tighten up your abs, you’ll get your ab workout right there!

5. Experiment! Don’t always do the same thing over and over again. Confuse your body. This means don’t do the same lifting exercises every week, don’t do yoga everyday either. By doing different things, you’re making your body stronger and who knows, maybe you’ll find something new that you like!

Thrifted Outfit!!

My dressed up outfit for a depressing Monday [depressing because it means a start of another week!].
 
Shoes: Thrifted
Tank top: Thrifted
Skirt: Thrifted
Leggings and cardigan: Forever 21
Scarf: bought from a local store at the beach two summers ago

I feel proud of my thrifted outfit. I hope that someday, I will have accumulated enough clothing from thrifting to always have some of it in my daily outfit. That would mean by then, I would NOT be contributing to mainstream shopping and landfills of perfectly good clothes.

Hot Attack

This work out was designed to be only 12 minutes wrong. I did it once and I was exhausted. I did it again just to push myself. What I got as a result was muscles shaking and being incapable of moving [after I finished it twice over]. I laid down for a good twenty minutes before I could function again. This was awesome but I hope I can move well tomorrow because I have ballroom dance practice!

Sadness: Not Working Out

I haven’t been able to work out for the past two days. Finding time between classes and work is really difficult. Also, I live in an apartment where I have to cook my own food and clean. So even doing that along with the rest of the things I need to do make it really difficult to not work out. Honestly, it felt so strange NOT working out. I was disappointed I didn’t get to. My roommate tells me it’s ok, it’s good to rest up, but still it felt strange. Honestly, I don’t know when the next time I’ll be able to work out. I can work out today but probably not tomorrow. Next week will be extra difficult because I have two exams to study for and about three back to back shifts at work. *insert melodramatic sigh here*.

Also: I’m thinking of starting to drink protein. This is really a challenge against my own thinking and many others that by drinking protein and working out, girls will get big and muscular like a female bodybuilder. More on that later!

Untitled

Totally random writing that plagued me today. Here it is:

I bought a big sketchbook today. I said I have big ideas and big dreams I need to put on paper. Yet I stretched every line and made every curve wide. Fill the wide yawning white. There is no looking at what’s being scarred on. Only focus on getting it done. The entire white is marred with lines and curves and shades and brights and yet there is no picture. There is no picture. It’s just a piece. I rip another and try to color in the next part, the next part that was supposed to be on the first. Trying to make it fit, trying to make it fit the first. Yet I draw it too small, the lines thin like toothpicks and the curves too tight. It doesn’t match and I draw a third to look like the first to match the second. Then it goes on until I’m drawing the tenth to match the eighth because the seventh didn’t fill the page. It doesn’t occur to me to draw something new. Something entirely new, something different. Clinging onto this big idea and this big dream that fades away like smoke further and further as I try to grasp it. The constant coloring, the constant attempt to match and I’ve lost the reading in the obscure cards that once told me a secret to my future in which I could break glass ceilings and snap old dusty books with my stiletto, the secret to making one kiss slip into the next kiss and the next endlessly yawning like the ocean among a horizon, and the dashes to the fears that I would fade like the shadows who run from the sun. Moving canvases to the walls, the floor, the ceiling, sketching and stretching, breaking my arms and my legs trying to reach up and over to draw this ragged line from one end to the other, trying to make it all connect. And when I can’t take it anymore, I draw tiny. I fill in the cracks between each mistake and each imperfection, squeezing all the details of my big idea into the small space between gaps that the ink blots and bleed and the tiny just hurts my eyes. The tiny just hurts. And I curl small, smaller, trying to smash my fingers down and fold in my legs so I can be small like Thumbelina and this tiny image can seem big to me. It doesn’t even register that I could’ve left the room despite the knockings of a door I’ve locked and won’t open or the break in of the window that seems to shrink. Even when bleeding hands and arms, broken skin from the wood they’ve broken down or the glass they’ve tried to brush away like dust, grasp me I’m incapable of moving because I’m trying to listen to the whispers of the reminders of my smoky dream. Fallen into the siren song and drowned by the mermaid of a Dead Sea where witches pull out cards they tell me to cut.

Workout Links

I know my schedule is to lift three times a week and pilates/swim twice a week, however I find myself doing a lot of pilates. I've also been doing a lot of research on the internet for workouts that don't require me to go to the gym! Like I said, finding time to hit the gym between 19 credits worth of classes and a demanding job is rather difficult. So often times, hitting the gym is a lot of trouble. I still go, of course, to stick with my schedule. I wanted to write this post to show you two awesome sites I use as references to work out.

POP Pilates! - My favorite pilates instructor! I can always take this to go! I love Cassey's 10 minute intense work out videos coupled with music. These videos range from total body to spot exercises such as abs or butt. This site also comes with printables on her workouts and diet tips!

Bodyrock - I just found this website a few days ago. I love this site because it primarily uses bodyweight excerises. This means no need for equipment! Even if Zuzana does use equipment, she later tells beginners how to do the exercises down to their fitness level. Most of her videos are meant for 10 minute intervals. The titles of the exercises are funny though. Can you believe that she got to her fitness level through bodyweight excerises?!
P.S. Her website might seem intimidating but the best way to start using this website is to click on the latest video and doing it!

Are there are any other sites YOU use to work out?

DUK...Textbooks?

DUK...Textbooks?!
As a college student, I've had to hand over a hefty amount of money over the most dreaded thing known to college other than fees: textbooks. Have you ever been in those classes where the professor spends about 20 minutes lecturing you on how important it is that you get the textbook? They tell you all types of things: if you don't get it, you won't do well, you invested your money in an education and the book is part of that education.
Then you buy the book and you find out you haven't opened the cover. Yes, I've been there. Frustrating right? Absolutely maddening! Why did I just spend $50, $80, $100, $200?!!! This was me as a freshman. Since then, I've definitely learned a lot of skills and tips when it comes to textbooks.
Here is a rundown of some quick information:

1. For the most part, the information between editions are the same!
2. Custom editions for your school is no different than the regular textbook!
3. International editions are the same.
4. Professors don't always know the difference between one edition of the textbook to the new one. They got sold by some advertiser.
5. Your school's bookstore raises the prices of those books to get a cut from it.
6. Textbooks that come with CDs or access codes cost more. If you're not going to use them, don't buy the book that comes with it.

Here are some tips to cut down your costs:

1. AVOID BUYING AT YOUR SCHOOL'S STORE!!
2. Always buy used.
3. Buy international!
4. Comparison shop!
5. Wait until the first day of classes to get the syllabus. Gauge from the calender and use your instincts to determine whether you really need it.
6. Check out your school's library. Often, they'll have a copy of your textbook or book lying around somewhere.
7. Share a textbook with a classmate. BEWARE: This might be difficult come exam time.
8. Access codes that are required for you to do online homework often come with the e-book already included.

Good luck!

I'm Feeling ADDICTED!

It's been a week and I've been keeping true to my challenge! Working out everyday! When I go to the gym and lift, I love the "fuzzy" feeling I get! I also love the soreness. When I do pilates, I love feeling sore too. When I swim, I'm in love with the movements.

I'll admit, the only thing I'm NOT addicted to is running. I dread running. I'll do it because I have to, but I despise it. Sprinting is something I enjoy but it's not something I can do often. Running gives me bad shin splints so I started to opt out of running and do other cardio workouts instead. I also started to do interval cardio workouts where you intensify your workout for a minute and spend three minutes slowing it down. For instance in running, I'll sprint 100 meters but spend the rest of the lap jogging. I cut the time I'm spending on cardio but am getting the same type of goal.

My school has a gym that offers fitness classes. I'm hoping to get into some of them because I think it'll be fun to change my routine a little once in a while. The only thing I find difficult with this challenge is finding time to work out. Some days, I wake two hours before classes start to go to the gym. However, when I'm working night shifts, it's hard to do this as often as I would like. Between classes are difficult too because I get hungry.

Is It Really JUST About Being Healthy?

Someone asked me what other goals I have for this challenge. They said that "being healthy and active" is too vague. So I thought of an answer for them! I'm a swimmer, always have been. However, it's so easy to lose the skills when you haven't done them in so long. I used to be able to have a lot more endurance when swimming but now swimming two laps makes me tired. I used to be able to hold my breath longer. So my goal for this challenge is to also build my endurance. I also started to do pilates, which I love! However many of the moves are challenging and I often have to do the easier moves. For instance, I'll have to do leg circles with a much smaller circumference rather than make them big. I know that I do the same workout but I hope to be able to make them bigger. Secondary goal for this challenge is to become more flexibile!

Unveiling: Challenge 2

I'll be starting my second challenge September 4th. It's not quite on the dot in terms of the month but that's because that's when I get back to school. I figured I might as well start the challenge along with my move in date back to campus right? Challenge 2 is to work out everyday for a minimum of 30 minutes!

I've been struggling with working out for so long. I went from being one of the most active people in high school to not doing any type of physically demanding activity in college. It was mostly because I was focused on my coursework but that's not a big excuse. Another reason why I've struggled with working out is because I get bored easily. In high school, I spent five days a week doing a sport. I got all my exercise of the day by performing these sports. Since I'm not doing a sport in college, it was easy to lose the physical activities.

So I devised a plan to get myself from getting bored. My plans? Everyday, I'm going to wake up early to take a full ten minute run. Three days a week, I'll be hitting the gym and lifting weights. Two days of that week I'll be doing something like Pilates or swimming [my favorite!]. One day of that week is kind of a freebie, where I can chose what kind of activity to do: pilates, swimming, cardio kickboxing, yoga, etc.

A few FAQ:

Why working out?

We all know, from our doctor's appointments to news articles, that working out for a minimum of 30 minutes is healthy for your body. Yet, who really does this? A lot of people, as it seems to me, work out because they either want to lose weight or gain muscle. If I hear someone wanting to work out because they want to be healthy, it's typically linked to either wanting to maintain their weight or lose the weight. I'm doing this challenge solely to stay active, in hopes that this challenge transcends past a month and into my daily life. Who knows? Maybe I'll get addicted!

Why's it a challenge?

Anyone who goes to school or goes to work everyday should know that it's hard to find time to eat or sleep or run necessary errands. Who has time to work out?! That's why it's a challenge: making time to work out!

Why did you chose the plan you did?

Mostly to continue to cycle through things. I despise going to the gym and simply lifting weights. That's so boring for me! However, I know that lifting weights is a great exercise that we don't get enough of, so I'm doing it three times a week! I didn't want to get bored and I didn't want to leave things so vague. You know those people whose New Year's resolution is to work out at the gym and yet they never manage to fulfill it? It's because their plan is too vague. By targeting something, you'll be more likely to be able to focus! So if you're interested in losing weight, gaining muscle, or just being active: make a game plan! You can build it up too, step by step.

Are you going to be going on a diet as well?

Most likely not. I'm pretty healthy in terms of eating. I don't feel that changing my diet would mean that I'm not meeting my challenge. I could change my mind though, who knows!

Wish me luck!

Now I have to go start packing away and be prepared to be shipped off! =D

Recycling!

 

In case you can't see the text:

• The average family throws away 6 trees worth of paper
• It takes the same amount of energy to make one new can as it does to make 20 recycled cans
• From the diagram: Mexico and Turkey are the countries who disposes of their waste primarily through landfills! Japan is the country that does the most composting! 
• The most common type of waste: 
• Paper and cardboard
• Organic material
• Textiles
• Plastic
• Metals
• Glass
•  Every ton of paper recycled saves:
• 7 trees
• 276 pounds of sulfur
• 350 pounds of limestone
• 9,000 pounds of steam
• 60,000 gallons of water
• 3.3 cubic yard of landfill space
• In the United States, the amount of trash produced is at a rate of 1.609 pounds per person per year
• If all our newspapers were recycled, we could save about 250 million trees each year!!!
• How long does it take to decompose?
• Aluminum can- 80 years
• Glass bottle- 500 years
• Soda bottle- 700 years
• Styrofoam- NEVER
• The amount of aluminum Americans throw away each year is enough to provide the auto industry with all the material it needs to build a year's worth of new cars!
• The energy saved from recycling one bottle will power a 60 watt light bulb for 6 hours!
• Steel cans are recycled in just 6 weeks, aluminum cans in only one month!
• The average household wastes enough energy weekly to power a TV for 2 years!
• Used plastic dumped into the sea kills and destroys sea life at an estimated 1,000,000 sea creatures per year!
• Recyclign creates 4 jobs for every 1 job created in the waste management and disposal industries
• Recycling creates 1.1 million US jobs:
• $238 billion in gross annual sales
• $37 billion in annual payrolls

This speaks for itself. I learned a few things myself.

Tracking Carbon Footprints

I was reading an article that talks about businesses using a program developed by a PhD student at MIT to track the carbon footprint of products. This program is called Sourcemap. Essentially, this tells you where your product is coming from and how much carbon it has consumed in its travel.

You wanna know a typical iPhone 4 production Sourcemap? Here it is:

A laptop and all its components? Pretty cool right? It's being advertised to big scale companies [Office Depot is a company that participates in Sourcemap] to promote transparency. It's also a social project, anyone can submit their own Sourcemap. This made me really think of how a single product is affecting the environment. This company is also hoping to track water consumption and etc in order to create these products. So check it out!

Minimizing Mainstream Shopping

I’ve decided to minimize mainstream shopping. What this means is that for the most part, I’ll only buy things new that are completely necessary. Otherwise, it is thrifting for everything else for me. It’s environmentally friendly and I love the euphoria I get when I’m looking around. It’s like hoping to find buried treasure. It’s cheap and I never feel guilty for what I purchased. So cheers for thrifting!!!!

Vegan Chocolate-Chocolate Pancakes!

I reblogged a recipe about vegan pancakes! It's perfect for those chocolate lovers! And it's rather easy to make too. Delicious!

Decision Making Fatigue?

We've all felt it: the moment when our brain just can't make choices anymore. The green or the blue? Pencil or pen? To go out or not to go out? You wouldn't think that these small moments where you are indecisive would be a big deal. Apparently all types of moments where you feel indecisive can add up to a biological toll! What's this biological toll you ask?

In summary, a person is always resisting desire. This type of control over your desire is part of your brain, where a section regulates such things. These desires are really anything such as snacking or slacking off at work. Well, both small and big moments of indecisiveness means your willpower [as the article calls it] or your brain's "ego" trying to control your "id" [oh Sigmund Freud] weakening. You're tiring out your brain's ego from trying to figure out which is the more realistic step. For instance, you're trying to figure out whether or not you should call or text so and so. Your ego is trying to figure out which would be better, faster, less likely to get you in trouble at work, etc. This makes your ego tired, trying to figure out which works for these criteria. This means since your ego is tired, your id desire to...shop gets unleashed unchecked! This concept means, as the researchers call it, you're feeling "decision fatigue".

At the end of the article, the researcher comment on why this is important to society. They say, if a judge spent all day making decisions on people's lives or money, they're brains must get tired too! Imagine all kind of mistakes they might make! You can read the article to find where it talks about how the judge gives prisoners parole more often after he had lunch [he gave into his id desire to eat!!!!!].

That's so interesting right?!  More  information can be found in the article. It's pretty long because it's done in standard psychology article format, which details how the experiment got started and how this theory came about.  Check the NY TIMES article here!

How Much is YOUR Clothes Costing the PLANET!?

This link is designed to show you how much your personal closet is taking up the space of the planet. It really gives you a look at where your clothes end up.This link also shows where home supplies go, such as your bath towels.

Just to give you some perspective, I put in decent numbers in the categories of what I owned. No number above 11 for categories, I wash my clothes in cold water, and I typically hang dry all my clothes. I came out to be 834 EDUs, which is fashionably average.
This link is SCARY!

DUK...Sweatshops?

I haven't done a DUK post in a while, sorry about that! I decided that this DUK post would be about sweatshops since I posted up that picture here.

The term sweatshop is defined as: A factory or workshop, esp. in the clothing industry, where manual workers are employed at very low wages for long hours and under poor conditions.

The history of sweatshops in a nutshell?

It begins between the 1830-1850s in England. The concept of sweatshops was very appealing, cheap labor for very little cost. Often, the people who worked at sweatshops were immigrants or those who come from a background of being poorly educated. There are reports of several beatings of the workers if, for instance, they didn't maintain their quota of how many garments or products they must produce. Sweatshops started to exist wherever there was an industry for clothing in all countries. This was during a time when labor laws didn't exist to govern minimum wage and maximum hours. Eventually, government came to recognize the poor conditions and passed several laws. Later, companies moved their production factories overseas, to avoid these laws which required them to pay certain wages and limit hours in order to maximize profits. Nike, whom has the poorest record of sweatshop history, sell their shoes for an average price of $116 while the cost of actually making that shoe is under $5.

What you can do to help?

Be active. I'm not saying you have to start riots or write petitions, but what you can do is look at the labels you find in your garments. You know those labels that tell you what materials are in the garment and how to wash them? They also say where they're made from. The ever present "Made in China" and other countries give you a big clue that there was sweatshop labor involved. Try to buy "Made in USA" items, they will be more expensive. Since I, myself, am on a college budget, I won't always have the money to shell out for a simple T shirt that may cost up to $20 because it's made in the US. What I do instead is thrift. Logically, since I'm not buying items from the mainstream market, I personally am not creating a demand for such garments to be made. Items that exist in thrift are second hand and not only am I preventing them from going to landfills, I'm also avoiding sweatshops. So try these things! =D






Note: I keep DUK posts short and simple because they're supposed to be fast. They're meant to get you to think and research on your own. Solutions are from what I personally think and may or may not work.

DUK...Trash?

I know it's a strange title but the original title I was thinking of was too long to sound attractive! This DUK post is really about how long it takes for your trash to decompose.


I went to the beach last Friday as part of my birthday celebration. The beach I went to has always been nice but it started to re-invent itself. It also started to post up signs to educate their customers about how to keep the beach clean and healthy as well. The one that I came upon really inspired me to write this DUK post.

So the scenario is really this: You walk along the beach and you find plastic bottles and trash lining the waves that is lapping at your feet. You take a path to get to wherever you might've put your towel down to get a tan and see the trash a person might've left. You don't really think much of it and you keep on walking.

Here's the truth about the trash you leave on the beach [as told by the sign posted]:

Glass bottles takes 1 million years to decompose. 

An aluminum can can take 80-200 years, plastic bottles 450 years, and plastic bags 10-20 years. You know those cigarette butts you think that you can just bury away in the sand and it won't harm anything or anyone? Well a single cigarette butt takes 4-5 years to decompose. Imagine all of that on a large scale! How many years it might take for a single summer's day worth of trash left behind to decompose so the beach might return to its original condition prior to that day!

We also shouldn't forget other life that is disrupted by the trash carelessly thrown. In the ocean, fish might eat the small plastic parts or get caught in the plastic rings. These man-made creations can be toxic to the life forms!

Here are a few tips for your next trip to the beach to help:

-Bring your own trash bag or plastic bag. I know that trash disposals are so far and in between on the beach or it's a pain to go all the way to the sidewalk in order to find a trash barrel. By bringing your own, you can just dump out that bag in the trash when you leave the beach.

-Use re-usable containers. Every bottle of water you might bring and throw away takes years to decompose in a land fill! Even the plastic you might use to wrap your food in harms the environment.

-Do a good deed. Help volunteer to pick up the trash at the beach or do it out of your own initiative. The last time I went, I picked up a plastic wrapper for crackers from the ocean out to throw out.
Of course these tips can transcend the beach and into your daily life. You can use these tips at the park or even a walk around the city!