netweight: free workout music with podrunner

netweight features web sites and apps i’m using in my weight loss / health gain challenge. as for the name, well it’s the best thing i could come up with in two minutes.

podrunner is the handiwork of dj steve boyett. each week he delivers a free mix of dance music, each at a fixed tempo (ranging from 130 – 180 bpm) that runs non-stop for about an hour.

each mix starts out low-key to warm you up. as it goes on, it builds with each new song until it reaches a climax at the midpoint and continues until the relatively calmer cooldown section at the end. all the music used in each mix is electronic dance and its different variants. each mix is well-produced and seamless, and boyett has a great ear for effective tracks to work out to.

one of my favorite mixes is “definitive,” at 154 bpm. it’s the first mix that i ever ran to. during that session, i ended up running for the duration of the track and ended up running for an hour. my first ever. the climax of “definitive” features a remix of the chemical brothers’ track “galvanize.”

my newest challenge is to try and run 5k at a faster tempo each week. this week i’m at about 158 with the mix “relayered.”

my sister tried it and she said she can run farther than she used to. i highly recommend you check out podrunner for yourself. 

podrunner

choking for chic

reason #21 … i’ve mentioned this many times over, but i’m still hung up on the clothes thing. i have this picture in my head of me “suiting up” a la barney stinson of “how i met your mother”. 

my friend francis keeps talking about the “rules of style”, things like: don’t wear a cap indoors, only have a max of two pieces of accessories on you / don’t overbling, don’t wear a tie with a short-sleeved shirt a la dwight schrute, don’t wear khakis with a light shirt, don’t wear khakis at night, maybe you should just put the damn khakis back on the rack dude.

he’s also been quick to point out several errors in guys do when they “suit up.” he mentioned before how the guys with the good bodies squander what they got because of bad clothing choices. “youth is wasted on the young”, he quotes.

it’s because of this that i want to trim down, so i know i’ll look awesome when i’m all dressed up. i know it sounds particularly vain, but indulge me for a minute: all my life the clothes i wore were determined primarily by cost, then by size. even if i went to a discount place (something i still intend to do), the pickings were slim. so i had to settle for the so-so stuff. meanwhile i’ve looked at the racks with the smaller numbers with all these awesome shirts and lamented how they’d never fit me.

well, that day is coming. pretty soon i’ll be browsing the L 36-38 racks for my clothes. better said, i’ll never be going to the XXL 44 racks ever again.

oh yeah, my reason … so that my shirt collars, when i wear a tie, will fit my neck as intended, and not seem as if i am choking for mere chic.

oh and speaking of style, before the year lets up i’ll be overhauling this site’s design. i’m a graphic designer, so it’s about high time i stopped using a pre-made template and use one i made myself.

as for the new plan? so far so good. i got all the exercises i needed to do yesterday, and my body is still trying to cope with the new sleeping schedule (i had to force myself to wake up at 5:30 again), but things are looking up.

a new plan a.k.a. here’s to productive days

it took a whole five weeks since my plateauing for me to come up with a new post and a new plan of action, so sorry for the hyperlong radio silence.

anyway, i realized that if i spent more than thirty minutes running i would get bored of that session really quickly. that would make it subsequently harder to motivate myself for the next day’s session. so to combat that i’ve decided to add some more exercises dispersed throughout the day. these include:

• running, yes, but at a shorter, fixed distance, with the intent of trying to increasing my speed with each new week.
• jump rope immediately after my run, for about 20 minutes, with the aim of increasing my rep speed
• (hopefully) a walk for about an hour each evening … if i have the time.
• lifting weights at night.

hopefully my plan will work, and i’ll stay motivated to see this thing through. i started today with the run and the rope and it felt really good to be adding another exercise to my run.

my birthday’s three months away (december). i think the best gift i could give myself is the satisfaction of accomplishing something major in my life this year. hopefully and prayerfully i will get back to a healthy lifestyle and lose weight in the process. that would be a great birthday gift.

that and a leather jacket.

my reasons why i plateaued

i haven’t written a post in two months.

since my last post, i’ve managed to keep my weight at roughly 250 pounds. i’ve been keeping up with my running, going as far as running for an hour (thanks, podrunner!), but i’ve been eating a lot as well. as a result, i haven’t really lost any weight. (and if the scale is right, i might have gained some back!!! nooo!) also, i’ve been running less and less over the past few weeks, going from four times a week (my peak) to three to two to … well, you get it.

i’ve been thinking about the reasons why i’ve stagnated or regressed. what i’ve come up with isn’t a comprehensive inventory of excuses, but a shopping list of little things, little distractions that add up like fractions. as i was working on this list, i realized that most of these were the reasons i had gotten as big as 290 in the first place.

anyway, here’s that list:

success. yup, my great success with weight loss (forty pounds, for crying out loud! one size smaller pants!!!) brought about a sense of satisfaction in me. when people started noticing me lose my first 20, i shrugged it off, as i had lost 20 before but gained it back. when i reached 40, however, i was high-fiving everyone i knew.

failure. i also experienced some discouragement since then. not from my weight loss, but from other aspects in my life. failure is normal, yes, but sometimes discouragement’s first victim is the areas where i’m most successful.

the season and the weather. i hate daytime in the summer. it’s way too hot to run, way too hot to do anything. the heat is depressing and demotivating.

laziness. a vice of mine. this spills over onto other aspects as well.

boredom. i’ve found that a cause of this is a lack of new challenges. ever since i ran for an hour, i’ve been running less and less. my jump rope broke and i’ve yet to replace it, and weightlifting is monotonous and tedious.

the “balance”. i’ve been getting busier at work, and trying to keep my eating right and fitting in time to exercise is a tougher challenge than i initially thought it would be.

going at it alone. while i do prefer exercising on my own, it’s been tough keeping my routine going, especially when i haven’t been talking about my weight loss and not getting any feedback from my peers.

anyway, stagnancy, like success, isn’t something achieved or attained. it just happens. hopefully, knowing the reasons why i stagnate could help me get my passion back for this little project of mine.

ten-pound weights

reason #21: so my flabby arms will be replaced by strong, muscular … guns.

so i officially started this new, “escalated” workout regiment today, given to me by a friend from church. remember when i said i wanted to start lifting weights? well i finally got around to that. he helped me work out a six-day plan that involves working my chest, shoulders and abs.

here’s the rundown:

warm-up – 20 minutes of cardio or until you get to 3x your heart rate. he suggested simply dancing in place, moving about with free weights. today i replaced it with about 30-40 minutes of running.

day 1 – arms & shoulders: biceps curls and upright dumbell rows.

day 2 – chest: dumbell chest press, flys and pushups.

dat 3 – squats and twists.

every other day – crunches.

for all the exercises, i’m to do 30 reps times 3 sets. i’m using ten-pound dumbells.

repeat twice, then rest for one day.

six weeks, he says, before i start seeing results.

so there you have it. i never really liked strength exercises because it hurt and they required a lot of patience, so hopefully i’ll stick to this plan long enough till it becomes a habit.

i leave you now with two quotes. the first one i probably picked up somewhere but don’t remember, so i’ll quote as my own:

strength is not achieved by making everyone else look weaker than you.
strength is achieved by lifting everyone else up.

and last is a quote from the legendary ron burgundy:

Oh, it’s the deep burn! Oh, it’s so deep! Oh, I can barely lift my right arm ’cause I did so many. I don’t know if you heard me counting, I did over a thousand. You have your ubulus muscle which connects to the upper dorcinus. It’s boring, but it’s a part of my life.

my reasons so far

reason #1: because i’m 25 and i want to be alive.

reason #2 … to get rid of my droopy double chin

reason #3: so i can fit in my awesome pants again. to quote steve carrell, “i enjoy a good pair of slacks.”

reason #4 … so i can be more energetic on stage.

reason #5 … so i’d snore less.

reason #6 … so my fingers don’t feel like they’re mashing up on my guitar.

reason #7 … so i can have a more active lifestyle.

reason #8 … cos every time i look at the scale and see a lesser number, it feels like awesome.

reason #9 … so i can run a 5k one day.

reason #10 … cos i have chubby hands. i don’t want chubby hands anymore.

reason #11 … windsurfing.

reason #12 … cos body fat is jiggly. i don’t want to be jiggly anymore.

reason #13 … cos being active fights off depression

reason #14 … because i want to be a success story.

reason #15 so i’d feel lighter.

reason #16 … so i wouldn’t look like moby dick (pictured above) anymore.

reason #17 = cos i’ve never lost THIS much weight before.

reason #18 = queen latifah is hot, and she lost 5% of her body weight and is now a “size healthier.” i’m doing this for her.

reason #19. from size 44 to size 36.

reason #20. because i want to go into a clothes store and buy anything i want instead of scrounging through the XXL areas. scratch that. XL now .

Progress Report

I haven’t written in a while, so today’s entry is extra special. The down time since my last post has given me a chance to really reflect on what’s been going on so far. To really be thankful to God for my progress, and to change how I look at my own life in the process.

So what’s happened since my last post? Well, small victories are now adding up.

First off, the numbers. Today’s weigh-in is at 256.8. That’s a BMI of 35.8. I’m almost at 35 pounds!

Last night I was looking through my old journal, and I found an entry dated April 2003 that said I weighed 260 lbs at that time (In the entry, I was lamenting over it). Knowing that I’ve finally reached the weight I was five years ago made me feel … well, it’s a mix. The thought in the back of my head was Man, I did let myself go. But then I also thought: Wow, it took me three months to get to where I was FIVE years ago.

I dropped a pant size. I thought it was great fitting nicely into my size 44s again, and having my belt-notch go from three to four. But soon enough, the pants started feeling baggy. So I went to Target last week and bought a pair of Levi’s size 42s. I wore them all weekend. I can’t remember the last time I wore 42s, although I do remember hating myself the first time I had bought my 44s. So knowing that, soon enough, my old sizes will be headed to the thrift store, gives me some satisfaction.

I’ve been snoring way less. That’s right! I’ve been so concerned about my snoring, and it’s finally being remedied. There are times when I fell asleep on my friends and I asked them “Dude, did I sleep?” and they’d go “Yes” and then I’d go “Did I snore?” and they’d go “No” or “little.” It’s such a great feeling!

I’ve been running! So I finally graduated from coolrunning.com’s “couch to 5k” program, and I’m proud to say I can run for at least half an hour! All my life, even during my previous attempts to lose weight, I could never run for half an hour straight. I’d make 20 minutes, tops. I’ve been doing this consistently for about two weeks now, so I know it’s not a mere fluke. In fact, I’m now trying to run for longer!

I’m motivating others now! I’ve been told by three separate people that I’m motivating them to lose weight. The funny thing is that one of them was my “trainer” back when I started this! This is such a new thing for me. I’ve never gotten this much positive feedback and honest congratulations from so many people in my life, and I really do feel that I don’t deserve it. I mean, come on, I let myself go, and I just got tired of letting myself go. But I do like it, knowing that I’m helping other people set goals for their life and try to reach it.

So here’s my next set of goals.

Start lifting weights. It’s the one thing I’ve really neglected, although I know it’s really important. I’m just really not interested in the whole “bulking up” thing because I’ve been big forever.

Really get back to eating healthy. Yes, I have been losing weight, but my diet’s been erratic lately. It’s the whole “well, I’ve been working out, so I can eat more” mentality that I need to work on.

Visit a doctor. I haven’t seen one since I started, so I think it’s best that I consult one to see what else I need to work on.

Run a 5k in October. Yup! I want to run the Long Beach 5k. Anyone down to join me?

Once again, thanks to all of you who have been praying and supporting me, and to those who’ve been reading this blog. I’ve still got quite a way to go, but God, does it feel good to know I’m headed somewhere.

three years ago …

three years ago, i had a desire to lose weight, and i did. after about two months, i took the above photo. i’m guessing i lost about 10-15 lbs that time.

for reasons that elude me, i gave up. i let myself go, and over the next three years, not only gained the weight back, but added ten more.

today, at 265.4, i’m so glad i’ve finally caught up with that photo.

twenty-five!

reason #20. because i want to go into a clothes store and buy anything i want instead of scrounging through the XXL areas. scratch that. XL now .

i know, i know. i haven’t written in about two weeks.

today i weighed myself after my run, and i finally hit the 25 pound mark.

265.8!!! Woo hoo!!!

That’s not all. Two years ago I bought a pair of really nice Dockers’ khakis. I’ve never worn them because they never fit me (two years ago I promised myself I’d fit into them) but I’ve held onto them. As a matter of fact, I’ve been saving all my good pants (the ones I couldn’t fit into anymore) because I knew I’d fit into them one day.

Today I fit into all of them.

Hooray!

As for what I’ve been doing since my last post? I’ve been running a lot now. I’m on week 4 of coolrunning’s couch-to-5k plan. I should be on week 5 but I decided to double up this week. No worries.

It’s been harder to lose these latest five pounds because I was eating a lot. I have been working out, but my eating during the last few weeks has delayed my weight loss.

So yeah, almost at the 30-lb mark!

P.S. This is also my 25th post. oh joy!

heaven is a seven-foot length of elastic rope

reason #19. from size 44 to size 36.

so i bought a jump rope at wal-mart last night. five bucks. apparently it’s a “3-in-1″ jump rope as opposed to the other brands’ 2-in-1 ropes. for the life of me i couldn’t tell what was so “3-in-1″ about it. i’m guessing the 3 consists of 2 handles and a rope, but then that would be simply selling the obvious, right?

i couldn’t try it in my apartment cos the ceiling’s way too low i didn’t want to have scrape marks on the ceiling, let alone make some unnecessary noise to disturb the people upstairs. (Lord knows THEY’RE the ones who do all the bothering, what with the squeaking and moving stuff around). so i found a little spot on the outside of my apartment next to the laundry room, in a spot where not many people would care to look (unless they really try, and, even if they did look, how UNbored would they be watching a dude do jump rope?)

anyway, the first few tries were, naturally, pathetic. if you’re into whips and stuff (i don’t know how someone can be, but if you are), maybe you should try this exercise. every other misfire resulted in the rope hitting my arm or leg or back of my neck.

according to the gold’s gym chart that came with the rope, the exercise i was doing is called a double bounce, which basically meant i was on my toes the whole time. at first i couldn’t make it past three, then i couldn’t make it past seven. soon enough, though, progress. i shot for ten. i made ten. i shot for twenty. a dozen misfires later, i hit twenty. i tried another twenty. a dozen misfires after that, i got twenty. with that same attempt, i shot for more. thirty. i tried for forty.

thirty-seven.

that’s today’s record. not bad for a first day. i tried for another lucky twenty, but i couldn’t make it past seven. all this time, my heart was pumping and i was sweating massiv. i managed to do about thirty minutes’ worth today. plus it was a lot of fun. great cardio.

so, in conclusion, jump rope = RULES.