Fitocracy and RunKeeper - cool apps

I've been to the gym every day for this whole week since Tuesday. I wonder if I can also make it this Saturday and Sunday?

I've been experimenting with Fitocracy. There's an app for my iphone and it links up to a website when you join. It's free and it's kind of fun trying to level up. The site seems to be in it's infancy because there are so many things that they NEED to improve. The descriptions need to be updated and the machines that I work on, I'm still trying to find an alternate name.

The site is quite difficult to navigate and the "quests", "achievements" and "challenges" really need to be clarified as to what they are because the name mean the same thing. I think what's worse is that I can see the different achievements, but none of them is part of my routine workout so I'm not getting any of them. I can see none of the quests so I don't know how to complete them..... and I have no idea what the challenges are because I can't click it to see what's in there......... I seem to be complaining about this site a bit, but it is kind of keeping track of my workout which is it's only saving grace at the moment. I also joined runkeeper and linked it to fitocracy so when I walk around ..... and maybe run later, it'll automatically update some details in there.

Runkeeper is pretty good. I've noticed that sometimes it loses the GPS connection and I suddenly jump to a new spot and my pace shoots up BUT, I can correct the route when I upload it. The best bit for me is it gives a lot of details that I would not be able to get. I'm going to continue trying to play with this app.

I've got a feeling that I might use fitocracy rather then this blog because they are geared towards my weight and exercise BUT they really need to improve it. For one thing, how to I add friends to let them see, or some other random stuff.

If you want to follow me, my username is swan5354. I'm contemplating weather or not I should link it up to my facebook account, but I may level up a bit more before I expose it to my friends.

Now, back to my workout. I'm no longer feeling the aching after the exercise any more. Am I getting used to it? I tried increasing my bike ride time from 8 minutes to 10 minutes..... I know it's not much, but I wanted to see if it would make any difference. I think I'll need to increase the workout a little more.

I'm not able to complete my reverse crunches properly. I'm not sure if I'm doing them incorrectly, or that I'm pushing too hard or if it's because of the roll of fat around my stomach is in the way and just won't let me do them. The spazuming really hurts if I go too far and I'm finding it hard to stop them other then relaxing my whole body...... and not being able to get up from the floor because I need my abs to tense to get up.

I think the first time I had a full aching body was more likely because of riding my bike home that one day. It was also the first real day that I tried out the induction routine.

My weight doesn't seem to have changed, so I need to start looking my diet. I started eating a little less, but I should also cook less. I'm wondering what I should eat in the morning before my workout. At the moment, it consists of a bagel with hummus.

Back to the gym

I need to make a habit of going to the gym so that it'll become part of my life. I'm thinking of going in the morning so that I still have the rest of the day to do stuff......not really sure what, but stuff.

Anyway, I went for my workout today and looking at the timing, I might need to speed something up. I left home a little before 10am and arrived at the gym about 10:40. I didn't see what time I finished the workout, but I arrived back home just before 13:00. I did go to Sainsbury to pick up lunch, but it's on the way and I didn't spend that much time there. I'm guessing that my workout was about 1 hour long and the walk back takes about 40 minutes, so it kind of does make sense.

My weight has dropped to 84.5kg, yeah!!!! It's already showing results.... or it could just be wishful thinking.

I've been entering my exercise routine via my computer instead of my iphone and there seems to be more details that I should put in, like the total distance I rode my bike and other stuff. I really need to get the details so that I can level up faster.... and complete some of the quests.

ok, I'm going to skip the day numbering

I really don't know what day it is anymore.

Today, I unexpectedly went into London. It wasn't my plan, but I went anyway. I then walked around hunting for eggs again. I started from about 9am and ended about 4pm so about 6 and a half to 7 hours walking around given that I did have a little break to get something to eat.

I haven't driven in London for a very long time and it's a nightmare. People walk across the road, even when it's a green light for me. I even saw this one guy who just crossed the road without looking because he was on his mobile phone. I had to slow down for him because he didn't even know I was there. Is my car that slient?

What's up with Waterloo bridge? Why are there so many people on the bridge that they spill over onto the road and force the bus to go into the car lane and almost cause crashes?

Anyway, I kind of did some exercise because of the constant walking.

Day 3 again?

I haven't gone to the gym today. It's not because my legs hurt and I have trouble going down stairs, it's because I'm going to be driving up to Oxford and I don't think I can do a work out walk around with no trouble.

Anyway, I've found an app called fitocracy for my iphone. It allows me to keep track of the exercises I've done and I can "level up" and complete achievements. It looks like they've done a revamp recently, so a few things aren't working fully and quite a bit of information is missing. I've input the details in for the last 2 days while I was at the gym, but it's not exactly intuitive as to what I'm meant to put in. Anyway, I've gotten up to level 3 with no problems and I've got a really easy quest "Consistency Is Key". I've gone onto their site and checked out my own stuff, but it's quite difficult to navigate and I can't seem to find the "quests"..... I think it's actually the "achievements". The terminology is really confusing, they really need to sort it out. I'll stick with it and see how far I can get with the levels. It's a nice motivation.

Hopefully, my next session at the gym would be Sunday.

Day 2 again

Nice. I'm back at the gym and I've finally had a chance to look at the card that the fitness instructor was scribbling on to see what it was all about. I've got a work out plan. On first inspection, it looks like it's very simple but then again, I'm obese so I may struggle with this.

Here's how my fitness routine should go:
warm up
cross trainer (elliptical trainer?) for 4 minutes, quick-start and keep the pace at 90-100spm

stretches
1,2,3,4,5,8,9 and 10
hmm, I'll get the names of the stretches later when I get my card back

Cardiovascular exercises
treadmill for 10 minutes where I alternate between 1 minute 5.5kph and 1minute 7.5kph
bike for 8 minutes at level 3-4 and keep it up to 70rpm
rower 1000m level 4-5 at about 300rpm

Resistance
vertical traction 15 reps 2 sets at 28.5kg
pectoral 15 reps 2 sets at 15-20kg
leg press 15 reps 2 sets at 30-50kg

Functional training
rotary torso 15-20 reps 2 sets
sit-ups 15-20 reps 2 sets
reverse crunch 15-20 2 sets

Cool down
cross trainer 4 minutes quick-start at 80spm

stretches 1,2,3,4,5,8,10,12

and that's the end of my routine.

I managed to complete the whole routine in about an hours time. What it hasn't taken into account is that I rode my bike to the gym so I pretty much did a warm up..... and I have to ride my bike back home so it's like a cool down....... My legs are aching. My legs were already a little achy from the light workout from the day before, but after the bike ride, I didn't feel much, but after the sun went down, the pain started to come on.

All in all, I think it's a good workout. I've been pushed a little and I'm out of breath, but I think I can go further. I think the idea behind this workout is to keep the heart rate up for a longer period of time. It's not a hard and fast go right overboard for the first 5 minutes and then not be able to do anything else.

Reset back to Day 1 again

Ok, after a short break from the last project, I've had to start again because I really haven't been doing much exercise except for walking around London hunting down eggs and I've managed to reset my weight all the way back to the beginning again....... or the scales is wrong.

This time round, I've paid to join a gym in Crystal Palace Park, which technically means that if I don't go, I'm wasting my own money which I really don't feel like doing.

I paid for an induction and it's very different from the stuff they do in HK. In HK, the induction would just be to show you around the gym and give an explanation of the equipment. At least, that's what I usually see, and there are so many people in the gym that it feels that it's not possible that anyone would help out with personal training. Then again, I was going to a cheaper gym.

Ok, I was quite pleased about the induction. The guy wasn't paying much attention to me, but he kind of figured out that I knew what I was doing.....which I hope I was, because I've read the instructions and seen a number of videos on youtube so I hope I have the right technique when I'm using the equipment. He did correct me a few times so I still have room for improvement.

Here's how it went down for the instructor to evaluate me. He put me up on a cross trainer for 2 minutes for a quick warm up, then some light stretches. Then it was onto the treadmill, where I walked for 1 minute and then had a light jog for the next minute and it alternated like that for 6 minutes. I then went onto the bike for 4 minutes. After all these exercises I felt fine and I didn't feel pushed at all. I think I just about broke a very light sweat, but I wasn't even out of breath. I found out that he wasn't pushing me on purpose because he wasn't happy with me eating cereal in the morning and thought that I might no have enough energy to do a full workout.

Anyway, I then went onto some resistance machines. One was called a vertical traction, another called a pectoral and the last one was the leg press. They were set to next to the lightest setting and I only did one set of 15 reps.

Next, I went onto functional training with a rotary torso, sit-ups and reverse crunch. The rotary torso machine was weird and I had some trouble trying to figure out how to use it, but it should be fine the next time I try to use it again. The reverse crunches were a little scary. My "six pack" started to spasm right after I finished and tried to sit up and it almost felt like it was trying to go into a cramp, but didn't know how and was just individually tensing up. I might need to do a little more research to see if I'm doing the form correctly..... or see if I've got a problem with my stomach muscles.

Finally, I went back on the cross trainer for another 2 minutes then did some stretches and that was the end of my induction.

What I didn't know what was happening was that aside from evaluating me, he was also building a program for me to continue my goal of losing weight. I won't know what's written down, until I come back round tomorrow and see the card. I'm guessing that it's going to be an extension of what I've done today.

Well, my weight right now is 86.5kg. now that I've joined the gym, what is going to happen? Will the pounds start falling off, or will it all be just money down the drain.

Is there an app to try and keep track of what I'm doing?

Day unknown

I haven't had a chance to update this blog because I've been working in a way that I don't really have time to rest and do anything else.

There was a slight surprise to the outcome of this week. I ended up losing weight for some reason. Was it because I was constantly moving from 10am to 1am and then sleep and start the day again? or was it because of the food I was getting fed at the set times. The food was really bad. It was cooked by someone who's lost his taste buds to smoking and I wanted to vomit a few times.

It ended up that my weight is now 83.4kg. I lost about 2 kg over the week.