[872] Exercise Update

Due to the sudden surge of record breaking new Covid-19 cases, my wife and I had decided to stop going out on morning walks. Now we're back to working out at home, and I decided to not do my previous HIIT/Tabata routine.

The reason why I chose not to do that was because I was gassed when I tried to do my usual four cycles. I only made it up to the start of the second cycle before stopping. So I decided to try other forms of exercise that involves kettlebells.

I saw some good videos on youtube about kettlebell complexes that I used as basis for my new exercise. It's still taxing and so far the most I can do is three sets, but I'm hoping I can improve the quality of my motions and eventually increase the number to four or five.

Each set (or cycle? complex? circuit?) usually involves doing 10 goblet squats, 10 swings, 10 deadlifts, and 10 kettlebell upright rows (at least that's what I will call it). My goal is to do maybe four or five of these everyday. I take at least a one minute break after each set.

It is a totally different experience versus going around walking. Also it's disappointing for me to stop walking because I've already gotten back to my old pace of around 9:50 to 10 minutes per kilometer. Working these kettlebell exercises involve totally different muscles and a different kind of stamina. Still, at least I'm exercising.

Stay safe everyone. Out.

[871] Hand Washed Underwear

 I recently started hand washing my underwear every night, before taking a bath. I started this a few months ago as a form of me time, as well as to do something that can help take my mind off of things I normally think about.

I stopped for a few weeks because my hands were having a reaction to the soap I was using. However I started this again when I discovered some holes in one of the newer briefs I got. They said it might have gotten snagged in the clothes line. Being the miser that I am, I didn't want to spend again for new underwear when I just bought some six to nine sets of briefs so I decided to hand wash them again.

After washing them I just leave them in the bathroom to dry. It takes around two night to get one brief to dry.

Why am I writing about this? For some people washing clothes, not just underwear, with hands is a very common thing. I've been very lucky that I didn't, and don't, have to do this. As I'm getting older, however, I feel that I should have more life skills that I should have developed when I was younger. I had an easy life growing up and honestly I just wish I was a lot more mature then.

Out.

[870] The End

Just like that February is almost over. A lot of things have happened this month for me, and the biggest of which is that I started going on morning walks again.

I'm trying to re-build my habit of doing at least 3 kilometers every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Just this past week I was able to succeed on this. Hopefully once I get used to going on walks every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I'll be able to get myself to go back to doing my HIIT/Tabata workouts on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Why Tuesdays and Thursdays? Well I figure I can do cardio three days per work week and for the remaining two days I can use it to do the light kettlebell weightlifting.

Also these past two days or so the weather has been really, pleasantly cold. I keep saying how by March things will start to heat up so, again, I keep telling myself to savor these last few days of nice cold mornings.

Out.

[869] Walking

 After almost one whole year I finally did another three laps around my usual walking route earlier this morning.

It has been very challenging for me to get back to working out, and the high intensity interval training I was doing wasn't something I was looking forward to. I decided to finally stop making excuses and try walking around the subdivision in my usual route I used to take.

Of course I was wearing a mask because the pandemic is still around. I was initially worried about any difficulty of engaging in strenuous activity while wearing a mask but it wasn't really bothersome. It was more bothersome that my feet and calves weren't used to the strain and pace that I used to have.

I managed to average around 10 minutes per kilometer during my walk. It was around twenty to thirty seconds off one of my last walks around March last year. I believe I averaged around 9:37 per kilometer then. Today I think I was around 10:05 per kilometer. These stats are off of my adidas Running app. I was able to do one more set of 10:01 per kilometer last year before stopping totally because of the quarantine and the lockdowns that happened.

It felt interesting to go walking again. My calves were aching during the inclined climbs up some of the streets but I was happy that I was able to push myself to a pace I was happy with. Wearing a mask was almost a non-issue except for the times I was breathing through my mouth and the smell was noticeable when I breathed through my nose.

Will I continue walking again? Most definitely. Summer is closing in and the earlier sunrises, coupled with the hotter weather will drive me to wake up earlier and hopefully have no excuses to not exercise. The dark early mornings and cooler weathers during these past few months were really not conducive to me working out.

My plan moving forward will probably involve going on walks on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Tuesdays and Thursdays will be my HIIT/Tabata sessions. I can do four five-minute cycles that involve 8 20-second workouts, 8 10-second rests, and a minute recovery per cycle. I usually do two cycles of cardio, usually jumping jacks, kettlebell swings, and running in place. Then for the other two cycles it's either a combination of deadlift variations and bent over rows, or squats, lunges, and calf raises for the third cycle. For the fourth it's either shoulder exercises or biceps and triceps exercises. All using one or two twenty-pound kettlebells.

Consistency has always been a big issue for me with regards to working out. I had managed to drop to 86kg during the middle of 2020, but gained weight and am now hovering between 87kg to 89kg. As I wrote before, this is nothing serious because that is usually my trend in weight. I lose, gain, hover, and find the inspiration to lose again.

Out.

[868] The Weather

 The weather has been great so far. However I can already feel the warmth of summer slowly creeping in. And it's not even the end of February yet!

Ever year that passes I start to savor the cool evenings and early mornings that start around November and end around March. I dress appropriately so I don't get sick but I also make sure to appreciate the fact that I don't need to turn on my electric fan. That I don't need to sleep shirtless, and that I can sleep a bit longer because of the cool weather.

Once the summer heat hits in the tropics, it's "over." You go to sleep sweaty, you wake up sweaty. Electric fan is in steady mode and maxed out.

Out.