Fitness Journal #10 - Before and After

Warning : This post contains images of myself TOPLESS. If you find the idea of me topless extremely disturbing, STOP READING NOW. I WARNED YOU.

I repeat, stop reading!!

Ok la I'm actually shy. Please don't laugh at my skinny body k.

[S] Fitness Journal #9.5 - Voluntary Spotter

A very short entry about something that happened in the gym today:

I was doing my sets at the bench when this big (not muscular, just bigger than me), timid-looking guy asked to share the bench with me. After his first set of 5, he began to stop at 3 reps for his next 2 sets, clearly struggling with his 2nd and 3rd rep.

I wanted to offer to help him spot his 4th set, but I was scared/shy so I didn't... then I saw him struggle to only 3 reps again on his 4th set. Then I couldn't take it already.

"Hey, do you want me to spot for you?"

-shyly smiles and shakes head- "It's okay..."

"I think you can do 5 reps. You're stopping at 3 reps because you're afraid you can't lift the weight again right?"

-he nods timidly, and mumbles something about his brother usually accompanying him-

'I spot for you, you go for 5 reps. okay?'

- he nods again-

So I proceed to get into position behind him, and spotted him for that set - with some help and me going 'COME ON. PUSH! ONE MORE! PUSH! LAST ONE! PUSH! PUSH!' etc, he managed to push his way through 5 reps, and I could see the look of accomplishment flush on his face as he appreciatively mumbled 'thanks' and offered to spot for my next set which I declined cos I wasn't doing my max.

Deep inside, my heart glowed too at having helped someone else accomplish something he didn't think could be done.

Fitness Journal #9 - Pet Peeves

I am quite the newbie at gymming, having only started gymming 2 months+ ago, but being the bitchy judgemental observant person I am, I already have some pet peeves in the gym.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400"] From cartoonstock.com[/caption]

The Dark Knight Climbs a Well

Today I went to watch 'The Dark Knight Rises' for free, because of some SAFRA competition that I won. Pretty easy contest, just email them saying that you want the tickets and presto! They replied saying 'Congratulations! You have won... etc'.

I must say, the show was pretty draggy and confusing, and seemed to be filled with plot holes. The movie was about 2 hours 45 minutes long and many scenes felt pretty redundant or draggy. And I was relying on the Chinese subtitles for many parts to try to decipher what they were saying in their try-to-act-cool-mumbling, and given how bad my Chinese is it doesn't always work. I'm going to give my interpretation of what was happening for the movie below... spoilers ahead! Don't read on if you don't want to be spoilt for the movie!

Union Camp 2012 !

Union Camp ended less than 24 hours ago (I started this blog post 24 hours after UC, but it took me a few days to write + waiting for photos) , and I have A LOT of things to blog about in this post so it's going to be abit wordy I think? And lolol I realized I bitched about the councillors abit in my pre-UC post so dunno if I'll want them to read my blog. Oh well we'll see.

Fragility of life

Yesterday, one of my church friends fell out of a window in her home and... died.

What? Yes, she died. She was only 17.

Pre Union Camp

As I'm sitting here less than 24 hours away from the start of UC (probably less if you include Day 0 which starts today),  I can't help feeling a sense of underwhelmingness (if such a word existed). There is none of that pre-camp hype that I felt for Arts Camp, and I'm almost leaning towards the 'not-looking-forward-to-this' feeling.

It will be the first time I'm going for a camp where I know almost NOBODY since... O Week? Well on the plus side I know one of the councillors and one of the freshies, but it's a whole different dynamic when we are in a new group of people who are unfamiliar with each other.

I don't even know whether the OGL+Councillors are a fun batch, it seems really tentative and uncertain - the OGL only wanted to make identities for the freshies TODAY, on Day 0 -_- We haven't even finalized WHAT exactly the identity is. And he said to meet at 9AM, to which only 1-2 people said they can't make it so early (myself included) until last night, when suddenly 3-4 other people said they will only be coming at night / late afternoon. Dafuq?? Couldn't they have said so earlier? So now I'm not sure how many people is even going to be there with him at 9AM to THINK about what identity to make and start making them. And whether they will finish it in time. Guess I'll find out later.

 

I'm not in the best of conditions too - I'm still nursing a cough which had plagued me for weeks and escalated to epic proportions last Thursday and forced me to go see a doctor for medicine. It is a lot better now for sure, but I'm definitely in no state to be shouting cheers. Hope it goes away completely tomorrow.

And so. Goals I have for this camp? I don't even know. If you asked me 3 weeks ago when I signed up for this, I would have said 'To have fun' and to 'Make many new friends!' but now, my energy level is just so low that I don't know if I'll be able to accomplish those. I'll try I guess. For myself.

 

Fitness Journal #8 - How to be a Spotter

Any serious gym user (when I say serious I mean someone who really wants to progress in his lifts and build muscle and goes regularly, 3x a week or more)  will know the importance of a spotter.

For the unfamiliar, a spotter is a person who watches over you when you are lifting a weight, and helps to support/assist you when you need help. For example, when doing a bench press, the spotter stands behind you with his hands below the bar as you lift, and if you're struggling he will assist you.



The biggest reason why you kinda need a spotter is when you are lifting something heavy and you're trying to go all out - you don't want to be caught under that weight with no way to get it off if you fail to lift it.

The feeling is actually quite terrifying. You feel stuck, trapped, and helpless because you have used up every bit of energy in your arms to try to lift the weight. Of course, there's a way to get out of it (roll of shame), so it's not like a GG you're-screwed scenario.

[Dream] Sand Sculptures and Carrying People

This is another one of my dreams. You can find the rest under the 'Dreams' category on the right --->
Or http://alanzdreams.blogspot.com/ for older ones.

Fitness Journal #7 - Body parts

This entry is going to be me talking like a self-absorbed narcissist, so please don't read it!