Fitness Galore

I recalled very well those times whenever my PT coach would ask me to run... those hard times that I used to hesitate. I hated all of those PT sessions which involved the cardio exercises such as the 100 meters run, the 400 meters rally and the 4x400 meters run. To be honest, I'm never such a fan in those sports or athletics stuff. In fact, I hated them so much, that I decided that my life would be honestly, far better off in eating and dumping, which explains the very well known fact that I soon developed a grave reduction in effort tolerance over the primary and secondary school years. I could hardly push through 100 meters within 20 seconds which is somewhat a poor record in average comparatively with other participants (students).

These angst of fitness being leveled as way beyond par made me age quickly and the lack of exercises ran the course through my college, university and working years (as a house officer). I became more chubby, grew old faster, get mad quicker and grew a central obesity without a doubt. Getting out of shape, falling into anxiety rapidly was something that I had gotten so used to it that to remedy those things were beyond help. I never thought of improving myself up till the point when I was offered the position as a cardiology medical officer. Life in and out as one of these medical officers is indeed filled with that fear as you are being put as a frontliner seeing all those young individuals (some as young as early 30s and late 20s) suffering from a once old age lifestyle disorder - the ischemic heart disease. But most of which are attributed to smoking, those sedentary lifestyles would hit the hardest at the late 30s and mid 40s whereas those who combines all of the above with a lack of exercise is bound to develop several atherosclerotic plaques early on.

Having to succumb to the disease, fatalities from heart attack is without a doubt hitting more than 80% and is still the number one cause of death worldwide beating motor vehicle accident victims, oncological diseases and chronic lung diseases making them look like child's play. But the better part of ischemic heart disease is that it is preventable by putting away with them cigs as well as hitting the gym by doing loads and loads of exercises. It was that particular stance that got me addicted to exercising and I've never stopped, to be sincere, from exercising. In fact, I love it so much, that I even got myself into toning. Shape-shifting from a central obesity guy to a muscular frame body was something that I thought was a once far-fetched idea once, but then again, what's more of a far-fetched idea when I am having one of those frames now? Better still, I'm not going to stop until I reach the extreme of becoming even more leaner (my dream of having a six-pack abds). Heh heh... well, till then it's just talk.

These two pictures below are evidently something that I would have never dreamt of doing it for the past 25 years of my life. Oh and they are true pictures and not photo-edited, and I didn't leave the treadmill running by itself whilst I capture the photo right at that very end, so don't think along those lines. These are true efforts k?! =P

The Alor Star Gym - running for 30 minutes non-stop, achieving a distance of 4.26 km, burning off 222 kilocalories with a progressively increment of incline by 1 point at an interval of 5 minutes. The machine here is a bit old so the calorimeters a bit out in sensing. My speed was in between 8 to 9.5 km/H...

The newer machine in Celebrity Fitness, running for 65 minutes non stop after taking a protein bar, achieving a distance of 8.39 km, shedding off 778 kilocalories with a progressively increment of incline by 0.5 point at an interval of 5 minutes each (reaching a max of 5.5 gradient). My average speed was between 8-8.5 km/H. Didn't want to strain too much on the speed coz right after that, I had another hour of toning with my trainer on the legs. Yeah... can't really walk now... feeling exhausted but great! My next target would be running on the treadmill for 2 hours non stop, but I will do that on a different day when I am free and on leave, dang! Setting my personal record... I am in love with cardio exercises!

My resting blood pressure in January 2009 (before I started exercising) was 135/89 mmHg (with a resting heart rate of 88/min) putting me at pre-hypertensive levels according to the guidelines; but 6 months into intensive exercise, my lowest resting blood pressure as of June 2009 was 98/65 mmHg with a heart rate at 45/min. Now that's what I'm talkin' about! If I can do it, so can you! So go! Hit the gym!! You have to do so coz your Cardio MO sez so... =P