I'm still eating badly (think: buttered fried rice, bacon and cheese subs, Speculoos crepes, chocolate-covered polvoron...) but I've gotten rid of most of the bad stuff in the fridge (- and stored them in my thighs for extra energy) so, hopefully, I will be better behaved next week.
Except that that damned pizza delivery is just a phone call away, isn't it?
Unfortunately for me, weight loss is still primarily determined by diet more than exercise, isn't it? As was recently reiterated in the news. Which will explain why, in spite of all my efforts, I am still .5 kilos above my regular weight, which means that I am .5 kilos heavier than when I started this blog. Geezoos...
As I said though, strangely, I seem to be more comfortable with my body the way it is now than I have been in a long time. Could it be that I am just getting lazier (- how is that even possible???) and that I am merely coming to terms with a new normal?
Or maybe I'm really just hotter now?
All I know is that - I really, really want to eat another crepe right now.
Fine. I'm going swimming. Here's what I did the past week.
Note: Wednesday to Sunday (14-18 August): Swimming - 30 laps
Monday, 19 August:
- Kundalini Yoga (Radiant Boy Kriya and Meditation)
- Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred*, Level 1 (two-kilo dumbbells)
- Swimming** - 30 laps
Tuesday, 20 August: (overnight in Surigao)
- Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred, Level 1 (1 liter water bottles)
- Lots of junk, two cans Red Horse, lots of smokes
Wednesday, 21 August:
- Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred (three-kilo dumbbells for rows, curls and flys only, two-kilos for everything else)
- Swimming - 30 laps
Thursday, 22 August:
- Zero exercise
- Approximately half a bottle of rosé, half a bottle of white, 5.5 bottles Pale Pilsen, lots of smokes
Friday, 23 August:
- Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred, Level 1 (three-kilo dumbbells for rows, curls and flys only, two-kilos for everything else)
Saturday, 24 August:
- Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred, Level 1 (three-kilo dumbbells for rows, curls and flys only, two-kilos for everything else)
- 3 x 20 reps kettlebell swings (16 kilos)
- Swimming - 30 laps
Sunday, 25 August:
- Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred, Level 1 (three-kilo dumbbells for rows, curls and flys only, two-kilos for everything else)
- 3 x 20 reps kettlebell swings (16 kilos)
- Swimming - 30 laps
***
*I appreciate the 30 Day Shred's Level 1 more now that I know how difficult Level 2 is, which I am completely dreading, by the way...
However, I am still doing the push-ups at my own pace and I do hand-release push-ups, CrossFit-style.
I also still hate the side lunges with arm raises. By the time I get to these, my shoulders aren't too happy anymore, so I concentrate on doing the side lunges correctly and only lift one arm per raise. Sometimes, I go with the same-side arm as the lunge or, sometimes, I raise the opposite arm. Yes, I like to live dangerously. <winces>
**I should have upped my laps to 30 a long time ago. Now, my arms and shoulders are finally registering something close to an ache at the end of my sessions.
Recently, I've been researching techniques to improve my crawl, a.k.a. freestyle, and I was already working in the closed-fist drill and the thumb-to-thigh drill into my laps, when I came across a set of videos from Karlyn Pipes (- according to the YouTube info, she is a "Masters Swimming World Record Holder, National Duathlon winner, and [a swim] coach").
In "Technique 5: Exiting the Stroke to Improve Freestyle Swimming Efficiency", Pipes talks about exiting the stroke early, way before the arm is fully stretched backwards, which is a direct contradiction of what the thumb-to-thigh drill is all about.
I've been trying to practice Pipes' method but, because I swim alone, I have no idea if I am doing it right. Sometimes, I get so caught up in the details (stretching the arm forward, keeping the fingers loose, pulling downwards and fanning out early) that I forget to breathe. But I think I am going faster and I do feel the pull in my lats, which I am not so sure I am happy about.
In another video, "Common Freestyle Mistakes in Swimming" by iSport, they say that it is a must that a swimmer rotate the torso, while Pipes, towards the end of the "Technique 5" video, cautions against the over-rolling of the torso and says that emphasis should be on the reaching or stretching of the arm instead.
Since I only watched Pipes' video last Tuesday, when I was in Surigao, and got to try her method three times since then, I'd like to continue with it to see if I become more efficient in doing the crawl.
It's a good thing my internet connection in Siargao is so slow that it is almost impossible for me to look up any more swimming videos on YouTube, sparing myself further potential confusion.
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