Hectic year so far

It's been a while because it's been so busy. After a relaxing start of the year things are in full swing now.

Earlier this month my dad went and done some routine medical check ups and found the issue with his prostate to be getting worse. For the first time his PSA levels went above 10. He consequently had an ultrasound done which confirmed the enlarged prostate, which has "heterogeneous echotexture," which the doctor believes to be cancerous. He will go and get a consultation done in about a week and then a biopsy done a few days later so they can take samples of the prostate and confirm for sure if it's cancer or just a benign enlarged prostate. We're hoping and praying it's not cancer but either way something needs to be done about it.

This past week I started a new secondment role at work and while it is non stop busy I am loving it so far. I am working as a Real Time Officer in our Workforce Management team. We manage the call centre queues and rostering. It sounds easy enough but it sure gets complicated a lot of the times!

Two nights ago Nate's dog got really sick suddenly and without going into too much detail Little passed away. It was so sad. She was such a cute and good dog and as strange as it sounds it feels a little empty and strange without her. It's amazing the way animals or pets can have an impact on one's life. I will miss Little.

I've been back at the gym these past two weeks as well. No weights though, just cardio until I get a little motivation back I guess. I went to the doctor last week and she said I had high blood pressure (the first ever for me) so I am hoping exercise fixes that too.

That's pretty much the last little while. I am really wanting life to just slow down a little and no more bad news or events. I don't think I can take any more!

Squats and Lat Pull Downs

I love waking up sore the day after a workout because it makes me feel I did something right lol.

Yesterday afternoon I worked my leg (frontal high and hip) and lats. As always I was paranoid about doing compound exercises with bad form because I don't want to hurt myself but I think I did pretty well with my barbell squats yesterday.

Barbell Squats

Bar (8kg) x 5 reps

15kg x 5 reps

17.5kg x 5 reps

20kg x 5 reps

20kg x 5 reps

25kg x 5 reps

25kg x 5 reps

Lat Pull Downs

10kg x 10 reps

20kg x 10 reps

20kg x 10 reps

20kg x 10 reps

20kg x 10 reps

20kg x 10 reps

I rested today and probably wont work out again until Friday as I'm pretty sore but love this feeling!

Deadlifting

I had my first workout of 2014 at Nate's Gym. The plan was to do some deadlifting and squats but I only managed to get through deadlifting as I was too exhausted to continue after. I'm not sure if it's because I didn't eat enough to give me the energy that I needed, if it was just too hot (because it really was!), if it's because I did one extra working set than normal, or because I haven't really done it in a while, but it was a lot more challenging than I expected.

Deadlift for core strength

3 min rest after each working set (first 3 are warmups)

18kg x 5reps

20kg x 5 reps

25kg x 5 reps

30kg x 8 reps

30kg x 8 reps

30kg x 8 reps

30kg x 8 reps

30kg x 8 reps

I think i will keep working with the 30kg weight for a bit to ensure I'm lifting with proper form. I noticed that when I'm a little fatigued my left knee would begin to twist on the way up, this isn't good and will surely lead to injury if I don't correct it, or go heavy too soon.

Nathan had a tough time of his own and felt quite ill in the middle of his workout, to the point where he thought he was going to throw up. He thinks it may have been caused by consuming a double dose of his pre workout supplement. He too didn't complete his workout to schedule.

Also it was really really hot today!

Praying Mantis

 This picture of the Praying Mantis was taken with the Canon Ixus 230 HS point and shoot camera. It was on automatic mode.

I had a play with Photoshop afterwards to see if I could get the Praying Mantis to stand out a bit.

This is also the first time I've mucked around with Photoshop.

The Lion King Musical

Nathan and I had a lovely time seeing The Lion King Musical at the Capitol Theatre last night. The opening scene was definitely my favourite and Nathan said he liked Scar the best.

Funny thing is I had gotten confused and thought we were meant to go Saturday night instead of Sunday night. On Saturday night we got to the venue and most things were still closed and there weren't many people milling around.

 I asked the lady at the souvenir counter what time they normally open the doors and she replied "Oh at least 30mins before the show, so not for a while yet". I looked at the time and it was 6:17pm (the show was meant to start at 6:30pm), so I took out the tickets to confirm and that's when I realised I made a big mistake! Hahaha!

Instead of going home straight away we stopped by at Newtown and had dinner at the Thai Pothong Restaurant so we still made a night of it. In the end it was lucky me, I got 2 date nights in a row!

"Do what you can"

I'm not really welcome to workout with Nathan in his home gym anymore due to my constant complaining and fickle commitment to training, and because I lied and said I was at my gym when really I was drinking iced chocolates at Starbucks.

I'll be honest, I was pissed off when this all happened, and was annoyed because I really do like spending time with him at his gym, a place that gives him so much happiness.

Not being able to work out with him sucks but it's okay because Kai Greene says in one of his videos, "You do what you can".  I can do it on my own if I have to. Sure it will be a little harder now but I'll use this as motivation instead of feeling sorry for myself.

So earlier today I completed a shoulder workout in my bedroom! LOL

Shoulder Press - 4 sets, 4kg x 15 reps

Side Lateral Raises - 4 sets, 2.5kg x10 reps (I struggled and had bad form, need to drop the weight)

Front Raises -  2.5kg x15 reps, 2.5kg x 15 reps, 2.5kg x 13 reps, 2.5kg x 10 reps

Bent Over Rear Deltoid Raise - 4 sets 2.5kg x10

Bicep Curls - 4kg x 12 reps, 4kg x 15 reps, 4kg x 12 reps, 4kg x 15 reps

Womanly Pushups - 1 set x 8 reps

I've still got my membership at Anytime Fitness so when the Christmas break is over I'll head over use their machines again. It's a lot easier than the free weights in my room!

Source

New Year's Resolution for 2014

I'm keeping the new year's resolution a lot simpler this year to increase my chances to achieving them

1. Waste less
2. Get healthy
3. Take more pictures