Crunch, Pump, Run

I am grateful, thankful that I'm consistently implementing my weight management plans. I've been dieting religiously and working out four to five times a week. I have been feeling the results. I want to jump for joy when I weighed in almost two weeks ago. I am right on track of losing one to two pounds a week. I get commendations for it. I am really motivated doing my exercises. Three activities I added in my gym sessions.

One is doing the reverse crunch. Boy, this is hard, at least for me. I have been doing this for two weeks now. I can manage doing up to 30 by this time, 4 sets with sit-ups in between.

I recently included body pump in my gym activities. Wow! That really stretched me. From Les Mills Global, "body pump is the fastest way to shape up and lose body fat. It’s a toning and conditioning class with weights and is for just about everybody who wants to add strength training into their aerobic workout".

And another milestone, for nearly three weeks now, I've been doing interval walking/running in the treadmill.

Funny because when I read the running for beginners module, I chuckled noting the instruction to do a ten minute brisk walking and then followed by a 30-second run. 30 seconds? 30 seconds only? Why 30 seconds only? That's easy! But I learned of course it wasn't easy. I panted a little. I increased the 30 seconds to a minute and I reached the maximum heart rate which is not good at all. I decreased the speed but increased the time I run. My heart rate didn't go ballistic anymore. Now I'm up to a minute of running every five minutes on a 30 minute treadmill interval run. My goal is to run continuously for 30 minutes even at a lower speed and incline at least 1% to 2%.

I took my running to the next level. Maundy Thursday night I joined two of my friends for a run at the UP oval. I understand the oval is about 2.2km. I was able to run two and a half circles of the oval. That's a little over five kilometers. Whew! It wasn't all running but good enough. We did brisk walking and walkathon in between. Still, that felt good! I want to do it more often.

One of my goals is to join a fun run soon. I will, I will. So help me, God. :)

***Picture used is from Getty Images.