Halfway through my workout today I noticed I had accidentally worn Portal socks.

#deeply ingrained #time for laundry #who needs matching socks anyways?

See you later, Wheat.

A few weeks ago my super awesome roommate gave me a book to read called Wheat Belly. I’ve always known that reducing the amount of “carbs” I consume is beneficial to maintaining a healthy body weight, but this book BLEW MY MIND.

I won’t bombard you with the nitty-gritty details but I WILL recommend the read. Who knows…it might inspire you to pay more attention to what goes into the foods you consume!

Although I’m not allergic to wheat, the science behind the book has convinced me to back off of the grain quite a bit. It’s worth a try, eh?

If anything, I can make up for the lack of eating bread by getting one of these adorable cuties!

 

Dawwwwwwww. <3

 

 

Finally able to exercise again! Take THAT bronchitis!

Anyway…I needed to start slow so I found an awesome beginner body weight routine over at Nerd Fitness.

It’s an nice mix and the difficulty levels are adjustable.

 

So now I’m feeling…

 

Word.

 

Om Noms

Meant to update more but then I caught acute bronchitis.

Ain’t nobody got time for that.

It put me out for a while and I wasn’t allowed to work out. It’s been strange just…existing. It’s a good feeling when you miss working out.

If there’s one positive thing I can say about being sick, it’s that you really have to pay attention and control what you eat. You need all the nutrients you can get to fight off the sickness, but lack of appetite makes that tricky. Eating poorly also results in worsening the sick conditions.

To replace the workouts I was missing, I hunkered down and cleaned up some eating habits that had gone astray. Still feeling a little out of sorts, but the changes I’ve made to my food consumption have perked me up and given me a fighting chance in times of need.

Take some advice from Sanji:

Nyan.

fhjdksfjgsdk

I’m starting a “new years resolution” early because we shouldn’t have to wait for a specific day to change our lives.

I haven’t been nearly as active in the anime community as I’d hoped upon my return to Canada and my posting has suffered because of it.

I keep a file of writings stashed away somewhere, full of potential posts that are never quite perfect enough to submit. I hold off and hold off and end up writing super long posts every month or so and I’d like to start writing more frequently (perhaps with smaller substance).

Challenge accepted. We shall see, internets, we shall see!

What about you guys? Is there anything you’ve been putting off doing? Go do it! Ganbatte!

Surprise Convention!

So I forgot to post the exciting news I talked about in my last entry! Silly me. The news was that I’d be teaching an Anime Aerobics class this past weekend at Otakuthon in Montreal!!! Woooo!!!

I’m finally back from three days of solid awesomeness and I’m ready for a nap! I promise to post about my epic adventure soon…but for now I will simply leave you with a quote:

“We shouldn’t worry about being able to achieve our dreams, as long as we have the desire to do it!” -Coby (One Piece)

P.S. A big hello to the people I met at Otakuthon who happen to read this!!!

Spartacus 2.0 Review

First of all I just wanted to say, have you been working out? Because you look amazing!

Today’s post is my attempt to give a little review on my experience with the Spartacus 2.0 workout. I recently hit a fitness plateau and felt like my regular regimen wasn’t quite doing it for me anymore. A good way to spice things up is to try new (but similar) workout routines to give your mind a break from the monotony.

Enter…the Spartacus workout!! *explosion*

To start off…I’ve always favored routines that involve rep and set numbers as opposed to timed circuits. This posed as a bit of a challenge for me because the Spartacus workout is done in timed intervals.

I personally felt like I was too busy looking at the clock to give all of my attention to the moves (even when I had a buzzer set up to alert me)…The good thing is that I can always fix that in the future by getting a better watch or better yet, working out with a buddy who can call out the intervals!

Putting that personal preference aside, I found the Spartacus 2.0 quite fulfilling and versatile. I won’t get into too many specifics on how the actual exercises work, but for more information check out the descriptions here!

[CF Note: Yes, it's a Men's Health article; however the workout was created by a woman who seems to have an incredible understanding for the physiology of all genders. So ladies AND gents? Get to it!]

All in all it was a nice little package. The exercises are meant to work your entire body all at once so you don’t have to spend a lot of time isolating every muscle group one by one. It didn’t take too long (roughly 45 minutes for me) and the strength training/cardio aspects were equally balanced. I wasn’t exhausted but my heart rate was definitely elevated!

I need to stress that it’s good to go over every exercise before starting to make sure your posture is correct. Get a feel for the moves and see if any of them make you uncomfortable. I noticed that some of the moves had a medium risk of back strain…but after I slowly tried them out, corrected my posture, and got my bearings I then had no trouble with strains. If you still have concerns about your posture, try searching for videos of the exercises being performed! The internet is cool, yo.

One thing I missed in the routine was an included warm up/cool down. I have a handful of warm ups that I know, but it would have been neat if the workout included a couple of moves or stretches. It’s never good to jump right into the main event. If you’re short on warm up material…I’d recommend taking the first circuit slow, making sure to go through every range of motion properly to a) warm up and b) become familiar with the moves to avoid doing them improperly and risking injury.

Because I’m not a superhero yet, I always modify moves if they’re above my strength or stamina level. When I feel I’ve surpassed the modifications, I will build my way up to the original move. Step by step!

For example, in exercise 2.2, I took out the push ups in the movement. In 2.3 I sometimes hold on to something for balance (to allow proper posture). In the final exercise I do a couple of jump squats, however to protect my knees I do the remainder of the move as simple squats. I strongly believe that although we should push ourselves, we should always work realistically and build up our abilities instead of jumping right into professional athletic moves.

Although I probably won’t make the Spartacus 2.0 my main strength training routine, it definitely helped me get out of my rut and I will continue to use it when I need a change of pace!

That’s all for today my dears. I have exciting things coming up and will post about them soon!

Stay fabulous. <3

May the 4th be with you!

I’m going to sprinkle some magic time dust on this post to make it seem like I actually posted this on the 4th…

It’s sharing time because I like being honest with you guys.
Ladies and gentlemen, I’ve been to the dark side…

…of health & fitness that is.

I mentioned in a previous post that since moving back to Canada, my routine has been…well let’s say it went the way of Alderaan. *EXPLOSION*

Back in February my work load changed as well as my social life.
14 hour work days and incredibly social coworkers did quite the number on me. It was WAY too easy to say “today’s been hard…I’m going to treat myself.” Treating oneself is great!…But during a routine change it’s easy to think that every day is “tougher.”

Before my move I was proud of my heath. It got me thinking: “I’m in shape! A little cheat here won’t hurt, eh? And a little cheat there? What’s the harm?”
The harm, silent as an assassin, was the degeneration of my good habits.

So like I said, I was seduced by the dark side and it was nice for a while. There was power with lack of responsibility but something started to feel wrong.  When I was in better shape I had complete control over my mind and body and since slipping into the dark I’ve suddenly stopped feeling like myself. Trying to put it into words…I stopped feeling comfortable in my own skin. Lack of exercise and poor nutrition choices had come down upon me like a smiting Emperor.

Luckily I have a plethora of Jedi-like inspirations (to name a few: my own ambitions in life, the White Lantern Corps, and generally everyone I’ve met through Fandom Fitness). You guys make me want to excel as a person so, proverbial lightsaber a-swingin’, I’ve decided to face off with my bad habits in Cloud City.

And, instead of getting my hand cut off, I will shed these bad habits as epically as possible!

In anticipation of the upcoming Guild Wars 2 release, I’ve been replaying the original Guild Wars. During one of the missions a character stated:
“You know what I’ve said about sticking to the plan? When the situation changes, get a new plan.”
It’s like the game wanted to remind me of how to deal with a fitness slump! Change things up!

As of yesterday I’ve started a new personal challenge. I’m going to be completing the Spartacus 2.0 workout 3 times a week (look forward to a review!) and I will be tracking everything along the way.
I will be using the scale as a guideline; however I’m more interested in monitoring my strength as well as once again feeling comfortable in my own skin.

So May the 4th be with you, my loves, and remember: We constantly strive to live in balance with both the dark and light sides of life. We aren’t perfect or robots or anything of the like; so whenever you feel like you’ve slipped too far over into the dark, don’t give up hope! We’ve got each other’s backs, remember?

Oldies

I rediscovered these images of splendid geekery during my search for some gallery pics!

They are from my 1st class at A Comic Shop. Needless to say, I spit my coffee out a little and now I can’t help but post some of them.

Gettin’ er dun!

Partway through the class.

BLUH

Gotta love my Janet Jackson microphone.

Striking a pose with our fearless leader!

Group Shot!

Sorry if the quality is a little low. The lighting at the Geek Easy is so wack, yo.

Fandom Fitness Feature #2

Alright guys! Time for another F^3 (Fandom Fitness Feature).

I was lucky enough to have met this month’s victim back when Fandom Fitness was just a wee bud. She’s been so essential and supportive to my project and for that I am eternally thankful. We braved Anime Festival Orlando, EXPCon and Holiday Matsuri together…on top of running classes at A Comic Shop for the White Lantern Corps: Health & Fitness Group (she teaches yoga classes for the group…classes that may include magical transformations and nerdy music).

While I was running around conventions in a dorky Nyan outfit, she was there busting out cool yoga poses in her various cosplays. I consider her a kindred spirit who also believes in the awesomeness of a geek in shape…and I’m 100% certain that if she took an arrow to the knee, she would still be an adventurer.

Long story short, she runs on pure cool fuel.

Ladies and gentlemen:

Fandom Fitness Feature #2

Name and/or Nickname: Lacifur

Occupation: Yoga student and teacher.
Favorite Anime: Detroit Metal City
Favorite Video Game: Silent Hill 2 (PS2)
Weapon of Choice: Bow & Arrow
Limit Break: Death Records President Vrksasana

[CF Edit: Vrksasana is Sanskrit for Tree Pose! Neat-o.]

“Ok, so tell us a little bit about yourself.”

I teach an alignment-based style of yoga with an emphasis on playfulness.  In addition to my studio-based classes, I share yoga monthly at A Comic Shop‘s White Lantern Corps: Health & Fitness Group and will soon begin teaching at various anime/comic conventions.  I started my own yoga practice over 10 years ago and continue to experience the fervent beauty it invites into my life.

“What inspired you to get on the health and fitness train?”

I first practiced yoga when I started college, because it was offered in the campus recreation center.  Asana practice was a gateway to engagement in any physical activity for me, but I have experienced countless other mental and emotional benefits.  I see the entire experience as holistic.  One joy in fitness is our ability to get out of our brains and into our bodies for a period of time.  This can help us see a broader perspective to life and set clearer intentions for our actions.

“Do you ever encounter fitness roadblocks? If so, how do you deal with them?”

I think, like many people, I sometimes get too serious in my practice.  I have learned that if I cannot step back and laugh at circumstances, then I need to take back my practice and not push so hard.  I like to keep my practice juicy and enjoyable. 

“Which anime/videogame character most inspires you and why?

Great Teacher Onizuka, of course.  I want to do 1,000 burpees with him.  And then kick some bullies’ asses.

“Off the top of your head, name an anime/videogame character or series that makes you think of fitness.”

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS2)

“Why are you so awesome?!”

Because I post video game, anime, comic, art, and science-flavored yoga on my Nerd Yoga blog.

[CF Edit: It's so true! *giggles like a schoolgirl with a crush on Leonardo DiCaprio*]

“Any advice for your fellow fitness fans?”

The goal is not ahead of you but wherever you stand in your practice.  See the joy in the process.

“Ok, now say something random to finish this off!”

Ganta cheer!

Lacifur cosplaying as Scarlet. I give this two Nyans up.