How I Track 300 Squats

Some of my readers have been asking me how I count  300 squats. It would be too tiring to start from 1 and end on 300! I bet I’d stop at 70+ or something. So here’s what I always do. I Write 30 10’s on a paper and cross out 10’s as soon as I finish them.  This way, you’ll be able to see how many 10’s there are to go. Also a tip for people who are also into the BodyRock 300 Squats Challenge—do not look at your timer. Guarding your time will actually make you slow down even more. My fastest time as of the first time I tried it until this day is 10 minutes and 18 seconds, while my slowest (which is my first attempt ever) is 12 minutes and 48 seconds.

Benefits of squats:

• It will totally give you buns of steel.
• It will sculpt your legs well.
• You will develop stronger leg muscles.
• It can actually trim down tummy fat

I’ve been doing 300 squats everyday and I find it extremely funny how I compete with myself. I hate it when I slow down. Everyday should be an improvement.

Arrivederci!

Workout: (June 11) How to get buns of steel!

June 11, 2011—I did my workout at 12:05AM, which technically makes it my workout for June 12, but I still consider it to be for the eleventh.

Again, I tried my fucking best to beat Zuzana’s time of 10 minutes and 48 seconds on the 300 Squats Challenged but I still failed! I finished 100 full squats by 3 minutes and 20 seconds, the next hundredth ended at 7 minutes and 40 seconds, and the last hundredth ended at 11 minutes and 39 seconds! I finished 300 full squats in 11 minutes and 39 seconds. Still not good enough. You know…I could easily beat Zuzana’s time, but I have to cheat! And you know how well I don’t cheat with my reps and my forms. I shall conquer this challenge (I’m attempting to go at it again tonight, it’s almost 12MD)If you want awesome butt cheeks or just toned buns in general, you should definitely do squats EVERYDAY. Like 300 everyday. Suck it up! You’ll get used to the agonizing pain of not stopping till the last rep. Say helloooo to legs that feel like jell-o!

After doing the 300 Squats Challenge, I did the Run the World Workout

Here’s my score:

Lunges (L)—16, 16, 17 (right leg cramps but still kept going)

Lunges (R)—17, 17, 18

Crazy Cali Exercise Combo—finished 27 reps

Side Crunches (L)—23, 22, 22

Side Crunches (R)—20, 25, 20

My favorite exercise would be the side crunches! Anything that has to do with sculpting the midsection, actually. I know what having a belly full of bulging fat feels like (come on, I was 170 pound before—and I don’t think I’m going to want to go back to that)  I was sweating profusely as always… Took a shower at 1:00AM and slept at 6:00AM. Oh the life I live… and with that I end this post.

Arrivederci!

Pre-workout Coffee: Liven

If you’re a BodyRocker like me, you’d know how Zuzana always drinks her pre-workout coffee. I just wanted to share what I had last night before my workout. This is Liven coffee. Probably the best-tasting coffee I’ve ever had. I actually rarely drink coffee, but I think this brand might change that. This coffee mix doesn’t taste too strong! And from what Mama told me, this coffee has like, vegetables (?) mixed in it. No wonder the powder has greenish grains of something. It would be stupid for me to state the procedures on how to make coffee, dammit. Just wanted to say how I love Liven Coffee. Try it out! Read more about it here.

Arrivederci!

Workout (June 2, 2011) Amazing Abs Workout by BodyRock

Visit http://www.BodyRock.Tv now!

I wanted to go easy on myself for June 2nd’s workout, but I didn’t think this would be too easy. I intentionally started at 11:00PM since the workout will only take 12 minutes. You won’t be able to savor any breaks during Part 1 and Part 3 in this workout. I actually didn’t savor ANY breaks (since I kind of did Part 2 a little different than what was explained by Zuzana—I think I misunderstood.

Part 1:

9 rounds of 10 second/10 second interval (Set Tabata Clock to WORK: 10 REST: 10 ROUNDS: 9)—Kick Ups and Mountain Climber Peaks *Do as many reps as you can during the 10 second interval (kick-ups for the first 10 seconds, and then for the next 10 seconds, do the mountain climber peaks, and then back to the kick-ups and so on.... Really push hard, okay? Especially with the Mountain Climber Peaks—peak as high as you can.

Part 2:

9 rounds of 10 second/30 second interval (Set Tabata Clock to WORK: 30 REST: 10 ROUNDS: 9)—Side Planks (Left Up), Side Planks (Right Up), Prisoner Get Ups *Do as many reps as you can during the 30 second-interval. 10 seconds for rest (and taking down your reps) I actually did this a little different. (Which is so weird) So I did the planks alternately for the 30-second interval and then for each 10 second-interval I did the Prisoner Get Ups! I was like, “Fuck, I can only do 2 reps of this shit per 10 seconds. I must be doing something wrong!” Turns out, I DID do it wrong. Hahaha! Don’t make the same mistake! It should go like this:

• 30 seconds: maximum reps Side Planks (Left Side Up)
• 10 seconds: rest and write down how many reps you finished
• 30 seconds: maximum reps Side Planks (Right Side Up)
• 10 seconds: rest and write down how many reps you finished
• 30 seconds maximum reps Prisoner Get Ups
• …and so on and on until you finish the 9th round

Here’s my record, anyway:

Round 1: 7 Side Planks (Left Side Up)

2 Prisoner Get Ups

Round 2: 7 Side Planks (Right Side Up)

2 Prisoner Get Ups

Round 3: 8 Side Planks (Left Side Up)

2 Prisoner Get Ups

Round 4: 6 Side Planks (Right Side Up)

1 Prisoner Get Ups

Round 5: 7 Side Planks (Left Side Up)

2 Prisoner Get Ups

Round 6: 6 Side Planks (Right Side Up)

2 Prisoner Get Ups

Round 7: 7 Side Planks (Left Side Up)

2 Prisoner Get Ups

Round 8: 7 Side Planks (Right Side Up)

2 Prisoner Get Ups

Round 9: 8 Side Planks (Left Side Up)

*The Side Planks are extremely challenging, I lost my balance a couple of times.

Part 3:

9 rounds of 10 second/10 second interval (same as Part 1)—Plank Jumps and Knee Hugs *Plank position, feet apart, then jump both feet forward; do as many reps as possible and then go down on the mat and do Knee Hugs right away; keep your legs off the ground! Keep it tight! Keep it in! “Hug your knees”.

That’s basically it! I didn’t sweat as much as I usually do when I do the 600 Reps Workout. So I hated this particular workout. Also, I did Part 2 quite wrong, which makes me feel like this didn’t count as a good workout. I vow to stick to difficult workouts starting tomorrow (June 3, 2011)

To understand this workout more, go to http://www.bodyrock.tv/2011/05/31/amazing-abs-workout/

Arrivederci!

Workout (May 31, 2011)

Today’s workout consisted of the following:Lap 1: Jogging + 1 minute cool down walk
Lap 2: Jogging
Lap 3: Biking

Went back home. Drank ice cold water. And did another session of the illegal workout, BodyRockTV’s 600 Reps Fat Burner Workout.

1. Jump Lunge Kick Up—finished in 4 minutes and 17 seconds (pretty slow today because my thighs are freaking broken because of last night’s session)
2. Side Burpee Knee Tuck—finished 60 reps without the arm off the ground come 19 minutes and 12 seconds
3. Super Girl Squat—finished 60 reps come 25 minutes and 16 seconds
4. Diving Knee Tucks—finished 60 reps come 40 minutes and 55 seconds (I DID GOOD IN THIS ONE!!! I pushed so hard like my life depended on it—and now my arms are like uhh…25x closer to that of Vin Diesel’s in the movie Fast Five.)
5. Jack Jump Tuck—finished 60 come 46 minutes and 23 seconds. I didn’t do the tucks! I just did sumo jumps (diving kind of owned me)
6. 3D Push Ups—finished 60 reps come 65 minutes and 47 seconds. THIS IS MY FAVORITE!!! I did 180 push-ups all in all. 3(wide, medium wide, narrow) x 60. Watch the video to see how it’s done. You will feel like The Rock after this exercise! You’re gonna like it—I did!
7. One Leg Jump Up—finished 60 come 68 minutes and 15 seconds
8. Ab Chopper—finished 60 reps come 73 minutes and 51 seconds (feel your booty bounce and zap away those cellulite!)
9. Sumo Twist Crunch—finished 60 come 79 minutes and 04 seconds (I felt so lazy doing the squats, but the thought of a tighter and toner butt kept me going. Come on, who wants cellulite? Not me!)
10. Plank Lift Off—ahh forget this! I modified to doing 60 side crunches instead. Since I love how it defines the ab muscles so beautifully! 30 per side. Finished at 82 minutes and 16 seconds.

Total time: 1 hour 22 minutes and 16 seconds. Add the 30 minutes of jogging and biking, we have 1 hour 52 minutes and 16 seconds.

I survived!

Arrivederci!

Workout 05/30/11: BodyRockTV 600 Reps Fat Burner Workout

Any workout that almost killed me is worth blogging about.

I got carried away with blogging the night of the 30th and finished at 11:00PM. You would think I’d call it a day and go to sleep. But I went outside to do what I do everyday. It took me 1 hour, 15 minutes and 46 seconds to complete the whole workout. I took a shower at 12:45AM, for goodness’ sake. You wouldn’t even believe how many time I cursed that night.

This photo says it all. This is how I keep track of really difficult workouts like this one. Let’s go through it now… So there are 10 exercises and each exercise has to have 60 reps (60 x 10 = 600). Zuzana wrote in her blog that it’s going to be 30’s each, and you have to do it all over again for the next 30’s. I don’t freaking want to do it all over again and I did 60’s each. Let’s see how it turned out. P.S. TIMER RESET ON THE 6th exercise onwards.

1. Jump Lunge Kick Up—basically you start in a lunge position, and then jump to switch legs [to another lunge], and then kick up (as high as you can) *I did 60 reps in 3 minutes and 54 seconds. (Your thighs are gonna get sore like hell)
2. Side Burpee Knee Tuck—down on your hands, do a side plank, do a knee tuck with one hand (of the same side of the knee to be tucked) off the ground; jump back on the center, and then jump up high. *First 10 reps I was like “Fuck”, use the photo above as reference! I finished only 30 reps and the time was already 10 minutes and 07 seconds. I finished all 60 reps come 16 minutes and 3 seconds. (You’re going to be swearing (and sweating) like crazy. Don’t push too hard. Drink all the water you want, really!)
3. Super Girl Squat—do a squat with one leg up, then bring that lifted leg back high, then down on the standing position and switch to the other side. *When I finished 30 reps, the time was already 19 minutes and 10 seconds. I finished all 60 reps come 21 minutes and 45 seconds. This one is pretty easy.
4. Diving Knee Tucks—dive forward, go back, tuck knee L, tuck knee R, back, dive again…and so on. *Oh daaaamn this is probably the most difficult of them all! I finished my 20th rep come 26 minutes and 34 seconds, 60th rep come 35 minutes and 2 seconds. Lemme tell you something about this. Your arms are going to die. Diving is difficult like fuck. You should see Zuzana do it. EFFORTLESS like damnnn. Well I finished all 60 reps, and that makes me happy. When I finished, I realized I have 6 more exercises to do.
5. Jack Jump Tuck—squat position, jump feet apart, close, then do a jump tuck *I wrote 6 10’s on the paper and crossed out 10’s as I went along. I finished 60 reps come 42 minutes and 15 seconds. I admit, I could barely do proper jump tucks, but I freaking tried my best! You should’ve seen me.
6. 3D Push Ups—down on all fours, feet apart, body in line, do a wide push-up, go in center for the medium wide push-up, and finally a push-up with your hands close together. *The diving knee tucks already killed my arms, so I had to modify. I had my feet apart, down on all fours, body in line and did steady push-ups (wide). 6 10’s on my paper. I even drew how my hands were positioned. (see: above) Seems like I didn’t jot down the time for this one.
7. One Leg Jump Up—jump on one leg, keep it low! *Pretty simple, but it’s the “keeping it low” that makes it really difficult. Do 30 on the L and 30 on the R. I finished 30 on my L come 5 minutes and 15 seconds  and 30 on my R  come 6 minutes and 40 seconds. Again, your thighs are gonna buuuuurn.
8. Ab Chopper—down on all fours, jump both feet forward, then apart, then jump (with your hands still on the ground) so your hips go up with your legs, jump feet together, and then jump back. *6 10’s on my paper. Didn’t record the time with this one. I barely jumped high. I literally felt like dying… IT’S THE FIRST TIME I SAW WHITE SPOTS IN MY VISION!!!
9. Sumo Twist Crunch—do a sumo squat (means you go all the way down) then crunch sideward with a twist *I finished 60 reps come 20 minutes and 13 seconds.
10. Plank Lift Off—lie down, arms together shaped like a pistol, legs apart and knees bent, point pistol to your left while crunching up, lie back down, point to the center while crunching up, lie back down, point to the right while crunching up, lie back down= THAT IS JUST ONE REP. Do 60! *I finished come 33 minutes and 31 seconds. It seemed like FOREVER to finish this exercise! You can barely recognize my handwriting on the paper. I wrote the word OUCH at the far bottom left.

I finished this whole workout in 42 minutes and 15 seconds PLUS 33 minutes and 31 seconds—which is a total on 1 hour, 15 minutes and 46 seconds.

I took a shower at 12:45AM. I didn’t have any dinner (it was too late to do so) but I handled it!

That’s all for my workout on the second to the last day of May. Burn, baby, burn!

P.S. I played Britney’s Femme Fatale Album TWICE to finish this workout.

Arrivederci!

GAME ON! BodyRock’s 300 Squats Challenge + Workout 05/26/11

So last Tuesday, Zuzana and Freddie posted a new workout challenge in www.BodyRock.tv It’s the 300 Squats Challenge. Being a person who likes being challenged (workout-wise), I decided to take it. Heck, anything with lunges and squats will surely squeeze the  calories out of you. I am actually starting to think that I’m addicted to the burning feeling in my muscles whenever I push hard. The surge of adrenaline is undeniable. Fucking painful but I just keep on going.

I was feeling extra weak today (May 26) since it’s that time of the month (and some girls might say I’m crazy to workout like a madman on the first day)  To tell you the truth, nothing is an excuse to me when I workout. I don’t act like a pussy and wiggle my way out of a challenge/routine just because I’m a woman. Never.

It was around 4:30 when I started with the challenge. I got my GymBoss App on my iPhone, set it up on StopWatch mode, got a little piece of paper and scribbled this down (see: below)  Heck yeah I wanted to beat Zuzie’s time! Imagine, she did 300 squats in only 10 minutes and 48 seconds. I swear Zuzie is like, Superwoman or something. So you can see I wrote “no cheating, duh!” Because I never really cheat. If there’s one thing I’m fucking serious about—it’s all my workouts.So I figured it would be too dragging if I count 300, 299, 288… Or even 1, 2, 3… What I did was write 30 10’s on the paper and put them all in boxes.

When the time started, I did 10 full squats, crossed out one box, 10 full squats, crossed out one box…and so on. I finished my first 100 full squats after 3 minutes and 56 seconds. I was looking at Zuzana’s time and I was like “I need to finish 200 more in 6 minutes!” And it was fucking impossible (during that time, ‘cause my legs were turning into jello) Reached 200 full squats by 8 minutes and 30 seconds. So I was hustlin’ and trying to speed up without losing my form (which was perfect, I tell you—not once did I cheat during this challenge) But it was impossible to finish 100 full squats in 2+ minutes. I had my last 20 squats and the timer was at 12 min 20+ seconds. Since I saw Zuzie’s time ending in 48 seconds, the OC in me told myself, you have to be done at 12 minutes and 48 seconds! So I worked my ass out and I finished at 12 minutes and 48 seconds…not a minute more!

So I’m 2 minutes behind Zuzana’s time. And I’ll be back to take this challenge once more…

You would think I’m done, right? Nope! I wanted to work on my upper extremities as well. 600 Killer Reps was the initial thought. But then I cut it to 300—leaving all lower extremity-exercises behind. I did:

1. 60 Push-Ups—did them on my knees
2. 60 Crunches with Extended Legs—every crunch felt like torture, but I sucked it up
3. 60 Tricep Dips—Burning triceps should be expected, as always
4. 60 Chest Lifts
5. 60 (30/30) Killer Side Crunches—amazing move, I tell you. Sculpts the abs tight! Like, really tight.

I finished this routine in 12 minutes and 26 seconds.

Workout time total—25 minutes and 14 seconds (05/26/11)

P.S. I got the fucking game on.

Arrivederci!

Almost Midnight Workout, Without Makeup On!

May 24, 2011 I had dinner at 6:00PM which gave me enough time to digest what I had and be ready for a workout in about 3-4 hours afterwards. I got carried away with blogging about an awful lot of stuff and decided to take a break to workout already. It was 11:00PM. I did BodyRock.TV’s latest workout—“Run The World Workout” It’s a 12-minute high intensity workout. I wanted to do this since it will only take 12 minutes so I’ll be done by 12 MD. It won’t be too late; if I do my usual (which is My Buns Hurt + 600 Killer Reps + Zumba) it would take me an hour and 30 minutes—and I definitely won’t take a shower at 1:00AM! It was scary enough to shower at 12MD. Felt like someone was watching me. So my sister downloaded the GymBoss Timer app on my phone and it is freaking heaven-sent! Must admit that it took me 10 minutes to set up. Intervals and all. But it’s totally a big help to my workouts—which makes me so happy I don’t have to spend around PHP 2,000 to buy the real Gymboss Interval Timer anymore. (Although it would still be great if I get one!)All you ever need is a pen and a paper/notepad to record your reps. I study the routine before performing them. Like I do one rep of each and get myself familiarized with the steps. Makes it easier to go along with the workout. I make little notes on my record paper/pad so that I won’t forget how it is done… Just the keywords will do. 3 Exercises, 4 Minutes each:

1. 6 ROUNDS OF 10 REST and 30 WORK Back Lunge, Side Lunge (Left- 10, 9, 9 * Right- 11, 9, 10)
2. 4 MINUTES Crazy Cali Exercise Combo—I was able to finish 25 sets, with perfect push-ups, too! I just realized how much easier it is to push-up with your feet apart, knees off the floor.
3. 6 ROUNDS OF 10 REST and 30 WORK Side Crunches (Left- 16, 14, 13 * Right- 15, 11, 11) Killed my ab muscles! If you ever wanna give up, take a glance at Zuzana’s body (in a non-perverted way), and you’ll be reminded why you’re doing it.

When 12 minutes was over, I felt dissatisfied... I wanted to do more workouts but I guess 12MD is a deadline for me. I shouldn’t really have taken Dyma Burn too! (Look what it has done to me: it’s 6AM and I am still awake)

Well, the reason why I find this workout easy is probably because I’ve done waaaay too much rounds of the 600 Killer Reps Workout and the other torturous workouts from BodyRock. So it always has to be a combination of two torturous workouts. Always.

And as the title said it, here’s a photo of me without any makeup, totally unglamorous, with zits too because I am one stressed blogger, and I have hormones… Taken right after doing the side crunches. And yeah, I workout with my glasses on.

 

Arrivederci!

Pouring Rain ☂ Neutrogena Dinner at MoMo Café ♨ Dehydrated Skin?

May 23, 2011 (Monday) About a week ago, I got an email invitation to become a brandvocate *this means having the privilege to be one of the first to exclusively experience the newest revolution in skincare from Neutrogena* for Neutrogena. The blogger’s event was scheduled on a Monday, and at 6PM. I believe I woke up at around 9:45AM. I managed to blog about recent events and finish my workout before preparing for the said dinner. I performed the “My Buns Hurt Workout” and the “600 Killer Reps Workout”—both from BodyRock.tv as usual and finished at around 4:00PM. It was pouring rain outside by the time I got out of the shower… I prayed that the rain would let up just for that night.

For the said dinner I wore a fitted red dress (which I borrowed from my sister; and I believe, is from SM Department Store), black wedge boots, and a black studded chain bag. Okay, so I borrowed everything from my sister Iza. Hahaha. She has a lot of gorgeous stuff! Shoes, clothes, bags…

Have you checked out her fashion blog and her personal blog yet?

Here’s a little snapshot (see: above) I took before leaving the house. I won’t even deny it, I felt great in this dress! No worries about flabs flapping out or ugly cellulite (not that I’m against all that)—all thanks to BodyRock. I know, I know, I keep talking about how fucking amazing BodyRockTV is. I don’t think I’ll ever shut up about it…and I don’t see any point in shutting up about it, too. Freaking GPS is awesome. The iPhone 4 I won from Jenni Epperson’s blog is freaking heaven-sent! Despite the moderate-heavy traffic, I arrived at the event just in time. About 30 minutes late, but still, just in time for dinner.

MoMo Café looked very cozy. I was led upstairs where the Neutrogena dinner was going on. I was greeted by a long table full of bloggers, and the Neutrogena team. I honestly felt embarrassed since I was a little late, but I was welcomed warmly and was told that I came just in time for dinner. I shook hands and introduced myself to some of the people from the right side of the table, but I honestly freaking forgot their names right after.

Let’s talk about familiar faces!

#1 CAMILLE CO of http://itscamilleco.com/ (far left in the photo below)–she’s from the same high school that I studied in for 12 years (SJCS) She looked freaking gorgeous! I love her makeup that night. I wanted to take a photo with her, but she left early (and my sister told me that it’s because she attended the Maroon 5 Concert)#2 Donnarence Masilungan of http://mylucidintervals.blogspot.com (on the left of Camille Co in the photo above)–when I took a seat at the far end of the table and had the chance to glance at the people around me, this lady smiled at me. So I smiled and looked away. Then after 5 seconds I realized “I KNOW THAT GIRL!” Believe it or not, my brain went crazy searching for her name. I don’t know what came over me, but it took me 10 minutes to freaking remember DONNARENCE’S NAME! When I finally realized it, I looked at her and I finally sent the message that I know her! We actually study at the same university (UST). It’s my first time to meet her! And she looked beautiful! We don’t have a decent photo, though. Donna, if you’re reading this, we owe each other a great shot the next time we meet!#3 Helga Weber of http://blog.ditz-revolution.net/ –the first time I met her was during the launch of Myra’s Newest Endorser. She had red hair then and look how her hair looks now! She’s soooo freaking pretty! She can pull off anything, I swear. I think she recognized me as well, since she mentioned the Myra event when we were chatting with Czar. Czar works for Ogilvy. She’s the one who emailed me about the event. You can’t imagine how sweet she is. She’s super super nice! She’s the only person I was able to get a decent photo together with. And I’m happy I’ll be seeing her again soon!

Let’s talk about dinner… I was able to access UberSocial and Plixi (the net, in general) since the area has Wifi. I live-tweeted and shared the food that we were having one after the other. If you follow me on Twitter, you’d probably know about it. The ambience of MoMo Café, as I’ve said earlier, is really cozy and homey. I definitely liked the interiors and the whole setting in general. We were presented with a list of the dinner for that night. While I was live tweeting, the list made it easy for me to describe what the dishes actually consist of. (I actually brought home a copy of the list since I know I’d be needing it for blogging purposes like right this very moment…am I the only one who did?)Flavored Frozen Iced Tea for everyone. I had the Mango-flavored one, and it was like freaking huge! Could definitely be enough for 2-3 persons! Tasted muy bien, too.The MoMo! Gourmet Salad (roasted garlic shitake mushrooms, candied walnuts, fresh white cheese, sliced oranges, raspberry-balsalmic vinaigrette, arugula mixed greens, hard-boiled egg)—I don’t freaking kid when I say how much I loved this salad! I only had a slice of orange and egg for my first serving, and then the greens came next. I loved the taste of the raspberry-balsamic vinaigrette. It’s weird how I actually heard Julia in my head saying “Bon appetit!” Roasted Garlic Vongole Pizza (fresh herbs, spinach, clams, white sauce, cheese anchovies)—this pizza tasted soooo good! I’m not really into crazy toppings so this was perfect for me. One slice was enough.Creamy Baked Mac Bolognese (roasted tomatoes & spinach, cream, sourdough toast)—nothing extraordinary, I must say. Tasted good, though! Creamy Crabby Seafood Casserole (crabmeat, mixed seafood, double-smoked bacon chunks, MoMo!’s seafood cream, corn, peas & carrots, hollandaise)—since I don’t normally eat rice on a daily basis, I fucking died and gone to heaven when I tasted this. I freaking loved this. Just the thought of how creamy it was and how perfect it tasted makes me wanna go to MoMo! Café again. The rice was so soft…almost kind of melted in my mouth, too! So creamy like you wouldn’t believe.Ube Tres Leches (ube condensada & black sago pearls)—dessert! The black sago pearls were undercooked, really. But this tasted like heaven. Just the right amount of sweetness. The side was covered in some kind of sweet crumbs of whatever…tasted bien bien bien.

Now that we’re stuffed with all that food mentioned, let’s move in to what actually we came to this event for…

The Neutrogena team started with asking questions about skin, in general. Some myths were actually busted during that segment. Let me see if I can remember some of them:

1. Is it true that if you have oily skin, you can skip putting on moisturizer? FALSE!
2. Is it true that ageing skin is only caused by age? FALSE! Ageing skin can be caused by the sun, harmful products, and bad habits!
3. Is it true that drinking water will keep your skin hydrated? FALSE! Why? Well, the skin is the last organ to be distributed with water. Water passes through a lot of organs first before the skin.

So I only remembered three. Well it all boiled down to how dehydrated the skin can get…without us even knowing it. They gave us an envelope containing a list of the things (some of which you never actually thought would) that can dehydrate the skin.

Gabby, the brand manager of Neutrogena (I just have to say how weird it is, that the brand manager of Xenical is also named “Gabby”) showed us a device and explained to us how this thingamajig works. This is actually the Moist Sense—it can detect if your skin is dry, normal, or moist. We were all given the chance to try it out.How it works is basically pressing it onto your skin, and lifting it back up and see what number comes up. In here you will see that I am a 60.

According to the scale: 0-40 is dry, 41-70 is normal, and 71-99 is moistSo I’m normal—but how come my face feels so dry? The answer is because I tick almost all the boxes in that list that they showed us (things that can cause dehydration of the skin). I skimp on sleep, air conditioned rooms, stress…

With all that said, I am very happy and excited to try the new product from Neutrogena that will combat dehydrated skin. What’s even cooler is that I get to give (1) one of my readers a chance to try it out too before the product even launches and gets in the market! All you have to do is go to this link, read it!

On the way home, 14-wheeler trucks scared the hell out of me. And I just have to say this:

1. CAN’T YOU READ? RIGHT LANE MUST TURN RIGHT!!!
2. QUIT SWERVING LIKE A FUCKING ASSHOLE! STAY ON YOUR FUCKING LANE!!!

And then I saw a truck full of chickens!!! Ahhh poor little chickens…They’re all probably dead by now. (sobs)

And then I saw this billboard….I heard Julia again… “Bon appetit!”

Arrivederci!

Up For Muscle Torture—forever

I was torturing myself working out earlier and I told myself it was worth blogging about. I started at 10:00PM—pretty late, huh? Well, it’s built in me this way. The earliest I workout is usually at 8; the latest at 10. I’ll be attending a fitness event in about 12 hours and I wanted to really work my ass last night. I decided to do two BodyRock workouts. Uh-huh, two! I’m that crazy—and I’m glad I am.

First workout: My Buns Hurt Workout

I needed to use the Tabata Clock for this workout. You can download it here. This workout is pure torture for your legs, thighs, and buns—I’m not even kidding. So brace yourself for about 12 minutes (+/- depending on your performance for the 1st and 3rd round) of pain. You see that puking clown right on the side of the timer? You’d be in soooo much tolerable pain that you’d want to punch him in the face—so better not look at all. I always modify the workouts especially if I don’t have the equipment or the move is just too difficult. So here’s the My Buns Hurt Workout…modified:

1. Do 40 reps of this routine—squat, lunge back while bringing both your arms at the back of your head (both hands with 2-pound dumbbells), go back to the squat, then lift the same leg sideward. Alternate the legs. So you’ll be doing 20 each. *By the 10th rep you’d feel your legs burn—but don’t you stop. Just keep going and going and going… I always push for continuous 40 reps. If I somehow need a short break, I stop at 20. ALWAYS HALFWAY. If I stop at like the 19th rep, I punish myself by doing an extra rep. (You’re discovering how crazy OC I am now.) It’s always been this way. Time yourself! So my record last night was 2 minutes and 52 seconds.
2. Second exercise, you need to set your clock for 12 rounds of 5 seconds and 15 seconds interval. So on the Tabata clock, you set WORK: 15, REST: 5, ROUNDS: 12. Just click START. You’ll be given 10 seconds “getting ready” time. And then you’re going to do this for the next 15 seconds: Jump your feet apart, together, apart, then jump high then down to the half squat position—do this over and over for 15 seconds. (1,2,3, jump) Keep your legs in the squat position all the time! Keep it low for maximum results! The next 5 seconds is for your break. It’s not really sufficient, but who said it should be? This is wonderful torture, baby! Suck it up! Finish all 12 rounds. I normally slow down on my 8th round. But speed up towards the end. Feel your legs burn.
3. Third exercise is the one I modified the most—Do 20 reps of this routine: squat, reach for the floor with both hands, turn your body over (position would be your body facing upward), and then kick up 5 times (alternating legs) Kick fast and continuously. After 5 kicks, turn around to the other side and kick 5 again. Finish 20 reps. I finished in  2 minutes and 36 seconds.  Your arms would kind of hurt too in this exercise—so build up those muscles!
4. Last exercise…always the hardest. Set your clock for 12 rounds of 10 WORK and 10 REST. You won’t be resting though. Both 10 seconds are for continuous sweat-dripping torture. Do 12 rounds of this—10 seconds of continuous lunges and then 10 seconds of continuous mountain climbers. Regular lunges, then go down, “climb the mountain”, step your feet rapidly for maximum results. Listen to Britney’s Till The World Ends song—it’s perfect for this particular exercise. You’d wanna go with the tune. I would normally be saying “Shit.” by my 5th round—it’s that’ difficult. But come on, push hard!!! When you finish 12 rounds, fall on the floor and breathe! It’ll feel wonderful!

I hope that was understandable! Go to the link of the workout itself if you want no modifications. So after this workout, I rested for 5 minutes, drank water and then proceeded to my next workout… I was dripping with sweat and the adrenaline rush was undeniable. Second workout: 600 Killer Reps Workout

You just need a regular timer (stopwatch) for this. Just time yourself from start to finish. Continuously. In my case it includes my short dancing in between and my 3-second water breaks. This is called the 600 Killer Reps since you will be doing 60 reps of 10 different exercises.

1. 60 reps of Burpees with Calve Raise*(see:link above) My change in this routine: I don’t raise my calves, I jump high instead—makes it more difficult, but fun)
2. 60 reps of One Leg Push-Ups (alternate legs) I do man push-ups. Knees off the floor.
3. 60 reps of Lunges (alternate legs) Do it continuously!
4. 60 reps of One Leg Jump (lunge back, bring your knee to your chest while jumping) 30/30 per leg.
5. 60 reps of Dead Man Lifts (My modification, I just stand on one leg, then “pulse/pump down” Touch the floor for 30 reps without losing my balance. 30/30 per leg. When I lose my balance, I start all over again. I want it perfect!
6. 60 reps of Tricep Dip (Down on the floor like a table, with your body facing upward. Bring your triceps down while kicking one leg upward. Alternate legs. Your triceps with burn—I tell you! You abs will also be working here.)
7. 60 reps of Prisoner Squats (Put your arms at the back of your head, and start full-squatting.) 60 reps—no cheating! THIS EFFECTIVELY TIGHTENS THE BUNS AND MAKES THE THIGHS LOOK LEANER! YOU WILL LOSE ALL THAT UGLY CELLULITE TOO!
8. 60 reps of Chest Lift
9. 60 reps of Crunches with Leg Extensions (extension of the legs makes it twice as difficult) I never stop whenever I want. I stop halfway—or punish myself with an additional rep.
10. 60 reps of Over the Chair Kick (30/30 per leg; imagine a chair in front of your, and just kick over it)

I finished the whole workout in 26 minutes and 11 seconds.
All in all, last night’s workout took 36 minutes and 59 seconds.
After working out, I hit the shower right away (I don’t believe in pasma) Nothing feels more rejuvenating than a refreshing shower after a great workout! Believe me, it won’t feel like torture when you wake up—maybe a few aches here and there, but you’ll feel strong and sexy and lean! It’s the best feeling!
Move your asses! Those calories aren’t going to burn themselves/self-destruct!
P.S. Compete with yourself. You’re totally going to gain from it.

Arrivederci!