New Running Shoes

Yesterday I got myself a new pair of running shoes. Brooks Beast 12. At a very low price of RM212 including GST. This is considered a very good deal because the RRP is RM499.

I bought it at Paragon Vest warehouse sales at Dewan Dato' Ahmad Razali, Ampang. The sales is still on-going until next week, June 7th.

The pair was the last one sitting there at the rack. I think it was waiting for the rightful owner to purchase it. Amongst all the Brooks shoes on sale that day, the shoes is the only one that's "wide" and under "control" type of shoes. At the size is Euro 42, which is a perfect fit for me although I normally use UK 8 size. I have taken the shoe advisor test online, and the recommended shoes for me was Beast. Definitely that shoes was meant for me.

I gonna use it first time tomorrow in the morning at the gym. Hopefully it will improve my treadmill running stance. And if everything goes well, I'm gonna use it for my first run after Hari Raya Aidilfitri, myMercy 3km run.

30 days squat challenge reboot

Last time I didn't even finished my 30 days squat challenge. In fact, I merely done 3 days of it before quitting. The reason was I injured my right knee during hiking at FRIM and it took me 4-5 weeks to heal it completely.

Now that I at the top of my body condition level, I'm thinking of doing this challenge again. In fact, I will start tomorrow, Monday, 11th May 2015. Hopefully I will able get though this until the end of thirty days.

If everything goes to plan, I will add 30 days plank challenge at the middle of it.

Wish me luck!

JK1M: The end and closing dinner ceremony

Yesterday was the final day of the six week Jom Kurus 1Malaysia Season 4 challenge. The final weigh-in was done in the morning but unfortunately, I couldn't attend it. Not because I don't want to attend it but my right knees was hurt very badly,

It started after I was back from the Friday prayer, the day before. At first I thought my right knee which not in good shape since the FRIM hike few weeks ago just acting up but it was more than that. The whole knee cap was swollen badly. I couldn't even stand properly. It was so painful until my whole body felt weak, got headache and I felt I I'm gonna have a very bad fever. It was so painful until I decided to skip the company's CNY dinner that night. The walk from my office at 4th floor to 3rd basement was excruciatingly slow and painful and so was the drive back home.

That's why I couldn't join the rest of my team mates for the final session. I literally has to hold the walls even to walk to the bathroom. Thank god after eating gout medication and pain killers, the pain subsides until 90% and I was able to enjoy the closing ceremony dinner.

We had a lot of fun during the dinner. Aside from the dinner itself, we were treated into bunch of stage performances, such as karaoke sessions, acoustic singing and dances. There were lucky draw as well, which I'm not lucky enough to win anything.

Overall this 6 weeks was an amazing journey and experience for me. I met a lot of people who inspire me to do better and share the same passion and desire as me. I met a coach, Haniff  Ghadaffi, who taught us a lot especially on how to eat properly and how to train effectively, inspire us to become more active and adopt a healthy lifestyle. Also, I manage to attended the seminar hosted by Kevin Zahari and he opened my eyes on dieting which I've never thought about the able or point of view before..

Overall I've lost a total of 5.2kg from my weight. It's not much but it's quite a feat consider that I'm struggling to lose any weight before this. Even-though it's far from my initial goal of losing 10kg, I quite satisfied because I learned a lot from this experience. My journey actually has just begun, This is just a start. I will not stop until I get into my ultimate target of 88kg. In fact, I might never stop at all because after all, living a healthy lifestyle is a life-long journey that you will carry on until you meet your maker one day, Insha-Allah.

JK1M: Obstacle Race at Taman Metropolitan Kepong

This morning we participated in the last event of Jom Kurus 1Malaysia season 4 event, obstacle race. It was held at Taman Metropolitan Kepong, Kuala Lumpur.

Again, as the Zumba and aerobic event, this was for all the team in Klang Valley but sadly only 8 teams participated.

For us, Wangsa Maju team, we were divided into 3 group since almost 30 of us came today. I was on the 2nd team

The were 8 obstacles station scattered throughout the whole park. The first was burpee and taking 6 kg kettlebells up the stairs. Not much problem here but the next station, we need to jog for almost 1 km. The next station challenge was to carry 2 water container up and down a hill.

At the 3rd station, we need to flip tyres. Again not so much problem but I started to feel the heat. At the 4th station, we need to run with a 10kg sand bag on our shoulder, clean it 5 times and run back to the starting point.

At the 5th station I gave up. Half-way climbing the 50% slope hill, I feel like gonna blackouts. So, I opted out from the race entirely. The next station was bear crawl, duck walk and climbing up the 4 stories observation tower.

The guys of Wangsa Maju troopers

In the end, our team managed to finish at 8th place, while the other two teams got 9th and 14th place.

Before starting the race

Thinking of strategies

Overall, it was a good challenge, eve though I didn't managed to complete it. I was nice to get some workout done with all my comrades together, Hopefully, in the future we will be able to have this kind of activity again.

Solving the puzzles

The beautiful lake scenery

10kg sand bag challenge

Busy taking selfie

Selfie

JK1M: Fitness Challenge

Yesterday was our sixth meet. This time it was started later, at 7.15 AM.

As usual, we started with a light warm up. Stretching and few basic body weight movement such as squat and burpees.

The first workout of the day was a random workout. We're split into two groups and given few set of card. Each card has one or more exercise taht we need to do. So we ended up with burpess, squat, various planks position, jacknife, push ups and so on. We finished the workout with a one lap run on the 400 meters track.

Next workout, we were paired up and need to do 20 squats, 15 burpees, 10 outs and 50 meters sprint. This workouts were too hard ans I still feel tired after the first workout set. In the end, we both managed to do one set each.

The real cobra pose

The last workout was running around the track six times, which approximately 2.4 kilometers. I only managed to complete 5 rounds in 29 minutes.

Cool down tiger pose

After that, it was weigh in session. Too bad this week I didn't managed to lose any weight but instead adding 100 grams to my weight. Maybe it's because I didn't do any workout at all for the whole week except for Thurday morning jogging around the lake at Taman Metropolitan Kepong.

Waiting for turn to weigh in

So, the challenge will end next week on 28th February. Hopefully I can manage to lose at least 2 kg more before the end. Jia You!

Serious face

Freestyle!

Cobra pose

Selfie before eating

Eating time @NZ Wangsa Maju

Shopping Spree: New badminton racquet and shoes

Since tomorrow is the Chinese New Year, I've decided to do some shopping today. Luckily for me today, our office was closed half-day.

First, I headed straight for Mid Valley Megamall. I went to 4 different place, My Pay More, Stadium R, Aeon and Aeon Big but to my dismay, none of them carry them items that I wanted.

So, I decided to go to Pertama Complex instead. Park my car at Maju Junction Mall. Before I headed there, I made a quick stop at the famous wholesale sports shop at the first floor. On this shop, all the items that I want, are on sale there. After browsing the racquets and shoes for few minutes, I headed for Pertama Complex.

There are a lot of shops selling badminton equipment there. Mostly, the price is above RM150 for one, without string and strings service included. As a casual beginner player, I think this price is a bit steep for me, thus I went back to the shop at Maju Junction Mall.

After carefully browsing ad testing, I made 3 purchases. Yonex Nanospeed 66 for RM 79 (with sting included), a RM 18 Yonex badminton bag and a pair of Yonex badminton shoes for RM 59. Total damage was RM 158.

Yonex World Champion '74

Yonex Bag with Dato' LCW signature

Yonex Nanospeed 66

Overall, I'm quite satisfied with my purchase. I will update this post will all the pictures later.

p/s: pictures added

JK1M: Zumba and aerobic party

This morning was the 5th time that we meet officially. This time, the venue was the Pandan Indah MPAJ Hall. The order of the day was Zumba, cardio-kickboxing and piloxing.

Before start

Before start with the coach

This time, it involves all the team in Klang Valley. There are teams from Ampang, Melawati, Setapak, Gombak, Petaling Jaya and our very own team Wangsa Maju.

punch! punch! punch!

The session starts with piloxing. You might wonder what the ef piloxing is. Well it's a combination of standing pilates, boxing and dance. The workout is quite tough and requires a lot of stability and balance. And the instructor is damn ripped also. I think she can take me out with a single swing :P

After the workout pic

Next, we were treated by short aerobic dance routines. Only two songs. The instructor was one of the trainer which I forget what's her name is.

1641 kcal burned!

After that come out coach Salleh from Bukit Jalil team. He's expertise in cardio-kickboxing. The workout was so intense and so much fun. I think he's the best instructor today.

After the workout at the stage I

After that, comes the Zumba part. Two instructors, each for one hour. Half-way doing the routine, I stopped. My ankle was hurting so much and couldn't take it anymore. Furthermore, I could get the dance done properly. Maybe because she never gives instruction through the mic. And maybe also the moves is too much dancing-ish can workout. It's complicated and too many steps.

After the workout at the stage II

After finished all the event of the day, come the weigh in. Alhamdulillah, I managed to lose 1.4kg this week. This bring my total weight loss to 5.3kg overall. It's not too bad considering I didn't workout at all for the whole week because of my injured knee. Hopefully, I can lose more than 2kg next week as there only left 2 weeks for this challenge to be concluded. Pray for my success!

p/s: And if anyone interested, Coach Salleh do a free cardio kickboxing workout at Pudu Ulu recreational park every Sunday, 8-9 AM.

Geonaute ON Rhythm 310 heart rate monitor

I was looking for a heart rate monitor. I'm always curious how much calories I burned when I do body weight workout such as squat, burpee and also kettlebell workouts.

Generally, heart rate monitor is not that expensive, if you're staying outside Malaysia. Too bad here, everything is jacked up compared to what we could get outside, even in the neighbouring Singapore.

Popular brands such as Suunto, Polar and Garmin is out of question. Polar is around RM400++ if you purchase from retail shop. You can get a tad cheaper if you purchase online or know someone to get discounts at the retail shops. Suunto doesn't have official distributor here and I don't think Garmin carries HRM in its product lineup.

So I started my search online. I found out that Casio, the famous watch maker also has 2 model of HRM. The rrp is around RM 350++. Quite cheap but in lelong.com.my, someone sell it even cheaper at RM 280. So I consider this as a potential candidate. Upon browsing further in lelong, I found out there's even cheaper HRM, brand name Geonaute. The Geonaute On Rhythm 310 sells for RM 189 in lelong without shipping. That's dirt cheap. A HRM below RM 200.

After more research on this model, I've found out that this brand actually carried by the popular fitness online store, Decathlon. So I browse into the website and foud out it's even cheaper there, RM 142 only. Adding RM 30 shipping cost, it's still affordable at RM 172.

Without hesitation, I immediately order it. I have made a purchase from Decathlon.my before so I have no worry about this store reputation. Did my order on Monday evening around 7.00 PM and I received it today, around noon. That's pretty freaking fast, considered that it was shipped from Singapore.

As the pictures posted below, you'll get a watch, a heart rate sensor, elastic strap and a thick user manual. Everything look and feels solid and worth the money spent. Just I don't really fond of the watch strap because it's made from a bit hard resin, not soft enough for my liking.

The watch

Packaging box

Contents inside

As for any HRM, you need to enter your age, gender, height and weight in order for HRM to count the calories burned accurately. I did test the HRM. The strap is quite elastic and it's fits snugly across my rib cage. It's like you don't even noticed it's there (or maybe because I'm too fat :P). The watch catch the signal quite fast and can read the heart rate without any issue at all.

Overall, I'm quite happy and satisfied with this purchase. Definitely the best HRM with the amount of money that you paid for it. I give it a 5 out of 5 star rating.

JK1M: Hiking at the FRIM

Yesterday was the 4th time we meet up for the weekly JK1M Wangsa Maju group meetup. This time the place was Forest Research Institute of Malaysia (FRIM) which located at Kepong.

We met up near the mosque at about 7 am but we only started the hiking 30 minutes after that. At first we just walk up to some sort like gravel road. The road is quite big and I think it could fit a car going through it. Even though it was quite easy, for me it's quite challenging because the gradient it quite steep and we climbed up until 150 feet.

Shameless  successful selfie

Then, the hiking became more challenging when we took the turn and climbing towards the canopy walk. It's was tougher than Bukit Gasing which I accustomed to. I think the climb is slightly higher and definitely more challenging than Bukit Gasing.

Group picture before the hardest part

But the hardest part was not the climbing but rather getting down from the top. At this time, I started to feel pains on both of my right ankle and right knee. I managed to get down safely at last thanks to the coach and Arep that has been guiding and helping me. Needless to say, I was to last one getting down the hill. There was a waterfall waiting for us at the end of the hiking track.

Canopy walkway entrance

Next, we need to walk along the forest road that we've been on when we first started and we walked for almost one hour until we're back at the starting point. We couldn't walk any faster because everyone on the last group has some sort of pain on our legs. From the marathon app that I used, I burned approximately 1236 kcal in a 5.30 km hiking which took me 2 hours and 21 minutes to complete.

Group picture after completed the hike

Then the weekly weigh-in session. Maybe because of the tiring hike but I lost quite a lot this week. I lost 2.5kg which brings my current weight to 130.6 kg. Not bad compared to last week. Maybe because I did a weight training 2 times and also I ate little less last week. Anyway I so glads with the results. Hopefully I could lose the same amount on the next weigh-in.

At the picnic site

Picnic

After that we had a nice picnic near the waterfall area. Overall it was a very nice experience and the scenery in FRIM is so nice with all those big trees. Next time, I promise I will come back here with my friend and just chill, rent a bike and enjoy all the scenery.

My new mobile: Microsoft Lumia 535

I need a new phone badly. My current Nokia Lumia 800 has served me well for the past 2 years but it's time to upgrade. The battery is dying and needed recharge twice daily. Answer the phone for 5 minutes will leave the better to almost below 20%.

So I looked around for a suitable and worthy replacement phone. I always wanted to own a Nokia Lumia 735 because of the superior front and bad camera, but at RM899 RRP, I found it a bit on expensive side as I don't have much money to burn. Even though this model was released for few months already, the price hasn't dropped too much. At most you could get it around RM839,

So I decided to look for a budget phone that priced no more than RM500. Among my considered choice was Huawei Honor 3C lite, RedMi 1S. The problem with RedMi is was hard to purchase as it's always out of stock online although the price is quite attractive at RM419 with a decent hardware specs and HD screen. Even though DirectD sell it, it was AP set and the price slightly jacked up so it's a no go.

Next comes the Huawei Honor 3C lite. It's has all the bell and whistle as its' older sibling, Huawei Honor 3C but with lesser 1GB of RAM. I seriously considered buying this as the price is so attractive at RM399 when purchase directly from the online store without any additional shipping cost.

Then came along the first Microsoft branded phone, Lumia 535. Although the screen is not HD, I'm so tempted to get this because of the low RRP at RM429 with extra gifts and getting this won't be needing me to switch camp to Android.

After much deliberation, I've decided to get myself a Lumia 535. From the research at lowyat.net, one shop sells it at the lowest price at RM389 together bundled with Christmas gift set. So yesterday, I went to the shop which located at Digital Mall, PJ. To my disappointment, the seller quoted me RM459 together with bundled CNY gift pack. I'm quite furious at him because he obviously wanted to con me, trying to convinced me the price is up because of the new CNY pack. So everyone, please be wary of Nokia shop located on G Floor, Digital Mall, PJ.

Well, I'm not a waterfish and also as an informed consumer as I know the RRP for Lumia 535 as stated in their facebook is always RM429 no matter which gift pack it comes bundled with. After telling him off, I immediately login to the lowyat.net to check for the price offered by another shop. I'm not sure whether it was my luck but a forumer just posted a sale for this phone for a mere RM320 less than one hour before. Furthermore it was a brand new and sealed unit.

The box

Immediately I sprung into action. Luckily he live in Subang Jaya. So I arranged to meet in in one hour for COD. Thanks to an awesome lowyat forumer (name undisclosed for privacy), I managed to get this awesome phone at unbelievably low price. He said he won it during company event and don't need it because he has an iPhone already.

Gifts included inside

So what I got was a black color Microsoft Lumia 535 with bundled Christmas pack. Free gifts included was:

• Screen protector
• Power Bank 2200 mAH
• Christmas notebook
• Class 10, 16GB microSD card
• Microsoft keychain

This is a one hell of worthy purchase because of the bundled gifts can easily cost you almost RM70 if purchased separately, even if you purchase it at RRP of RM429.

Overall I'm quite happy with my purchase. Now, I can enjoy the true potential of Windows Phone with Windows 8.1 Denim.

Today's Shopping Spree

I managed to get my hand on few sporting clothing today.

The first one is a Kronos brand sport tee. I bought it for RM15 at some Jualan Gudang at Seksyen 16 Shah Alam. A lot of Brooks and Kronos branded merchandise on sale there. Brooks running shoes on sales at RM200-RM250 (Ravenna4 is on sale forRM200, the original price is RM439). The sale will be there until 8th Feb.

 Kronos shirt

Next on this list a three-quarter length Kappa pants. The original price was RM79.90 but I got it for RM39.60, after 50% discounts. The shop was located at the very end of G Floor, Jaya Shopping Center, Petaling Jaya.

Kappa 3/4 short

If not because of my tight bugdet, I plan to go to Genting and shop at Nike Factory outlet there. Too bad, not enough spare money to burn :P.

JK1M: The third week.

Yesterday was the third week meet. Since MSN Setiawanga was closed due to a private event, we met at Taman Tasik Titiwangsa. It was at the ex-Eyes on Malaysia site.

 Fixing my pants before starting to work

This week, we first focus on kick-boxing inspired workout. Since have done this before, it was quite good any fun workout for me. I managed to do all the workouts movement without any major issue.

Contemplating my life...

After that, as usual it's station-based, body weight workout. I was not able to do all the workout properly because of the searing pain on my left ankle. Turned out later that day I did get one of the most painful gout attack ever this and last year combined. It's was so painful until I can't hardly walk and requires me to get a pain relieving injection from the clinic later that night.

Compulsory group photo

The last workout was a run around the lake. Since I had pain in my ankle, I decided to sit this out. After that the weight measurement. I only manage to lose 300 gram from the whole last week which brings me to 1.4kg weight loss overall. I was quite disappointed but I know, losing weight for me is not an easy feat. I will just try harder next week to lose more that 1kg.

Again hope the best for me~!

Damages done today at sportsdirect.com

Got myself a pair of workout gloves and badminton grip from SportsDirect.com at 1Mont Kiara plaza. Few of items on sale here is quite cheap but most of them are not exactly cheap. Most badminton racket on sale priced more than RM100 and those under RM100 definitely the "el cheapo" and not worth your money. Here you can hardly get XL sized clothes and let alone XXL ones.

The gloves will definitely help me next time when we are going to do push-up on uneven surface. And my on-loan badminton racket desperately need a new grip.

JK1M: The 2nd week meet

Yesterday was the second official meet for our Wangsa Maju JK1M group. As usual, I was held at MSN complex Setiawangsa again.

We started the session with a not so light workout. We were divided into 4 groups and there were 4 workout "station" First station was 10 times squat, second station was 15 times push-up, 3rd station was 20 times sit-up and the last station bear crawl for 10 meters. We keep on doing this, station after station until 15 minutes are over. Honestly I din't fare so well because after completed the first round, I can't continue anymore after having upper abs cramp while trying to do the burpee.

 Prepare for "hell"

 Superman and superwomen

Next workout after a good five minutes rest was cone sprinting. I enjoyed this workout so much because I'm quite good at doing something "explosive" such as short distance sprinting. We took turn to do it one after another. Before starting back, we were required to do 20 times of squat. Even though I enjoyed this so much, I only managed to complete only two rounds of it.

The not so yoga pose

After finished the workout and cool-down stretches, it was time for weight measurement. Surely, I did managed to lose some weight but only 1.1kg lesser compared to my last weeks weight. So at that time my weight was 133.4kg. This result puts me as the number one standing amongst the male participant. Although it's good to lose some weight, my journey is still very far as my weight loss was nothing compared to the female participants weight loss,

Stretching after finished the routine

Hopefully I will able to lose more than 2kg for the next week and thus be able to reach my target of losing 10kg in six week. Pray for me and wish me luck!