Coffee Lam's advanced level workout challenge - FAIL

Yes you didn't see the blog post title wrongly - CY has failed the workout challenge. I was on track by completing Day 1 and Day 2 challenge (and felt like dying after that). However, I was intimidated by the 55 minutes full body cardio for Day 3 challenge, and I started looking for excuses to not proceed with Day 3. The fact that I actually GAINED 1kg further demotivated me from taking up the tough challenge - no obvious results seen after pushing myself out of comfort zone. Rationally, I am aware that I am facing weight loss plateau and daily body weight fluctuation could be contributed by numerous factors including diet and sleep (and it's actually just 1KG... Not a tremendous weight gain). 

But you know..... Human beings would behave irrationally at times. Weight loss is one of the measurable results for exercising and not achieving that even after adjusting the intensity of workout is discouraging. Being unmotivated, I skipped my exercise routine for 2 consecutive days, convincing myself that I was overwhelmed by work and required more rest time. Interestingly, I felt uneasy for not working out and just wasted my time on phone. It felt so incomplete if I give up half way without attempting the remaining workout challenge. My friend who maintains a workout routine every two days told me this happened because workout has become our habit, which is a positive sign! 

After 2 consecutive rest days, I made a comeback and proved that my guess was right - I couldn't complete the Day 3 challenge. I gave it a try but was unable move on with the second cardio video due to low stamina. I admitted that bothered me some time as I was unsure if the workout was too challenging or just me not putting enough effort as per last week. Upon reflection, I recalled my first attempt of the cardio video - my heartbeat rate accelerated insanely, I couldn't finish most of the steps that involve jumping and I had to take few breaks in between. I might be unable to complete the 55 mins cardio workout, but this didn't undermine the fact that my stamina is slowly improving. 

With the mixed feeling of me failing to complete the cardio challenge and me actually had achieved a small improvement, I continued trying out the upper body workout challenge, which went pretty well! I decided to try completing the cardio workout at the day I tried out the full body workout challenge, but unsurprisingly failed because I couldn't even survive the 45 minutes full body workout challenge! 

Allow me to explain - the Day 6 full body challenge was made up of 2 crazily difficult workouts. The first 30 minutes full body workout was a record of Coffee Lam conducting a live stream workout. Probably excited to have someone to workout along with her, she was being unreasonably excited and accelerated her time counting! (It's actually immensely tough to even follow her normal time counting, so please imagine how deadly we are with her abnormally faster time counting... Girl you need to calm down) The latter 15 minutes full body video workout has an extremely high intensity level as the workout flow is designated to achieve a quick fat burning effect within a short interval, hence needless to say, it's full of jumping aka my nightmare! I vividly remember my first attempt of both videos - being out of breathe after few minutes. Therefore I didn't push myself hard and unexpectedly, I managed to complete the second video! 

The above well concluded me struggling with completing the advanced level of Coffee Lam's workout challenge but eventually failed. The experience of failure allowed me to understand my weakness in terms of mindset and physical ability. Being perfectionist, failure used to have traumatic impact on me and had stopped me from stepping out of my comfort zone. As time goes by, I realized failing always happen no matter how hard we attempted to avoid it. We gonna learn (forced) to embrace failure and recover from failure. 

Admitting my failure openly in my personal blog (although not known by many people hahaha) is one of my way to accept recover from my failure. The journey of building a healthy lifestyle through exercising is not ended (I haven't achieved body weight loss yet!), and I had customized a Coffee Lam's workout challenge for myself! It involves more cardio and full body workout as I still hope to get shredded. I am also planning to try other YouTubers' workout challenge, considering either Pamela's or Chloe Ting's.

- Wear black when you workout as it's a funeral for your fat -

Completed Coffee Lam’s intermediate level workout challenge

I couldn’t believe I survive it! Intermediate level workout plan did sound daunting, especially some of the videos would definitely not my pick if I am allowed to decide my workout routine. Nevertheless, the purpose of following a workout schedule is to try more varieties of workout at different fitness level. Repeating the same workout routine could cause our bodies to adapt to the stress over time and results in weight loss plateau. To yield more favourable workout performance, stepping out of my comfort zone is the key. Hence, I’m amazed at me being courageous to challenge the workout videos as I thought I would give up halfway! 

The following are the videos which I was afraid of but yet decided to give it a try last week: 

1. 12 min High Intense HIIT Workout 

I have 1 simple rule when deciding my workout video - whenever I see “intense” or “HIIT”, I ignore! (Probably one of reasons why I love Coffee Lam’s workout videos - lower intensity) HIIT workout experience could be unpleasant due to my low tolerance level and rapid heart rate. Besides, weak people like me hate jumping in workout. Therefore, when trying out this video, I tried not to force myself completing the workout perfectly and I realised that I couldn’t sustain the steps for an extended period of time. To improve my muscular tolerance, I would consider incorporating HIIT workout into my routine in future. 

2. THE BEST 10min PLANK WORKOUT for full body burning 

I never knew I could do plank because it sounds like only a shredded man can do it. After beginning home workout, I become more familiar with planking as most of the workout videos include plank exercises with variations. Plank is arguably one of the best fundamental exercises. Without moving much, plank engages our whole body and burn a lot of calories. Due to my weak core muscles, my first attempt for this plank workout video only lasted few minutes. This time, I tried watching Kpop performance videos while holding a plank to distract my attention and fight the idea to surrender. Not sure is my distraction technique working or my endurance level has improved - I completed the workout! This achievement was totally unexpected and I hope this is not something that only happened once. Keep improving!

3. 20min Slow Abs Workout Challenge

Building abs is one of the common goals for girls to workout. But not for me as I find abs workout hurts more than the other workouts and I dislike the abs muscle soreness after the workout. To get abs, it requires a combination of cardio and abs workout to lower fat percentage. Hence, it’s easier for me to see effects of workout on my other body parts, unfortunately not abs. Therefore, this slow abs workout challenge wouldn’t be my normal choice and personally I reckon slow workout is more challenging as it takes more effort to control my muscles. Anyway I still did it and I sweated so much without much movement and jumping. I assured you that it felt so good at the moment I completed the final step, but not when I was trying out the steps. Perhaps it’s time to not skip abs workout to train my core muscles. 

4. 15min Back Workout 

Back exercises do sound easier than the other workouts, yet underrated as girls tend to focus on body parts that provide the most obvious slimming results. Strengthening back muscles could prevent injuries and improve posture to make our appearance more attractive. Surprisingly I struggled a lot throughout the back workout, most likely because I always neglect my back during workout. Strengthening my back should become my workout goal in future too. 

5. Get the splits in one month 

You wouldn’t believe me screaming more while trying out this stretching video than the intense workout videos! I had a common myth where it’s impossible to get splits if we don’t start training from young. In fact, adults can stretch consistently to improve flexibility and get splits, provided that they are willing to put effort into it. Although getting splits is not my goal as of now, I do recognise the endless benefits of practicing splits. While watching the video, it looked like another stretching video to me until I really tried it — GOSH WHY HAMSTRINGS SO FREAKING TIGHT! My tight hamstrings had prevented me from completing the steps, and this would be something to improve gradually in future. 

Tomorrow onwards, I will start another round of Coffee Lam’s workout challenge at the advanced level! Let’s see if I could survive! Fighting! 

Completed Coffee Lam’s beginner level workout challenge

Small achievement today — I have completed Coffee Lam’s Workout Plan for beginner level! Coffee Lam is my favourite online fitness instructor and she has changed my perspective on workout. During my teenage years, I deemed exercising as a crucial self torturing activity to take off weight and maintain a lean body shape. However, Coffee Lam’s sharing of her body transformation experience has taught me that exercise isn’t meant to fix imperfections. Workout could be one of the best self care gifts to ourselves which leads to a more disciplined, healthier and happier life. 

I started home workout since MCO 1.0 and I usually picked the workout videos myself instead of adhering to a workout plan. Back then, picking up home workout as new habit was still an thrilling idea. A day without hearing Coffee Lam’s voice or touching the yoga mat would make me feel uneasy. My home workout routine was disrupted after I embarked upon my working adult journey. Working became the best excuse to skip workout — there are more relaxing and interesting pass time alternatives, especially when we were allowed to get out of our home! 

To stay active, I resorted to walking around my neighbourhood or park. Being outdoor is a more pleasant experience — I could enjoy fresh air, leafy park, breathtaking sky and the warmth of sunlight on my face. I never felt so alive and relaxing during the pandemic. I even participated in my firm’s KakiJalan contest to motivate myself to walk more!

However, the spiking Malaysia’s COVID cases had made appearing at public spaces a high risk activity, albeit the intention of me leaving my home is to exercise and build a healthy lifestyle. As we are back to a new version of lockdown (MCO has a new brother — FMCO!), home workout happens to be the best method to stay physically active. I reckon following a workout plan would be more motivating this round as I’m always overwhelmed by reluctance to workout when I was choosing workout video. Besides, a well structured training plan works out our different body parts on different day to avoid overtraining and provide better rest for our muscle. I’m used to incline to emphasise on full body and leg workout, which could be exhausting and demotivating if I am planning to incorporate  home workout into my routine. 

Hence, I decided to take Coffee Lam’s 2021 workout plan as a challenge during this FMCO. Her workout plan consists of 3 levels — beginner, intermediate and advanced. I kick started with the beginner level as I recognise that start small is the correct technique to build habit (Just like how I recently started writing short Chinese blog posts to resume blogging). In fact, the beginner level workout isn’t as easy as it sounds and has indeed made me sweat like crazy! 

In comparison with the other workout videos, the beginner level is less intense, involves lesser jumping and more detailed guidance (the more she explains, the more rest tome you get!). I have taken this opportunity to improve my breathing and correct my posture during exercise. Proper breathing and posture sound uncomplicated but they are actually essential in minimising injuries and muscle strains. Hopefully this helps when I challenge the advanced level. 

So new start for tomorrow — intermediate level! Never give up!