What’s the best workout for me?

What would be the best workout for someone wishing to loose weight but having bad knees and ankles at the same time?

I’m 20 kg overweight, have bad knees and ankles; so running is definitely out of the list.

How bad was my knees and ankles? At one time it was so bad that i couldn’t not walk without aid for almost 4 months.

I’ve been searching around for the kind of workout that is suitable for someone like me and I’m seeing a number of success stories with people who do push-ups.

I always imagine that doing push-ups will make your muscle…you know…looks more masculine, more defined; but never that I imagined push-ups as a way to loose weight.

To me running or cycling produce more sweats and therefore i assume that these exercises burn more fat than say like walking and definitely burn more fat than push-ups.

But these success stories of normal people with health conditions able to loose weights with push-ups are something that really intrigued me.

This I have to try.

I have to be honest that this would not be my first attempt to loose weight.

But now it’s more pressing than ever as the extra weight are putting pressure on my knees and ankles and if i don’t do anything drastic soon then these health conditions that i have would escalate to other health issues and they will get much worse.

This is the right time for me to get committed and for this time around I’ll commit to push-ups.

I wont do 100 push-ups a day like many of the videos I’ve seen on YouTube (many of them did a 30-day challenge ie 100 push-ups daily for 30 days).

I just focus on something “small” but not too easy.

So for now, I’ll start with 25 push-ups a day; aided by a chair and commit myself to do this over the next 3 months.

Once I’ve gained strength, then I’ll start doing the normal push-ups with different sets and variations.

My experience tells me that consistency matters. I believe this is the main reason why my past attempts failed.

Hopefully the small incremental helps me get the consistency that I needed for the next 3 months.

Here’s the kind of push-up that I’ll be doing first.

How To Do Push-ups

Image from thegymstarter.com.

I think the aided push-ups like the picture above is a “friendlier” method of push-ups for a beginner like me rather than the one below, mainly because it’s easier to do.

How To Do Push-ups Pic 3

Image from Stack.com.

I definitely will not do this one.

Push-ups pic 4

Image from MadBarz.

I also also discovered slow jogging by Prof Hiroaki Tanaka which definitely make it through as one of my weight loss routines.

This blog will be my push factor.

Hi.

My name is Khalel and I’m committing myself to reduce my weight by doing push-ups and slow jogging over the next 30 days.

Let’s see how it goes.

Which one is better? Dieting or Eat in Moderation?

Here’s why I think the benefits of eating in moderation far outweigh dieting.

Here’s what we normally think what we must do in order to loose weight.

No. 1 put on diet.

No. 2 start exercising.

While No.2 makes sense to all, I mean I don’t think anyone would disagree that exercising would help us shed off those extra fats that we’ve been carrying all these years; I think some of us would disagree or skeptical about the benefits of dieting.

A typical dieting would mean that we need to change the way we eat all together.

I don’t know about you, but to me, changing what I eat also means changing part of the way I live.

I mean, like many Asians, my life would be incomplete without eating rice. On top of that I like roast chickens, steaks and all other good stuff in life.

My typical breakfast would comprise of toast bread, tea, fried noodles and most of the time rice.

So by putting on a diet, I would have to buy different things when i go to grocery, eat different type of breakfast that I typically have and change to the ones recommended by many diet “experts” that typically comprise of fruits, salads and juice.

Then, during lunch I would have to eat something “healthier” also that means more or less the same type of foods i had for breakfast: Fruits, salads and juice.

Then repeat almost the same type of ingredients for my dinner.

I know I’m exaggerating with my examples here. But i believe you know what i mean when I say that you’re changing part of your lifestyle when you put on any form of diet.

In other words, I no longer enjoy the meal I have.

Yeap, I would be ok for few days but after that you’ll be yearning to go back to your own life style. The true you.

This is why my previous attempt to loose weight doesn’t work.

Simply because I diet and by that I had changed what I eat and by doing that I had also changed the way I live my life.

Some of you may agree with me especially those who had tried loosing weight by dieting.

The best alternative to dieting, in my perspective is eating in moderation.

Why?

Because we don’t change what we eat and therefore we are not required to change our lifestyle according to the recommended meals and diets.

By eating in moderation simply means eat when you feel hungry then stop just before you feel full.

What this means is that if you feeling hungry 3 times on a day then you’ll eat 3 times on that day.

To the extreme, say you feel hungry 20 times on a day, then you’ll eat 20 times on that day.

BUT each time you eat, you eat in moderation. Eat only when you feel hungry then stop before you about to feel full. This what eating in moderation is.

Off course it goes without saying that eating junk would do you no good. This is true regardless we on diet or not.

And by eating in moderation, I also mean eat what’s healthy to us.For instance, less salt, less sugar, mix it up with vegetables and chickens or meat and to meat off course with rice as well.

I’m going to put this “eating in moderation to the test”. I will not put on any type of diet, instead just eat in moderation for a period of 1 year and off course together with slow jog and some push ups on daily basis.

Let’s see whether I able to loose 20kg by August 2022 (1 year from now).

All the best to me and also to you who striving to loose weight.

What is Slow Jogging?

Slow is the new fast? This is slow jogging and many claim it helps you work out longer and therefore burn more fat. But what is it? Does it really works?

Updated: 2 Aug 2021.

I was scrolling down YouTube for tips on how to do push ups and then i noticed a video in Japanese that show you how to do slow jogging properly.

A slow jogging?

In that video Prof Hiroaki Tanaka was teaching a lady on how to run properly and then recommending to her that if she wishes to burn more fat she could do it better with a slow jog.

And also that her running form would be better if she uses a running shoe with a flat base or thin sole vs normal running shoe with cushion because the ones with thin soles would make her run more naturally.

As i see it, the main idea behind slow jog is not to exhaust you too early as compared to jogging at a faster pace. So the longer you able to jog, then you get more workout time and therefore you’ll be able to burn more fat.

Make sense right? Yeap. It does makes sense to me.

Slow Jog Prof Hiroaki Tanaka

Prof Hiroaki explains further to keep our steps short (almost walking but at a slightly faster pace) and that there is no need to run fast (make sure you jog at a slow pace).

If you’re short of breath, that means you already running faster than you should and that you are not doing slow jog.

Also, if you’re not able to talk while jogging, then that also a sign that you are not doing a slow jog.

Lastly, we have to be conscious of our forefoot landing.

If you like to know more about slow jog and highly recommend that you watch videos by Prof Hiroaki. Just head on to YouTube and type “Slow Jog”.

They also have a website called Slow Jogging International with a snail as its logo. How appropriate.

As for me, I’m excited to practise this running style for the entire year and see whether it helps me to loose weight.

Well, I’ve got nothing to loose.

If an aged person able to run longer with this style of jogging, imagine what it can do to me.

So now I have 2 weight loss routines: Push-ups and slow jogging.

Update:

I had been doing slow jog for almost 3 days now; with each day consists of around 30 minutes slow jog with a distance of about 150 meters.

So total distance covered as of today is about 450 meters.

Not bad for a person who has not been working out for a very long time and with bad ankles and knees.

The main reason why I still able to jog and walk properly (i expected my conditions would prevent me from continuing further after Day 1), in my opinion mainly because of the nature of the slow jog itself that is slow pace and therefore not putting much stress on my ankles and knees.

I intend to continue further.

Wish me luck.