Shoveling snow!

Since our 'snowmaggeden' we have supposedly experienced, J has been shovelling the snow as his superintendent duties. He would come home to a drive way loaded with snow, sigh and grab the shovel in acceptance. The first time he shovelled, I quickly jumped inside to keep myself warm. After an hour by myself, bored as heck.. I decided to go out there to entertain myself. I quickly finished a few minutes afterwards.
A couple of days later, as snow was falling to the ground, J took the shovel once again. I decided to stay outside with him while I smoked my cigerette and do what I do best: supervise! I could tell it was heavy work as he huffed and puffed, pushing, lifting this 1 day old heavy snow across the drive way. As courtesy, I decided to offer help and of course, he took it. After 10 mins, I couldn't take it anymore so he took over. I knew shovelling snow was hard work but not as I hard as I thought it would be!

J shovelling snow while I kept him entertained

Yesterday, (after yet another snowfall) the snow once again returned. The boys were too much in a rush to get to their superbowl party to shovel any snow. As I returned to home, the driveway was packed with snow. My friend, C, and I had organized a homework day to work on our projects. I knew she would be wearing heels (we planned to do a photoshoot) so I didn't want her to slip and slide down to her skinny and fragile knees. I decided to shovel the snow.
Let me tell you, it was friggin' hard work! Thankfully to Body Break, they gave tips on how to properly shovel snow without breaking your back and straining your body.
I took the tips. After an hour, I could feel my legs burning. My shoulders felt like I was doing pure weight lifts.

It felt like I came back from the gym

Because I couldn't make it to the gym during the weekend, I thought that this was a good source of exercie.. and it's only outside of my house!
I wanted to really see how much snow shovelling would work as a workout. I found many sources indicating that shovelling snow is a really good source of cardio and weight training!

Only 15 mins of snow shovelling counts as moderate physical activity!

Can you say score!!! Just imagine, I shovelled snow for more than hour!

Warning: many sources have also mentioned that snow shovelling is the cause of heart attacks. Yep! Because of the sudden cold air the body emerges itself in, one's heart rate can be greatly increased in a short period of time. Your breathing can be shortened, adding strain to your body.
Not to worry! Below are tips on how to avoid such problems:

• If you have heart or back problems, shovelling snow is def not for you!
• Like any other work out, warming up, stretching, and cooling down is neccessary!
• If you need to, take breaks!
• Remember, lift with your legs (like doing lunges and squats. Imagine your shovel as weights); concentrate on your shoulders and back when throwing snow (and biceps, triceps will follow!)
• do not twist while throwing snow. Throw snow in front of you. This is how many people can strain their backs
• dress warmly! I usually bundle up but end up taking a layer off through half of it! (gloves are very neccessary!)
• break up ice with your legs. Well this one is my persoanl tip to you. J uses his arms to do so because he has strong muscles. For me, I use my legs to go real deep!
• Push, not lift snow across. I usually push the snow across the driveway to one pile (or one row) then throw it on the lawn. I'd repeat for all rows.
• I lift with as much snow as I can. Don't over do it.

I think I'm the only one looking forward to shovelling snow. Regardless, if you can't make it to the gym that day, shovel snow... and if you're really good at it, you can also start a business! lol

heart facts

When I made the dedication to take charge of my own body a few years ago, I consulted my bf (who, back then was actually sexy and fit) about some exercise tips. (Mind you, I used to be a size 1-2 when I was back in highschool so working out for me was new when I gained weight. ) He indicated that the most important thing I could do is to monitor my heart rate. Increasing your heart rate will determine the intensity of your work out, to determine if what you're actually doing will affect your body in a healthy way.
Of course, I took this piece of information very.. heartedly (LOL) and used it as a guideline for my workouts. As you may know, there are different zones of heart rate:

Above is a chart of where your heart rate is supposed to be. Personally, I try to aim for the cardiovascular performance because I'm burning as many calories as I can as well as increasing the strength of my lungs and heart.

I have to admit though, I am a smoker and if you're a smoker, don't be discouraged from achieving these heart rates. Even though I am a smoker, I find that I can still breathe as well as other non-smokers but I am working more than them as well. And because I am a smoker, my endurance is short lived than those of non smokers - another reason why I try to stay in this zone. Anything higher or anything lower will not benefit my body.

Something quite interesting happened yesterday when I was on the elyptical : I usually put my iphone on house, reggae or soca while doing my cardio. Yesterday I put it on shuffle. I've noticed that my heart rate significantly dropped when I was listening to slower songs even though I'm going the same pace and intensity. I shared this experience with J, he mentioned that that's why I should always focus on what I'm doing. He has always stressed the fact that some people merely focus on their exercise and are just moving their legs, thus not getting anything from their workout. He said that even though you're at the same intensity with a slower song than a faster song, your mind and body works the together.
I thought this was quite interesting and looked up how music can affect one's heart rate. This morning, I googled "heart rate music affects." I've found that many sources have mentioned that universities concluded the tempo of your music greatly affects your heart rate. The most interesting part is that the perference or type of music chosen doesn't affect it at all; it's the tempo and beat that does.

Just thought I'd share this with you because... well, I find it quite interesting. You can control your heart rate by the type of music you choose while working out :)

Number 5

This is my second last term of my program =S and yes, I am scared. Next semester, I'll be off to internship for half of it and hopefully I'll stabilize myself with a full time job. I'm in desperate need of a full time... especially because I owe J 5 years of financial support lol
Right now, I'm getting ahead of myself...Let me start with this:

In semester 5 (my current semester), I have a class that is dedicated to my portfolio. I'm quite grateful that I have someone that can guide me through this process. Unlike other programs, I find that they don't quite help students individually to develop and present this piece of yourself to potential employers.
Last week, I showed all of my good stuff to my coordinator. She liked most of it but gave me two assignments I can work on: an interactive magazine (SURFACE magazine will be the one I'll be redesigning) and a photography poster (a poster that I have something in mind).
Currently, I think I just "discovered" my personal logo. I think it's very me (the colours I chose) but most importantly, I think it works well artistically and conceptually.
We had to display our logo concepts for class critique. I have to admit, I think mine looks the best because of the concept I had in mind. Other girls did the usual flowers and cursive shit... and while the guys did the usual whateverness. With mine, I think it's... clever. Exactly what I want to show to my potential employers.
I'm also currently designing my personal stationary, business card and envelope. My stationary will involve my resume... I brought my laptop to work to work on it and I have to admit, today is the day my creative juices are finally flowing!!! (hopefully I don't lose it after I'm done typing this)
On top of that, I'm currently doing a flash website... something I'm gonna struggle with but hopefully it won't be too frustrating.
Other projects I'm currently working on are:

• ad campaign for zipcar - 3 billboard concepts, a mail-in flyer and a catalogue
• distillery district re-id - a logo, wayfinding, and poster

The logo for the distillery district was a bit hard for me to come up with... especially because the current one truly characterizes the district anyway.

So far, i'm very much enjoying the projects we're working on. I think this is what I've been waiting for for the past 2 years.