Taking a Jog Into a Life of Fitness

Before we roll into the main topic I want to announce and show everyone something… I announced a while ago I was considering starting up a gameplay channel. Well forget that we’re putting the gameplay on the main channel instead! Yes I really did not feel like separating everything and running multiple channels. I’m going to organize it into playlists to make it easier to find the gameplay but I rather not separate everything. (Especially when I don’t upload every day.)

We’re starting this gameplay journey with some Mario Kart 64! Yes I dug out my old Nintendo 64 and my original copy of Mario Kart 64 and played some 150cc Grand Prix. In this first gameplay video I’m playing the Mushroom cup and something really crazy goes down, I’m assuming it’s a glitch but you’ll have to watch it to find out.

Don’t forget to leave a like, subscribe and leave some feedback if you liked the video! I tried to get a bit creative with the edit without actually jump cutting in the middle of the race. It’s a work in progress but I enjoyed filming and editing this so I hope to mesh gameplay in with the other videos I have planned. I mean I mesh a whole bunch of topics here on the blog so why not do it on the youtube channel, eh? Let’s get into the main blog now.

I have a lot of interests and do quite a lot in my life but for the life of me I am not fit in the slightest. This all will change starting now because as of last Monday I've started working out. Okay so I've attempted to get into a routine before, two years ago, last year, all attempts ended in me slacking off again which led to aches, pains and chest issues that shouldn't be happening. I'm in my 20s I shouldn't feel like this at all, so I'm kicking myself in the ass again and I'm taking the fitness road once again, third times a charm, right? I sure hope so anyway. I'm a pretty slim guy but for the most part I'm pretty much in the wimpy tier of the tier list.

It's dedication time! (You know... Like morphin time except not as cool.)

I'm actually using these, not just posing for the camera.

For my upper body I'm using these 8 pound weight dumbbells. I know that probably seems light to those who are fit but it's a good place for me to start. I'm able to get that much needed burn down my arm muscles without overwhelming myself. Surprisingly I'm doing better then I did the last time I attempted this. Used to only be able to pull off 20 per exercise but I'm pulling off 40 per exercise so I guess I've somehow improved in my time of unfitness. I'm wimpy today but tomorrow maybe I'll be built enough to go for the Universe championships.... I wish, haha.

Anyway I'm also working on everything else with exercises such as sit ups, jackknife and the dreaded push-ups. Oh boy push-ups have always been my worse enemy. I could never do them properly in school, always ended up doing it the cheat way. Even now it's still the most difficult exercise to pull off for me, I tend to flop out onto the floor if I go down all the way but I'm managing. With a little work I may finally surpass this mortal enemy of mine.

Finally I'm working on that cardio and legs by doing some jogging. I have this sort of goal in mind to be able to jog a mile within 5 minutes. Not sure if that's actually humanly possible, maybe if I get struck by lightning. With this in mind I hooked up my earbuds to my MP3 and set out on a jog. So far I'm able to go 2 miles within 30 minutes which I proved yesterday when I managed to jog 2 miles around my neighborhood. It wasn't my entire neighborhood only a circle but it was 2 miles. I also was not quite able to maintain the jog the entire way, my legs started to grow weary and I had to slow down to a walk here and there but I managed to jog most of the time. Can someone set off a particle accelerator explosion to give me some super speed? Or at least give me some shoes to make me go fast?

Now normally you calculate your steps via a pedometer, which I did but in more of a style that fits me, a Pokemon style. Oh yeah I'm talking about the Pokewalker, which came bundled with Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver.

I've had this ever since I got HeartGold and SoulSilver back in 2010. (I actually had two... but I lost one of them, whoops.) You can send one Pokemon on a route (You can unlock more as you walk.) to the PokeWalker and as you walk and accumulate steps you receive watts which you can utilize in these cool mini games on the actual PokeWalker. In these mini games you can catch new Pokemon (Which varies depending on the route you set your Pokemon on.) or find new items. I recently restarted HeartGold actually so the Pokewalker is a good way to level up my Pokemon... well kind of. The PokeWalker levels up your Pokemon once every walk, meaning make sure you send your Pokemon back to your game and back into the PokeWalker before you head out again.

My life in the fit lane has only just begun so let's hope I keep it up. Maybe this blog will inspire me to keep going... because it would be embarrassing to announce I had given up here on here. I feel really stiff and achey all over but with a couple of months of dedication this should iron out and my health and fitness should improve, at least slightly.

Another goal is to learn how to jog and knit at the same time, that would be a pretty awesome feat in knitting. Speaking of knitting I’ve been doing this thing lately where I find a free knitting pattern related to the main topic of the blog. I couldn’t really find any free knitting pattern that was related to the topic of fitness…. But I did find a supersonic one.

No not the fast food restaurant Sonic with those two guys who always do the commercials, I’m talking the blue hedgehog version of Sonic. He runs fast, I’m trying to run fast, it all works out. This pattern I found is definitely not an easy one, at least not to me. It’s an Afghan Block pattern of Sonic but instead of being just a normal cloth this is a double sided knit designed by Lattes and Llamas!

Photos Provided by Lattes and Llamas

What is a double sided knit you ask? It’s a method of adding a second layer to the back of your project, usually done in contrasting colors. It’s supposed to add a nice thickness and comfort to your project. I can’t really explain it any better then that because I don’t actually know how to knit these kinds of projects. Double sided knitting is on that list of knitting techniques Mum and I need to learn. Regardless this looks really fun to have a go at. It may actually be easy for getting into double sided knitting but I’ve been told it’s a bit difficult anyway.

Photos Provided by Lattes and Llamas

The pattern calls for US 6 needles and some worsted yarn but what I found was interesting was this pattern actually has crochet instructions also. That’s pretty cool, you could actually crochet this pattern too if you wish. That would be way beyond me though, I don’t even know how to knit double sided and I don’t even know how to crochet in general so double sided crochet might fry my circuits. Lattes and Llamas is actually made up of Megan-Anne Llama who handles the knit designs and Jacquline Cappuccino who handles the crochet designs. That's a pretty awesome combo for a team if you ask me.

This afghan block looks pretty great once knitted up, you got Sonic running at sonic speeds and it just looks really awesome in general. You can view this pattern on Ravelry and here’s a direct link to the pattern as well http://lattesandllamas.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/04-Sonic.pdf! Lattes and Llamas (Which is actually made up of a knitter designer and a crochet designer.) have more awesome geeky patterns. Oh boy I really have to learn double sided knitting… There’s a lot I want to knit here. That’ll have to be a wall I have to tackle in the upcoming future.

That’s a wrap folks!

Maybe I'll have muscles on Friday.

I wish.