Work Day Gym Session 27/02/2009

Work Day Gym Session 27/02/2009

I got into the gym at 6:30pm and got off about 8:30pm, total time spent in the gym = 2 hours.

My workout routine is as follows:

Front squats:
4x15 @ body weight

Elevated pushups + Dips (Super-set):
4x15 @ body weight (pushups)
4x15 @ body weight (dips)


10 mins on exercise bike @ resistance level = 10
10 mins on exercise bike @ resistance level = 12
10 mins on exercise bike @ resistance level = 14
5 min on exercise bike @ resistance level = 8
* Resulted in 200 calories burned and 5.5 km cycled.

10 mins on crosstrainer @ resistance level = 10
10 mins on crosstrainer @ resistance level = 12
* Resulted in 220 calories burned and 1.8 km brisk walked.

Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway

I have completed this game, Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway quite awhile ago. This game was significantly different from normal batch of first person shooter as this game requires some tactical decision as opposed to running around and shooting everything in sight.

The setting of the game is our usual World War 2 in Europe, still fighting the Nazis. The graphic engine used for this game was the Unreal 3 Engine. Unfortunately there were no options to set AA and AF within the game.

Here are some screen shots captured while playing through it:

1. Loading screen before every mission


2. In game cutscene, Barker on the jeep with his team mates


3. Another in game cutscene, both of them feeling happy during peaceful times


4. At the start of the game, walking towards a farm or barn.


5. In game cutscene of a church in Armsterdam


6. A large windmill that can be used for recon purposes


7. One Nazi shot in the head at the church


8. Whose shirt is that? Oh, it's Frank and he is in the hospital with that lady


9. In front of a hospital with a female dead body


10. Hiding myself behind the fence with a pistol


11. Spying on someone, probably talking about tactics?


12. Chasing after one private who gone mad and heroic


13. Finally some rain while fighting the nazis


14. A nice small lake


15. My Sherman Firefly tank going thru another farm


16. I am definitely gonna blow up the other tank


17. Managed to blow up a 88 without getting a scratch


18. Tank in the trainyard


19. Final showdown against the nazis


20. Taking cover behind burning foliage


21. Finally, the ending of Brothers In Arms



My take on Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway, a decent game in terms of singleplayer. Hence, I give it a rating of 8.5/10 score.

Pros:
1. Good atmosphere, great graphics.
2. Intuitive controls.
3. Play great on lower end PC like mine.

Cons:
1. Routine, feels the same throughout the game
2. A bit on the short side

Work Day Gym Session 26/02/2009

Work Day Gym Session 26/02/2009
I got into the gym about 6:45 pm and got off the gym about 8:15 pm, total time spent in the gym = 1 hour 30 mins.

My workout routine as follows:

5 mins on inclined strider @ effort level = 10
* Resulted in 51 calories burned

Barbell bicep curls + Skullcrushers (Super-set):
1x12 @ 10kg for warm-up (biceps)
1x12 @ 10kg for warm-up (triceps)
1x6 @ 20kg (biceps)
1x6 @ 20kg (triceps)
1x6 @ 25kg (biceps)
1x6 @ 25kg (triceps)
2x6 @ 27.5kg (biceps)
2x6 @ 27.5kg (triceps)
1x6 @ 30kg (biceps)
1x6 @ 30kg (triceps)


Dumbbells bicep curls + Triceps overhead extension (Super-set):
1 (2x12) @ 9.09kg per arm, total = 18.18kg for warm-up (biceps)
1x12 @ 18.18kg for warm-up (triceps)
1 (2x6) @ 11.36kg per arm, total = 22.72kg (biceps)
1x6 @ 20.54kg (triceps)
1 (2x6) @ 12.5kg per arm, total = 25kg (biceps)
1x6 @ 22.72kg (triceps)
1 (2x6) @ 13.63kg per arm, total = 27.27kg (biceps)
1x6 @ 31.81kg (triceps)
2 (2x6) @ 15.90kg per arm, total = 31.81kg (biceps)
2x6 @ 34.09kg (triceps)

Pulley - fixed weight + Tricep pulldown - fixed weight (Super-set):
1x12 @ 20kg for warm-up (pulley)
1x12 @ 10kg for warm-up (triceps)
1x6 @ 25kg (pulley)
1x6 @ 20kg (triceps)
1x6 @ 30kg (pulley)
1x6 @ 25kg (triceps)
1x6 @ 35kg (pulley)
2x6 @ 30kg (triceps)
1x6 @ 40kg (pulley)
1x6 @ 35kg (triceps)
2x6 @ 45kg (pulley)

10 mins on inclined strider @ resistance level = 10
10 mins on inclined strider @ resistance level = 12
10 mins on inclined strider @ resistance level = 14
5 mins on inclined strider @ resistance level = 8
* Resulted in 325 calories burned and 2.6 km brisk walked.

I think the fats of my tummy is getting lesser by the day. However, I am required to hit the gym yet again tomorrow. As such, I will be doing a recovery gym session tomorrow. My recovery gym session includes 3 bodyweight exercises and 1 hour cardiovascular session.

Work Day Gym Session 24/02/2009

Work Day Gym Session 24/02/2009

I got into the gym about 6:45 pm and got off the gym about 8:15 pm, total time spent in the gym = 1 hour 30 mins.

My workout routine as follows:

5 mins on inclined strider @ effort level = 10
* Resulted in 51 calories burned

Barbell shoulder press + Dumbbells shoulder fliers (Super-set):
1x12 @ 20kg for warm-up (shoulder press)
1x12 @ 9.09kg per arm, total = 18.18kg for warm-up (fliers)
1x6 @ 30kg (shoulder press)
1x6 @ 11.36kg per arm, total = 22.72kg (fliers)
1x6 @ 35kg (shoulder press)
1x6 @ 12.5kg per arm, total = 25kg (fliers)
2x6 @ 40kg (shoulder press)
2x6 @ 13.63kg per arm, total = 27.27kg (fliers)
1x6 @ 45kg (shoulder press)
1x6 @ 10.22kg per arm, total = 20.44kg (fliers)

Dumbbells shoulder press + Lat pulldown - fixed weight (Super-set):
1x12 @ 11.36kg per arm, total = 22.72kg for warm up (press)
1x12 @ 19kg for warm-up (pulldown)
1x6 @ 13.63kg per arm, total = 27.27kg (press)
1x6 @ 25kg (pulldown)
1x6 @ 17.04kg per arm, total = 34.09kg (press)
1x6 @ 35kg (pulldown)
1x6 @ 19.32kg per arm, total = 38.63kg (press)
1x6 @ 40kg (pulldown)
1x6 @ 19.32kg per arm, total = 38.63kg (press)
1x6 @ 45kg (pulldown)
1x8 @ 23.86kg per arm, total = 38.63kg (press)
1x6 @ 60kg (pulldown)

Squats (full):
1x12 @ 20kg for warm up
1x6 @ 50kg
1x6 @ 55kg
1x6 @ 60kg
1x6 @ 70kg
1x6 @ 80kg

Leg extension - fixed weight (drop-sets):
1x12 @ 20kg for warm up
1x6 @ 30kg
1x6 @ 35kg
1x6 @ 40kg
1x6 @ 50kg
1x6 @ 60kg

10 mins on crosstrainer @ resistance level = 10
10 mins on crosstrainer @ resistance level = 12
10 mins on crosstrainer @ resistance level = 14
5 mins on crosstrainer @ resistance level = 8
* Resulted in 290 calories burned and 2.3 km brisk walked.

I think I did quite badly for the cross trainer as I was mentally and physically fatigue from doing the squats. Nonetheless, I am proud that I managed to hit the gym eventhough I really did not want to for today. I will pull my usual body weight exercises and 1-hour long cardiovascular session tomorrow.

Weekend Non Gym Session 22/02/2009

Weekend Non Gym Session 22/02/2009

Although my parents and my sister were not around on Sunday, I woke up early enough to have some light breakfast and subsequently brought Little Foot for a walk at the park near by.

Here are the stats for the walk:

Sunday, 18/01/2009 Medium cardio session
25 mins walking Little Foot around the park 4 times
* Resulted in 170 calories burned and about 2.4 km walked(estimated)

Farcry 2

I have played Farcry 2 for quite sometime, it is definitely better in terms of gameplay when compared with Farcry 1. The setting was in Africa this time as opposed to the tropical beach setting in the first one.

Here are some screenshots of Farcry 2 which may arouse your interest:

1. Loading screen which gives some details


2. Weapons dealer located almost everywhere


3. Buying weapons from a computer


4. Slaughter house

* No shooter is complete without a setting like this.

5. My buddy whom I saved from the slaughter house


6. Outside Mike's Apartment where you would go for missions


7. Another nice house in Farcry 2


8. A hard decision, which vehicle should I drive?


9. Heavily fortified villa?


10. Nice lake


11. Looking behind of my motorboat

* They should really implement the mirror to look behind hahaha.

12. My jeep with a machine gun

* If only I can outfit my jeep in real life like that......imagine the possiblities

13. Driving in Farcry 2

* Feels like real life. Hence, feels like doing unnecessary work.

14. You kill occupants of the house and take over them, awesome!


15. Shooting some bad guys when the jeep isn't moving


My take on Farcry 2, a decent game in terms of singleplayer. Hence, I give it a rating of 8.0/10 score.

Pros:
1. Good atmosphere, great graphics.
2. Intuitive controls.
3. Play great on lower end PC like mine.
4. Non linear missions.

Cons:
1. Too much travelling. feels like work
2. Routine, feels the same throughout the game.

Work Day Gym Session 19/02/2009

Work Day Gym Session 19/02/2009

I got into the gym about 6:30 pm and got off the gym about 8:00 pm, total time spent in the gym = 1 hour 30 mins.

My workout routine is as follows:

Dips + Front squats (Super-set)
4x15 @ body weight (squats)
4x15 @ body weight (dips)

Elevated pushups:
4x15 @ body weight


10 mins on inclined strider @ resistance level = 10
10 mins on inclined strider @ resistance level = 12
10 mins on inclined strider @ resistance level = 14
1 min on inclined strider @ resistance level = 8
* Resulted in 300 calories burned and 3.2 km strided.

10 mins on exercise bike @ resistance = 10
20 mins on exercise bike @ resistance = 12
5 mins on exercise bike @ resistance = 8
* Resulted in 200 calories burned and 6.5 km cycled.

I am unsure whether I will be hitting the gym tomorrow. However, if I do go to the gym tomorrow, I will focus on both shoulder and legs as per usual.

FEAR 2: Project Origin

Recently, I have completed the game known as FEAR 2 within 3 days of casual gaming. Although it was about 12gb (comes in 2 DVD9s), the gameplay was pretty generic and the story was even more confusing the Fear 1 and its expansion packs.

1. Start menu of Fear 2


2. An annoying person you will see throughout the game


3. Dark hospital area during the start of the game


4. Outdoor scenery for Fear 2


5. A bus just crashed here?


6. After the nuclear blast, reminds me of Japanese Anime "Akira"


7. Having fun killing clones in the power armor.

*This is armed with 4 machine guns and rockets which replenish themselves, prone to overheat while using the machine guns.

8. In the APC with 3 other teammates

*In horror games, most characters will die anyways leaving the main character alone with his struggle.

9. Starting position outside of an elementary school


10. Alternate start menu after completing 50% of the game


11. Hallucinating to the maximum in the game

* One would think that the main character has been taking drugs constantly. Uh wait he did have a lot of injections earlier.

11. Weird place to have an elevator platform


12. The main character is going to be in that monstrosity (ie. the amplifier)


13. The final showdown between good and evil

* I think this showdown is pretty cliche anyways.

14. The endgame, I'll leave this for you to find out what's it about.

* A very disappointing ending for me and a very weird one as well.

My take on FEAR 2 Project Origin, a decent game but has been done better in other FPS. Hence, I give it a rating of 7.5/10 score.

Pros:
1. Good atmosphere
2. Intuitive controls
3. Scary moments (but not for me since I am quite used to horror games)
4. Play great on lower end PC like mine.

Cons:
1. Very linear route and small levels
2. Routine, feels the same throughout the game.
3. 12GB of data but graphics look decent only.