I'm Such A Loser

Among all the websites out there, many of them tell you they offer free tips, but to truly access their in-depth database of knowledge, you will have to become a member (and thus pay membership fees).

Well, fret no more! I stumbled across this website called Weight Training and Weight Lifting Tips, which is TRULY FREE!

It has 2 sections actually. One for those going for weight loss as a goal, the other for people who aim to pack on the muscles. It even has a section solely on diets and nutrition, and exactly what to eat to achieve which kinds of results.

I have actually gone through their tips, and they are for real. They don't tell you to buy xyz supplement or whatever. The owner of the site truly made the website to help people who need guidance on how to achieve their fitness goals.

The website gives you no-frills, no-bs kind of tips. If you want to achieve this, do this. No long stories nor anecdotes about his younger days. It even has diagrams on how to perform the required exercises so you are doing it with the correct form.

I think the best feature of the site is his list of "top 5 power exercises", meaning if you're hard pressed for time, do the 5 exercises which will effectively work the majority of your muscle groups in your body.

Make this site one of your favourites today, and visit it often! I know I do!

Labels: diet, exercise, gym, weight loss, workout

Well it had been a busy week for me.

And, I broke away from my regiment more than once. Stepping on the scale this morning was actually like being on a television game show... what's the verdict? Will the results be good or bad?

Well, I didn't lose any more weight, and it didn't surprise me. What surprised me was, I didn't gain any either, even after pigging out! I did manage to grab some time in to do some strength training and a cardio workout in the week, but I am definitely off schedule.

So I guess the minimal workouts I did during the week sort of "maintained" the status quo. Perhaps if I had just totally let go, the weight will come back.

I'm glad it didn't.

Ok next week I gotta make sure I don't get further behind schedule...

Labels: diet, exercise, workout

Recently I came across a small debate among "fitness experts", regarding whether we should be doing "mindless" sustained cardio workouts, or to do short bursts (like a sprinter).

Now, disclaimer - I am no expert. I just got into this fitness thing lately too. So, you can understand why I'm slightly confused right about now.

Back '98, when I went on my previous training regiment, I did those "mindless cardio workouts", ie I did sustained, 30 mins of "mindless" cardio exercises such as stationary bike, or jumping jacks, or even rode the "Power Rider" contraption. It worked for me then.

At the time, I was led to understand that sustained cardio workouts will trigger the body to burn calories. In fact, any sort of exercise should, but cardio workouts are the easiest to perform over an extended period. In so doing, the body is "trained" to recognise that working out has become a regular thing, and it should stop burning muscles and start burning fats because fats are easier to burn than muscle.

So if my understanding is still valid, then short bursts of cardio workout will not achieve the effects of burning more calories. However, it still will condition your cardiovascular system and it'll be stronger, as stated by these fitness experts.

Perhaps once I've lost the weight I've accumulated over the years, I might think about doing bursts of cardio workouts than sustained cardio. Right now my primary goal is to burn the fat off.

Labels: burst, cardio, cardiovascular, exercise, sustained, workout

Well I must say one thing... I did improve my strength using the Steel Bow. I can now fully compress the Steel Bow while doing the workouts. However, I'm disappointed that my physique changed very little, if at all, during this time :(

As suggested in the instructions, I changed the spring in the Steel Bow to the Level 2 one. I then tried to do just a couple of the workouts. Man! What a change! With the level 2 spring in the Steel Bow, I could only push it to about the "40" mark (out of 120). This is what I need, I think.

After going through a couple more exercises, I could feel the arms getting slightly numb again, like I did in the past. I'm feeling good about this.

I was talking to my buddy yesterday about working out. He's a proponent of free-weights, and doesn't believe in anything except good old fashioned weights, and maybe the elastic bands thing for working out. He pointed me to a website, Bodylastics. I might see about getting that too to complement my Steel Bow workout...

Labels: Bodylastics, exercise, Steel Bow, workout

In first post, I was saying I needed a home solution for workout. To recap - I'm a lazy person. I won't say "Singaporean", because humans are inherently lazy. You can be in any country, and chances are, they'll be as lazy as everyone else...

But, I digress..

Back in 1998, I did mostly cardio... you know, those mindless 30 min running, jumping, Power-Rider-ing stuff, and very little strength/muscle building. This time around I thought I'd really start to put on some muscles for a more "permanent" solution to losing weight and keeping them off. Besides, with a set of muscles I might be motivated to exercise regularly like twice a week to maintain them :)

In any case, I scoured the net for a few home workout solutions, or "home gym" as they like to call it. I then remembered that as a kid, I saw adverts in the newspapers for a "Bullworker" machine. At the time, I wanted to get it but my dad would always refuse, saying they're just "gimmicks".

Well, now I can get one on my own. So I started hunting around Singapore for it. Unfortunately, it seems like no one knows where to get one anymore. I then turned to the Internet, and lo and behold! I found a ton of websites with Bullworker-clones.

I almost bought the BullyXtreme, but the website was too "spammy" and it didn't really give me a good "feeling". Then I stumbled across BowProducts. It was here that I was sold on the Steel Bow (pic below).

Steel Bow

Anyway, I ordered one, and amazingly it took only 4 working days to get from the USA to Singapore! Excitedly I tore the package open, and unfolded the wall-chart:

Yeah I stuck it on my wall... what else do you do with a wall-chart eh?

The package comes with the Steel Bow, 2 additional springs (for intermediate and advanced users, meaning stronger springs) and a workout DVD.

Anyway, it's been a week, and I've been following the exercises on the wall-chart. What I *CAN* say is that my strength HAS increased. No visible increase in measurements yet though.

I hope my investment in this will be worth it...

Labels: Bullworker, burn fat, exercise, gym, home gym, lose weight, Steel Bow, weight loss, workout

I'm a typical Singaporean.

That means overweight, more fat than fit, and severely out of shape. Like most other Singaporean males, I cringed at the 4 letters - "IPPT". I drink, eat junk food, play games into the wee hours of the night (well I don't do much of that anymore) and do all sorts of unhealthy stuff. Even gory pictures on cigarette boxes don't put me off.

Well, no more. I have committed myself to a slightly different lifestyle. I did it once before, back in 1998. If I can do it then, I can do it again, now.

Yeah, I went on a training regime back in 1998. I lost 10kg. When I met up with my reservist buddies, they commented on how slim I was. Alas, I still failed IPPT that year.

This is the beginning of a new journey for me.

Technically I started back around 20 Sept 2007. That was day 1 of my new journey - the journey to lose this accumulated weight I have been carrying since 1998 (when I stopped my old journey). That night, I went hunting for my old journal - the one I had written down all the healthy foods, exercise tips and so forth - but to no avail. It's lost. Gone.

Well I have to start over. I have to research all those stuff all over again. However now I have a head-start - I still remember alot of the do's and don'ts I had written down back then. For example, I remember that eating more times a day, but smaller portions each time, is actually good for me instead of the popular misconception that it's bad.

Yes, eating MORE OFTEN will skew your body's rhythm. It'll make your body say "Hmmm food is becoming abundant now, we don't have to scrimp and save and push everything into FATS to store for a rainy day". I'm not kidding. I did that in 1998 and it lost me 10kg.

Next step - to start cardiovascular exercises. I know I have to do this for at least 2 weeks for the body to start recognising that exercise is now regular, and that it's easier to burn stored fat than just the calories I ate that day. I did that on 20 Sept. And, I got a sore body the next WEEK after that.

Yeah, that happens when you don't exercise for years then you suddenly kick-start everything. Your body is suddenly shocked into working.

I only did a 20 min cardio workout and some pushups, bicep curls and some crunches that night. I was then punished the whole of next week with body aches. The week following that, since my body was aching to heck and back, I could only continue on cardio workouts and did almost ZERO muscle building/strength training.

Muscle building is yet another thing I remember from my 1998 journal. Muscles burn fat, even when you're slouched in front of the TV or sleeping. Losing weight too fast without building muscles will make you look fugly. Besides, losing weight without adding muscles won't make the weight-loss permanent. The moment you go off your diet, you start to put on weight again.

Yeah I know, cos I stopped my regime back in 1998 and it happened to me.

This is now 2 weeks since 20 Sept when I started on my journey. I had started out weighing 82kg. Now, at this writing, I've already lost 2kg, almost entirely only doing 20 to 25 mins of cardio workouts every 2nd day. It's considered pretty slow actually.

Now that my body has been conditioned, my muscles don't ache anymore. However I still need a fast way of putting on muscles to help with the fat burning, and doing push-ups, pull-ups, crunches seem like hard work.

Because, like most other Singaporeans, I'm lazy :) I don't want to buy a gym membership and then have to groan and moan about going to the gym. It will end up with me dreading to go, finding all sorts of excuses not to go etc.

So, I needed a home solution....

Labels: exercise, lose weight, weight loss, workout