I'm Such A Loser

Dynaflex Isometric System

2008-10-27T00:30:00.000+08:00

Image by dogwelder via FlickrI think most of you are too young to remember, but back in the 60's and 70's, I remember seeing advertisements in comics for Charles Atlas' Dynamic Tension muscle building system, as well as Mike Marvel's Dynaflex system.

Both of these systems are isometric training. Charles Atlas apparently had better marketing so it was more famous. Mike Marvel, while not as famous, is also a known name (to me anyway).

I was pleasantly surprised to find a full, free copy of Mike Marvel's Dynaflex system available on the internet as I was surfing around recently. That website, Transformatics.com, had scanned the entire Dynaflex system and made it available.

If you also have a copy of Charles Atlas' Dynamic Tension system, you can compare the exercises and see how different or similar they are.

I have also compiled all the pages into a PDF file. If you want it, download it here.

Sorry I don't have Charles Atlas' Dynamic Tension system for download. Even if I had, I don't know if it would even be legal to do so.

As a side note, I know many people frown upon isometric training. What I can say is that "it works". Why?

Way before I had Bodylastics, I had the Steel Bow from Bowproducts.com. The Steel Bow is essentially a modern version of "Bullworker". When I started on my workout back in November 2007, all I had was the Steel Bow. The Steel Bow, or "Bullworker" if you prefer to call it that, is an isometric training device.

To cut the long story short, I lost weight and gained muscle on it. In 2 short months I lost about 6kg or so, and as I stated in a previous entry here, I went from zero pushups to 20+, proper form. In other words, isometric training works. You don't really need weights to build muscle. With the proper guidance and training routine, you can increase your fitness and build muscle/lose weight.

I am sure if you put your mind to it, and followed the Dynaflex system, you will probably improve your fitness too, at the very least. Even if you don't get a "he-man body", you will have already increased your fitness level.

Personally, I'm not following the Dynaflex system right now. I still have my Steel Bow with me, and I also have my Bodylastics. For now, I'm going back on the Steel Bow and following a new 25-step routine which I have discovered in the bullworker forums.

I Will Start Tomorrow

2008-10-21T13:27:00.000+08:00

Image via WikipediaThese words are heard so often, that I gave up on them a long time ago.

But, to be honest, I have uttered them myself, in the past.

It's just a simple case of "The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak".

Whatever your fitness goals are, be it to lose weight, get toned, or build muscles, these words are a killer to yourself. Don't wait till tomorrow, do it today!

See, it's very common for women to say that they are fat (even when they aren't). Then they'll say "ok I'll go on a diet/workout tomorrow". Why? Because they've just seen that chocolate cake, or that nice yummy peppermint ice cream, and they feel like having it right now. When you reminded them of their own goals, ie to "lose weight", they always say the same thing - "I'll start tomorrow".

The thing is, there's always a "tomorrow". Just like numbers, you can always +1 to any figure to increase it, hence there's never an end to a number. If you keep saying you will "start tomorrow", you will never start it. One of these "tomorrows" has got to become a "today".

If you're trying to lose weight, going on a "diet" alone won't help much. Yes the weight might go down on the scales, but weight loss is more likely muscle mass than fats (which is what you women are concerned about, right?). Eating less (in quantity) means less nutrition. If you do not workout, whatever else you eat will not be burnt as fuel - they get stored as fats. Even if you eat very little, they get stored as fats too.

The only way to make the body burn whatever that comes in as fuel, is exercise. The more you exercise, the more you are telling the body that it needs to burn fuel, and fats are the body's stored fuel reserves.

To make it simple, "fats = fuel". You don't workout, fats won't go away. No matter how little you eat, you will still have the fats in storage. The reason you see yourself "become slimmer" is due to loss of muscle mass (and perhaps water).

So, when you "start tomorrow", don't just start on the "diet". Start on the workout too.

Slim Is Not Beautiful, Curvy Is

2008-10-06T14:05:00.000+08:00

I know, it's been a while since I updated this blog. My only excuse is - I've stopped working out too.. and started to get soft... *sigh*

No matter, it's time I got back to it. The good thing is that I didn't really "put it back on", since my diet essentially remained unchanged. Still balanced, healthy, just minus the "workout" component. Yes I gained 1kg or 2kg but that's ok. I can lose those again in a couple of weeks as soon as I get back to my workouts.

The title for today's post came from a lunchtime conversation I had with my colleagues. It revolves around women - their wives, girlfriends, and girls in the office in general. The usual complaint I hear from them is "I'm FAT!" even when they're a svelte 48kg standing at 1.63m tall.

Now, what happened was, during this conversation, a woman with a good figure walked by the table. I pointed her out and said - "She would probably think she's fat too, but she's not". Then the women at the table started going "noo she's gorgeous, she's not fat".

Whereupon I said to a slim (and pretty shapeless) girl, who was 45kg or less and was complaining she was fat, "but she's bigger sized than you, so what makes YOU fat and she, not?"

Ladies, realise this - you always think you're fat when you're not. Men don't like slim ok? They like curvy. Curvy and Slim are 2 different things. You can be "meaty" and still be curvy. You can be slim and shapeless. Usually, slim women are the shapeless ones.

The only men I know who liked slim shapeless women are photographers. They always say that slim women look great in photos. My reply - good, take a pic of them, and go to bed with the picture. In the meantime, I'd like something meatier to hug on my bed.

Ladies, don't go on a weight-loss diet/programme when you overshoot the "50kg barrier", ok? I don't know who told you that you can't exceed 50kgs, but this "rule" is not set in stone for every girl ok? You gotta look at your height too! You'd look pretty damn skinny if you're 1.7m tall and weighing in only at 45kg. Almost like a skeleton I'd say.

I know a couple of women with nice figures are of average height (1.66m or so) weighing JUST PAST 50kg... eg 52kg, 53kg etc. Yes they still want to go down below 50kg, but they'll lose the nice figure.

Secondly, the weight is not the all-controlling factor of your figure. I also know a particular girl that's 1.72m and weighing 51kg, but she doesn't have a nice figure. The difference? She didn't exercise. All her muscles are not toned, shapeless.

So yes, even if you're "under 50kg", you still need to work out. Muscles need to be toned to give definition to your shape. Simply weighing less is not the answer to your "problems".

Besides, who told you men liked women to be under 50kgs anyway? Magazines? If so, you ladies need to stop reading those magazines and wake up to the real world.

Why You Must "Eat Right"

2008-08-20T00:08:00.000+08:00

Whenever you are to embark on a weight loss or muscle building program, you always see that part of the requirements is that you must "eat right".

For example, many people just think that to build muscles, all you need to do is just work out at the gym and the muscles will grow.

The truth is, "working out at the gym" is only half the equation. What happens at the gym is that you are stressing your muscles to tell them "Look, I have to lift this amount of weight, and I need to be able to do it with less effort". So you trigger the muscles to adapt and hence, to grow.

However, to grow, the body needs nutrients. How do us humans get nutrients? From eating food. In the muscle building example, you need to eat the foods that will promote muscle growth, that means protein-rich foods like meat and dairy products.

If your goal is weight-loss, chances are you have been eating too much "junk food", which have all collected as "fats", and hence you're overweight. "Eating right" in this case means to eat proper food, like meat, vegetables and fruits - not potato chips and ice cream.

For weight loss, there isn't really any short-cuts you can take. You need to eat right, and workout to burn off the excess fats. If you continue to eat junk food, working out alone will probably not achieve any significant weight loss, if any.

As an aside - for my own "weight loss effort", I didn't even go on any "detoxification" process. All I did was to change my diet, and started working out. The pounds just shed by themselves. Granted, the speed of the pounds shedding may not be fantastic, but they still do come off.

Similarly, if your goal is to build muscles and you do not "eat right", then your muscles are deprived of the right nutrients to grow, and hence they won't grow. Your workouts in the gym are thus, wasted hours.

Remember my mantra here on this blog - "Don't go on a diet. Change your diet completely!"

If You Want To Have Kids, Avoid Soy Products

2008-08-08T13:59:00.000+08:00

Image via WikipediaIn my previous posts, I had talked about how surprising it was to me when I first discovered that soy products wasn't good for me, and then much later, about how clinical results seem to prove that the benefits of soy products were overhyped.

Now, it seems we have yet another reason. You may become impotent if you continue to consume large quantities of soy products. It was only after I started to seriously work out that some mistaken, but well-meaning friends told me that soy products contain lots of protein and will help in my workouts.

And I'm the kind of guy that doesn't take everything at face value, and did some research on my own, hence discovering that the conventional wisdom on soy was incorrect.

In fact, even as a kid, I didn't like soy products. I never liked tofu, or tau pok (dried tofu). I loved tau huey (soyabean in sweet syrup) though, but never really ate a lot of that. Most of the time I get my proteins from meat and milk now. That means, after a workout, I drink milk, and eat a meal heavy with meat products.

Why You Cannot Keep The Weight Off

2008-07-14T22:00:00.000+08:00

Image via WikipediaI have been a regular customer at a certain pub here. When it closed last year, I became a "nomad" searching for a new watering hole to call "home".

Recently a friend told me the guys there had opened a new place at a different location, and I headed there.

When the guys saw me (after 1 year) they commented "Wow you lost so much weight! You look fighting fit and trim now!".

Ok that's nothing much new there since I have shared similar comments from people who've seen me after an absence of a few weeks.

Now the interesting thing is that while they might have commented on how slim I am right now, they also mentioned that they have tried in vain to "lose weight and keep it off". From what they tell me, everybody had the same "flaw".

They all "went on a diet and an exercise regime".

The problem is, when you keep thinking that it's a diet and exercise routine to get rid of your "excess baggage", you're expecting it to be temporary. Whatever "diet" you're on will not be a permanent feature. Whatever exercises you do to "get rid of the flab" will never become part of your lifestyle.

The moment you achieve the desired results, you stop. Once you stop, it all comes back. You go back to eating your unhealthy mix of foods. You go back to lazing around.

The trick is to change your diet permanently. Don't just "go on a diet". Change it. Pretty soon, once you've gotten used to your new, healthier, more balanced eating habits, you'll find you no longer eat cakes, candies, sweets, ice cream etc as often as before. Even when you DO "binge" on the odd occasion that calls for it, it will "impact harmlessly against your metabolic shield". Ok that's not quite true in that you have a "shield" but when you do work out, your metabolism increases naturally. When you do "pig out" on junk food and desserts, they won't immediately collect as fats. Chances are they'll be burnt off by your metabolism.

I sometimes spend a whole WEEKEND eating junk food, ice cream, and fatty foods. I still don't "put it on" immediately. The body has already become accustomed to burning whatever comes in as fuel.

But, changing your diet is only the first step. The second step is to have regular exercise. You need to condition your body to always burn the calories that come in. Sitting around just eating healthy doesn't really do the trick. Some people might achieve "weight loss" by just changing their diets (especially true for women who go on "crash diets") but even if they do, it'll be just temporary. I have a few female friends who always try a new fad diet. After a few weeks, they'll be slim and sexy. A month or so later, they're back where they were (not "fat" but "not slim"), simply because they stopped their "crash diets", and they never coupled it with exercise.

So, forget pills that promise you they'll absorb the fats in your food. Forget the pills that tell you they'll increase your metabolic rate. You can do it all FOR FREE. Just work out and eat right, permanently.

Things You Probably Didn't Know

2008-07-11T07:59:00.000+08:00

I received the following in an email yesterday. I thought it was just one more of those useless jokes or fake virus warnings until I read it. Now, I'll admit that it doesn't really have much to do with losing weight or bodybuilding, but it still relates to your health and well-being in one way or another.

So without further ado, here they are:

1. When You're Stressed...

Eat This:
1 Cup of Low-Fat Yogurt or 2 Tbsp of Mixed Nuts
Scientists in Slovakia gave people 3 grams each of two amino acids — lysine and arginine — or a placebo and asked them to deliver a speech. Blood measurements of stress hormones revealed that the amino acid–fortified public speakers were half as anxious during and after the speech as those who took the placebo. Yogurt is one of the best food sources of lysine; nuts pack tons of arginine.

Not That!
A Can of Soda
A study from the American Journal of Public Health found that people who drink 20 ounces of soda daily are three times more likely to be depressed and anxious, compared with those who drink less.

2. When You Want to Increase Your Metabolism...

Drink This:
Green Tea
Catechins, the powerful antioxidants found in green tea, are known to stoke your metabolism, making it burn hotter and torch more calories. A study by Japanese researchers found that participants who consumed 690 milligrams of catechins from green tea daily had significantly lower body-mass indexes and smaller waist measurements than tea-totalers (i.e., they avoid the stuff).

Not That!
Nothing
Skipping meals lets your body's calorie-burning furnace go cold. Spread out snacks throughout the day. Try a cup of yogurt with fresh fruit or almonds between breakfast and lunch, and a hard-boiled egg or hummus with vegetables in the afternoon.

3. When You're Low on Energy...

Eat This:
A Handful of Trail Mix
Raisins provide potassium, which your body uses to convert sugar into energy. Nuts stock your body with magnesium, which boosts metabolism and improves nerve and muscle function. (When magnesium levels are low, your body produces more lactic acid — the same fatigue-byproduct that makes your muscles ache at the end of a workout.)

Not That!
Espresso-Based Drinks
Sure, the caffeine will perk you up, but the spike in blood sugar that follows — with anywhere from 16 grams (latte) to 59 grams (white chocolate mocha) of sugar coursing through your veins — will ultimately launch your own personal energy crisis. Stick to brewed coffee with one packet of sugar, max.

4. When You Need a Brain Boost...

Eat This:
Blueberries
Antioxidants in blueberries help protect the brain from free-radical damage, which could decrease your risk of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, and improve cognitive processing. Wild blueberries, if you can find them (or grow them!), have even more brain-boosting antioxidants than the cultivated variety.

Not That!
Ice Cream
Sugary foods incite sudden surges of blood glucose that, in the long term, cause sugar highs and lows, and make you as distractable as a toddler in the Disney store. And foods high in saturated fat can clog blood vessels and slow the flow of nutrients and blood to the brain.

5. When You're Under the Weather...

Drink This:
Ginseng Tea, Hot or Iced
In a Canadian study, people who took 400 milligrams of ginseng a day had 25 percent fewer colds than people who popped a placebo. Ginseng helps kill invading viruses by increasing the body's production of key immune cells.

Not That!
Caffeinated Beverages and Energy Drinks
Excessive caffeine messes with your sleep schedule and sabotages key immune agents. And insufficient sleep opens the door to colds, upper respiratory infections, and other ills. What's more, caffeine can dehydrate you, and hydration is vital during illness: Fluids not only transport nutrients to the problem zones, but also carry away toxins.

6. When You Need to Wake Up and Go...

Eat This:
Eggs and Whole-Wheat Toast
Eggs are a great source of protein, and having them for breakfast sets you up for a perfect day of eating. Saint Louis University researchers found that people who eat eggs for breakfast consume 264 fewer calories the rest of the day than those who eat bagels and cream cheese.

Not That!
Bagel and Cream Cheese
At 500 calories and 20 grams of fat, this deli disaster is one of the worst ways to start your day. Sixty grams of fast-burning carbohydrates will cause a dip in energy and a spike in hunger, long before lunchtime. The same goes for croissants, danish, donuts, and pancakes.

7. When You Want to Get ''In the Mood''...

Eat This:
Dark Chocolate
The cocoa in chocolate contains stimulants that increase your body's sensitivity. Chocolate also contains phenylethylamine, a chemical that can give you a slight natural high. And Italian researchers found that women who often eat chocolate have a higher sex drive than those who don't. Make sure your chocolate has at least 60 percent cacao.

Not That!
The Third Glass of Wine
The alcohol in wine affects your prefrontal cortex, which can decrease inhibition and up your sexual appetite. But only for the first glass or two. Beyond that, the toxic affects of alcohol in your system take over and are as likely to make you sleepy as they are to make you sexy. The more pouring, the more snoring.

It Is All In Your Mind

2008-06-13T11:38:00.000+08:00

One of the most important driving force for personal development is actually your willpower, your mind. Conversely, your greatest pitfall is the same too - your mind.

If you keep thinking you're fat (even if you really aren't), you are going to do destructive things to your body, like missing meals, eating very little, or to induce purging after eating. This usually happens in women.

As mentioned before in this blog, as well as in other health and fitness blogs, missing meals is really a BAD thing to do. Even if you're losing weight, you should not skip any meals. Your body has built-in mechanisms to trigger you to do something. You become thirsty when your body needs water. You get hungry when the body needs food. Depriving yourself of these when your body tells you it needs those, just makes the body go into survival mode.

While in survival mode the body does burn fat, but once you get to the weight you want, and start eating again, the food you eat goes right back into your fat stores - you are back to square one.

You have to have the right frame of mind, not just for this, but for everything else. Fearing to see your weight doesn't help you lose weight. It just gives you a false sense of relief, for want of a better word, that you aren't "fat" yet. Without having a baseline, you have nothing to work towards. Without regular weigh-ins, you'll never know if you're on the right track on losing weight.

Having a driving force, your motivation, helps you succeed. You will surely have come across numerous stories when reading about people who have been successful at losing weight the right way - they had motivation. Their mindset was right. They had a goal. They worked towards the goal, and if they ever strayed from the goal, they took corrective actions.

By not wanting to look at the numbers on the weighing scales, you are just fooling yourself.

Having a defeatist attitude, like "What's the use? It'll never happen" is the most destructive thought you can ever have. It doesn't necessarily have to do with losing weight, but doing anything. Business, weight loss, it's all the same. Your mindset is very important.

The moment you tell yourself, "I can do it", you're already halfway there. The other half, is of course, the action you need to take to achieve the results. Start eating healthy (not "go on a diet"). Start working out - run, swim, do weights.

And ladies, working out with weights won't "bulk you up". Don't keep having the misconception of having "unsightly muscles" when you touch weights. In fact I'll tell you something interesting, something you probably never thought of.

When you carry your infant child, you're already "carrying weights". The baby will weigh something like 2kg or so at birth, and steadily grow heavier as the year goes on. In this couple of years that you've been carrying him/her (before he/she can walk), you've been carrying "weights". Do you see "muscles" on you?

Similarly, when you do train with weights, train with light ones. They are there to tone your body when you do lose the fats. By toning, I mean to give your underlying muscles (ie those that were covered by fats) definition. You work them so they are defined and not flabby-looking.

Also, by eating healthy, you don't even need to "eat less" to lose weight. More often than not, you can eat your normal portions of HEALTHY food and still lose weight (instead of junk food like potato chips, tortillas etc). "Going on a diet" for ladies usually means "eat less, skip meals", which I have explained before, is actually BAD for you.

Eat Often To Lose Weight

2008-05-25T11:55:00.000+08:00

You'd be surprised at the looks I get when I say this.

No seriously, it's true.

I have written about this very important fact a few times, and one of them is, conveniently, here. Yeah I did the hard work for you so you can go ahead and click on that link.

Recently I was talking to a female friend. She's stick skinny at 45kg standing at 160cm tall, and she keeps saying she's FAT, and needs to lose weight. So I told her - eat more often to lose weight (although she doesn't need to. She looks fine. Beginnings of anorexia nervosa, maybe?). Can you imagine the immediate response? Naturally, the usual, misguided "noo I have to stop eating! I cannot eat lunch anymore! Must skip! Drink milo at most!".

She thinks she's fat because her size S dresses were starting to get "tight". Man, she buys clothes at the teenager section, of course they'll be "tight"!

Yeah, she's the weird sort that would rather starve and "look beautiful" than to really get into a good and healthy diet and be free from ever worrying about being fat again.

Look, I don't want to nag, but "eating less" actually makes you get fat FASTER. I wrote about it in the previous entry which I linked above. In short, your body goes into survival mode since "food is hardly coming in anymore", thus every scrap that comes in has a priority to be stored as FATS instead of being burnt as fuel if you don't require it.

Eating more often doesn't mean eating more in quantity. You just eat more times a day, but if you ration out your portions, you can end up eating the same AMOUNT per day as you usually do. Eating more often also has the small effect of triggering your digestion to start working, thus burning up some calories.

The main point of eating more often is this - you are telling your body that food is in PLENTIFUL SUPPLY, and it does not have to keep everything coming in as "fats" anymore. If food is bountiful, it'll burn whatever is required and only store the excess as fats. If you're on a "eat less" diet, then everything coming in is prioritized as storage as fats, and only using up whatever is required to burn for the day's activities.

The key is to eat more frequently, not more quantity.

Now, this part only tells the body that it can stop keeping food as fats. Now, how do you lose the fats already in your body?

To lose weight, there's no escaping the fact you need to burn calories. Eating more often but reducing your total daily amount from normal, plus exercising, creates a calorie deficit. When the body runs out of food to burn as fuel, it'll go into the fat storage to burn those. If you are trying to lose weight, you have to exercise.

Many people advocate cardio workouts, ie treadmill, running etc. Personally I hate cardio so I do circuit training, ie doing some exercises like push ups, sit ups, weights, and rotate among the various exercises for about 30 to 45 mins. The heart rate is up just like doing cardio, and it's not boring, because I'm changing exercises every 3 to 5 minutes. Doing 6 exercises (for different parts of the body), each for 5 minutes, already takes up 30 minutes. Trust me, time flies when you're not bored on the treadmill. You don't even need to keep looking at your watch or clock to see "how much longer I need to be on this treadmill".

Final word to women - you are NOT fat if you are not over 55kg at standing at 160cm. If you're 45kg, you're probably even underweight. "Fat" is all in YOUR MIND. Don't fear to weigh yourself. If you don't weigh yourself and think you're 50kg when you're actually 40kg, you'll starve yourself to death. And all for the sake of "looking beautiful".

Here's a secret - men don't like SKINNY women ok? Men like women with curves. Skinny women have no curves. Therefore men don't really like you if you're stick thin and still want to lose weight.

Trouble With Google

2008-05-23T18:22:00.000+08:00

Off-topic post again.

Recently, some of you might have experienced the insane Google "Sorry" page when trying to access this blog.

Yeah I keep getting this page when trying to access this blog. Well, I have really had it up to here with this problem, and have been slowly migrating this blog out onto my own server.

I've actually thought about moving to a totally different platform, such as Wordpress or Drupal. However, the import functions didn't work - they kept telling me that they were unable to establish a connection to Google.

Thus I am left with the last and final option - convert this blog into classic templates and publish to my own server. After slaving away at the computer the whole day, I finally managed to locate the same exact template I used, and modified it to work the way I wanted it to.

Well I have one more blog to do the same, and it'll take some doing since the template I'm using isn't available for classic Blogger. Guess I'll have to manually convert it by hand before I can migrate it over to my own server.

A Power Exercise - The Squat

2008-05-17T12:54:00.002+08:00

Image via WikipediaDuring my usual stumblings, I came across this article here. It talks about the one exercise that "rules them all", kinda like Lord Of The Rings :)

Anyway, squats should be no stranger to people who are building muscles. In fact if you go to the various health and body building sites, almost every single one of them advocates that you should never miss doing squats in your routine.

Ok so I have not been taking this advice to heart. However, after reading through that article, it appears I will have to incorporate that into my routines from now on.

For one thing, as almost every website says, the squat works the whole body in one go. Your back and abs tighten to balance yourself, your legs strain to hold up the weight, and unconsciously, you will squeeze and tighten your grip on the bar.

Using my home-made bar add-on to Bodylastics, I am sure I can replicate the exercise here at home with Bodylastics. The normal way Bodylastics advise you to do the squats is to hold the handles at your shoulders and then you do the squat.

However with the metal bar that I have, I could almost replicate the exercise as it would be done in the gym proper.

Now I can't get on it right away and do it right this minute, because today's my "cheat day" and also, I'm going to be drinking tonight at a friend's birthday bash. However, I'll post my thoughts and feelings on this the next time I work out, which should be Sunday or Monday.

Ripcords - Bodylastics Competitor

2008-05-16T13:45:00.001+08:00

Recently I came across this website called Ripcords. Now, I was just minding my own business, but my friend was just asked me "other than Bodylastics, what else is out there?".

Of course my natural reaction was "Why get the rest when Bodylastic's the best?"

So he gave me this URL to check out - Ripcords.

At first glance, Ripcords seem just like Bodylastics. Most of the movements seen in the video clips available on the website seem to be similar to those from Bodylastics. Now, honestly I don't know which came first - Ripcords or Bodylastics. I'm just going to say that the workouts look similar, and not call either of them a "clone".

The thing I did notice about Ripcords though, is that the handles seem to be fixed to the bands, so you can't "add" or "remove" the resistance like Bodylastics can. So if you use a red one and it's too light, and you want to tack on a blue one, well now you have to grab 2 handles in each hand.

To me, that is a minus-point. What if I wanted heavier resistance, like using all 5 bands? That means I'd have 5 handles in each hand.

Going by price alone, even Bodylastics is cheaper. The equivalent of the "Max Tension" set, with all 5 bands, a door strap and DVD, costs US$67.90 for Ripcords. Bodylastics cost only US$59.95.

Now I'm not trying to be biased. If Ripcords was the better choice I'd have told my friend to go ahead and get Ripcords.

Sorry Ripcords, I couldn't, in good conscience, recommend you over Bodylastics for this one.

The All-New Loser Blog

2008-05-16T12:41:00.002+08:00

First things first - things haven't been going so well for me lately. Yeah, I got sick, AGAIN! This time it wasn't even my fault! All I did was just to go out to the local computer super-store, aka "Sim Lim Square" for just three hours, and a flu bug hit me hard. I was literally down for 3 straight days, only getting up to drink water or go to the toilet. All other times I was unconscious.

I wasn't even there for myself! I was there helping a friend choose a router and set it up for the new broadband plan she'd subscribed.

So anyway, since I got sick, I had been mucking around my blogs for awhile. I had discovered 2 great new commenting system. I implemented Intense Debate on my main blog, and Disqus on my gaming blog. So it was a toss-up between these 2 for this blog.

Eventually I decided to go with Intense Debate as well for this blog, just to see how it performs using the specialised Blogger install. So that means 2 blogs are now on Intense Debate and 1 on Disqus.

Anyhow, I also thought that since I'm going to an overhaul of the comment system, I might as well re-do the template too. So now here it is - the new template plus commenting system all done!

Bodylastic And Other Updates

2008-05-08T14:12:00.000+08:00

Well after a few days of deciding, I guess I've decided to stay with Blogger platform. Losing all your comments is a little too much.

Besides, since I have decided to stay with blogger, I'm still looking out for a nice template to redo this blog, but in the meantime, there's really nothing much to write simply because:

I'm still the same weight
the home-made versa-stick is still being used
I still need to get more black bands for more "weight"

Each black band is US$13.00.... makes me reconsider ordering 3 more black bands since the price would be like almost US$40.00, not including shipping. Not too sure if it's going to be worth it, or to get another full bodylastics kit.

Truth to tell, I HAVE been slacking slightly in my routines. I don't workout as much as I did before, 2 days a week compared to 3 to 4 previously. I need to get back into the swing of things!

Ah well I'll decide on the black bands later.

Should I Or Shouldn't I?

2008-05-04T21:34:00.000+08:00

Image by Chesi - Fotos CC via FlickrToday's post is totally off-topic. I'm just thinking and deliberating whether I should migrate this blog over to the Wordpress platform.

Ok, reasons for moving to Wordpress:

"In-thing"
Supposedly more feature-packed than Blogger.
So I that I can have almost equal experience in both platforms

Obstacles:

All internal links have to be changed. That is hard work hunting down all the posts from Blogger and changing the links manually
Google (and other search engines) will have to re-index my posts on the new platform, with different links
Can they even do that if the domain name is exactly the same?
I'd lose all the comments on the posts in here

Yes, to you, the reader, there'll be totally no change in the URL. Even if you're subscribed to my RSS feeds, there'll be no change there too as far as you're concerned. Everything will be "transparent". The major thing that's stopping me from completely migrating over is the loss of the comments.

Yes I know Wordpress can "import" almost everything from Blogger. Problem is, apparently it doesn't work when I do it. Yeah I've tried importing from various different hosts that I'm trying Wordpress on, but Google just errors out even if I give full authorization for the import.

Ah well.

I actually wanted to just change the blogskin (or "template") but that would mean this blog will be behaving weirdly in the time I am doing this up with a new skin.

So now the question remains - should I, or shouldn't I?

My Home-Made "Versa Stick" For Bodylastics

2008-04-29T01:49:00.001+08:00

In a followup to my earlier post on the Versa Stick, I mentioned that I thought it was a good idea, and that I'd jury-rig up my own "Versa Stick" alternative to my Bodylastics kit, and see how it works out.

Well, before I go into more details, here's a pic of my jury-rigging:

Yeah I found a metal bar in my home, leftover from a renovation I did a long time back. I never remembered why I kept it around, but I'm glad I did. It's made from solid aluminium or steel, or something, and it's super-light. The black straps you see in the picture are the ankle straps from the Bodylastics kit.

I did a few pull-downs (to work the back) and it felt almost like the gym machine. Almost. As you can see, I already had every band available hooked up, and it still felt "light". I calculated, that with all the bands up, I only had roughly 65 pounds of resistance. In the gym, I was pulling 90 pounds or so.

Now if you don't have a metal bar like mine at home, and you do have a chin-up bar (many people do), unhook it from your doorframe and use it as the "stick" like so:

Personally I preferred my own metal bar over the chin-up bar. As for how it feels, it feels alot better than just pulling on the 2 handles. The only problem now is that I can't seem to find a suitable "replacement" for the bench-press using the stick, to work the chest. Hooking the bands at chest height and standing a few feet away with your back turned still doesn't quite match the feeling since the bands tend to pull you towards the door when you're trying to push the stick away from your chest. There's nothing on your back to stop you from being pulled back towards the door.

So I guess, bench-press replication is still not possible (maybe it is, I just haven't figured it out) even with a stick on the Bodylastics kit.

For now, this jury-rigged stick is used solely for my pull-downs workout. All other workouts are still done as per the instruction booklet provided by Bodylastics.

Recipes For Weight Watchers

2008-04-25T03:52:00.002+08:00

Image by galant via FlickrOnce again, I come here and say the same thing - don't "go on a diet", especially not a "eat less" one. I've already covered why not, so just search for my previous entries for "eat less" and you should get a couple of posts on it.

I came across this website here, called Diet Recipes. I thought it's great because on every recipe that it presents to you, it tells you the calorie value of the recipe. Hence, if you're on a "eat less" diet, this site with its mouth-watering pictures and calorie-calculated recipes, should be great for you.

Personally I'm on a "eat more" diet myself, and I wish I found a website where it tells me that. No, pigging out at MacDonalds and so on doesn't really qualify, ok?

Truly Free Website For Health Tips

2008-04-21T19:08:00.001+08:00

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!

Motivation - Key To Success

2008-04-12T17:59:00.002+08:00

Many people start on a workout programme because they're too fat (or skinny). This article here, which I think is highly representative of the majority of the people, hit the nail on the head. Plus, it's written by Tom Venuto, the creator of the weight-loss programme "Burn The Fat", so he knows what he's talking about.

I was guilty as well.

However, over the months I've come to realise that fitness isn't a 12-week programme, like the article says. I wanted to just "lose the fat" back in Sept 2007. I got patted on the tummy once too many times, and that was when I decided to lose it.

But, I've come to appreciate the fact being fit is a lifetime commitment. Eating healthy doesn't always mean bland-tasting food. Working out isn't always "taking too much time". It's a mindset. You need to change the whole MINDSET first and not to "go on a diet" like the article says. Why? Because if you "go on a diet", you'll come OFF it, like the story of the woman in the article. I do admire the woman in the story though - she had an iron will. She wanted to win that competition. That is the key - she had MOTIVATION.

I remember once, a friend asked me how come I have no "deadline". I told him, I know that once I put a deadline, I'll stop once I reach it. By not having a deadline, I am always on this journey to seek better fitness, and not come off it.

Does that mean I have no motivations? On the contrary. My motivation is to lose the tummy. I haven't completely lost it yet, but it's way smaller now. In the process of losing the tummy, I switched gears from "losing weight" as a goal, to "building muscles". The diet needed to be changed, of course. They way you eat to lose weight is very different from the way you eat to build muscles.

Friends, male and female, have been commenting on how small it has gotten now. New female friends (ie meeting me for the first time) say I don't look my age and they typically place my age 10 to 12 years younger than my actual. A couple of them even say I look "very fit" (which is actually far from the truth. I just happen to have the fats more or less in control, and fill the t-shirt out in the right places). To a true gym-goer, one look at my arms will tell him I still have a high bodyfat percentage.

6 months ago, at best the comments I'd get are "You're not too fat.. just a little bit plump". These comments I get nowadays are good for the ego, and the morale. THAT is my motivation, to keep getting these kinds of comments.

I really suggest reading the article. It has realistic tips and hints on how to remain fit and be on your "diet" without coming off it.

A Great Idea - Versa Stick

2008-04-08T16:17:00.000+08:00

As usual, while out blog-surfing, I came across this article about a new (to me at least) home-gym alternative called Versa Stick.

I happen to think this is a neat idea.

Why? Because since I have finally been to a real gym for once, I can see how Bodylastics replicates gym workouts. In some cases, Bodylastics has to do it in a totally different manner to achieve the same targetted areas of the body, simply because it's missing a metal/high strength bar. Like for pull downs, chest-press etc.

Versa Stick apparently closes this gap (from what I could glean from the website). It also boasts of over 100 different workouts that could be done with it, just like Bodylastics.

To me, of course, the best of all would be a combination of both Bodylastics AND Versa Stick. From what I could see from the Versa Stick site, the bands provided comes nowhere close to Bodylastics'.

Now after seeing this (and the price of US$79.95, eeks!), I thought I might as well rig up my own "stick" and see if I can hook it up to Bodylastics. In the past I have ordered a few dud home gyms. A couple come with some sort of a metal bar with rubberized grips. I could conceivably turn one of them into a "versa stick" knock-off by hooking Bodylastic ankle-straps to the bar and using it like a Versa Stick.

Or in a worst-case scenario - turn my Steel Bow into the "metal bar" :) There's enough places on the Steel Bow to tie the ankle-straps to, to ensure non-slippage.

I'll write more after I've given this idea a whirl for awhile.

Apologies For Inactivity

2008-04-05T16:29:00.000+08:00

I apologise for not writing in here for a while.

One of the reasons is - I've taken a break from working out, a couple of weeks actually. I've started to plateau, and it is recommended by many health sites that once you find you start to plateau, you should take a break of a week or two.

Second reason is, I've just finished my contract, and hence, now jobless, and thus can write. In the final weeks leading up to the final day of my employment, there were so many things happening (some which you'd never believe, which can be seen in my main blog here, here, here and finally, here), that I just didn't have much focus on this blog.

As a quick update - 31 March, was my first trip ever, to a gym. Yes, a real gym! Never been to one before in my life. Since I am finally not working, my buddy decided to drag me halfway across Singapore to a gym.

Now, people who read this blog will know I already have Bodylastics, which is touted to be the best replacement for a gym ever. Some people who have used it even canceled their gym memberships after seeing the results they obtained with Bodylastics.

So why am I doing the reverse? Why am I going to the gym now, even though I have Bodylastics at home?

Simple - to see if the people who quit the gym were right.

So what's the verdict? Well the jury's still out on that one. What I can say is that with Bodylastics I couldn't do chest presses. At best only one side at a time. In the gym I could, with the chest-press machine.

The pull-downs I did with the bodylastics had almost the same effect as the machine in the gym tho. Except, in the gym, you could lock your thighs under the "bar" which will stop you from being flung upwards if the weights were too heavy. At home, there's nothing stopping you from being flung off the floor by the elastic bands.

In short, I wouldn't say which is "better" because I'm a rank beginner at this thing. I'll just say the workouts are different, but the areas they target are the same. For me, working on the chest in the gym is easier compared to Bodylastics.

And, Bodylastics wasn't lying about how they replicated almost every exercise available in the gym. The only notable exception so far to me, is the chest-press. In Bodylastics, you do push-ups with the bands behind your back, instead of lying down on a bench and pushing weights up as in a gym.

Drink Milk To Grow Big And Strong

2008-03-18T15:45:00.001+08:00

Mom knows best, and in this case, it seemed mom knew more than she let on.

Now, we all know that it's good for bones and teeth. Today, I came across this article that shows that it may actually be good for muscles and weight-loss too!

According to the article, the group who consumed skimmed milk after workout, registered greater loss of body fats and packed on more muscle mass. Looks pretty good to me. I must start thinking about having milk handy with me when I workout now.

The other point of interest, which is in the article, mentions that:

As reported in the first phase of the study, the milk drinking group came out on top in terms of muscle gain with an estimated 40 per cent or 2.5 pounds more muscle mass than the soy beverage drinkers. In addition, this group gained 63 per cent or 3.3 pounds, more muscle mass than the carbohydrate beverage drinkers.

This seem to confirm an earlier entry of this blog, which states that soy actually isn't good for you. So I guess this busts the myth that soy contains lots of proteins. I still know many people who tell me soy contains heaps of proteins. When I tell them about the article on soy, they say it's just marketing bull and they're sure soy is a good source of protein.

Ok then, guess I'm gonna go shopping for skimmed milk pretty soon!

"Hey You Look Bigger!"

2008-03-09T18:21:00.001+08:00

Some time ago, I wrote about brown rice here. Since then, because I already bought it, I've been consuming it more often than the usual white rice we Asians eat.

Ok, although the initial taste test wasn't very positive, I must say that you actually "grow into it". It's like an acquired taste. Now, I don't find that it tastes funny anymore. Anyway that's not the point of this post. I mean, after all, we know about the benefits of brown rice. Even the packaging of the brown rice says "Healthy Rice" in Chinese words on it.

Anyway, enough about brown rice.

Couple of days back, a friend and I were out at the usual pub having a quick drink. One of the bouncers there happen to say "Hey, you look bigger now!".

"What, I got fat again? Dammit I have been working out!" was the first thing I thought. My friend turned to me and, as if reading my mind, said "Man your workout has been giving results eh? Even the bouncer notices under all that loose clothing".

Yeah I did put on 2kg of weight, most of which is weight from muscles (I dare not say ALL of it, because I still can't really confirm 100% that it's purely weight from muscles). My friends said there IS a noticeable difference to him - I'm not as round and chubby as before. My shoulders have widened a little. My chest has grown 3cms (bah, just 1 inch!). But, my arms are lopsided - my left arm is 0.5cms smaller than my right... sigh!

Even when working out I can tell my left arm's the weaker of the two. For example, I worked to failure on the left side in 3 sets, but my right arm needed 1 more set to hit failure.

The strange thing is that the workout times on the Bodylastics kit has been always under 1 hour. Usually 35 to 45 mins at most. Sometimes, after the workout, I still take my Steel Bow out and do some more light ones while reading email and surfing the net.

The downside to working out at home though, is that if you don't have a strong will power to push on, you'll give up halfway through the workout and say "That's enough!". If you're at the gym with a buddy, he'll encourage you and prod you along, like "Come on, just 2 more reps... 2 more" to keep pushing you.

Yeah, I think once my job contract ends on 28th, I'll hit the gym with my buddy and see if I get better results.

Importance Of Workout Frequency

2008-02-28T11:53:00.001+08:00

I had a pretty interesting conversation yesterday with a colleague.

She works shifts, so she's seldom at work the same time I am, or the rest of us are, for that matter. She hasn't seen me in like about 2 months due to the weird rostering of her shifts. So finally I met her yesterday and she commented at how much weight I'd lost in the 2 months she hadn't seen me.

So I told her about my workout routines, what I do, circuit training etc those kind of stuff. Then she commented:

"Wow and I have been going to the gym for 3 years and all I did was to lose 2kg!"

Now doesn't that strike you as odd? It sure did to me.

So I found that due to her weird rostering shift schedules, she is only able to go to the gym to workout once every 8 to 10 days. Because of that, there's hardly any results from her 3 years worth of "gym workouts".

See, from what I understand, you need to tell your body that it's gonna be getting "regular workouts", hence they better start being efficient at expending energy and burning fuel. To the body, "regular" means once every couple of days. 8 to 10 days is not "regular" to the body, more like "infrequent".

Once the body realises it's going to need to burn fuel regularly, it'll "switch gears" into a more efficient (or "easier") mode - burning the fats stored in your body, instead of breaking down muscles to use as "temporary fuel" if you work out infrequently.

So, I am glad I didn't join a gym. Having to "go to a gym" means I need to plan when I need to go, and if work gets in the way, it'll get "postponed". I work out at home, with my Steel Bow and my Bodylastics kits. That means I won't ever miss any of my "scheduled" days for workout, since I will definitely be home at some time of the day.

Even if I'm short on time, ie reach home late, the Steel Bow is great for those "short" workout sessions. You still expend energy and "burn calories" when you're spending 10 to 20 mins going through the Steel Bow sequence. As I have posted before in this blog, I can even do some workouts on the Steel Bow sitting in front of the computer reading emails.

Being able to stick to my workout schedule has allowed me to produce results - visible results.

You should too.

Brown Rice Is Good For You

2008-02-24T12:47:00.000+08:00

Asians are the world's native rice eaters. If we tell you a particular rice type sucks, you bet it sucks. Vice versa, if we tell you it's good, it's good, trust us.

After some research, I learnt that brown rice instead of the usual polished rice we eat normally, is the healthier and more nutritious choice. Since I still have like 2kg left of my 5kg pack of normal polished rice, I bought a small tiny packet of brown rice, "for trials". You know, see if it's good or tasty etc.

According to the back of the pack, brown rice needed approximately twice the amount of water compared to normal. So ok fine, I scooped up the required amount of rice that I normally ate, added in water as per normal, then doubled it. I left it to cook.

Man, it sure takes a long time to cook brown rice!

Verdict?

Brown rice is grainier, and tastes different. Well one can argue that rice technically is tasteless, but let me tell you, it tastes different from our normal rice. I don't know how to describe it, but if a typical Singaporean were to eat brown rice, he/she will definitely want to put heaps of soya sauce, or gravy, or some other condiments to make it tastier. Which, effectively, cancels out the benefits you get when you eat brown rice in the first place!

Going by taste alone, I wouldn't have picked brown rice to be my "staple". I'd still prefer to eat the usual polished rice we normally eat, although they might be "useless" as far as health benefits go. Plus, triple the usual cooking time for brown rice as compared to normal rice, makes me wonder if people will actually switch to brown rice permanently as a staple diet.

Ah well, guess I might as well finish this tiny pack of brown rice since I already bought it.