Going with 'the flow' - a bodyweight workout!

Recently I've started to learn a new technique in bodyweight workout. If you've been following me, you know I'm such a big fan of bodyweight workouts - just use our own body weight to do an effective full body workouts - no gym required. I've introduced you earlier my defacto training guru - Craig Ballantyne's Turbulence Training program, and I am still using most of his technique in my daily workouts. You'll see the famous technique like spiderman pushups, prisoner squats, lunges, jack-knife, mountain climber, etc that I've been doing... all thanks to Craig.

However, quite recently, as I said, I've discovered a new technique that I've not seen before. It's still a bodyweight workout, but the movement is slightly different - they called it the Circular Strength Training (CST) Bodyweight. As with the name.. circular.. flow..elastic energy..mobility..  all integrated into this technique. It looks easy, but I challenge you do it yourself. You can do it anywhere.. so no excuse eh..

Coach Adam Steer seems to be THE MAN for this, along with Scott Sonnon... Check out one of Adam video here..


Another one here.. my fav.. Quad Squat.



If you've some more time, check out Scott FlowFit program here

These days, I've been mixing these techniques together for a full body weight high intensity workouts.

Great stuff. check it out guys.

Sher Khan.

The Dark Side of Soy...

Something that I wanted to share with you guys with regards to Soy (or Soya in malay language).

I've always think soy (beans and drinks) is an essential and good source of protein into my diet. Since the early days of my journey, I consumed a LOT of soy. I used to buy the low-sugar soymilk varieties, and consume tempeh/tofu quite often as my alternative source of protein (besides chicken/fish). I've also progress even further by getting my own organic soy beans and grind myself to create my own ultimate protein drink (I tend to not going into the whey protein powder route). It somehow became my essential healthy food and drink (I even made some snack of dry roasted soy beans) for a while.

I was shocked the day I read some not-so-good articles saying Soy is actually bad for us (some time late last year I think), but I didn't believe it. Infact, I've ignored it!!

Few months past-by, and although the industry still market soy as the health food, I keep seeing published articles (either online or offline) on the negative effect of soy to our bodies. More and more articles now has scientific proof that SOY IS ACTUALLY BAD FOR US!!!

Shocked? well, we've been fooled by the billion dollars soy industry. I'm not a scientist or a doctor, and have no authority to comment. However, the least I can do is to point you some of the MUST READ articles....

• Men's Health - The Worst Food For Men
• Mike Greary - The Dark Side of Soy
• Dr. Mercola - The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America's Favorite Health Food
• some more here from uncle google

YES.. please avoid soy... or at least, take it in moderation (as in with other foods/drinks as well). Me? I've embraced it. Although I've not completely remove soy from my diet, I don't see soy as a health food anymore.. that includes soy products (like tempeh, tofu, tau-foo-fah, soymilk, etc) as much as I can.

Now, what do you think? any experiences to share?

to your good health,

Sher Khan.

You can never out-train a bad diet..

Many times I when I am at the table having meals within budding friends or family - they typically commented on the things I eat (if strangers - they'd have that stares). They're commenting because normally they're concern of my well-being (thanks guys!). They said I'm restricting myself too much, and it's ok to eat more of the not-so-healthy-stuff once in a while... and later go and exercise to burn those calories!

Guys.. It's ok.. no worries. I'm not missing anything... I'm still pursuing my quest, and I need to constantly reminding myself towards it. I did mention before that we can never out-train a bad diet. Out of my personal experiences, if I'm going so easy on my diet (still within limits, but larger portions), and still rigorously training myself - I'm not going anywhere.. infact, I'm going the opposite way. I've proof that before.

There's people asking me.. "what if i maintain my healthy diet all the time, but not doing exercise as much, or trying to avoid it? it seems to work for me".

Well, when you don’t exercise, you place the entire burden of weight loss on your diet. If you become more active, you can eat more of the things you like -- and still lose weight. The key is finding an exercise you enjoy. If the treadmill seems tedious, try swimming, biking, or badminton, all of which burn more calories than walking. Spend time at different activities until you find one you want to do on most days. Yup - consistency is crucial.. you'll burn the calories throughout the week, not just on weekend (see my weekend warrior :) post).

So, anyway.. today is saturday. Yup, it's a weekend. If you've not exercise as much this whole week, nothing beat of doing something to move your body!... go out and have fun!

let's stay healthy.

Sher Khan.

Training, not exercise..

I've been covering quite a bit on 'nutrition' for the past few posts, and I've a few feedback asking if I could update on what's up on the exercise front.. Well I like to call it 'training', the word 'exercise' scares people off. I like to call it 'training' is because I know I'm working towards something. I'm training myself towards achieving my goal, not just mere ad-hoc exercises to kill some times or just an ad-hoc activity without specific goals.

Famous quote - "He who fails to plan, plans to fail"  - the training is just a part of the plan.. to succeed.

Yesterday, I was again at the public sports complex in Kg Pandan. It was raining heavily since 4pm, and luckily by about 6pm, the rain has somewhat stop (though slight drizzling throughout the hour). I had to go outdoor because I'm not at home (at my sis-in-law place - my typical weekend family visit routine). Anyway, here's my yesterday routine at the stadium.

Look at Hugh Jackman - at 42+yo, but still lean and muscular. Such an inspiration.

I do it continuously without long rest.. just enough to catch my breath - max 10sec. I called it superset training:
1. warm-up - jumping jack 50x
2. lunges - 10x per leg
3. single leg squat - 10x per leg for 4x
4. spiderman pushup - 20x
5. prisoner squat - 20x
6. burpees - 10x
7. ran 1 round on the track at moderate pace
8. sprinting 100m, rest 10sec, sprint again 100m - for 4x
9. spiderman pushup - 20x
10. reverse crunch - 20x
11. sprinting 50m and back - 3x
12. elevated push-up - 10x
13. finish off warming down with 1 round running at moderate pace.
14. light stretching

That's it...finished just about 10mins before 7pm, and left the stadium. Gulping down 1 bottle of water, and 4 pieces of dates.... Cooling down before hitting the shower.

Today, bright Sunday, I'm planning to go to the gym later in the evening to work on some of the muscles even more.

So.. how's your weekend?

Sher Khan.