Go in, do it, done

Whenever I am at the gym working out, I noticed at least 60-70% of the crowd is just there for the sake of being there. Perhaps their spouse/parents/boyfriend/girlfriend/peers/colleagues are presurring them to shape-up, or they just come for fun. Why I'm saying that is because I saw them just walking about checking machines, try-test a few of them, watching the TV longer than any routines they're supposed to do, or even entertaining the cellphone at every other minutes, not to mention fiddling with the ipods/mp3 players at every change of the song... and oh..even worst, treating the juice-bar as the cafe to come for socialising.

To me, if you're at the gym - please make full use of the time there, and do what you supposed to do!! you're already there (you know to get to they gym is an effort by itself, you've to gear-up, drive down, look for parking, etc etc - that alone is at least 15-30mins waste of time). Then when you're there, please FOCUS - spend the next an hour or so doing what you're supposed to do.. EXERCISE your body!!!

just a pic of me at a futsal game.. not my cup-of-tea, but the exercise is what's important.

I've this rule whenever I'm on training/exercising, and that is also relevant if I were to visit any of the local gym (I don't have any gym membership, just per entry basis - I've elaborated why in my earlier post).
My rule is - no cellphone, no mp3 players, no TV, sometimes I purposely avoid any conversation (limit myself to just hi/bye). The only gadget that I've on me is probably the watch (to keep my time, and that's not even a HRM watch).

My reason is simple - that's the only time during the day that I'm spending the time to train my body (and enjoy the benefits of it), and I want to make full-use of the time to do just that. Go in, do it, and out. Typically about 45mins or so - though there are days that I've spent close to 2 hours on a single session (these are the times when I want to test few new routines, or just to challenge my body to a more extreme condition).

Once I'm done with it - I can spend all the time I want with the cellphones, mp3 players, or even socializing.

But that's just me.

If you've the time, check out Men's Health the 100 Best Fitness Tips.

stay strong.
Sher Khan.

Get your own domain free for life! - www.EmbunWeb.com

Muscle is Hard to Build and Easy to Lose

We've heard time and time again on when we get older, its harder to keep our muscles healthy. Worse if you're sedentary, by the time you reach 40, your body will feel is starting to falls apart, and all sorts of health issues started to happen.

That's because after 40 the entire cellular structure of the body is now completely changed and none of the cells remain from your younger years. Unless your already doing resistance training of some kind your metabolism and cellular repair slows down and you just don't "feel"right anymore. But if your already into working out then 40 often comes and goes without a notice. 

Read more of that by Dr. Mercola at his website. Don't miss it.

Let's stay healthy.

Sher Khan.

In the Gym today..

Gotten few personal email asking what's my typical routines in the gym.

I've actually posted some of gym routines in my previous post - catch it here:

Gym is a must?

Weekend Warrior

Yesterday Gym Session

Routines during Ramadhan

If you've been following my journey here, you'll know that I'm not much of a gym fan. Infact, I don't even have a gym membership whatsoever. The gym that I went on the weekend is a public gym that I pay for MYR2 per entry. It's at Kampung Pandan Sports Complex... simple stuff, nothing fancy. I tend to go to the gym on Saturdays is because on every (almost) saturday I would visit my sis-in-law (my ritual weekend family/relatives visits) where I would bring my little family (the wife & 3 kids) to visit them. While I'm there, in the evening, I needed to do my exercises, and found the sports complex seems to be the most convenience venue.

Anyway. Go and checkout the links above, and you'll get to see what have I been up to in the gym.

Oh.. today, this was my routine:

1. warm-up / stretching routines

2. incline push-up

3. chin-up

4. barbell deadlift 40kg

5. brench press 30kg

6. barbell front-squad 20kg
7. bunch of bodyweight routines like dumbell lunges, dumbell swings..

... and some more routine that I don't even know the official names of it - maybe I'll start posting my own personal youtube videos to share with you..

The trick is.. focus on multi-joint, multi-muscles routines. Forget the dumbell curl, or tricep curl, or even crunches. To melt the fat away, you need to increase your intensity level, focus on your routines to complete within 1hr max... i'm done within 45mins only (for strength)... half-dead already by then.

After the strength training - then go on and do interval cardio training - this is the key. Interval training will keep your mitochondrial level at it's maximum rate that will boost your metabolism at its peak for up to 24hours!

See my post on interval training:

No time, too busy to exercise (read about mitochondria here)

Cardio vs. weight revisited

why interval training is better

My exercise: interval & strength

Ok?..

well, you probably say - Sher, that's too much for me.. I'm just starting, a beginner. Well, trust me, I've been there. I've a sedentary lifestyle back then, and when I decided to get on this journey.. I've never look back. See how I started and figured this exercise thing here - My Exercise - Part 1.

So what have you been up to? drop me a comment.

Sher Khan.

Away on the road, at the beach

Went to the beach recently with my family, just to spend some time with them, and trying to get some time-off over work (spent 2 nights there).

People say it's difficult to maintain our healthy diet while on travelling. Yes, it's difficult if you do not plan.... but even if you don't, there are still other ways to eat properly.. you just need to look for it.. it can be hard, but it's well worth it.

When I said plan - I packed my own cooked brown-rice, some fruits, and nuts/seeds. So that I won't eat anything and everything while on the road. But even then, I've run out of my packed-stuff on the second day, but then I still won't settle for anything common, unhealthy food around - like nasi lemak or roti canai for breakfast (that's the only thing available around the place we stayed!!). I still ordered from the stall, but only cucumber and boiled eggs (that's all that they have that I can eat!). For the rest of the family? - all the works! with an extra sambal and teh tarik of course (while i brewed my own green tea).

Call me crazy, or whatever - i just don't feel like putting junk food into my body.. anymore.

At the beach, besides the usual sun-bathing, and swimming, I also added that extra boost of cardio running along the beach (interval sprinting on the sands), and doing some bodyweight workouts. As expected, people have that weirdo-look at me, but who cares. 

See this pic, I'm doing the 'bird-dog' routine at the beach..

I got my niece trying to follow me, and gotten some weird looks from other beach-goers.

I did jumping squat, bird dog, prisoner squat, lunges, spiderman pushups, split squat, burpees, plank, side plank, mountain climb pushup, etc, and interval sprint along the beach. I also added a sprint towards the sea, and back - that's a tough one.

get more details of the exercise routines from my other posts here.

let's be healthy..

Sher Khan.

No time, too busy to exercise

There are days when I'm too busy at work, and got back late that I'm not able to exercise.. this week is such a good example, for the whole week, I got back late (way past 8pm), that I've missed my 'window' of exercising (if you've been following this blog, my typical routine is between 7 to 8:30pm) - I've found that's the best time for me to sweat it out. I've tried early morning, but I'm more productive (and stronger) during this time. 

If I were to get back home late - I'll miss the exercise for the day. Right? well, not exactly.

Although I'm not able to do a full blown 45min strength and cardio routines, to the very least, I make sure I do bunch of push-ups, pull-ups, chin-ups, and squat during this tight period, I even can sometimes squeeze running high knee on the spot, and quick barbell military press - just before I hit the shower. 

See my previous post on those routines I mentioned.

Exercise is so important for our body to maintain a greater number of mitochondrial mass. The more exercise you do, the more these power-cells in our body is produced, and ultimately, it shall boost our metabolism to its peak!

What the heck is mitochondria? go and search with uncle google lah.. lots of reference.

In short, it's the energy cells within your body - has those tiny hairs that produces energy. The more active you are, the more of these hairs grows on these cells, and the more energy it produces -that increases your metabolic rate! -- this is the secret of losing the fat!

The trick is to keep exercising (interval training that is - working at 80% of maximum heart rate), and these little power-cells shall flourishes -- making you more energetic, stronger, and definitely assisting you in the quest of losing the excess weight... even while you're sleeping, watching tv, or even right now while you're reading this blog!

Go and have a deeper read on mitochondria, and then you would understand why it's so important that we need to exercise regularly.

let's get healthy..

Sher Khan.

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Exercise? - Part II - LSD, Cardio, Walking

... continuation from the Part 1 ...

My immediate thought was to quickly sign-up with a local gym, and perhaps hire a personal trainer... time is really running out. I need to loose this fat within the 3-months that I've set, whatever I do, I need to decide fast... take action now!

The problem with me going to the gym was that, I've to be away from home.. I figured, is it worth for me to achieve my goals while leaving my beloved kids and wife at home?, and me pounding on the threadmill/irons for 1-2 hours daily going back and forth to the gym?

Not worth it, and I don't think it's for a long run.

But then again, for me to jog around the housing estate at around 7:30pm to 8:30pm daily sounded a bit scary... knowing the fact that there's a lot of hungry-stray dogs and worst.. mad-man on the street!

That's when I decided to buy a cardio machine at home. Made-up my mind to get a elliptical trainer, for it's low-impact workout - remember i was still at 133.7kg at that time. At the store, to my surprised, none of the elliptical machine (aka cross trainer) able to support my weight!!!! most of the affordable models has a max limit of 120kg!! (unless i get a gym-grade equipment which will cost me more than RM8000!!).

I tell you, that alone killed my enthusiasm big time. I almost give-up, called my wife and chatted for a long time on how dissapointed I am (while I was still at the store). After the call, I was ready to leave the store, and that's when the salesperson offered me to get a good-ol-fashion threadmill.. which was on sale, and a last display unit.. at a very special discount.. and doesn't have limits on max-weights!

I hate running, let alone to jog by myself in the living room... but looking at my options in-hand... I don't have a choice! and I still would like to achieve my set goals!

I went home proudly showed the paid invoice to my wife, expecting a delivery within a couple of days. I'm excited, at the same time, worried, coz I've no clue how the hell I'm going to fully maximise the use of the equipment... can it assist me in my goals? i don't know..

While waiting for the machine to arrive, I've made an extensive readings through Mr. Google on how best I can maximise the use of my new toy. In my mind, I shall only use the machine to do a good walking exercise only (because I hate running, period). That's when I learnt about fat burning zone, target heart rate, maximum heart rate (MHR). Excellent article here on the Truth About the Fat Burning Zone.

Here's the most recent picture (2-Aug-2008) taken of my threadmill. Been having it for 1+ years already - one of the most used/useful investment I've made to myself.

You need to learn on how to maximise your time in the workout, by doing exercises at the intensity that gives you the most effective results. You shall learn about target heart rate & MHR, or a more simple method using the Borg Scale of Perceived Exertion: (see below)
Level 1: I'm watching TV and eating muruku
Level 2: I'm comfortable and could maintain this pace all day long
Level 3: I'm still comfortable, but am breathing a bit harder
Level 4: I'm sweating a little, but feel good and can carry on a conversation effortlessly
Level 5: I'm just above comfortable, am sweating more and can still talk easily
Level 6: I can still talk, but am slightly breathless
Level 7: I can still talk, but I don't really want to. I'm sweating like a pig
Level 8: I can grunt in response to your questions and can only keep this pace for a short time period
Level 9: I am probably going to die
Level 10: I am dead

You have to target your workout at level 6-7 to be in the 'fat burning zone', to achieve the best results. (I tell you later that I've discovered that this is one of the biggest myth in doing your cardio workouts).

I started my walking workouts for at least 2-3 months (tried running, but hell it's too much for me), based on the general knowledge in cardio (i know now it's a myth!!!), I did what they used to call it LSD - Long, Slow, Distance. I walk for as many hours I can on it, at Level 6-7, as far as I can. On weekends, I even did some hours in the morning, and later some more at night (to clock-in more hours in my workout charts).

Yes, I did see some results, but boy, very slow, too slow infact, excruciating loooong hours ... not to mention dead boring routines!!

(Not until I've discovered the science of Interval Training, and later High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), circuit training, & supersets training. That's the key in my workouts of blow-torching the fat. It provides shorter time of workouts (max 20mins cardio), many variations (interesting routines), and excellent results - yes!).

Still, the LSD seems the only knowledge I've at that point in time....my enthusiasm still at the highest.

Let's continue to part III later - I'll share with you what I've learn from my personal trainers... yup.. with an 's'... coz I've a few of them, and I follow closely their advises... stay tune.

In the meantime, if you want to read more, try this good light reading from WebMD:

• 7 most effective exercises
• 9 least effective exercises

Sher Khan.

continue to Exercise? - Part III