Aftermath of 2010 Eid/Raya..

Well since the last Ramadhan, now I'm back to my normal routines.. (during the fasting month my exercising period is shorter, and I tend to focus more on cardio related (outdoor biking/runnning/interval training) rather than strength training (bench presses/weightlifting in the gym), no specific reason is just that I feel a bit weaker towards the end of the day before the iftar (breaking of fasting).

Quite frankly (more like confession), this 2010 Eid, is my worst ever since the past 3 years that I've been on this journey. I've actually had some Rendang! I think I do deserve it after years of not touching it :) --good excuse eh :)... but I still haven't touch any of the cookies, yup you know me, no nutritional value.. i.e junk food. They're just loaded with sugar, butter fat, more sugar/coloring, simple carbs (the white flours), some preservatives (if store bought), and even some got the dreaded trans-fat (the shortening) -- once you've taken one, I bet you can't stop to take another! -- so I stay clear of those.

An update -- I've actually had gained some weight back since my last posting on my weight, by 5kg to be exact. That is all planned. See my old post. I've even gotten some comments quite recently from office colleagues -- 'Eh, Sher, you gained weight ah?'..YUP!!.

I don't think I want to go all the way down to past 72kg that I used to be, although that's the point that I need to be in order to lose the remaining belly fat to reveal the 6-pack that I've always wanted. Why, you ask?. With the intensity of the training I'm doing these days, and when I'm restricted my calories (to create the calorie deficit -- to lose the weight), I feel weak, very weak sometimes, and recently I had to work extra-long hours on my current day job (that translate to very less snooze time & quite stressful.. very, infact). I would doze off while watching the tube, and if I were to put my head down on the pillow, within seconds I'll be in fantasy island (these are not the normal me !!).

I remember sharing this with my buddy, and he said, 'Sher, you're overdoing it, listen to your body'. Well thanks bro Roslan, I am now listening to it, and been working to balance it. I noticed if I'm hovering around 75-80kg. I feel fine, energetic, and able to push myself to the limit (I still think I can push it even further!!). The problem is, I still have some layers of sagging fat around my belly.... it's a hell to get rid off!!

One of way that I think I need to do is to increase my training intensity, and I definitely need to change my training routines. My body may have accustomed to some of the training I've been doing, because not much progress has been made. Hence, recently I've forced myself to checkout a fitness bootcamp program.... last Friday, at 5:45am, I'm already at local stadium field, with some folks doing HIIT (some of my earlier posting on HIIT) while most people still snoozing ... I'll share that in my next post. stay tune.

stay strong.
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.

Crunches for fat loss?

I was at the gym yesterday, and doing my normal routine. There were these couple of fit and lean guys that would do a couple of biceps curls and bench presses, and then immediately after each set would stand infront of the mirror and started posing themselves.. comparing each other body... admiring each other..

Well no comments... :p

What caught my attention was - this kinda 'big' guy trying to workout (from the way it looks, he's a newbie), and these fit and lean guys saw him struggling with the equipment and started to teach/guide him of what to do. They put this guy through various crunches routines.. the traditional crunches, the leg-raises, the cable crunches, and various other crunches/sit-up routine that only focuses on his tummy..!!!

I pity the guy. From the look on his face - I'm sure that would be his last day in the gym!

I know, I know, I should have gone up to the guy and rescued him --- but who am I?.. who would listen to me? I'm not fit & lean.... (well at least not yet)

I'm also still too busy half way through my routine, and no time to go and have chit-chats (i know, another excuses..).

Seriously.. I just don't think I'm ready to start 'coaching' people.

But I did make some effort to 'show' him to follow the way I am doing it.

I was purposely hanging around close to him and did some of the multi-joint, compound muscles routines like dumbell squat, dumbell swing, burpees, deadlift, barbell front squat, jumping jack, dumbell renegade row, etc.. Instead.. I later saw him doing a seated-dumbell curl !!... hiish!

I left the gym, and went on the red stadium track, and did a 5 burst of interval sprint around the track to finish off my day.

Later that nite, I was thinking to myself - I need to share a lot more to the people out there in the real world (not just here in the cyberworld).

How do I do that? ideas welcome..

Sher Khan.

Weekend warrior

Last weekend I had the opportunity to go to the gym, finally, after soooo long. As I've mentioned before, I don't hv any membership to any local gyms, I just would like to proof a point that you don't need to have a gym-membership to get fit. Whenever we talked about 'getting healthy' - I hear a lot of voices saying he/she don't have that kind of money to pay for gym memberships etc, and because of that, he/she don't get fit and don't bother about it. Excusseeeeee!

My workouts routines are mainly at home.. indoor. I've planned it that way - main reason is because I need to consistently working out. My only problem doing it indoor is - I'm beginning to over-grown the equipments that I've. I still have the same equipment that I've shared with you back then (see my earlier post). oh oh, I've added a chin-up bar over the door few months back. I don't think I'm going to build a multipurpose home-gym, so going to the gym occasionally is something I'm looking forward to. 

At home, the total weights that I've is at 25kg only, and I don't intend to buy anymore weight plates. At the gym, I'm able to have that extra shocked to my body/muscles.. last saturday I did some workout like a 30kg squat, 40kg deadlift, and 35kg bench presses. I did a standard 8-12 rep at 3 sets, and some other routines (like cable crunch, dumbell row, etc) focusing on multiple-muscles exercises to boost my metabolism - that left my body arching till today!!

Immediately following the strength training indoor, I went outside the gym and started to do a 4x400meter runs around the red stadium track. Of coz, I did an interval training - alternating with slow and fast burst along the track. I needed that extreme cardio-boost, because as I've learnt, the hormones released from a hard-cardio training - the endorphin and the testosterone - is an excellent natural pain-killers..

Today, again, I did the HIIT (high-intensity-interval-training) to get that natural-booster to my arching muscles.

To those of you who are still giving excuses of 'no time lah' for not exercising, go ahead and read this article by Men's Health. It shows you how you can exercise in 15-mins only!

You can't fit that in your daily 24hrs schedule? 

Ask yourself this "Which is important - my TV time, or my health???"

all the best.

Sher Khan.

My exercise routine during Ramadhan month

Now that you've learnt what I'm eating during the fasting month, as promised, here's what I've been doing for my exercises routine during this period.

I've been thinking myself - how should I do my exercises? how do I incorporated my routine and keep my fitness and overall muscle mass intact? My worst fear is.. I shall lose the hard-earned lean muscles mass that I've been developing for the past months, and worst, my overall fitness plummeted.

During this month, my major concern for exercise is .. TIME. You see, I normally do my exercises just after I came back from work, and that's generally around 7:30pm'ish. As soon as I reached home, I shall hit the dumb-bells and treadmill for a solid 30-45mins... just nice for my dinner typically by 8:30pm'ish (i try to complete my dinner before 9pm, and leave me about 3 hours before I hit the bed)

During the Fasting month, I try to reach home by 6:45pm'ish, and hit it immediately. I typically managed to do about 15-20mins max, sometimes for just as short as 10mins... my point is.. I do make sure I still do my exercises! though not as long or not as frequent, but i tell you, about the same intensity as normal days (to maximise the time) . So far, I manage to squeeze about an average of 3-4 exercises per week.

So what kind of exercises I've been doing? due to the short period of time, I tend to focus on circuit training or supersets..

I tend to do various bodyweight workouts, if I've 10mins, I try to do a quick one such as this one below on youtube by Vince..




or try Craig's chest superset, or abs superset. OR if that's too hard for you, watch a simple bodyweight for beginners (i used to do this myself back then..). Go on and search on youtube to see more body weight exercises variations - pick the one most suitable for you. (another good one here if you've 30mins).

I tend to focus more on strength training rather than pure endurance cardio (running, biking, etc) - main reason is I feel my body contains less nutrition (esp towards the evening), and when the glycogen stores has been depleted, it shall start to generate the energy by breaking down my most precious asset.. the muscle. That's the first thing our body shall do, before it hits into the fat stores. Therefore, I make sure I build more muscles, while keeping my heart rate up (try doing heavy weights, and focus on speed - I bet you'll gasping for breath! - who said strength training is not cardio? it's pure anaerobic..!!). see aerobics vs anaerobics

Having said that, last weekend, I ran a few laps on a local stadium track for just about 30mins (finished at about 7pm). Surprisingly, after close to 2 weeks without hard runs, that session feels invigorating!

It's safe to say now that exercising has become a part of me... I feel something is not complete if I don't do exercise. (check my earlier post on how sedentary my lifestyles were)

till then.. be healthy!
and how is your fasting doing so far?


Sher Khan.