Away

Hi peeps. I will be away from tomorrow onwards until next Wednesday. So that means no training for the entire (almost) 2 weeks. Hopefully all those walking and walking will help to burn some calories :p

In the meantime, my diet sucks for the last 2 weeks due to functions and trips. Hopefully I can catch up on my diet after I come back. No more holiday for me, but I am definitely looking forward to it. Clean diet! Yeeehhhaaaaa!!!!!

Ciao peeps. Don't miss me. :)

New PR (again) and Chin Up :)

Have wanted to update last week but something happened to blogspot which I can't log in. Here's the progress :-

Squat : 60kg, 5RM (Last Friday, 13May2011 )

Deadlift : 60kg, 5RM (Last Tuesday, 17May2011)

I remember it was only about 2 months back that 60kg of squat was impossible. I was even struggling to grunt and grunt to get that friggin' 1RM of 60kg. And last week, amazingly, I can already do 5RM of 60kg squat. Funny how our body works eh?

As for the deadlift, I am actually still struggling at that 60kg that I knew I wasn't up there yet coz I had back pain the very next day. Probably due to the breathing. I notice that breathing is quite important during lifting. It does help. A lot. In fact, breathing is important in other workouts too, especially yoga and jogging/running. Now I know why people always "Don't forget to breath".

Another update was, I can finally do full range of chin ups! Twice! Honestly, I didn't practice my chin up / pull up in more than 2 weeks. The bar at home is just sitting in my rack. So yesterday, I wanted to put it back up at the door frame, and curious, I wanna try and see if my chin-up have improved.

Damn I can finally go all the way up with my shoulders touching the bar. Haha! And the weird part is that, I have never trained for chin up. I always train for pull-ups only. But yea, chin up is easier than pull-ups. So if you can do full range of pull-ups, you can always do chin-up, anytime.

People always say (including myself) that if you wanna do chin-up, the best way is to do chin-up itself. But also, there are some other guys said that we can do other assisted workouts to help on the chin-up. Well, I'll say that both helps. I think.

I actually did some ghetto chin-up, bench press, lat pull-down, assisted pull-up machine and chin-up during the past 2 weeks. Maybe they really do help. But whatever it is, it's a whole new feeling all in all. :D

Progress Report 060511

Hit new PR for my deadlifts and squats :-

Deadlifts : 55kg, 5x5

Squats : 57.5kg, 3x5

My benchpress is still at the same weight : 30kg. I'm not confident enough to bench heavier if there is no spotter. And most of the time, there isn't one around, and I'm just too shy to ask the trainers' help at the gym to spot for me. So I'm basically stuck at the same weight. Plus, my arms are still "swinging" and "wriggling", so guess I'll just work on my form first before adding on any weights.

I did a finisher on Wednesday. Again, got the idea from Pushmore WOD 041411.

Five rounds for time of :-

200m Run

15 DB swings @ 10kg (No KB at the gym and I know it's too light for me, but ... )

10 Box Jump

Results : 19m21s

Women Personal Trainer - will you hire them?

I had a conversation with a friend few days back about women personal trainer. He has just joined a commercial gym and hired a personal trainer. A guy obviously.

Out of curiousity, I asked him, "If given the choice, will you hire a woman PT or a guy PT?"

"A guy, definitely."

"Why?"

"You see ar, first, all the girls PT at the gym is soooooo skinny that you'll start wondering whether they can "save" you when you can't lift any more weights during the training. Let's say I was bench pressing, and in the last reps, suddenly, I got no more energy to push it back up. Do you think the girl PT can save me?"

What say you?

To me, first of all, and this applies to both gender, that when you are in this industry, it is really, really, crucial that you walk the talk. You are your own advertisement. I'm sure some of you know that some trainers at the commercial gym do not walk the talk. Flabby, chubby, big belly, etc, I'm sure you can spot easily at least 1 or 2 at the gym.

The most basic point - you just gotta look good, fit and toned enough to convince other people to sign up PT from you. If you yourself do not practice the good diet and the right training, how do you expect people to have confidence in you? It's just as simple as that.

So when you are toned and fit, at least you have already scored in the first impression.

Second is, when you are fit, it's obvious that you are strong enough to carry that kind of weights, because you have those muscles to help you out. Plus, it's not easy to achieve a fit and strong body. It requires determination, dedication, commitment and patience to achieve those. There's no way that you can lift heavy on your first day of training when you have never exercised in your entire life.

Do you think this kind of body is easy to achieve?

Unless you have the commitment and dedication,

there's no way that you can achieve this overnight.

Brittany Tacy is on strict diet all year round.

See? Not easy I tell you.

What do you think? Will you hire women PT as your trainer?