Sometimes their comments are just plain stupid

I dunno whether to feel insulted or take it as a compliment when someone said, "Are you a guy?" *rolled eyes*

And I always hear these type of stupid comments at, yup, the beloved commercial gym. I know it's rare to see a woman deadlift (a merely) 55kg and squat 60kg (which I don't think it should be something to be proud of coz I've still got looonnnnggggggg way to go) but come on! Women don't dig insults. Women dig praises! You can tell a guy that he squats like sissy and deadlifts like a baby and guys will still be ok with that. In fact, they'll improve and come back stronger than before. Unlike men, women (I dunno about others but it applies to me), hates being "challenge" and I don't think it's just the right way to motivate a woman by telling them that their bodyweight squats sucks. (happened to my previous trainer, who thinks that by bringing me down will motivates me) Or giving stupid comments like they look just like a man. Just like Jason Ferruggia said, guys respond well to criticism. Girls don't.

Anyway, I always corrected these dumbasses, that instead of saying that I look like a man, I'll say that I have a strength like a man, but body like a woman. They must be plain blind for not noticing my obvious curves. I'm not bragging but these fuckwits sometimes really just get on my nerve. It's so obvious that they dunno shit.

Oh. And another common comment from them, which shows how shallow-minded they are, is, "Man! You look so small! How the hell you carry that weight?"

Don't challenge me, bro, don't challenge me.

Finally getting the rhythm

Last time, about a year ago, when I decided to enrol in the Original Bootcamp (OBC) at Padang Astaka, I lasted only 3 sessions which started at 5:45am. Only God knows why I enrolled that time. So semangat. And with no friends to tag along with. Basically nobody to give me a wake up call and motivate me to go to the camp. Lone ranger. Yeap. That has always been me when it comes to fitness. 

Anyway, I lasted 3 sessions mainly because :-

1. The daily onset muscle soreness (DOMS) was really bad. Before my muscles even managed to rest and recover, already I had to do another rigorous training. 

2. It's just too friggin' early lar. Enough said. 

When my friend, Jasper Chai, said he wants to start another outdoor morning camp, I kinda hate it deep inside because I know I'm not really a morning person. I may wake up early but not as early as 6am. But I have already promised my friend that I will support his camp and that I'm interested in trying out his trainings. 

Again, I think I lasted 2 weeks only, even though his time is a bit different, ranging from 6:15am to 7am. Guess my body still need time to adjust to the new schedule. Then I gave up, for about a week or two, till Jasper tried to convince me to try again because he said he sees the potential in me.

You see, I'm the type that works hard if the right people motivates me, coz I give up easily. Bad trait, I know. True enough, when I returned back to the camp, I was more than ready, mentally and physically, to follow his schedules and trainings. Waking up at 5:30am is no longer a problem for me. I don't even need to take a nap after workout anymore, unlike last time. (After my first session, I went back home for shower and it was only 830am, didn't know what to do and a bit too early to go into office, so I decided to rest a.k.a nap a while. Wasted the whole morning coz I woke up at 12pm :p) 

The reason why I'm still joining the camp is because :-

1. The workouts are all about fun but at the same time are very effective in terms of muscle endurance, increase stamina and muscle toning. When I say fun, it doesn't mean you can laze around, rest for 5 mins and etc. Hell no! You'll hear his loud voice ringing in your ear, pushing you to your maximum before he lets you rest. 

2. It actually involves with some equipments rather than just using our bodyweights to train. Bodyweights exercises are good for beginners and fat loss, but intermediate or advanced fitness enthusiasts will definitely prefer training with equipments, mainly because you will challenge your muscles by doing different weights with different workouts. Training with equipments will also allow your muscles to grow and pushing yourself to achieve a higher and bigger goal.

3. This camp derives from the crossfit idea, where you do certain exercises within the stated time. Kind of like a combination of bootcamp with crossfit. Hence the equipments. Definitely fun, if you ask me! :)

Oh yeah baby..work it!!

If anyone of you wanna join this camp, just PM me! Will be glad to give you the details. :)

It's a lonely world here

The problem with some people is that, if you do things that is uncommon or unusual, they'll say that you are doing something wrong. Or that they'll say that you are a freak, for repeating the same thing everyday without fail.

That's what happened to me at the gym. Regular gym goers know what my first workout will be. I always start with squats. Then on with dealifts. Then some assistance workouts. Nobody does that routine other than me, and maybe these 2 other guys. I observe the way they do their workout and it's exactly like mine! I have a strong feeling that they are doing Strong Lifts 5x5. The difference is that they increase their weights in every sets. I thought you are suppose to load up in your next training and keep it that way in the 5 sets? Hmmm.... But anyway, it's the feeling that other people are doing restless workouts with their trainers while I doing my 5x5 routine. It feels pretty darn lonely, if you asked me.

Like I said in my previous post, it's not because of what people comment about my routine, but it's what I feel. Ok, yes, I might have gotten stronger and I can tell you confidently that I can beat 70% of the guys there with my squats' weight. It's not because I'm good but it's because they never train on their squats before. However, in terms of cardiovascular and endurance, I feel like that I'm not improving any. Hence the morning outdoor workout with my friends. The routines are really cool. Not as tough as the OBC (Original Bootcamp, coz I lasted 3 sessions only and it was friggin' early ok?) but at the same time, I'm feeling all my muscles being worked on. So it's really a great feeling.

On to the diet. I'm feeling definitely, particularly "lonely" over here when it comes to diet. You see, nobody does the diet unless they are needed to. Like me, I might have a beach trip soon sometime in Oct, so I need to look real good in my bikini. Like real good. Hence the crazy diet. No rice, no sugar, no coffee.

Surprisingly, I can live without coffee. When there's no coffee, there's no sugar also, because that's the only drink that I need to have sugar with. Other than that, I usually drink water only. So who would want to have such crazy diet with you, even though you always hear your friends saying, "aiya... I need to diet lah."  and then the next day, you see them indulging in beers or pancakes or McD. Who, I ask you?

No one.

Plus, the fasting month is coming. I can bet you that there'll be big feasts in this 1 month, given the fact that I have tonnes of Malay friends. I have even turned down a house warming invitation last week. Their meals were pizzas, jelly and KFC. It's not that I dislike the food, hell no, but it's because I'm on diet. So better avoid than having the food shoving onto your face right?

That's why it's a lonely world here. Ya hear me?

390 Workout

Since I am bored with the current 5x5 lift, I decided that I wanna do a different routine for my training last night. It was actually a routine from a friend of mine, Jasper Chai, which he trained me last week. It is an Outdoor Crossfit concept which, I think, will be launch soon. (That'll be another story)

So here's the workout (2 sets) :

Squat Jump x 30 reps

DB Overhead Squat x 30 reps (5kg)

DB Deadlift x 30 reps (2 DBs 8kg)

DB Hang Clean & Press x 15 reps (2 DBs 8kg)

DB Swing x 15 each sides (8kg)

Push Up x 30 reps (on knees. I still cannot do 30 reps on toes. Max is 20)

Crunches with Body Rotation x 15 each sides 

Total reps : 390

Related post : Aizan (So happened that I wanna talk about strength and conditioning also)

I have always been a fan of conditioning, so to speak. To me, if I sweat like water tap in a workout session, I'll feel like I have already accomplished my "fitness mission" and I actually feel good after every workout. Then a trainer told me, and I quote, making yourself breathless just for the sake of being breathless is pretty useless. And he also said that, for body building, I will only need 100reps per week. And then I found 5x5 Strong Lift. Fits the criteria perfectly. And so I did 5x5 and 5x5 only for the past 2 months.

Although my strength has improved for the past 2 months, I also notice that my endurance has significantly dropped. My stamina has never been good and with  lesser endurance training lately, it has just got worse.

So sometimes, I'll fit in some Crossfit WODs, just to get breathless a bit. I think I'll add in more assistance workouts and conditioning in my future routine. 

Everytime I go to gym

1. There are 2 workout "stations" that is always empty - The infamous 2 Squat Racks. So you really can't blame me for always starting my workout with squats or deadlift. There was one time where I wanna train on my back instead of the usual Squat routine, but couldn't because that back machine area was swarming with tonnes of guys. I also can hardly do some cable flyes because, yes, it is surrounded by the fitness wannabe. 

I don't like to ask these people halfway when they are training whether we can share or not. I just don't. Not that I don't like to share, but just..... dislike. You have to change the weights every time you share with other people, which I find it a bit, ma fan. (leceh. How do you say leceh in English?)

And I hate to say this but, really, the population of using the squat rack is like 1%. Maybe I can only see 1 guy doing squats (NOT the Smith Machine, please) in like, maybe 2 weeks?

Even the trainers commented, "Your squat is already very good lar. No need to do everyday." As usual, I just rolled my eyes, smiled and walk away. 

But why?? Why on earth does these guys never do squats? All they do is just bicep curls, bicep curls and more bicep curls.

Squat Rack 1

Squat Rack 2

2. I hardly see any guys do deadlift. I might not be at the gym 24/7 but every time I go there, I just don't see many do deadlift. But the population of doing this compare is squats is higher. Probably like 5%? At least better than Squats, I must say.

3. I always see the most famous workout of the universe - Bicep Curls!!! Ya. Why oh why? Yesterday I even saw 1 guy doing EZ Bar bicep curl with a strap? Do you really need straps for bicep curls? That was really new to me. Never seen anyone does that. 

You may be wondering why am I observing so many things that you'll start to wonder whether I'm actually training or kepochi-ing. Well, there are mirrors everywhere. And there is the rest time. I'm sure you know what I mean. If you are observant enough, you'll see much much more.