WeightLifting - Machines vs Free Weights

Exercises can typically be done 2 different ways... by using machines or by using free weights. Machines are... well... machines. Free weights usually refer to dumbbells and barbells. While both can be effective, free weights are better for the purpose of increasing muscle and strength. Here's why...
Machines are designed in such a way that they do part of the work for you. They keep the weight stable. The machine puts everything in a constant stable position that allows you to only have to move the weight from point A to point B. Free weights on the other hand are just that... free weights. They are weights that aren't being held in place by anything except, well, you. Free weight exercises require you to not only move the weight from point A to point B, but to also keep the weight stable throughout the entire movement. Doing so requires the use of additional stabilizer muscles which would not be used had you done the exercise on a machine.

Again, both are effective and can be used in your workout routine. Is one better than the other for gaining muscle? Yes... free weights.
Isolation And Compound Exercises
There are generally 2 types of exercises, isolation and compound. An isolation exercise is an exercise that isolates one muscle to perform the movement. Some examples are bicep curls, leg extensions, lateral raises, and tricep pressdowns.

A compound exercise on the other hand recruits the use of additional muscles to perform the movement. Some examples include squats, the bench press, deadlifts, pull ups, dips, and rows.

While both types of exercises are effective and should be used in your workout routine, compound exercises are more effective when it comes to building muscle and increasing strength.
Proper Form
Always use proper form. I know, it seems stupid that I'd have to say that, but I do. I think everyone on the planet is fully aware that proper form is not only important for the purpose of increasing muscle and getting the most out of each exercise, but it's also obviously important for safety. We all know this, right? However, despite knowing this I still see tons of people in my gym using terrible form for the sole purpose of lifting more weight.

By "more weight" I mean more weight than they can handle with proper form. They think the key to increasing muscle and strength is lifting heavy weight. They are 100% right as long as they are lifting that weight and doing that exercise with the proper form. They aren't. Instead they are NOT going through the full range of motion and are therefore NOT getting the most (or sometimes anything) out of the exercise.

Not to mention, they are also putting themselves in a position to get injured. This is bad. Ignore your ego. Ignore what weight everyone else is lifting. Ignore everyone and everything. Worry only about yourself and only use weight that will allow you to perform an exercise with proper form.
(http://www.intense-workout.com)

The Fat Trainers @ The Gym

It's been a while since I last went to gym since my parents stayed with me.. My morning started early.. and so does my evening where I need to pick my mum from work, and later entertain my abah as he is alone the whole day at home.. Just missed gymming again!

And when my friend suddenly came and mumble about the updates of the gym, i became excited.. It was known for the gym that I workout to have quite a few so called 'fat' trainer.. and these are the people who are supposed to become the ambassador to the club and represent the positive vibes to the club's image.. and when the so called fat trainer trained their clients to tone up and loose fat and stuff.. it looks so funny! heheh!

I think the gym management needs to put some maximum weight limit and body toning for the trainers, as to create a better representation of the gym.. same like the stewards need to be below 70kg to be the air crew.. the same rules has to be applied here! It's ok for the clients to be fat and flabby to come to the gym.. but there are no excuses for the trainers to be overweight with huge butt or big tummy to be seen around the gym wearing the trainer shirt.. weird!Imagine a hippo training a shrek like me to loose weight.. I will laugh so hard and ask him to go tone up the body first.. Funny.. just funny!

The Commercialized Keropok

It was during my way home when a van suddenly stopped next to the car.. and highlighting the advertisement of the famous keropok lekor.. It seems like the business has been too commercialized nowadays that everywhere people can see the keropok has been exploited as one of the popular snack for all.. and they even printed Keropok Losong on the van.. bringing up a small place in Terengganu known as Losong as one of the brand name for Keropok..

I used to spend some of my childhood years in Losong decades ago, and during that time, keropok is only a small scale home based business by a few people in Losong area.. Keropok is one of the main dishes when people came and visit, as the keropok stall is just in front of my house during that time.. RM1 is worth 12 sticks of freshly fried keropok to be served to the visitors.. and as years passed by.. it's something good to see how keropok has become a large scale business spread throughout Malaysia.. and Losong has become a brand for keropok.. Cool!

Now I"m so craving for the fried keropok, dipped with a special sauce.. heaven! heheh!

The Morning Jam to PBD

My parent's in town and currently staying at my house as mak will be working in KL for a while.. So my new task every morning now is to send Mak to her office in Pusat Bandar Damansara.. which is quite far from home.. It's quite challenging as I'm not a morning person, and having to wake up as early as 6.30am to get ready for work, and hit the road by 7.15am.. is something new to me.. heheh!

The daily journey is expected to be rough.. the endless jam started from Old Klang Road, right to the Federal Highway in front of Angkasapuri, which took about half and hour.. and the "excitement" continues from Jalan Parlimen to Mahameru highway.. straight to the office.. It's just crazy.. and now I understand the endless mumblings and comments from Puan Sri on the terrible jam she has to face everyday to the office.. Crazy.. that's all I can say... hehehe!

Changing Laptop

The old lappy started to bring problems when I'm a the peak of doing m documentation.. so many hiccups and problems encountered, slow. not enough memory, battery not able to charge and the virus keeps popping as and when the lappy likes..

So I requested for a replacement lappy, Compaq, which is just a year old.. I'm very fortunate that I'm able to get it as it wouldn't be available the day after..

At least this puts a happy face to my troubled mind already.. heheh!

Weight Loss - Free Info On Losing Weight

When you think of weight loss and losing weight, the first things that probably come to your mind are either those "lose weight fast !!" articles that are in every magazine and newspaper in the world that never work and are written by some personal training idiot that has no idea what they're talking about... or maybe you're thinking of all of those weight loss pills that claim to be safe and allow you to "eat whatever you want and still lose weight because the pill will do all of the work for you" or whatever stupid line they are using to get you to buy their useless unsafe weight loss product. Or, maybe you're thinking of rice cakes and never eating and being hungry all day long.

Well, if you are thinking any of those things, forget it! Forget all of it!

What I am about to give you is totally FREE, detailed, easy to understand information on weight loss and losing weight and how to lose weight and fat without using any type of pill or supplement, without using some "fitness magazine" diet, and by eating not 1, not 2, not 3, but 5 meals a day! Sound impossible? Sound too good to be true? Sound like I'm going to make you buy my "book" or order my "product" first before I tell you? Well I'm not! I don't have a book and I don't a have product. I am not trying to sell you a damn thing! What I am trying to do, no... what I am GOING to do, is tell you exactly how you can lose weight. Enjoy...
Weight loss is simple, burn more calories then you consume. If you can fully understand that then you are on your way to losing weight. There are 6 simple steps. Here they are:
1) Count how many calories you eat in a normal day. That's right, wake up, and eat like you would normally eat and count the calories in everything you eat and everything you drink and keep track of it on a piece of paper or on the computer some where. You might be thinking to yourself, "yeah right, I'm not gonna sit around counting calories all day." Well, if you're thinking that, then you're obviously not dedicated enough to losing weight. If this is the case, then feel free to go waste your money on the newest useless weight loss pill. But, if you are dedicated enough to take 10 minutes out of your day and count the calories, then keep on reading.

2) At the end of that day, add up the number of calories you ate/drank. Be as exact as possible. Once you add it all up, you now have the total number of calories you consume daily. Also, weigh yourself.

3) Starting the day after you counted calories, eat 500 calories LESS then you normally do. So, lets pretend that the day you counted calories you counted 2000. For the rest of the week, you would eat 1500 calories a day. Understand? All you have to do is subtract 500 from the total number of calories you consume in a normal day, and eat this new number of calories every day for the next 7 days.

4) Instead of eating 3 big meals a day (breakfast, lunch and dinner), or eating all day all the time, spread those calories out over 5 smaller meals. Eat one meal every 2 and a half to 3 hours. Doing this will speed up your metabolism.

5) Cardio. Cardio is an important part of weight loss. If you're serious about losing weight, but don't want to do the cardio workouts, then you are requiring your diet to do all of the work. Jog, walk, swim, jump rope, ride a bike, take an aerobics class, whatever... cardio + proper diet = better than just doing one of the two. All it takes is 30 minutes a day, 3 - 5 days a week. I say 3-5 days a week because I don't know if you have 5 pounds to lose, or if you have 50 pounds to lose. So, depending on how much your looking to lose, figure it out. 3 times a week is good starting point though. (For information on the most effective time of the day to do your cardio workout, read doing cardio for maximum weight loss)

6) At the end of that week, weigh yourself. You'll notice a difference just after one week! Now, don't expect to see a 20 pound difference. Losing anymore then 1 or 2 pounds a week is unhealthly. So look for a 1 or 2 pound weight loss at the end of the week. Don't sound like much? You can lose 5-8 pounds a month! That's around 75lbs a year! So if you have A LOT of weight to lose, you can lose it. If have just a few pounds to lose, you can lose it.
Important weight loss tips for losing weight effectively! (extremely important!)

- THE BAD FAT MUST GO! Stay away from "bad" fat! Get rid of all the chips and candy. No more fast food, nothing fried. No more cookies, no more cake, no more of these saturated fats. There is no question about it and there is no way around it, get rid of these types of foods. Don't get me wrong, you should NOT be eating 0 grams of fat every day, but the only places you should be getting your daily fat intake from are lean meats (not the fried fast food kind), chicken (again, not fried!), etc. as well as the foods that contain the "healthy" types of fat, which can be found in just about every type of fish (tuna fish, salmon, fish oil supplements, etc.), nuts, olive oil and flaxseed oil.

- LOWER THE BAD CARBS! Most people think that it is fat that makes people fat and that just by eating less fat, they are on their way to weight loss! WRONG! Certain carbs can be just as bad as fat when it comes to losing weight. Limit foods high in bad carbs. These carbs will eventually turn into fat. Foods like sugar, white bread, rice, pasta, potatoes, etc. are high in simple (bad) carbs. Sure, your body needs carbs, which is why foods like these are ok to eat, but don't go overboard. Stick to high protein/good carb/low fat foods like tuna fish (and other seafood), chicken breast, turkey, whole grains, fruits and vegetables etc. (For more information, go here: Diet Plans And Diets)

- WATER! Drink water! Get rid of the soda, get rid of the beer, and get rid of the sports drinks. Drink around a half gallon a day, more if you can. Spread it out throughout the day, just like your 5 meals. Yes that's a lot of water, but it's that water that will give you energy and speed your weight loss.

- STRENGTH TRAINING! YES! Weightlifting isn't just great for muscles, it's great for losing weight. Muscles burn calories.

- Weigh yourself at the end of every week. If you ever have more then 2 weeks go by without losing 1 pound, it's time to change something. Eat 250 less calories then you've been eating. And keep everything else the same. Each time you see weight loss stop for more then 2 weeks, decrease calorie intake by 250 until you get down to where you want to be. Remember, NEVER starve yourself!

- Sleep! YES! Sleep! The easiest, yet most over looked step. Get at least 8 hours of sleep a night. Trust me, you're gonna need it! =]

There you have it. You now know everything you need to know about losing weight. You didn't have to buy any weight loss pills or books on losing weight, instead, you should use the money you just saved and go buy some good food or a gym membership.

Now, I never once said this would be easy. If it was easy, you would have done it already. Losing weight isn't something you can just do "on the side." You also can NOT lose weight fast. You are going to have to dedicate your mind and body and your time to doing it! So, you now have the information you need, all you have to do now is use it.

Sooooooooo Busy...

I've been so busy with work lately..
Work is piling up day by day..
Parents now in town needs my attention too..
My personal thingy isn't settled yet..
I'm so stressed up lately..
So many things to cope at once..
God, gimme strengh to face all this..

Abah's Birthday

It's 19th of April.. and today is Abah's birthday.. just the right time for him to be here..We all were very lucky that both Mak and Abah is in town to celebrate it with us the siblings.. The whole bunch came with a cake.. and we all sang the song for Abah.. and he seemed very happy about it..Happy Birthday, Abah!

Visiting the NewBorn Baby

My colleague has delivered a new baby.. and some of the office mates were not able to visit her at the hospital due to the hectic schedule at the office.. So me and another friend went to her house on a mission.. to visit her and the newborn, and to get her office related notes which we were so desperately wanna get to compile our work together.. well.. kill two birds with one stone, people may say.. hehe!

Managed to get a huge hamper for the baby.. and after the tour of Shah Alam housing area.. we finally managed to get to her house.. and with double intention of a visit.. both of us felt quite embarrassed and uncomfortable knowing that the whole house knew about the notes thingy.. hahahah! Well.. at least, mission accomplished.. and the hamper is safely delivered to the baby.. heheh!

The Pink Kancil

I was in Sungai Besi town with my parents on Saturday when I saw this pinkish kancil with cartoon character on it.. what's more interesting is the owner of the car is a guy.. what's with a guy and pinky car? I really have no idea.. heheheh!

The Fashion Week 2009 @ MV

It felt so uncomfortable not sweating for a few days.. and out of desperation to let the sweat out, so the fever will tone down, I decided to go to the gym for a steam bath session to force the heat out of the body..On my way to the gym, I only realized that today is the kick start of the Fashion Week in MV.. and this is the show I need to watch.. hehee! Zillions of people filling up the Centre Court, and I was standing right next to the stage where the models came out first, strutting on the runaway with their clothes.. all the international models with their charismatic walk and attitude made the Fashion Show quite successful. The show definitely glued me until the end.. and needless to say that I started sweating over the bold models of the runaway.. heheh! More shows tomorrow until next week..

Sick.. Again!

It's been 3 days of torture and misery of having fever.. and I've not been concentrating on things except for taking my medication and sleep shortly after that.. My work was affected, and I'm turning into monster, spitting the anger and frustration out over the fever discomfort.. body aching, head spinning, eyes feel like popping out, and the 'hot and cold' fever attack that I felt over a few days! Hurmm.. something like Katie Perry's song.. hehehe!
Cause you're hot then you're cold
You're yes then you're no
You're in then you're out
You're up then you're down..
Today, I went again to the doctor and check why this happened, and whether this is the symptom of dengue or other serious problems.. and after a few checkups, the doctor confirmed that this is just a viral fever, and not dengue.. A fellow colleague has been admitted to the hospital due to dengue recently, and I'm so relieved that I'm not affected by that..

Serious Gym Workout..

I really hafta be serious with my gymming.. a few months of getting to gym and nothing much has changed ever since.. so, as one of the effort to be seriously dedicated to the gym, I came out with the beginner gym routine.. why? simply because I am yet fully recovered from my broken arm.. and I'm not gonna torture myself.. having fun at the gym, doing it right, while not damaging my injury..
I've tried a bunch of different workout routines, and this one is probably my favorite. I'm not saying because I do it and it works for me, that one should do it and that it will work for them.

Monday - Shoulder, Chest, Triceps (Push Training)
Chest
Flat Bench Press 4 sets

Incline Hammer Strength Machine 2 sets

Dumbell Flyes 2 sets








Shoulders
Seated Military Press (with dumbells) 4 sets

Lateral Raises 3 sets

Shrugs 3 sets








Triceps
Tricep Press down 2 sets

Dips (weighted) 2 sets










Tuesday - Cardio, Abs













Wednesday - Back, Biceps (Pull Training)

Back
Deadlift 3 sets

Lat Pull down 3 sets

Seated Cable Row 2 sets








Biceps
Standing Barbell Curls 3 sets

Preacher Curls (with dumbells) 1 set










Thursday - Cardio, Abs













Friday - Leg

Legs Squats 4 sets

Leg Extension 2 sets

Leg Curl 2 sets

Seated/Standing Calve Raises 5 sets total (2 or 3 sets each way)






Saturday - off

Sunday - off

*Note, on all exercises I do 6-10 reps. As I increase the weight, I decrease the reps.

Hope this will be the start for me to get fit again..

An Empty Weekend

Seems like this weekend was a slow one.. empty and not filled with something useful.. I spent most of the time on weekend staying home, resting and layan TV.. which was fun to do.. but got be bored to death over time.. At this moment of time, life just felt so empty, felt so alone.. and really made me wanna go out of KL.. somewhere, but not in KL..
A friend's mom just passed away a few days ago and he really was down over the sudden news.. I don't know, but loosing the most valuable and treasured person in the world can really make someone go crazy.. Felling sad and concerned, I went to meet him in Nilai just to show my support to him.. hoping for him to be strong and patient over what happened..
A short trip to Nilai using the Cyber-Salak Tinggi-Nilai wasn't that far.. and roughly it took me only about 30 minutes to drive there.. great!
Well, at least I moved my ass out of KL, and that made me kinda relieved rather than not doing anything good and beneficial over the weekend.. rasa nak demam laaa!

Lunch @ Food Garden

It was a quick meeting with a few fellow friends over lunch.. and since Puan Sri talked about the Iranian Food @ the Food Garden of MV, I suggested the place and they all agreed. I had a big chunk of Lamb Shank with the Herbs Rice, which is very2 good except for the gravy that's supposed to be thicker.. Anyway.. it wss good.. and I was really enjoying the food.. We chatted while eating, catching up on the latest gossips.. upsss, updates, and checking out with what's left of each other, and later hafta get back to the office..

Dasar Pandang Ke Timur..

I felt so down and stressed and pressured for the last few days, and when one is not in the right state of mind, there's so many crazy things that one can do.. and that included me.. Over a crazy mind, I saw a a Japan Master's Degree Programme on Wednesday 11pm and the due date was the next day, so I immediately filled up the application form and sent it straight away to Japan Embassy the next day.. hehe! The search of Japan Embassy in KL wasn't an easy one.. and Google Map didn't help at all but giving wrong info.. but at least I managed to send the form successfully before 4pm.. and pray to God that I will be selected in the programme..What course do I wanna study? Information System, of course.. and I do hope that the application can be considered.. hehe!

Pressure..

I’m just not in the right state of mind now…
Been so pressured up with many personal things lately..
So many things came up at the same time..
Pushing me hard to the wall..
Suddenly I felt that the world is starting to turn against me..
And I’m struggling hard to manage it..

I'm tired...

The Big Baby..

I was in MV while I suddenly saw a replica of huge baby whale at the exact size..
and so many people stopped by and took photos.. They are having a campaign to save the blue whale.. and it's quite an interesting campaign held by national Geographic.. Looking at those size of the baby, I wonder how big will the mother be.. and all these made me envy those who can experience the sea life and manage to see these creatures eye to eye.. what a wonderful experience!
A friend who has a diving license always ask me to join her for the diving trip.. which contemplates me at first, but think of it again, I have my broken arm now, and I'm not fit anymore.. so forget it..

A Little Office Prayer

Makan2 @ Hornbill Restaurant

Monday, busy as usual with the preparation of our group presentation, and later, after skipping lunch and done with the presentation, the whole team dropped by for a team late lunch.. at Hornill Restaurant @ KL Bird Park.. which is a new place for me.. The restaurant is situated right next to the Bird Park at Lake Garden in the middle of KL, near the National Mosque.. and being next to the Bird Park, one can easily find birds flying next to you while lunching here.. one can even see the huge Hornbill relaxing at the corridor.. being very friendly by allowing the humans to take photos..The food was quite nice.. and quite expensive too.. Imagine the Teh Tarik costs you RM6.50.. bit the food on the other hand is quite affordable.. I had a very nice Marinara Spagetti, while the rest of the bunch had varieties of food, like burger, Chicken Pie and so much more..Overall, I just like the place.. peaceful, relaxing and really made in touch with nature.. Thanks to the boss who belanja us that day.. heheh!