Day 67 - Boost my meal

I did eat like a lady in the pass few ten days. Today, I decided to eat more, eat more, and EAT MORE. At least I have to put in 500g of meat or more in a day because my body is ectomorph as explain in day 63.

Here is what I had today:
First meal: 4 cooked egg white. 1 glass of 0% fat milk.
Second meal: 360g Chicken drumstick. Try my best to remove all the fat and grill it with tomato.
Third meal: ~350g of fish steamed with Chinese herbal serve with white rice.
Fourth meal: ~80g beef fried with oyster sauce and kale vegetables.

I believe if u put 1kg of food in your body, your weight will directly grow 1kg. That's why our body weight is fluctuate from time to time. In the morning my waist is 28.5 inches and at night it is 29.5 inches. 1 inch of food goes into my body today:)

Day 65 - A day with clearer mind

Fitness is all about body, the method should be correct but the mind should be clear. It not just to train the body but also develop our mind.

Wake up 12pm. yes it is bad but heavy work lately.
First meal (12:30pm): A glass of soy milk, 2 half boiled egg white, 1 pc of wholewheat bread.
Second meal (3pm): 150g of chicken breast fried with vegetables (Chinese style) and rice.
Third meal (5:30pm): 100g of chicken breast with Tomyam soup + rice.
Fourth meal (9pm): Fish balls, fish, meat noodles.
Fifth meal (10:30pm): 150g of King fish steam and rice.

Today I did a very little workout at 2pm. Here is what I did:
10 mins on treadmil
3 mins rest
15 mins abs workout (crunch, reverse crunch, sit-ups)

Day 63 - Ectomorph, Mesomorph or Endomorph

Today is a day to take rest and also a day to learn more. I came across three important words in fitness, "Ectomorph, Mesomorph, and Endomorph". It's like any other car racer, when you start the race, you must know where is the ending. Again I asked myself, what would I like to be? These three words also explain the question I always keep in mind, "Will I look good in a suit or tuxedo?"

Ectomorph, Mesomorph, and Endomorph

Image is by Dr. John Berardi.

Now first talk about Ectomorph, I think I am Ectomorph. It is the small-size body type, small bone structure, fast metabolism, long and thin limbs, or in traditional words, skinny. According to muscleandstrength.com, "Ecto’s need a huge amount of calories in order to gain weight. Workouts should be short and intense focusing on big muscle groups. Supplements are definitely recommended. Ectomorphs should eat before bed to prevent muscle catabolism during the night. Generally, ectomorphs can lose fat very easily which makes cutting back to lean muscle easier for them." In these 63 days, I find these sentence is pretty true. However, I believe Ectomorph is able to gain high definition muscle but the muscle is gonna look small. Take the Malaysian number 1 badminton player Lee Chong Wei for example, here is how his body look like. Small muscle, high definition, and also what a number 1 badminton player need, flexibility.

 

However, you don't see all his strength when he put his shirt on.

Ok, about image, that is up to how you wear the cloths. Now the most important is, how I want the body to be? To be like Lee Chong Wei? or to be like another Ectomorph and also King of Kung Fu, Bruce Lee? There are many great athelete on the planet is actually ectomorph, which they emphasize on flexibility and strength.

Mesomorph

Well, Mesomorph is born for body building, they have great bone structure and easily to gain or lose weight. Arnold is one of the Mesomorph.

Endomorph

Typically fat people.

These are good lesson. Now here is how I look today. Picture was taken yesterday in gym room.

It took me 63 days to reach only this, that is Ectomorph, a body type that hard to gain muscle weight but it doesn't means can't gain. I did not take any supplements (yet). When you don't give up, you can't fail.

Six packs challenge: Day 59 - Change my workout time

I changed my workout time. The reason why is workout after 6pm is not ideal. From now on I tried not to workout late. This is because I can eat a lot before or after workout, and if workout at night, you have to eat a lot to repair the muscle but you can't eat a lot because it is night time and you going to bed soon.

Today's workout:
15 mins on treadmill
Bench Press - Today I decrease the weight to 170lbs but I did 2 sets x 20 reps. Try to confuse my muscle a little.
Squat (20kg), 7 times x 2 sets. My leg muscle is very weak.
Lateral Raise, 10lbs (decrease from 15lbs). 12 reps x 2 sets.

Eat
Breakfast - 4 super large egg white. 1 glass soy milk, 2 pcs of wholewheat bread with peanut butter and strawberry jam.
Lunch - 100+g beef with broccoli, potato.
Dinner - Seafood

I had lots of fruit throughout the day and I do not have any Snacks today.

Six packs challenge: Day 56 - Back to business

I did not update this blog every day now as I have more and more work to do. My training did affect a little but it goes on.

What I did today:
10 mins treadmill
5 mins rest
10 mins Bench Press. Now I increase the weight to 180lbs (81.64 kg). Perform 15, 15, 15, and 10. The last set not able to complete.
5 mins Lateral Raise. 15lbs (6.8 kg). 10 x 2 sets.

10 mins Flat Fly. 25lbs. 15 x 2 sets and 7 for the last.
4 sets of abs crunch x 30 repetition.
Pull-up: Able to perform one time 18 times complete pull up. Still got 32 times to go.

What I eat?
Breakfast - 2 eggs white, 2 pcs of wholewheat bread with peanut butter.
Lunch - ~160g King Fish steam with Teow Chew style. Really Really delicious. King Fish is one very good fish for our health. Here is how King Fish look like:

I do have some other vegetables, potato as lunch.
Dinner (6:15pm) - 150g of beef with vegetables in oyster sauce.
Snacks - 2 pcs of wholewheat bread with peanut butter and strawberry jam, 1 glass of soy milk. I also had banana, papaya, tomato and some other fruits throughout the day.

That is for today, here is how I look now:

Thought of the day

It seems my body fat stays around 17% for quite some times since Day 20+. I may have to look at my meals, meal time, as well as my workout. I think the hardest part is you have to eat more while you have to eat less. More for the body muscle and less for the fat. Keep going.

Six packs challenge: Day 53

26 November 2011, this is how I look like now:

Six packs challenge: Day 51 - The challenge goes on

The six packs abs challenge goes on. I had a beef noodle at 12am midnight last night due to some extra work to do and sleep 3pm. The routine change a little but I tried to pull it back. Wake up at 12pm today. It is the latest in these 51 days.

First meal (12:15pm): 1 glass of milk, 1 banana, 2 pcs of wholewheat bread.
8 Mins abs workout (2:30pm): I did it better, however I still can't recover my abs in 30 seconds to perform another 2 sets of abs workout. Therefore it took me around 1-2 mins for recovery. Now I feel it doesn't hurt my abs at all and I find more information from Youtube, I found there are 8 mins abs workout level 2, level 3, and level 4. Which means, I still have to contribute many many sweat to reach my aim.

Here is 8 Mins abs workout level 2. Walau eh~~~~ (Malaysian and Singaporean expression)

Six packs challenge: Day 50 - Chinese Medicine for six packs abs

Today, I tried out some kind of Chinese medicine which the master (Chinese doctor) said can strengthen the abs or core muscle. This is how the medicine or supplement looks like:

It consists of at least 10 types of different Chinese herbal and medicine. It looks like wood, skin from tree, and some other weird things that you may never seen before. I only able to recognize two things from the package. I put this package in and boil with spare rib for two hours, it comes out like this:

When I tried it during the cooking, it is very bitter, and I added some sugar. To be honest, I couldn't finish it, it is too ........... So? Don't try this at home boy! I am just trying different kind of things to strengthen my core muscle. OMG.

How I look like today:

Now, lets compare with Day 25:

Compare again with Day 16:

Thought of the day:

Day 16 and Day 25 has a little difference. It seems not much of differences within 25 days. There are 10 days I din't workout due to relocation, so nothing much to expect. No workout for me today. And I think I need to change my workout from 3-4 times a week to 5-6 times a week. This is because I feel I have extra energy every day and my body fat is still around 16-17%. I should eat more to gain more muscle weight and lose more fat to less than 10%. 1% fat and 1 kg muscle weight is really a lot of hard work. Keep walking...

Six packs challenge: Day 49 - Forearm workout

Remember what I focus, and I stayed focus. What I need to grow
chest (pectoralis), abs, forearm, and leg

What I need to grow I work on the part. My workout today:
20 mins treadmill
~10 mins. Flat Fly: 25lbs (11.33kg), 10 x 2 sets.
~10 mins. Bench Press: 170lbs (77.11kg) 15 x 4 sets. Able to complete it nicely. Try to go for 5th set with 180lbs but fail to do it.
~10 mins. Lateral Raise: 15lbs (6.8 kg). 10 x 2 sets. This is to target deltoid and lateral.
~10 mins workout on biceps and triceps (triceps extension).
~5 mins workout on forearm. Still couldn't find a good method to really work on my forearm.


Abs workout?
Yes I crunch throughout the day whenever I can. I found that abs aren't like other body part where you perform 4 sets of bench press, you have to rest long to perform another sets. Abs need no long rest and you can do any abs workout again. 8 mins abs workout works fine for me. I added planking, reverse crunch, and some core exercises to strengthen my core muscle.


Cardio?
Carrying a skipping rope somethings is hard, but I did skipping rope without skipping rope. I simply jump 200 to 300 times a day.


Thought of the day:
No workout or hard work you will never get the perfect abs. You can probably diet and let the body slim down to have a skinny body with invisible flat abs, but is that what you want?


Things getting better and better for me at Day 49 today although the progress is slow. It doesn't matter at all.

Six packs challenge: Day 48 - Rest

Taking rest is important as muscle need time to rebuild. My body did has more changes. Remember I mentioned that early morning I woke up I feel the stomach is flat (without abs muscle) and at night it is round like a ball before? Now I don't feel that anymore. It proves that my method not to take any heavy food after 8pm is good if you sleep around midnight (after 4 hours). However, around 10pm I will have some milk or low calories food.

Well, today is a day I cheat myself and let my body know I can eat 2 egg tarts although baked things aren't good. I had 2 fried spring rolls too. It really doesn't matter, because life keep goes on no matter you gym or not, fit or not, with six packs or not. A little oily food doesn't kill your packs.

This is how I look now. Picture taken when I reflects my muscle.

This picture above is today and it should compare to the one I took in Day 25 (picture below).

Do notice the abs is a little bit more define, just vvvvvvvvery little.

And here is my back/latissimus. I am able to do 18 pull-up at one time now. Still got 32 more to reach 50.

I don't know when I will grow to what I want. At 48 day today, I've almost forgot where I am moving towards. Just like my mum said, "A sailor will reach the destination one day, it just a matter of time." Need no rush, nothing to rush too.

Six packs challenge: Day 47 - Workout!

I do not have much time to update this blog lately, but my workout is keep on going. Basically, when I first started this blog, I count the quantity of food I eat, the protein weight, calories, fat, this and that. When most of the things has already in my mind, it has become daily practice. Everything go into mind automatically and no longer have to see. When I walked to supermarket or food store, my mind already knows what to eat. What borders me is only the price tag, good food usually expensive!

My training is on going with 8 mins abs workout, reverse crunch, sit-up, pull-up, push-up as well as 1 hour training in gym room (3-4 times a week). Here is what I did in 50 mins today.
~10 mins treadmill. I cut down cardio work because cardio can burn your fat, but not particularly on stomach fat. My stomach has no longer as big as Day 1 therefore it is time to workout on the abs to get six packs abs. Running, jumping or other cardio can only lose the fat but it will NEVER give you six packs.
~5 mins rest.
~10 mins. Flat Fly: 25lbs (11.33kg), 15 x 4 sets.
~10 mins. Bench Press: 170lbs (77.11kg) 10 x 4 sets. Still couldn't complete it perfectly.
~10 mins. Lateral Raise: 15lbs (6.8 kg). 10 x 4 sets. This is to target deltoid and lateral.
~2 mins. 10 times push-up.


That is just all the simple thing I did today. Food intake?
Breakfast: 4 egg white as usual, milk, banana.
Lunch: High quality beef imported from U.S, vegetables, white + brown rice, tofu soup.
Snacks: I made my own juice: Salad vegetables, apple, 1 tablespoon peanut butter, and milk. All in blender. Result? It is not delicious at all.
Dinner: Beef with vegetables in oyster sauce, tuna fish, and rice.
Snacks: Just milk with papaya.

Six packs challenge: Day 43 - Time to focus more on abs

My measurement in Day 40 shows that my waist now is 29 to 30 inches. It is pretty standard. Here I would like to correct what I mentioned in Day 1, "Six packs is made from the kitchen, not from the gym". Without workout on the abs, six packs won't grow at all. Food intake is just one major part, workout particularly on the abs is another part that couldn't overlook.

Now I crunch my abs every single day and do planking, it is easy and can be done everywhere - home, workplace, hotel, or on field. Pull-up still continue as hobby. Today, day 43, I am able to do one time 16 times perfect pull-up without any leg assist.

What I did today:
Pull-up: 16, 10, 6
Chin-up: 16, 6
Abs crunch: 8 min abs crunch and other exercises including abs plank, strengthen core muscle leg raise, reverse crunch.

My meals:
Breakfast (9:30am): 4 egg whites, 2 wholewheat bread, 1 glass of milk, and 1 banana.
Lunch (12:15pm): rice with pork in soup and pumpkin.
Snacks (3:15pm): Banana milk shake, mango, and apple.

This is my back/latissimus that only able to do a one time 16-time pull-up.

Six packs challenge: Day 40 - Setting the goal

From Day 31 to Day 39 (Nov 5 to Nov 13), I did nothing to make my body grow due to relocation. So, nothing much to expect.

My body fact - taken on Nov 12

Weight - 54.6kg
BMI - 19.1
BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR); the number of calories you'd burn if you stayed in bed all day.) - 5919 kJ 1415kcal
IMPEDANCE - 574 Ohm
Fat % - 17.2% (Another 10% to go)
Fat Mass - 9.4kg
FFM (Fat-Free Mass) - 45.2kg
TBW (Total Body Water) - 33.1kg


Note: Fat to lose - 4.9kg, Fat-Free Mass - as much as I can.


My body fact
Chest - 33 in
Waist - 30 in at night, 29 in in the morning.
Right Arm - 10.75 in
Left Arm - 10.5 in
Right Thigh - 18 in
Left Thigh - 18 in
Right Calf - 12.75 in
Left Calf - 12.75 in
Note: My chest has to grow to 40 in and above.

Six packs challenge: Day 30 - New start

Gotta get back to some home workout due to relocation.

Breakfast (11am): 4 egg white and 1 glass of self-made juice (300ml) - Milk + 2 dole banana + salad vegetables.

Six packs challenge: Day 29 - New location

Having moved to new location, things and environment has changed.

Breakfast (9am): 4 egg white, egg noodles with pork and "wonton".
Snacks (11am): 1 glass of coffee mixed with milo, 2 steamed bread.
Lunch (3pm): A little too late for lunch. 180-200g of lamb chop, 80g of ribeye steak.
Snacks (5pm): 1 Chinese "bao". Only take the ingredient.
Dinner (8pm): Seafood dinner - steamed fish, crab (1/2), 2 prawns.
Snacks (11pm): 1 glass of milk.

No workout today.

Six packs challenge: Day 28 - Travel...

It's Nov 3, 2011. A day I need to travel, so the routine has to be changed.

Breakfast (10am): 4 egg white, 1 glass of milk, 3 bread and 1 tablespoon peanut butter.
Lunch (1pm): ~118g beef with vegetables.
Lunch 2 (4:30pm): 80g grilled salmon with seaweed and little rice.
Dinner (6:30pm): Spaghetti with ham.
Snacks (9pm): 3 piece of wholewheat bread.

Workout? Did one time pull up for 15 times, yes, able to perform 1 more time since Day 25!

Knowing how to maintain a body is easy, but sometimes finding time to do it isn't.

Six packs challenge: Day 27 - A day to rest

It is a day to rest. Muscle need time to recover.

Six packs challenge: Day 26 - Fat loss

Wake up today and did feel body fat loss a little, feel stomach is flat. But feel stomach is up after take breakfast.

Breakfast (9:45am): 4 eggs white + 1 egg yolk, 3 pcs of wholewheat bread, 1 milk.
Lunch (12:30pm): 186g chicken, crystal noodles, vegetables. 186g chicken in a meal is quite full for me.
8 Min Abs workout: Still not able to complete it. It makes my abs burn.
Lunch 2 (4:30pm): 100g beef with crystal noodles and vegetables. 1 glass of milk.
Dinner (8:00pm): 4 prawns cook in Thai style with tomato and a little rice.

Six packs challenge: Day 25 - Boost up my meals

What to do today? Boost up my meal, and try out the 8 minutes abs workout or tougher abs.

Breakfast (9am): 3 egg whites, 2 crackers with 1 tablespoon peanut butter, 1 banana milk shake (2 banana + ~220ml milk.
Lunch (12pm): Chicken porridge, 206g beef, tomatos, carrot, vegetables. This is how my lunch look like. 206g beef Asian style.

Snacks (1:30pm): 2 pieces of wholewheat bread with 1 tablespoon peanut butter, 1 glass of milk.

1 hour workout (3:30pm)

~40 mins on treadmill. Burned 261 calories, 4.34 km. Almost half of the 9km marathon I run for Japan Tsunami last time.
~5 mins rest
8 mins abs workout. It took me 16 mins to do this and it is incomplete.

8 Min Abs Workout

Foot2foot Crunch: 30 reps.
Alternating Curls: 30 reps.
Recovery: 30 secs
Push Through: 30 reps
4 Time Abs: 30 reps
Recovery: 30 secs
Arm Reaching Crunch: 30 reps
Leg Up Touch Crunch: 30 reps
Recovery: 30 secs
Cross Arm Crunch: 30 reps
Double Crunch: 30 reps

This 8 Min Abs Workout is from passion4profession.net

Dinner (5:30pm): Chicken porridge, 176g beef, tomato, carrot, vegetables, fish balls.
Pull-up (9:30pm): This is for fun, I really love to do this. 14, 10, 8, 7, total did 4 sets. Again, I am able to perform 1 more time now compared to 13 times I did in Day 17. I would really love to do it one time for at least 30.
Snacks (10pm): Banana milk shake.

Thought of the day
Today I boost up a little my meal. In total I had 382g beef and 50g of chicken. I did feel my body can actually take in more food.

How I look today?

This picture was taken at night after all meals. Left pic is stand lazily without reflects my muscle. Right is with a little reflects. Here is another picture taken when I reflects my muscle.

Keep Walking...

Six packs challenge: Day 24 - My workout seems din't workout

It seems no improvement at all since Day 15 until today. I started to question is my workout din't workout? Or I should change my meal plan? Or I should work out more on each part of muscle? Am I on the right track but need more time? Or the improvement is too little to be seen with eye?

Breakfast (10:30am): Same thing
Lunch (12:30pm): Asian delight - ~50g beef, kale, carrot, tuna fish, 1 fried egg, fish balls, meat balls, and a little brown rice mixed with white rice.
Snacks (2:30pm): Banana milkshake.

1 hour six pack abs workout (4:15pm)

• ~15 mins on treadmill. Burned 106 calories, 1.74 km.
• ~5 mins rest
• ~10 mins. Sit-up: 25 x 4 sets
• ~10 mins. Bench Press: 170lbs (77.11kg) 15 x 3 sets, then 10 last set. Tried to do another set but fail.
• ~10 mins. Flat Fly: 25lbs (11.33kg), 15, 15, 10, 10. Total 4 sets.
• ~5 mins. Reverse Crunch: 25 x 2 sets.
• ~5 mins. Pull-up: 10, 8.

Dinner (6:45pm): ~150g chicken, vegetables, raw carrot, soup, meat balls, fish balls, very little rice.

What about me now?

Stomach is still feel "round round". This picture was taken after breakfast. I was weigh at 54.4kg.

Thought of the day

When I Google for six pack exercise, six packs meals, six packs training, incredible abs, abs workout... There are many things come out. I believe all kind of knowledge lead to self-knowledge. Let's say one article wrote "To have six packs, you must sit-up 100 times a day for 100 days". They may not wrong, but there are many factors. Body fat, what kind of food to eat, this and that. I believe should everyone should have an own workout and food schedule based on body fat. A person with 30+% sit-up 100 times a day may just waste his or her time. For example.

16% Body fat - what to do? More on cardio, eat food with low fat or without fat.

13% Body fat - what to do? More on cardio, start a little workout, eat only food that benefits your body.

11% body fat - what to do? what should do?

8% body fat - what is the best to do?