Does sweating more mean a better workout?

Two friends were out jogging together. One of them sweats buckets while the other just barely breaks a sweat. Does it mean that the person who sweats buckets was burning far more calories than the other person? Sweating is a process that helps to cool down our body temperature. So when your core temperature begins to rise, you will automatically begin to sweat as this is your body's response to ensure that your body doesn't over heat. It helps to maintain your body temperature at an ideal temperature. But when working out, does sweating more mean better than sweating less? Some people in the gym run on the treadmill and steppers for hours, and by the time they are done, they are totally soaked and dripping buckets. But does this mean they are having a more productive workout than the rest of us who just sweat a bit? Does sweating more mean that you are burning more calories than someone who sweats less?

The answer - Not really. As mentioned above, sweating is nothing more than a process to help to cool down the body. When working out, your body's temperature will naturally begin to go up. And the response to this is for you to start sweating. But burning calories has got nothing to do with sweating. Well it does a little, but i would not use that as an indicator of how effective your workout is. A lot of times, people think they have lost a lot of weight after their very sweaty work out, but do bare in mind that any immediate weight loss you see is usually from loss of water due to sweating. So once you refuel and drink water, your will put all that back on again.

Take this scenario. Some one who takes a walk outside during winter can burn more calories than when walking the same route during summer. Even though, during summer, the person will sweat more. Why? Because when our body is in a very cold climate, our muscles will have to perform extra small and rapid contractions (which are usually not felt or seen) and these contractions release heat. This helps to keep our temperature up and stable. Remember, if our body's temperature drops too much, it can result in hypothermia or death. So your body works hard to ensure that your temperature is stable. Sometimes the twitching becomes noticeable and that's what we call a shiver. If you have ever been to a cold country or a very cold place, you will notice that you get hungry faster. Why? Your body is using extra calories just to warm up your body. So this is why sweating is not the best indicator to measure the effectiveness of a workout.

But if that is true, doesn't your body also work extra hard to keep it cool during the hot weather? So isn't working out in hot weather more difficult and therefore more effective? Well that is true to a certain extent - but the amount of extra calories burnt is just a little and not enough for you to start planning workouts at 12 in the afternoon. The point is, if you can burn more calories in winter without sweating, it goes to show that sweating is not a good indicator of your workout. There are far better ways to measure the effectiveness of your workout like heart rate, volume, intensity and so forth.

But doesn't the act of sweating alone use extra calories? well it does, but again, the extra is so little that it wouldn't be worth your effort of trying to wear a winter jacket and run just so you can sweat more. It would be far more effective to just increase the intensity and let your muscles do more work.

So there you go. Sweating is not the best indicator of how well you are working out. Just because the person on the treadmill running next to you is dripping like a waterfall doesn't mean they are doing more than you. So don't get disheartened by it. As usual, look forward to hearing your comments.

Does Soy Protein Cause Man Boobs?

No, there is nothing wrong with your eyes. You read it right. There has been lots of speculation that drinking lot of soy milk or consuming soy based foods and protein shakes actually cause man boobs. And therefore, if you are a guy, you should avoid consuming soy protein at all cost - unless you want to have man boobs. Someone actually asked me this other day and i was shocked. So is this true or is it just another urban myth? Lets take a look.

How did this hypothesis come about?
Soybeans are rich in molecules called "isoflavones" which has weak estrogen properties and has been used for years as a "natural" remedy for hot flashes in menopausal women. It is a known fact that many male transgenders take estrogen (not soy) to stimulate breast growth. Therefore, someone has decided to put 2 and 2 together and come up with the hypothesis that soy causes rise of estrogen, which causes man boobs. Is it true? Btw, in case you are wondering there is a scientific / medical term for man boobs and its called gynecomastia. Yup - didn't know that.

The fact is, this is a myth and there is no medical or scientific evidence to support this hypothesis. In 2004, an Italian study of kids raised on soy protein formula showed no gynecomastia, no early puberty, no changes in their bones and definitely no signs of screwed up hormones. In fact soy has been enjoyed by the world for thousands of years. So until there is scientific evidence of soy causing gynecomastia, all this is just another myth - like the myth that doing leg raises actually targets your lower abs. Of course if you were to surf hardcore body building sites, you will notice that soy based protein gets a really bad name. But most of the time, these are just opinions without any scientific proof.

So what actually causes gynecomastia? Here are some of the causes based on medical science:

• Malnutrition and recovery from malnutrition can create a hormonal environment that is man boob friendly
• Disorders in the male sex organ (testicles) which may be caused by genetics, aging, trauma, infection, aging
  
• Other conditions that can promote altered hormonal environment such as chronic renal failure or hyperthyroidism.
• Certain drugs and medications overdose - please check with your doctor on this.
  

Don't seem to see anything about soy here.

But isn't soy protein less effective for building muscle compared to whey protein?
Says who? I noticed lots of these comments on hardcore bodybuilding sites. Here is the truth on that as well. Several studies have been done to assess muscle gain in individuals using soy protein, whey protein and egg protein. The results - There was absolutely no difference between the three. Supporters of whey protein like to site BV (Biological value) as an indicator for the quality of protein. Unfortunately, BV is as outdated as BMI. Today most scientists use a different rating to score the quality of protein. Its called the PDCAAS--Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score. The highest possible score or rating is 1, meaning the highest and best quality protein for human consumption. Soy scores a 1 just like whey protein. So is whey still superior to soy? I can't see how.

I am a big supporter of soy based protein because i am lactose intolerant, and for years i trained without using any protein supplement at all. Today i use a soy based protein supplement because it just takes the guess work out of nutrition. For me, my soy based protein supplement gives a high protein content (80% of it is protein) without the unnecessary calories. Now who wouldn't want that? And like i shared earlier, from that protein shake, i can make it into a weight gainer or even a meal replacement shake. I do hope this post has shed some light on soy protein and busted the myth that many people have with regards to soy protein.

So if you have been consuming loads of soy based products like tofu, soy milk and tempe, don't worry. You don't need to go down to Victoria Secret to check out their latest collection of bras. The fact is, soy protein does NOT cause man boobs. As usual, look forward to hearing your comments.

Eat more and lose weight

Hi guys, firstly my sincerest apologies for not writing anything in almost 4 weeks. Guess i am still in a holiday mood. But i am back and i have a very special post for you guys today and i hope you enjoy it. Before i start my post, just a small announcement.

Over the past few months, i have been working closely with the team of The Fitness Studio, a brand new gym that is opening up in Setia Alam. This 3 shop lot gym (near Tesco Setia Alam) is scheduled to have a soft launch in February and unlike other mass produced fitness centers out there, The Fitness Studio will be focusing on serving the community. We have developed special fitness programs for children, senior citizens and many other community based programs. Another unique thing about the Fitness Studio, is that it has a cafe that will feature special health foods with the aim of promoting healthy eating. If you are around the area, do check out this fantastic fitness center when it opens in February.

Now on top of that, The Fitness Studio is also looking for people to join their team of people. At the moment we have openings for the following positions:-

Personal Trainers
Sales Consultants
Customer Service

If you are interested in any of the positions above, please email your resumes to me at rajanrj@hotmail.com

Ok... now on to my post. I met my new client Ms. Siti ( she only wanted to be known as this) about 6 weeks ago and she had a unique problem. She is not overly fat and looks normal if you ask me. She of course claims she is overweight. But her goal is to look more athletic and lean. fair enough. She is super strict with her food and she exercises at least 4 to 5 times a week. Her food is mostly very high protein and super low or zero carbs. She has tried meal replacements, but it never worked. She has been on this super strict diet for the past 4 years. Her exercise routine used to be 45 minutes to 1 hour of jogging 4 to 5 times a week. She does 10km marathons quite regularly and despite all that she can't seem to lose weight. She said she is fine with maintaining everything but her weight has been slowly creeping up and she is worried that its going to go back to where she was before. She tried cutting down her food even more, but it just didn't work. It actually kept going up. She said she has tried everything from working out more, to cutting down her food even more, removing sugar from her diet completely and yet she wasn't seeing anything.

She even signed up for personal training at a big fitness chain and the trainer worked her to death, but she still did not see the results. It kept creeping up. By the time she came to me, she weighed 65kg and at 5 ft 7inches, that's not too bad. Her goal is to reach 60kg - that's all. In her own words - "I just want to lose 5 stinking kilos, is it so difficult?"

So anyway i met up with her and as usual, went through my standard assessment and getting to know her eating habits better and exercise routine. Siti has been working our for the past 6 years, so she knows lots about staying fit and healthy. So after my assessment, i told her she is not going to like what i have to say. She looked surprised and told me to spill it.

I told her that she needs to change a few key components in her lifestyle.

1) I want you eat more - She gave me a stunned look. Are you crazy? Based on her daily dietary habits, i showed her that she is only getting in about 900 calories a day. Based on her activity level, she should be getting in a healthy 1600 to 2000 calories a day. She was shocked and we debated this for awhile until she agreed. The point is, she was eating way way below her requirements which has sent her body into a super preservation mode. So in short, he metabolic rate had hit the floor, and to rev it up, she needs to feed her body again.

2) I want you to work out less - 3 to 4 times a week, and a maximum of 30 to 40 minutes of running. I told her to train hard and intense (sound familiar?). So i got her onto a HIIT program and it has worked wonders for her. The fact is, while she was eating poorly, she was unable to push herself properly during workouts. So with the new diet, she will now be able top push her body to greater heights. Better workouts = better results.

Now there is a whole lot of other things that i got her to start doing, but i can't share everything here. Trade secrets if you want to call it that. But what i wanted to share was that when it comes to weight loss, eating less and less does not always mean better. It is only better up to a point. Once you pass that, your body starts reacting in the opposite direction. So if you have been trying to cut down your food drastically and can't see results, this could be your problem too. PLUS, the sudden change in diet (i got her to start eating more carbs, complex carbs that is) and this has caused a major shock to her body. The result - she started losing weight again and she loves standing on the scale again. How cool is that.

The exercise, well i was inspired to write the article on short but intense because of her unique problem. So more and more exercise again does not mean better and better results. You need to find the balance and the important point here is intensity, not volume.

So after 6 weeks of training with me, its time to share the results. Drum roll please. Brrrrrrrrrrrrr. We just weighed her yesterday and she is down to 61.3kg. She couldn't believe how she is eating more, eating carbs, working out less and seeing the results. She is now super motivated to train harder till she achieves her goal of 60kg, which i think we will reach within the next 2 weeks or so. Its all in getting the balance right - which i helped her find.

Now with that being said, i am not promoting all of you to go out there and start eating more and working out less. This worked for her, as she was on the other extreme of the scale. Unless you are in this category, i recommend that you keep to the basic rules of weight loss - ie calories in vs calories out. But for special cases like this, then sometimes it is best to seek advice to help you see results again. When your system is broken, you need to be ready to make changes to it, or else you will never see results. Anyone else got problems like this? As usual, look forward to hearing your comments.

Staying Motivated During the Holiday Season

So another year is almost coming to an end. time really flies. I was having a conversation with a friend in the gym that day and he said he is finding it hard to stay focused and motivated in the month of December. Why? Too many parties, too many trips - its like everybody is in a celebrative mode, so even coming to the gym feels like a chore. Mind you this guy is one of the regulars at my gym. So he asked me for some tips on how to stay motivated, and i thought it would be great to share with all of you - how to stay motivated during the holiday season.

1) What is your goal
If your goal is to lose 5kg in the next 2 months, then you need to be clear about this. As long as you have a deadline and a quantitative figure, it will help you to stay on course. A lot of times, people get easily demotivated because they don't have the final result in mind or, they have just forgotten. SO remind yourself again about what your goals are and how much more time you have to achieve this. And thus it will become clear what needs to be done in terms of effort

2) What is your "Reason" for wanting this goal?
Now lot of people take this lightly, but i feel that having a reason behind your goal is a great motivating factor. So "why" do you want to lose 5kg in 2 months? Maybe you are going for a class reunion or maybe you are getting married in 2 months. Or maybe you are tired of people making fun of you. Whatever the reason is, you need to write it down and have it in your mind at all times. So you need to sit down and discover what prompted you in the first place to come up with this goal

3) Monitor your progress
Monitoring your progress regularly is great to help you stay on track. If you have been skipping workouts and then find out that you have gained 1kg, well the results speak for itself. So don't wait till the end of 2 months to weigh yourself. Weigh yourself periodically. Now weighing yourself every day is not necessary as your weight can fluctuate quite a bit due to water retention. once a week or once in 2 weeks is great. So if its been a while since you stepped on that scale, take it out, dust it off and step on it.

4) Plan your cheat days
Rather then letting life decide what direction you are going in, how about planning it a little. Example, you want to go to the gym tomorrow evening (because every wednesday evening is gym day), but there is this party that you absolutely have to go for. So what do you do? Well plan around it. How about going to the gym on Tuesday evening (assuming you don't usually go on Tuesdays). Or thursday. Or the weekends. The point is, don't let your social plans become an excuse not to exercise. Instead find ways to work around it. If you want it bad enough, i am sure you will find a way. Same goes for food. Going to indulge later tonight? Then eat sparingly for the rest of the day. You don't have to eat banana leaf for lunch today. You can always have it some other day.5) Tell your friends about your goals and progress
Whats a great way to get excited about your goals again? Start talking to people. Tell people you intend to do this. Tell them about the progress you are making. The more you tell people, the more excited you get. The more excited you get, the more motivated you are going to be in sticking with it. So learn to share it with people around you. Plus, your friends will give you some words of encouragement too. So that will help to motivate you further.

As you can see, staying motivated during the holidays is not impossible. It can be a tad bit challenging, but not impossible. As the usual mantra goes - everything in moderation. So its just a matter of finding a balance between having fun and keeping fit. If you are clear about where you are going, it goes a long way in helping you stay the course. So happy holidays everyone and hope you manage to stay on course and still have some fun and indulge. As usual, look forward to hearing your comments.

Do I Need to use Weight Gainers to Gain Muslce?

OK.. first up, some important announcements. Actually there is only one announcement. My TV Show is finally out. It airs on TV2 every Monday through Wednesday at 1pm. Yes, i know the timing is not the best, but hey, if you happen to be around the vicinity of a TV, please do check it out. OR if you are having lunch at a mamak which has a TV, ask them to tune in to TV2 for you. I still haven't caught it, but i am hoping to catch it tomorrow.

Anyway, lets move on with today's post. A friend of mine recently asked me if he should consider weight gainers as a supplement. He is finding it difficult to put on some serious muscle mass, and was wondering if he should invest in weight gainers. For me, if you have the extra money to spend, then yes, go right ahead. Is it essential to have? No, because you can easily make your own weight gainer at home.

Weight gainers have 2 main components that make it, well a weight gainer.
1) It is high in calories. The high amount of calories are necessary to keep your body anabolic - by providing your body more calories than it needs. If you are looking to gain muscle mass, you need to ensure that your caloric intake is higher than what you need. Your muscles grow after your workout, not during your workout. And for it to grow, you need to stay anabolic. Simple science.
2) It's high in protein - No guess work here. To build muscle you need protein. Protein is the building blocks of muscle. But in order for your body to fully utilize the protein, your body needs to stay anabolic, by having more calories in than necessary.

So when you combine these 2 elements, you get a good weight gainer. Now of course some will argue that some weight gainers have vitamins and minerals which are good for you and helps to increase absorption. No doubt these vitamins and minerals are good, but unless you plan to replace every single meal with your weight gainers, i wouldn't worry too much. Because you can easily get your vitamins and minerals from your food. So you don't need to dump every bit of goodness that nature has into your shake. I think most of these things are just gimmicks to make you feel like you can never achieve results without their wonderful product.

So how do you make a high calorie high protein shake? Well here are some ingredients that you can easily mix together to get a good shake. If you have a protein powder at hand, you can easily turn your protein powder into a weight gainer by just adding some simple household ingredients. This is why, if i had to spend my money, i would prefer to spend my money on a protein shake, because it is versatile. You can drink it as a protein shake, a weight gainer or even a meal replacement. All other stuff, has a very specific function.

Here are some suggestions to spike up the calories in your protein shake

1) Add flavoured milk like strawberry milk to your protein shake. Flavoured milk has sugar which immediately increases the calories in milk. Plus, the sugar in these milks are great especially when you take it after your workout. If you are looking to gain muscle mass, you need to have an insulin spike after your workout. Because insulin is a storage hormone, it will help in protein being absorbed into your muscles faster.

2) Add ice cream - Yup, you heard me. Ice cream is high in calories, and because it is made out of milk, its really a 2 in 1 deal. Now, don't go crazy with it. Just 1 or 2 scoops of ice cream into your protein shake, after your workout should suffice.

3) Peanut Butter - Peanut butter surprisingly has high content in protein as well as calories. So if you are a hard gainer, peanut butter is a great way to amp up the calories and protein.

4) Almonds - Almonds are a great source of protein. They usually have between 6 to 8 grams of protein per serving. A handful of almonds into your shake not only amps up the protein, but it ads great flaovour to it as well.

5) Sweetened Soy Milk - Because you want the calories, sweetened soy milk is excellent for this. It is high in protein (about 5grams per glass) and it has sugar which will help to give your body the insulin spike it needs after your workout.

6) Yogurt - Yogurt is a great source of protein, but do bare in mind that it is sour, so it may or may not go with the rest of your ingredients. So be careful when blending other stuff with yogurt. Yogurt usually goes well with berry flavoured stuff. Chocolate, hmmmm.... its a no for me, but it really is a personal choice.

So those are just some suggestions of what you can chuck into your blender and make a shake from. Below is one of my personal favourite weight gainer shakes that i have made. Try it, you will love it.

1 Scoop of vanilla ice cream
1 table spoon of Milo
2 table spoons of Peanut Butter
1/2 glass of sweetened soy milk
1 serving of plain flavoured protein powder - how many scoops will depend on which protein powder you use. My protein powder needs 2 scoops (or you can use your chocolate flavour and ditch the Milo and use the protein instead)
1 glass of Milk.
A little bit of water if its too thick.

Method - Chuck everything into your blender and blend it till its smooth. When it pours out, it will make 2 glassfuls.

Now, this recipe is only for those who:-
a) Lift like a warrior - if you lift like a wuss, please stay clear of this shake
b) Finding it extremely hard to gain weight, but want to bulk up like Thor
c) Should be taken right after your warrior workout.

For all other people, please stick to your usual protein blend or diet stuff.

Now on top of these weight gainer shakes, you also want to make sure you eat lots of complex carbs and lots of protein for your other meals. Its not what you take once after your workout, but the continuous nutrition that you keep feeding your body for the rest of the day, as your body grows. So meal times are important too.

So, do you really need a weight gainer? Personally for me, no. Like i mentioned earlier, i would prefer to spend my money on protein powders, because i an easily interchange it to suit my needs. But hey, if you have lots of money, then go right ahead. So do try out the recipe and as usual, look forward to hearing your comments. As usual, look forward to hearing your comments

Short but Intense

Off late i have been getting many requests from people who seem to be doing everything right but still can't seem to drop the weight or worse still... end up putting on weight. They eat right, meaning less calories in than out, the do exercise, but yet they can't seem to shed the unwanted pounds. In most of the cases i viewed, the problem was actually over training. Yup doing way too much exercise to the point where your body starts fighting back.

Hence today's post what i want to share is the concept called "short but intense" workouts. If you follow these simple tips, i guarantee you will start seeing results. I also noticed something similar when i was training for my marathon. even though i was running a lot, i felt like i was getting flabby and was not happy with my physique. This is more proof that i was possibly over training and my body was resisting the change.

More does not always mean better
In most cases in life, more is always better. Eg. having more money is always better than having less money. But in fitness, it is only true up to a certain level. Thereafter in becomes counter productive. Running for 20 minutes may be great, but running for 120 minutes does not make it 6 times better. Of course if you are an endurance athlete then yes that would be your goal. But for weight loss, its not the case. Sometimes doing less can get you better results. Please clear your mind of this concept. Doing more does not mean more results always.

1 hour sessions, 3 to 4 times a week
OK, now that we know too much is not good, how much is good enough? Of course this will vary from person to person, but as a general rule of thumb, i find 1 hour sessions, 3 to 4 times a week the most effective. Keep your workouts to 1 hour as far as possible. I know people who run for 40 minutes, do weights for 45 minutes and then cycle for 30 more minutes after that. That's almost 2 hours. And you do all that 7 days a week. That is way too much for your body to handle. If you are doing this, scrap it and change it to 1 hour sessions 3 to 4 times a week. Trust me, you are not going to get anywhere with your current 2 hour routine 7 days a week.

Do super Sets
Super sets are usually 2 sets of exercises that are done back to back without any rest in between the 2 sets. Ideally, you should try to do antagonistic muscles like your biceps and triceps. so learn to swap your exercises around so that you can cut short your work outs. supersets is a great way to intensify the workout while cutting down your workout time. Not to mention, it also helps to keep your heart rate up. So i highly recommend doing exercises in supersets for weight loss. It really works wonders.

Increase intensity, not volume
OK, so what exactly is intensity? Isn't running for 30 minutes more intense than 20 minutes of running? No, that would be volume. Volume is doing more reps, doing it more frequently. Intensity means, making the exercise more challenging. Instead of running for longer, how about covering more distance within the same time frame. Eg. If you can cover 3km in 20 minutes, how about trying to cover 3.5km in 20 minutes. The effort of pushing yourself harder is what counts. This is what i mean by intensifying your workout. Or how about doing more uphills to make it more challenging. Or how about wearing a weighted vest and still try to complete 3km in 20 minutes.As you can see, there are various ways increase intensity and not volume of your training. Intensity is important for results. Volume is too, but in this case, most people misunderstand and increase volume thinking they are increasing intensity.

Keep it short but intense
So keep your workouts to an hour, but during that hour ensure that you push yourself to the limit. Now pushing yourself to the limit also has its limitations. I don't mean pushing yourself till you puke. A good indicator of a good workout is, when you are done, think to yourself "now lets do it all over again right now". If you hate that idea, good job. If you feel, yeah, i don't mind coz i don't think i did enough, then that's a bad sign. Of course this is very subjective and will vary from person to person. But you know yourself best. Make sure you keep challenging yourself for each workout.

Concentrate your efforts
Also, because you are not working out like 15 times a day, you can concentrate all your efforts to push yourself to the limit on every workout. Not to mention, you will also have recovery time so your body can recover before you push it again. This has both physical and psychological benefits to you. As you know, recovery is extremely important for the body if you want to see any kind of results. By cutting down your workouts, you will give yourself more rest time. If you are doing way too many exercises too often, then chances are you are slowing down because you know you have to push yourself again tomorrow or for the next 3 hours. So your workouts are never 100% that way. By keeping it short and less frequent, its easier to push yourself all the way for each workout.

Keep on challenging yourself
After awhile, what seemed to be intense 6 months ago, may not be intense anymore. So this is where you need to increase intensity again. Remember, increase intensity, not volume. If you can keep increasing intensity, i guarantee you that you will continue to see results. So keep progressing in intensity whenever you can. Every time you push yourself to new limits and boundaries, you will see more results. That's how the body works. so work with your body and not against it.

So now you have a clear picture of how to keep your workouts short but intense. The key here is to play around with intensity and keep upping the intensity. Doing more isn't the answer always. Now with that being said, it does not mean that doing less and less is better either. Keep it to 1 hour sessions, 3 to 4 times a week. The intensity is what you will need to decide for yourself. Hope this helps all of you out there who have sweating buckets but still not seeing the results. As usual, look forward to hearing your comments.

Penang Bridge Marathon

As most of you know, last Sunday morning i participated in my first marathon ever at the Penang Bridge International Marathon and it was quite an experience. All the training sessions i did really paid off as i was prepared for the run. But it wasn't quite what i expected on the actual race day. I guess nothing can prepare you for it until you actually do it.

Did i qualify in time? Did i collect my medal? Well lets save that bit till the end of the post. Let me share with you my overall experience and hopefully it will give everyone (especially those who have never participated in a marathon) a good feel of what to expect. So here goes.

The run was scheduled to kick off at 6am. We stayed in Tanjung Bungah and the starting line was at Queens Bay Mall. So it takes about 15 minutes to get there without any jam. But there is a catch. All the roads leading to Queens Bay Mall were closed because of the race. So the officials told us that we can head down to the ferry terminal and take a shuttle bus from there to the starting point. One of my very good friends who was not participating in the race was sweet enough to drop off me, my wife and one more friend. So we left our hotel room at 4:15am and reached the ferry terminal about 4:40am. Because the bridge was closed, people who wanted to travel to the main land had to depend on the ferry... which caused a jam leading to the the ferry terminal. So we decided to get down and walk to the terminal. The bus left at 5am and we reached Queensbay Mall at about 5:20am. So from there we walked over to Eastin Hotel which was the starting point and then i had to take a small toilet break before the race. The organizers were kind enough to set up 200 or so mobile toilets so i had to use one of them. It was disgusting to mention the least, but i shall spare you the details.

So after that, we walked over the starting line and there was this huge crowd of people. Yup, all the racers had begun to gather around for the race. I joined the huge group of people somewhere in the middle. Did some light stretching and waited for the gun to go off. To be honest, i was a little nervous, as it was my first race. At 6am sharp, they did the shoot off. But the crowd was so huge, it took me a good 2 or 3 minutes just to pass the starting line. I could not run for the first 5 minutes or so, as there were just too many people everywhere. One thing i am glad about, is that despite such a huge crowd, everyone was well behaved. There was no pushing or anything of that sort, despite it being a race. So after about 300 or 400 meters, there were some empty spaces appearing between the crowd so i could finally start jogging. But i had to zig zag as some people were running, some were walking fast, some were walking slow... man, it was crazy.

As the race went on, the crowd thinned out a bit more, so i could finally pick up pace. I ran pretty fast for the first 4KM, overtaking many other runners and i was feeling good. But after about 4KM, i was running out of breath. Maybe i pushed too hard too early, i am not sure. I brought along two 600ml bottles of mineral water with me (one in each hand) as i need lots of water when i run. I could have drank more, but i was worried about having to go again, so i cut down my intake of water... so maybe that caused me to burn out faster. I am not sure. But i am glad i brought it as there were only 2 water stations available. And as you can guess, the queue to get water was huge. I would not have made it with just 2 water stops. Phew.... good thing i brought my own water.

Anyway, after 4KM, i started walking while trying to catch my breath. I kept walking until the 5KM point. I tried to run again after that, but barely lasted 400 or 500 meters before i started walking again. At that moment, my mind started playing tricks on me. I think it was just out of fatigue. I actually started thinking, "gosh.... i don't think i am going to make it." I looked at the clock and 40 minutes had passed already. I really need to pick up my pace. Then i started thinking, "oh screw it, its just a race". So what if i don't make it. Then a little voice inside me said, "its not too late to make a difference". That gave me a bit of motivation. So i ran again but alas, same thing happened. I ran out of gas after about 500 meters. This really started to worry me. At that point, my legs started to get sore as well. I was expecting muscle soreness after 6KM, so it was no surprise. How am i going to run fast now?

50minutes had gone by, still walking. Recovery is slow. I suddenly hear the sound of police on motor bikes. The runners start moving to the side. Then i hear the ambulance... they whiz pass us. Not sure what happened, but someone must have gotten injured. Then i see the sign board that says 3KM to go. That's when i felt a glimmer of hope that i can actually do this. I downed and finished my first bottle of water drank some more from my second bottle. Normally when i do my practice runs, at this point, i would be halfway down my second bottle. But during the race, i had not consumed much water. So maybe this caused my fatigue. Not sure. Anyway, took a few deep breaths and said "Let's Go!" So i started running. And i kept running. Saw the sign that said 2.5KM to go. Alright... lets keep going. The crowd was still everywhere so i still had to weave in an out. 2KM to go. Lets go.... 1.5Km to go. I walked again for a bit till the 1KM mark and then i floored it. i took long strides but at a slower pace. It boosted me past many others. 500 meters to go. There were loads of people on the side cheering all the runners and clapping hands. Not sure if there were cheering for me or not, but it felt good. So i kept going. I saw one guy massaging his feet and all his friends had stopped by his side... apparently he was suffering from leg cramps. More people were clapping. One guy shouted "Come on guys, you're almost there". Wow, kept going and going. Saw the finish line in the distance. I can feel it. More and more people started cheering. YES... passed the finish line. Looked back at the clock, it was blurry and i could only see the minutes, 31. Oh dear. Did i just miss it? According to my time, it was only 7:20am. That means i still have 10 minutes more. So i saw one of the race officials and asked them - "Did i make it?" He said YES. Go over there and collect your medal. Wow... i did it.

So here are the results

10km in 1:19:24. 1 hour, 19 minutes and 24 seconds. qualifying time was 1:30:00. Could have been better, but hey, i made it. For a non runner like me, i am extremely happy with it. There you go... my shiny little medal.


Wifey did better than me. 1:16:44. All my friends who participated made it too. Going back to the hotel was a whole new saga as we tried to jump back on the shuttle bus. Some one told us to go to point A, when we walked all the way there, then someone else said, no, you need to go to point B. When we got to point B, someone else said, NO, you need to go to point C. Ordinarily i wouldn't have minded walking around and round, but after running 10KM, i don't think so. So we finally got fed up and paid a cab to take us back. We took the cab to Equatorial Hotel where one friend had a car and from there, we went for a much earned breakfast. We decided to check out the famous Roti Canai store in Jalan Tansfer. Mmmm... it was really awesome. Went back to the room, had a shower and went to bed. Forgot to mention, i woke up at 2:45am to do "my business" before the race, if you know what i mean. So was dead tired by then.

Would i do this again? Hmmm... i am not sure. To be honest i would have liked my timing to be better, so the competitor in me keeps saying - go for it. But then, my fitness goal is not to be an endurance athlete. I want to gain some serious mass and build some serious lifting strength. Running long distance is kinda going in the opposite direction. So for now, i have decided that i will most probably participate in maybe 1 race a year, just for fun. 21Km, unlikely. 10 KM, yep - once a year maybe. 5KM, bring it on anytime.

Anyone else want to share their experience for the race that day? Would love to hear your story. For now, i am on a serious mission to pound on some mass. As usual, look forward to hearing your comments.

High Quality Protein for less than RM 6

So last Sunday, i did my 2nd attempt at running 10km at lake gardens. Last one was about a month and a half ago. Timing wasn't the greatest, but i am happy. 1:20 for 10.12km. So now i guess i am ready for the race. From now till the Penang Bridge run i will only do 4km to 5km runs maybe twice a week. That's it. Don't want to over do it. My knees did feel a little sore after the run the other day, but its better now. So that's just an update on the run.

OK, enough about running. Today i wanted to talk about proteins once again. Since my recent post on protein and weight loss, i have gotten quite a few emails asking me all sorts of things. One of the most common ones i received were that protein is expensive and if i could recommend some cheap sources of protein. Now i am not sure what the definition of cheap is, but what if you could get high quality protein for under RM 5 or RM 6? Would that be OK? That's affordable right?

So here are just some in no particular order

Eggs - One of the cheapest source of lean protein. Each egg will give you roughly 6g of protein at about 80 calories. Thats pretty good. So you can buy a whole 12 pack for about RM 3 or RM 4. Should you consume the yolk? Yes you can. The whole notion about egg yolks causing high cholesterol is a myth. Your body produces most of the cholesterol and your diet has little impact on this. So yes. Go ahead.

Chicken Breast - Chicken breast is another excellent source of lean protein. You can grill it, toss it in a sandwich, eat it as a chicken chop, dice it up... the possibilities are just endless. Each 100g of chicken breast contains about 45g of protein. That means almost of it is protein. Remember, preparation of your chicken is important. Avoid deep frying it. Pan searing, roasting or grilling would be the best option. How much is one cut of chicken breasts? I usually buy them in the market for about RM 3 to RM 4. Once i buy them, i split it in 2 (as shown above) and just consume one portion.

Sardines - Fish is one power foods that we all need to have more of in our diets. Sardines especially are high in Omega 3, which time and time again has been proven to prevent many chronic diseases especially heart related illnesses. 100g of sardines has about 24g of protein. If possible drain the tomato sauce out before preparing sardines. Usually the sauce has high amounts of sugar and sodium. So i usually drain it, rinse the sardines and then prepare my own tomato sauce. This way i get to control what goes into it. You can easily get a tin of sardine for under RM 6.

Tuna - Tuna in water, tuna in salt water, tuna in oil... which one to choose? Best choice is Tuna in water, second choice tuna in salt water. Usually one 185g can tuna will has about 24g of protein. You can prepare it any way you want, but go slow on the mayo if thats your preferred style. This is also under RM 6 for a can

Tandoori Chicken - This is one of my favourite ways to consume lean protein. You can usually get a quarter chicken of tandoori for about RM 6 or just below that. You can eat it with naan or chappati or you can strip the meat off and make a sandwich out of it. How much protein is in tandoori? Similar to chicken breast. About 40% of its weight (minus the bones of course) will be protein.

Skim Milk - One cup of skim milk has less than 1g of fat and offers you about 8g of protein. You can add fruits to it to make a smoothie or just drink it by itself. For convenience, you can buy skim milk powder so you can prepare it anywhere and at anytime. Excellent source of protein as long as you are not lactose intolerant. One liter of skim milk usually sells for about RM 5 or RM 6 and serves about 4 cups

Tofu - Depending on the type of tofu, generally most tofu will have between 10g to 12g of protein per 100g. Its an excellent source of protein because its lean and its complete protein. That means it has all the essential amino acids in there. Again, preparation is vital here. To make it healthy you want to avoid deep frying it. Try pan frying or even stuffing it and then steaming or baking it.

I could go on an on, but i am sure with what i have shared here so far, it is possible to put together a variety of high protein meals that don't cost an arm and a leg. It all just comes down to creativity. What other cheap sources of high protein foods are available out there? Would love to hear your feedback too. Google some healthy recipes with the ingredients above and i am sure you will find something that will excite your taste buds. So yes, it is possible to stay healthy even on a budget. You don't need to rob a bank to stay healthy and more importantly, no more excuses for staying on a healthy diet. As usual, look forward to hearing your comments.

Preparing for Penang Bridge Run

The Penang Bridge Run is just around the corner and i have been spending quite a bit of time preparing for it. YES, i have registered for it and am going to be going for my first 10KM run. Some time ago, i wrote about running and said i would participate in 1 race this year...and yes.... i finally have. Have i become more fond of running... honestly - not really. maybe this will change after the run... i am not sure. i mean i don't mind running, but if i had a choice between running and lifting weights... you all know which one i would choose. would i like to prepare for a 42km, errr.... at the moment NO. it really isn't part of my goals. am quite happy with my 10km achievement.

So my workout routine has changed a little to ensure i am able to slot in enough cardio sessions to prepare me for the run. Also, i am lifting some amount of weights, but i know bulking will be difficult while i prepare for the run... so i am just targeting on mantaining what i have until the day of the run, then concerntrate of bulking up again after this.

The big question on everyone's mind is... how do you train for a run? Well here are some tips for working out and i hope it helps you with planning your own routine.

1) Don't overtrain
I put this as the first tip because many people tend to over train. When you over train, you are more likely to get injured. If you are planning on running 10km, it does not mean you have to do 10km for every workout. Doing about 5km to 6km is more than enough to prepare for the run. Yes, you might want to try and complete a full 10km at some point before the race, just to know what it feels like, but you don't have to make every workout a 10km run.

2) Train with some friends

If you are going for a run, i am 99% sure that you are joining the run with some friends or family members. It would be great to train with these people. One thing i noticed, i can almost double my distance of running when i run with people - compared to when i run alone. Why? Because it becomes more fun and you start enjoying it more. Also training with others gives you a good perception of how good or not good you are. When you run alone all the time, you have no way of benchmarking how good or poor you are. So this is one way to discover where you need to be.

3) Training Time

It is highly recommended that you try to run at the same time as your run / race day. If you have a morning run which kicks off at 4am, you will want to try at least a couple of training sessions at 4am as well. If you have a night race, then you will want to try and run at night. This is just to ensure that you know what it feels like and gives your body a chance to adapt to the timing. Law of SAID. It would be even better if you could train on the actual track itself.

4) Do them darn hills

I hate running uphill but doing uphills really trains up your stamina and leg strength. The more hills you do, the stronger you become and on race day you won't need to worry about change in terrain. One big mistake many people do is to keep their trainings light and then on race they get fatigued because they were not prepared for it. Make your trainings more challenging and intense than the actual race day...so that on your race day, you will breeze through it. If you only train on flat ground all the time, you are going to suffer on race day should there be any hills. But if you always train on hills and on race day you have a full flat road, then you will blaze through the course. so remember.... keep it more challenging than race day, but don't don't overtrain by doing too much. Your workouts need to be intense but not the point of overtraining.

5) Train at least twice a week

How often should you be running to prepare for a race? Ideally you should try to run about 3 times a week, but minimum 2 times a week. Your trainings should be spaced out as evenly as possible. So avoid doing running only on Saturday & Sundays. Try to spread it out. At least 2 to 3 weeks before the run, this frequency becomes even more important to maintain. So make sure you make some time for this. Again, 2 or 3 is good but that does not mean 5 or 6 is even better.

6) Get a good pair of shoes

Good shoes need not necessarily be the most expensive shoes or the most well known brand. i bought a RM 175 pair of Reeboks and it works fine. Initially i tried some other expensive brands all well above RM200, but it did not feel right... so i decided against getting them. When you try out the shoes for the first time, it should automatically feel "right". If it doesn't, then its not the right one for you. If you walk around a bit and still not sure, then it definitely isn't the shoe for you. You must get that feeling of comfort immediately. Just because 5 of your closest friends all swear by one shoe, it does not mean it will be right for you.

Those are just some basic tips to help you train and prepare for your run. I have been doing practice runs in Lake Gardens on the weekends and i will be doing one this coming Sunday. I shall post up the time later once i confirm with friends. But all of you are more than welcome to come and join us for this run. My target is to complete 10km on that practice run. So hope to see some of you then. As usual look forward to hearing your comments.

Protein helps to trigger weight loss

Protein is one of the essential macronutrients that we all need. In fact, we need to have protein to stay alive as it is "essential" for life. On a daily basis, our body requires what is called essential amino acids to live. When we do not get essential amino acids from our diet, your body will begin stripping its own muscle to provide the body with essential amino acids to live... and wasting away muscle is a bad thing. It not only affects your muscles ability to perform but it will also lower your metabolic rate.

When it comes to weight loss, you need to have protein in every meal. I know many dieters who think they are doing themselves a favour by just consuming salads or worse still, some people try to eat cereal for dinner in an effort to lose weight. Granted, that cereal does have some amount of protein, but its not going to be enough. To effectively lose weight, you need to up the amount of protein in your diet.

So why is protein so important for weight loss? Here are just some of the reasons why
1) Protein takes longer to digest - because protein molecules are more complex, it takes longer to digest. This also translates to keeping you full for longer, hence reducing snacking in between meals. Carbohydrates do a good a good job by filling you up quickly, but if your meal is only made out of carbs, you will notice that you will get hungry really fast. So make sure you add some protein into your diet.
2) Protein also encourages the release of Glucagon - which helps to release fat from fat stores and also decreases the body's ability to store fat. Double yes if you want to lose fat.
3) Protein also does not store as fat easily. Unlike carbohydrates which turn to sugar almost immediately, protein does not do that. It is possible to break down protein into sugar through a process called Gluconeogenesis, but this is only done as an absolute last resort.
4) Protein releases a natural weight loss hormone called PYY. When released in the gut, this hormone helps to reduce hunger. Eating protein rich food will help your body to easily release this hormone
5) Protein helps to maintain muscle mass, which is essential to maintaining a health metabolic rate. So if you want to keep your metabolic rate at high, then you must eat enough protein everyday - regardless of whether you are working out or not

Those are just some of the reasons why you need to have a healthy intake of protein everyday. Now i know most of you are thinking - wow... that means i can eat all the KFC i want. Well the answer is not really. The idea here is to get lean protein into your system. KFC does have lots of protein, but it also has lots of other things which you don't want. So i would not recommend it, unless you are able to provide your body with enough activity to burn it off.

So what are some good sources of lean protein?

1) Egss - it can't get simpler than this
2) Tuna in water - you can buy the cans and use them
3) Lean meats - red meats are fine as long as they don't have too much fat around them. However, my first choice would be chicken breasts
4) Fish - fish is one of the best ways to get lean protein. So if you eat out a lot, try to opt for fish, whenever you can.
5) Low fat milk - can't get easier than that. Make sure you have some low fat milk in your fridge at all times. If you are lactose intolerant like me, then soya is a good substitute. Only down side is most soya milk has sugar. If you can stomach the sugar free soya, then great. I opt for normal soya milk but i don't go over board with it. Usually just 2 cups a day.
5) Protein Powders - i highly recommend that you invest some money and get a good protein shake that you like. Protein powders is not just for body builders. Everyone can consume them and yes, to all my women readers you can too. You won't bulk up like the pictures you see on the tub of protein powder. Protein powders just takes the guess work out of getting lean protein and its so easy to prepare. PLUS, you can actually use it to replace meals. I would prefer this over meal replacements shakes.

So are you getting enough protein in your diet? To lose weight, just make sure you get protein in every meal you have. If you can do this, i am sure you will see the results you want. As usual, look forward to hearing your comments.