"Why do you workout?" And some of the answers people usually can think of are, "So I can get more girls (like Kim? lol)", "I appeal to be more attractive", "I get more attention when I go clubbing". Because of this, people commonly have this stereotype toward those ones who workout. They think those guys (or girls) in the gym are just working out so they appeal to be more attractive to the opposite gender, and working out for healthy is just a lame excuse. Some of the brothers in my church even stopped working out due to these stereotypes, and also the fact that they are too busy. So are there any reasons for people to workout other than the ones previously mentioned? Well, I think there are plenty, personally, here's my major source of motivations:
1. healthy and fit lifestyle I commented to
2. disciplined practice
3. habit
4. stress relief
5. help others (38% of Americans are obese, NOT just overweight, obese)
However, it really comes down to you to figure it out why you should be going to the gym. Everyone is different, and their motivations are different as well. Whatever you do it for, as long as you are committed, you will achieve your goal, be respected by others, and hopefully inspire others. Do not just give up fitness because other people have the wrong idea about it. And you could be the one who proves them wrong.
The #1 supplement of all time is STEROID, with no doubt......no I'm playing with ya'll lol. Before I introduce some basic supplement I take, I just want to make it clear that, you actually DON'T need any of it. Eating good food, getting enough rest, and training hard is all you need. So why do I take supplement? Well, as a college student, I don't have the time, energy, and money to eat 7 meals a day and managing to get enough vitamins, fibers, and protein. Therefore, I take some supplement as a complimentary to my diet. Here's pretty much all the supplement I take:
Roids are the best......NOT
Protein:
Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard 100% Whey
tastes great, hydrolyzed whey isolates, less fattening, supplement and whey product of the year
Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard 100% Casein
for night time, right before bed, slow absorbing, good replacement for cottage cheese
Creatine:
Cellmass
creatine+glutamine, taste amazing, better than gatorade, awesome weight gainer for someone skinny like me, make sure you drink A LOT of water
Pre-workout:
NO-Explode
nitric oxide and caffeine, taste so-so, pretty good pump, not as intense as Jacked-3D and Assault, pretty safe pre-workout
Vitamin:
Universal Animal Pak
lots of pills, hard to swallow, but very good for you, pretty much has all the vitamins you need, very old and trustworthy brand
That includes all the supplement I take. But remember, none of the above is necessary. Just make sure to eat well, rest well, and train hard. Then you will pass me in no time, ...or maybe you already passed me lol.
What up guys! First of all, I just want to apologize for not posting any pictures or blogs while I was in China, like I promised. I did not have internet access there, so I had to go to Starbucks to check my email. As side note, coffee in China sucks lol. I was going to talk about how my workout went when I came back in July, but I was really busy. I'm trying to get back to blog routine, well......hopefully.
My workout in China went AMAZINGLY well. There was no stress. I was eating tons of healthy and delicious food and getting plenty amount of time to rest and sleep. This is why I keep saying, vacation is the best time to workout. I gain solid 5 lbs of muscle, from 165 to 170 lbs. Like I previously mentioned, I did the Hypertrophy workout with my buddies Guanhua Chen and Sun Wen. Both of them play tennis in NCAA Division 1, Guanhua plays for Penn State and Sun plays for Texas A&M. You will actually see some of their sick tennis moves in my second workout video. I was also trying to help my friend Ran to lose weight this summer, but his internship made it very difficult. I hope he has been working out by himself. Here are the workout videos I made, for those of you who hasn't seen it.
and some pictures:
Making videos of your workout is actually a great way to check your forms. I didn't realize how BAD some of my forms are until I watched these videos lol. Make sure the gym you workout at allows you to record though, because RSF does not. That's why I haven't made any workout videos in Berkeley.
I already repeated three cycles of Strength, Hypertrophy, and Cutting phases now since spring. So it's time to get a new workout! I actually got this workout from Dallas bodybuilder Andrew Vu and modified it a little. And I'm doing this workout as a strength phase. So you will see a lot of 5 sets of low reps and high weight.
Day 1, Back
Warm up: 2x10 Pull-ups
Dumbbell Row, 10, 10, 8, 8, 6
Barbell Back Row, 4x12
Seated Row, 5x10
Rope Bent-over Lat Pull, 4x12
T-bar Row, 4x12
abs
There rep and set number don't have to be exact. However, for strength, I usually do high weight, low rep, (usually pyramid), and about 90 secs of rest. For Hypertrophy, I usually do medium weight, high rep, and less than 60 secs of rest. The reason I did put down the weight number because it's different for everybody. Sometimes if I'm really tired the weight might go down, but it generally goes up each week. So it varies every week.
Upcoming:
Supplements and Progress pictures, stay tuned ......
Diet, I can't emphasize enough how important your diet is, no matter you want to cut fat, bulk up, or just simply stay in shape. If I have to break down what it takes to achieve your fitness goals, I'd say 40% comes from your diet, 30% comes from your hard work, 25% comes from your good rest, and 5% comes from your supplements. Unless you have awesome genetics like David Dawka (the buff black senior supervisor at RSF), then you don't have to worry about your diet so much. You can still be ripped and muscular just by eating gummy worms. Since most of us don't have genetics like that, you gotta watch your diet!!!
Here's some commonly known facts: If you are trying to lean down, eat less carb (or none if you can do that). If you are trying to bulk up, it's simple, just eat as much as you can (not junk food though). No matter what you are tying to do, break your three meals down to smaller meals throughout the day, like 5-7 depending on your own circumstances. That way, you can keep your metabolism going. In term of supplements, I'll actually have another post about it, so wait for it.
This is what I typically eat in a day:
Meal 1: Multi-Grain Whole Wheat Bread with Peanut Butter, a cup of orange juice, a bowl of Oat Meal with Brown Sugar
Meal 2: Cottage Cheese and Yogurt
Meal 3: Brown Rice, Chicken Thighs, Sweet Potatoes, Spinach
or Fried Brown Rice with two eggs, Chicken Thighs, Sweet Potatoes, Broccoli (you can mix it all, as long as there's enough protein and carbs)
Meal 4: Protein Bar (optional)
Meal 5: Chicken breast, lettuce, avocado with olive oil, vinegar, and pepper
Meal 6: Milk, Cottage Cheese (depending on if I had Meal 2 or not)
As you can see, they're pretty typical workout meals. If you are willing to spend the time, energy, and money and sacrifice some of your cravings to eat like this, I'm sure you will see significant results.
And here's a upgraded version of my Hypertrophy Workout. After Anthony reviewed it, there are some slight changes.
Hey guys, I haven't been blogging lately mostly due to my finals. I was extremely sick and behind with school work, but luckily I was able to catch up and do well on my finals. So it has been five weeks since I posted my bulking phase workout, it's time to mix it up and design a new workout!
This workout is just basically gaining mass as much as possible before I go into my strength phase workout. I'll pretty much go to failure each set. And the rest between sets is strictly one minute and the rest between lifts is two minutes. Former Cal Football linebacker Anthony Felder actually helped me design this workout. He can dip with FOUR 45 lb plates THREE times, that's beast mode for ya.
I also want to let you guys know that I'm going to China this Friday. So that means no facebook, text or calls, just emails. If you want to see the updates of my trip and workout, just come and check out the blog (hopefully blogspot is allowed in China). I'll keep posting stuff including pictures, videos, and workout plans if I can get on it.
Day 1
Flat Barbell Bench
15, 12, 10, 10, 8
Squat
2x15, no lock-out
4x(10-12) for the rest of the workout
Incline Dumbbell Bench
Dumbbell Flyes
Lat Pulldown
Shrugs
Seated Cable Rows
Day 2
sprints + plyometrics (approx 30 mins)
Day 3
Squat
15, 12, 10, 10, 8
DB Flat Bench
15, 12, 10, 10, 8
4x(10-12) for the rest
RDL
Quad Curl
Calf Raise
Pull-up
Dips
Abs
Day 4
light jog (20 mins)
Day 5
Incline Barbell Bench
15, 12, 10, 10, 8
Deadlift
15, 12, 10, 10, 8
4x(10-12) for the rest
Shoulder Press
Lateral Raise
DB Rows
Tricep Extension
Bicep Curl
First of all, I just want to thank you guys for viewing my blog and encouraging me. I saw a lot of comments on the link of the blog I shared on facebook. I would actually really appreciate it if you guys can post the comment on the blog instead of facebook, because first, it's hard to find those comments in the future, and second, it shows that there are people who actually read my blog and give me feedback lol.
The reason why I workout ...... I get this question asked a lot. One of the most common misconception is that guys workout just to get girls. This is NOT why I workout, as well as a lot of my friends and coworkers who are just as dedicated and passionate about fitness as me, like John, C-Lo, Greg, Anthony, Nick, Brandon, Martin ......
I started working out when I was a sophomore in high school, about 5 years ago. I was literally a twig weighing 120 and 5'11'' tall. I had a pretty bad relationship with my abusive step - father. So I thought if I could work really hard and get big, one day I'll be able to overcome him physically. At school, because I was a immigrant and skinny, some kids would always pick on me and push me around. I was also thinking if I get more muscular, first I won't get picked on, second, it'll help me to be more popular and get more girls. Due those "wrong" reasons, I started working out. I also joined the Varsity Weightlifting team and the Track team (running 800m and 1 mile). It did help me to gain popularity, but as I grew up, I realized two thing. First, you don't need brutal physical force to resist someone or protect yourself and I learnt to forgive. How strong you are inside is actually more important. Second, girls don't just look for muscle, they look into your heart and personality. So why did I keep working out then?
1. I want to maintain a healthy lifestyle. This includes pretty much everything, my schedule (what time I go to bed and wake up, usually 10 - 11 pm to 6 - 7 am), diet, regular exercise routine, appearance, activities, value, priority, and so on.
2. Working out is like a disciplined practice, similar to martial art. I constantly push myself and reach my limit. Once I do reach my limit, I'll push the boundary even further. Since working out is such a pain in the butt, it actually develops your discipline, dedication, mental toughness, endurance and a lot of other good characters.
3. It's a habit. I've been doing it for so long that I'm already used to it. If I don't workout for more than two weeks, I feel super uncomfortable.
4. It feels good and relieves stress. Being a Berkeley Civil Engineering major, life could be really stressful. Whenever I feel beaten down by my low midterm score, bad grade, or just any sort of issue and trouble, I go the to gym get refreshed and ready to get back up. Proven by scientific research, exercise actually decreases "stress hormone" and increase endorphin, which is the "feel good" chemicals. Like our former governator Arnold said in Pump Iron, "A good pump is as satisfying to me as the feeling of coming." lol
This is exactly what's on my mind when I run,
running through a screen of water,
getting refreshed and filtering out all of my stress and frustration, nice Asics commercial
5. It increase your self-esteem. Wouldn't anyone feel more confident if he or she has a nice and fit body?
6. It prevents aging. If you eat well and workout, I bet you in ten years, you will look a lot younger than people at your own age.
These are all the reasons I can think of right now. I'm pretty sure there are more, but the first two reasons are the most important ones to me.
Day 6, Thursday
Shoulders & Arms
warm up:
3x10 pull up
work set:
5x10 Shoulder Press
5x10 Front Raise
5x10 Lateral Raise
5x10 Rear Raise
3x10 Dips
3x10 DB Bicep Curl
3x10 Rope Pulldown
3x10 Bar Bicep Curl
Light Cardio:
Cable Push & Pull
Cable Wood Chops low-high & high-low
Day 7, Friday
rest
This is my typical bulking phase workout. It's inspired by Frank AKA ice1cube lol. I tried this workout during winter break. It was extremely successfully. I packed on about 5-7 lbs of solid muscles, from 154 lbs to 160 lbs. When I went back home after finals, I looked like a twig. Mostly because I got sick after Thanksgiving and lost my appetite. And my winter workout was so successfully because this good hard workout, as well as the stress-free environment, good food, and enough time to rest and sleep. Hopefully, my one month and half vacation in China will be a good time for another successful workout.
I'm planning on doing this workout for 5 weeks. I'm on my third week now, so it's almost done! I'm thinking about doing a strength phase next, two days for upper body and two days for lower body. I'll post the details later.
Let me know what you guys think. :)
So guys, I'm going to start my own workout blog. I'll be posting my workout plans, diet, progress photos, and just some of my thoughts about fitness in general. I hope this will be a good place for me to share and exchange ideas with those of you who are also into fitness. For a while, I thought I could just use facebook, but like Hanhchampion said, "Posting your progress on social networking sites wont help.. all you get is regular retards who hate because you're making gains." Those progress photos are not for showing off, but for keeping record of my own progress as well as sharing my progress with other people who are actually interested in fitness. So if you are going to post some fitness unrelated criticism, leave your crap somewhere else. This is MY workout blog.
