Sorry guys for the long wait of a comprehensive blog post. It's been a hectic week for me in university and I'm constantly lacking of time. But here's another 5 fabulous tips to help you get that sexy body you (and your special someone) have always wanted!
#1 Eat Whole Foods
Nope, I'm not recommending that you swallow the whole chicken down as a whole. So stop! What I mean is, whenever possible, eat foods that are as close as possible as how God created it to be. For example, chicken breasts instead of sausages, beef steak instead of beef burger patties and oatmeal/wholemeal bread instead of white bread. The most prominent reason is simple. Food manufacturers want to make their food as tasty as possible and last longer, therefore adding sugars and preservatives. And honestly, do you think that the profit-driven food manufacturers separate the fat and skin before making sausages (or other food)? Look at the nutrition facts of the sausage and you'll find out the ugly truth.
#2 Holy Cow!
I love beef. My friends know that. My girl knows that. My mom knows that. And there's a reason for it. Beef has superior muscle-building properties. Jay Cutler swears by it. So does Ronnie Coleman. And so do I. Before coming to Singapore, I was able to gain only 5kg after one and a half years of hardcore training. But once I came to Singapore, I was able to gain 5kg in just 3 months! That's 6 times faster! The difference? Beef. I was from Kuala Lumpur and KL did not have a beef eating culture. Singapore has. And that made the difference. There's no one single reason why is beef so anabolic. Beef has a complete amino acid profile and even some creatine. But most of all, because of its high fat content and toughness, it's slow-digesting protein and provides the body with a steady flow of protein, much like casein. And in the building of muscle, that property is gold. Try consuming beef once a day. And with salad, to help digest it.
#3 Pre-Exhaust for Balance
If you have a lagging body part and you've tried your best to train that body part as hard as possible but it's still playing catch-up with your other body parts, try the pre-exhaust method. Pre-exhaust is a technique that involves performing an isolation exercise before a compound movement so that the compound movement could be more effective in stimulating the pre-exhausted muscle. For example, before performing bench presses, do 3 sets of dumbbell flys to specifically exhaust your chest. This will encourage your neuromuscular system to use more of your pectorals instead of your shoulders or triceps, and therefore bringing up your chest. Another way to look at this is that since your chest is partially exhausted but your shoulders and triceps are fresh, your chest will be the first to fail during bench presses, thus being stimulated the most.
#4 Wind of Change
"Everything works but not forever."
That's a wise and famous saying in the bodybuilding world. Specifically, it means that your muscles will adapt to the exercises, weights and intensity that you're currently training it with and stop making any progress. Therefore, switch up your programme every 4 to 6 weeks or if measurable, until you stop seeing progress. If you guys think, "If we don't want our body to adapt to the training, why not just keep changing workouts every single time?". Well, this is best explained by a Malaysian doctor-cum-bodybuilder whom I know, "When you train, you're actually training your central nervous system to adapt to that exercise, therefore, you need to repeat your training over and over again over a number of sets and sessions so that your whole body could adapt to it and in the process, grow." Therefore, if you change your workout too often, your body will not adapt to anything and you won't attain maximum benefit.
#5 Get Your Head in the Game
When you're in the gym, do go on autopilot. One thing I don't like about shouting when training is some guys do that to ignore the pain, the feel and the exercise and just rep out. I shout sometimes, but I ensure that during each and every rep, I go as far as I can go and contract the target muscle as hard as I could. Make that muscle-mind connection and make a conscious effort to max out the muscle you're training. And always make sure you get in every last rep. Remember, you're stronger than you think you are. Stop when you fail, not when you think you can't go on any further.
Well, I hope these tips has helped you enhance your workout. Any questions? Write them down as a comment for this post or email me at fabodylous@gmail.com!
Train hard!
#1 Eat Whole Foods
Nope, I'm not recommending that you swallow the whole chicken down as a whole. So stop! What I mean is, whenever possible, eat foods that are as close as possible as how God created it to be. For example, chicken breasts instead of sausages, beef steak instead of beef burger patties and oatmeal/wholemeal bread instead of white bread. The most prominent reason is simple. Food manufacturers want to make their food as tasty as possible and last longer, therefore adding sugars and preservatives. And honestly, do you think that the profit-driven food manufacturers separate the fat and skin before making sausages (or other food)? Look at the nutrition facts of the sausage and you'll find out the ugly truth.
#2 Holy Cow!
I love beef. My friends know that. My girl knows that. My mom knows that. And there's a reason for it. Beef has superior muscle-building properties. Jay Cutler swears by it. So does Ronnie Coleman. And so do I. Before coming to Singapore, I was able to gain only 5kg after one and a half years of hardcore training. But once I came to Singapore, I was able to gain 5kg in just 3 months! That's 6 times faster! The difference? Beef. I was from Kuala Lumpur and KL did not have a beef eating culture. Singapore has. And that made the difference. There's no one single reason why is beef so anabolic. Beef has a complete amino acid profile and even some creatine. But most of all, because of its high fat content and toughness, it's slow-digesting protein and provides the body with a steady flow of protein, much like casein. And in the building of muscle, that property is gold. Try consuming beef once a day. And with salad, to help digest it.
#3 Pre-Exhaust for Balance
If you have a lagging body part and you've tried your best to train that body part as hard as possible but it's still playing catch-up with your other body parts, try the pre-exhaust method. Pre-exhaust is a technique that involves performing an isolation exercise before a compound movement so that the compound movement could be more effective in stimulating the pre-exhausted muscle. For example, before performing bench presses, do 3 sets of dumbbell flys to specifically exhaust your chest. This will encourage your neuromuscular system to use more of your pectorals instead of your shoulders or triceps, and therefore bringing up your chest. Another way to look at this is that since your chest is partially exhausted but your shoulders and triceps are fresh, your chest will be the first to fail during bench presses, thus being stimulated the most.
#4 Wind of Change
"Everything works but not forever."
That's a wise and famous saying in the bodybuilding world. Specifically, it means that your muscles will adapt to the exercises, weights and intensity that you're currently training it with and stop making any progress. Therefore, switch up your programme every 4 to 6 weeks or if measurable, until you stop seeing progress. If you guys think, "If we don't want our body to adapt to the training, why not just keep changing workouts every single time?". Well, this is best explained by a Malaysian doctor-cum-bodybuilder whom I know, "When you train, you're actually training your central nervous system to adapt to that exercise, therefore, you need to repeat your training over and over again over a number of sets and sessions so that your whole body could adapt to it and in the process, grow." Therefore, if you change your workout too often, your body will not adapt to anything and you won't attain maximum benefit.
#5 Get Your Head in the Game
When you're in the gym, do go on autopilot. One thing I don't like about shouting when training is some guys do that to ignore the pain, the feel and the exercise and just rep out. I shout sometimes, but I ensure that during each and every rep, I go as far as I can go and contract the target muscle as hard as I could. Make that muscle-mind connection and make a conscious effort to max out the muscle you're training. And always make sure you get in every last rep. Remember, you're stronger than you think you are. Stop when you fail, not when you think you can't go on any further.
Well, I hope these tips has helped you enhance your workout. Any questions? Write them down as a comment for this post or email me at fabodylous@gmail.com!
Train hard!
