Hi, whats up! I'm into my 2nd week of weight training.. mind you, whenever I say weight training, don't be afraid, I'm not talking about hardcore heavy weights but good enough to get a good workout and get our muscles into hypertrophy.
So what's KStorm Workout all about? Pick whatever you can from here. I will get back my 6 pack abs in 3 months, the deadline is 1st February 2012. That's a bold statement, right? Come join me :)
My "Road To 6 Pack Abs"
It will take me 5-7 hours a week, about an hour a day of training. The training will split into 5 sections namely:
1. Shoulders
2. Biceps & Triceps
3. Legs
4. Chest
5. Back ... so where is the "Abs Day"?! :)
It will be every alternate days after the section training, Abs = Core Training for me.. Core training is the basic requirement for all exercises.
Biceps & Triceps: This is what I did yesterday:
1. Straight Bar Curls (5 sets)
2. Standing Dumbell Curls (5 sets)
3. Reverse E-Z Bar Curls (5 sets)
4. Single Arm Rope Pushdown (5 sets)
5. Seated Overhead Dumbell Extension (5 sets)
6. Reverse Grip Straight Bar Pushdown (5 sets)
Thanks for reading & see you again.
P/S: Will tell you what do I do with my "Leg Day" tomorrow :)
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Not A Good Boy!
Hi, it has been many moons since my last post :) and did I promise that I will make a comeback? Here I am :p OK OK I have not been a good boy.. I ate and drink like no tomorrow, I smoked too but the good news is.. I quit smoking a month ago. It was easier to quit this time than my previous (that was about 3 years ago). The 2nd good news is emmmm I walked back into gym and started my regimen to trim, short-circuit my system.. :) The 3rd good news (all for myself), I have a new hobby, ..Hiking. You guys can join me! I love to hike, take that as my "leg" day :)
Well guys, I will not be very extreme with my routines and food intake like last time. All I need is to drop 4-5 kGs and build some muscles at the same time.. not forgetting my 6 pack abs :) Let's start with some literature to warm us up.
Ok back to Health & Fitness.. I think we have to refresh some memories, I read an interesting article this morning, I think some of you might be interested. Let's get into it, and start the "fixes"
Principle #1 – You must optimize your hormonal environment for fat loss (at all times)
Simply put, if you want to burn fat at all times, your body must be in a fat burning state at all times. The only way to achieve this is by optimizing your body's fat burning hormones around the clock, and it's done through the use of three unique methods for fat loss:
a) Nutrient Combining
Now, you probably already know that you should be eating a mix of high quality proteins, healthy fats, and fibrous carbohydrates daily.
What you probably didn't know is how you combine these nutrients can and will have a profound effect on your body's hormonal response to each meal, and therefore your fat loss.
Avoiding the "Deadly Combination"
If your goal is to avoid fat storage, it's probably a good idea to avoid the presence of fatty acids and storage hormones (such as insulin) in your blood stream at the same time.
Why, because Storage + Fat = You don't want that.
When you consume dietary fat, fatty acids are released in to the blood. When you consume dietary carbohydrate, insulin is secreted in to the blood to shuttle blood sugar to its storage sites.
Putting 2 and 2 together, you can see that the two nutrients you'll want to avoid consuming together in appreciable amounts are carbs and fat.
Carbs cause the storage hormone insulin to be released. Fat ingestion leads to large amounts of fatty acids in the blood. Insulin + fat = fat storage.
To avoid the problematic situation, follow this simple rule: Consume protein with every meal. Add either carbs or fat (but not both).
Of course, it's rarely possible to consume ZERO fat or ZERO carbs since most foods have trace amounts of both; just be sure to keep the "unwanted" nutrient under ten grams in each meal.
To recap, here are the two "approved" types of nutrient combining:
Protein + Fat meals (with less than 10 grams of carbs)
Protein + Carb meals (with less than 10 grams of fat)
So now you know what nutrients to eat together. But, when should you eat a Protein + Carb meal and when should you eat meals that contain Protein + Fat?
b) Carb Syncing™
Contrary to popular belief, the key to fat loss is not avoiding carbs, it's learning to consume them only when your body is most primed to "handle" them best. This comes at two different times of day:
In the morning
After intense exercise
For one, loads of research has shown that glucose tolerance is highest in the morning, making it a no brainer to consume a large portion of your daily carb intake at breakfast when your body is best equipped to process them.
If you’re someone who consumes frequent meals, mid-morning is another great option.
Basically, the rule is this: eat your carbs in the morning, not the afternoon or evening.
Unless… …you’re performing intense exercise.
Perhaps (well not perhaps, it’s true) an even better time to eat your carbs is after exercise. During the 1-2 hour window post workout your body is ultra primed to suck up carbs for recovery, energy replenishment, and other anabolic processes (and NOT fat storage).
So, should you choose to work out in the evening, late-night carb snacking can actually be beneficial to your fat loss results and there's no better time to consume the majority of your daily carb allotment than immediately following your workout.
BUT, there is an ideal situation; a "best of both worlds" if you will. And that's where you schedule your workout in the morning and consume all your carbs early in the day.
We call this Carb Syncing™ because you "sync" your carbohydrate intake with a time window in which your body is literally CRAVING carbs.
Nutrient Combining and Carb Syncing™ are the two tools you need to keep your body in a fat burning state 24 hours a day. But there is one way you can still screw things up, and that's by not periodically implementing our third technique: Strategic Overfeeding.
c) Strategic Overfeeding
Dieting can do a number on your metabolism by screwing with important fat burning hormones like leptin, and rather quickly at that. The answer to overcoming these adaptations lies in strategic high-calorie Cheat Days.
As you recall, leptin is heavily mediated by your calorie intake. Decrease calories and leptin levels fall off, increase calories and leptin levels recover.
And while it takes roughly a week of moderate dieting for leptin levels to fall off significantly, it only takes one day of cheating, or overfeeding, for leptin to recover back to baseline.
By frequently resetting your metabolism throughout the course of your diet with strategic high-calorie Cheat Days, you can essentially have your cake and eat it too while watching your waistline continually shrink week after week.
Principle #2 – You must perform calorically expensive, metabolism boosting exercise
Most exercise doesn't do anything for your metabolism over the long term. Spend 45 minutes on the treadmill and maybe burn 1/10th of one pound of fat.
Wow. That's amazing.
If you are truly looking to burn fat around the clock, you absolutely must be performing exercise that has a prolonged effect on your metabolism for hours after your session is done.
In fact, research has shown that a specific form of exercise called Metabolic Resistance Training (MRT) can increase your metabolism for up to 48 hours post workout – that's TWO DAYS of elevated metabolism from a single 40-minute workout.
Do you know how much fat you burn from one of those workouts? Yes, a LOT more than "cardio" or traditional high rep circuit training, that's for sure.
So what exactly is Metabolic Resistance Training?
It's a series of non-competing total body resistance training exercises linked together with incomplete cardiovascular recovery.
Now, that may sound like a mouthful, so let's break that down. For example, a workout may start with these four movements:
Dumbbell Lunges x 8 reps per side
Dumbbell Chest Press x 8 reps
Goblet Squats x 8 reps
Dumbbell Row x 8 reps per side
No rest between movements (isn't that crazy?!)
Because there is no rest between each exercise, there is not enough time for your cardiovascular system to fully recover (i.e. incomplete recovery).
The exercises are "non-competing" because they transition from upper body to lower body, allowing the muscles of your upper body to rest while your lower body is works (and vice versa).
Essentially, you're providing a HUGE metabolic stimulus to your entire muscular and cardiovascular systems through strategically designed full body resistance training combined with minimal rest. This is what allows for an unparalleled exercise-induced increase in metabolism for hours and hours after your session—something we call the afterburn.
You want the afterburn. A lot of it.
To summarize, when you combine the metabolism power of Metabolic Resistance Training with the hormone-regulating power of Nutrient Timing, Carb Syncing™, and Strategic Overfeeding, you have a clear recipe for 24/7 fat loss.
But there is one last "secret" missing ingredient to the whole puzzle that, quite frankly, MUST be in place for success.
Principle #3 – You must be actively engaged in a social support community
We've said it before, and we'll say it again. Less than 10% of people who begin a diet and exercise program actually stick with it for any length of time. And the numbers get even worse when talking about people who actually experience success and keep the weight off.
Those numbers suck. And without a doubt one of the biggest contributors to these abysmal statistics is that it's just too easy to fall off track when you aren't taking steps on a daily basis to remain actively engaged in the program you're following.
As mentioned, "falling off track" can be attributed to a number of things:
Lack of motivation
Lack of accountability
Lack of active engagement
"Life" (you get busy)
Lack of results
Lack of planning
Lack of support
In other words, there are WAY too many things stacked up against the likelihood you will succeed, unless you do something about it.
The good news is that researched has shown one particular resource to simultaneous "cure" all these problems: an online weight loss support community.
In fact, in a year-long study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, participants in an online weight loss support community lost more than TWICE the weight of participants who took part in a more traditional program. And further, other research published in Obesity Research has shown that over the course of 18 months, those who participated in an online weight loss support community were much more likely to maintain their weight loss than those who did not.
A full blown support community that includes direct access to us as the creators of the program and thousands of other individuals doing the same program you are.
Support, accountability, motivation, active engagement all in one place to keep you on track and achieving your transformation. Oh, and there will be a bunch of awesome "extras" as well.
Not only did we do the scientific research to make this program foolproof…we've gone the extra mile to make it fail-proof.
Well guys, I will not be very extreme with my routines and food intake like last time. All I need is to drop 4-5 kGs and build some muscles at the same time.. not forgetting my 6 pack abs :) Let's start with some literature to warm us up.
Ok back to Health & Fitness.. I think we have to refresh some memories, I read an interesting article this morning, I think some of you might be interested. Let's get into it, and start the "fixes"
Principle #1 – You must optimize your hormonal environment for fat loss (at all times)
Simply put, if you want to burn fat at all times, your body must be in a fat burning state at all times. The only way to achieve this is by optimizing your body's fat burning hormones around the clock, and it's done through the use of three unique methods for fat loss:
a) Nutrient Combining
Now, you probably already know that you should be eating a mix of high quality proteins, healthy fats, and fibrous carbohydrates daily.
What you probably didn't know is how you combine these nutrients can and will have a profound effect on your body's hormonal response to each meal, and therefore your fat loss.
Avoiding the "Deadly Combination"
If your goal is to avoid fat storage, it's probably a good idea to avoid the presence of fatty acids and storage hormones (such as insulin) in your blood stream at the same time.
Why, because Storage + Fat = You don't want that.
When you consume dietary fat, fatty acids are released in to the blood. When you consume dietary carbohydrate, insulin is secreted in to the blood to shuttle blood sugar to its storage sites.
Putting 2 and 2 together, you can see that the two nutrients you'll want to avoid consuming together in appreciable amounts are carbs and fat.
Carbs cause the storage hormone insulin to be released. Fat ingestion leads to large amounts of fatty acids in the blood. Insulin + fat = fat storage.
To avoid the problematic situation, follow this simple rule: Consume protein with every meal. Add either carbs or fat (but not both).
Of course, it's rarely possible to consume ZERO fat or ZERO carbs since most foods have trace amounts of both; just be sure to keep the "unwanted" nutrient under ten grams in each meal.
To recap, here are the two "approved" types of nutrient combining:
Protein + Fat meals (with less than 10 grams of carbs)
Protein + Carb meals (with less than 10 grams of fat)
So now you know what nutrients to eat together. But, when should you eat a Protein + Carb meal and when should you eat meals that contain Protein + Fat?
b) Carb Syncing™
Contrary to popular belief, the key to fat loss is not avoiding carbs, it's learning to consume them only when your body is most primed to "handle" them best. This comes at two different times of day:
In the morning
After intense exercise
For one, loads of research has shown that glucose tolerance is highest in the morning, making it a no brainer to consume a large portion of your daily carb intake at breakfast when your body is best equipped to process them.
If you’re someone who consumes frequent meals, mid-morning is another great option.
Basically, the rule is this: eat your carbs in the morning, not the afternoon or evening.
Unless… …you’re performing intense exercise.
Perhaps (well not perhaps, it’s true) an even better time to eat your carbs is after exercise. During the 1-2 hour window post workout your body is ultra primed to suck up carbs for recovery, energy replenishment, and other anabolic processes (and NOT fat storage).
So, should you choose to work out in the evening, late-night carb snacking can actually be beneficial to your fat loss results and there's no better time to consume the majority of your daily carb allotment than immediately following your workout.
BUT, there is an ideal situation; a "best of both worlds" if you will. And that's where you schedule your workout in the morning and consume all your carbs early in the day.
We call this Carb Syncing™ because you "sync" your carbohydrate intake with a time window in which your body is literally CRAVING carbs.
Nutrient Combining and Carb Syncing™ are the two tools you need to keep your body in a fat burning state 24 hours a day. But there is one way you can still screw things up, and that's by not periodically implementing our third technique: Strategic Overfeeding.
c) Strategic Overfeeding
Dieting can do a number on your metabolism by screwing with important fat burning hormones like leptin, and rather quickly at that. The answer to overcoming these adaptations lies in strategic high-calorie Cheat Days.
As you recall, leptin is heavily mediated by your calorie intake. Decrease calories and leptin levels fall off, increase calories and leptin levels recover.
And while it takes roughly a week of moderate dieting for leptin levels to fall off significantly, it only takes one day of cheating, or overfeeding, for leptin to recover back to baseline.
By frequently resetting your metabolism throughout the course of your diet with strategic high-calorie Cheat Days, you can essentially have your cake and eat it too while watching your waistline continually shrink week after week.
Principle #2 – You must perform calorically expensive, metabolism boosting exercise
Most exercise doesn't do anything for your metabolism over the long term. Spend 45 minutes on the treadmill and maybe burn 1/10th of one pound of fat.
If you are truly looking to burn fat around the clock, you absolutely must be performing exercise that has a prolonged effect on your metabolism for hours after your session is done.
In fact, research has shown that a specific form of exercise called Metabolic Resistance Training (MRT) can increase your metabolism for up to 48 hours post workout – that's TWO DAYS of elevated metabolism from a single 40-minute workout.
Do you know how much fat you burn from one of those workouts? Yes, a LOT more than "cardio" or traditional high rep circuit training, that's for sure.
So what exactly is Metabolic Resistance Training?
It's a series of non-competing total body resistance training exercises linked together with incomplete cardiovascular recovery.
Now, that may sound like a mouthful, so let's break that down. For example, a workout may start with these four movements:
Dumbbell Lunges x 8 reps per side
Dumbbell Chest Press x 8 reps
Goblet Squats x 8 reps
Dumbbell Row x 8 reps per side
No rest between movements (isn't that crazy?!)
Because there is no rest between each exercise, there is not enough time for your cardiovascular system to fully recover (i.e. incomplete recovery).
The exercises are "non-competing" because they transition from upper body to lower body, allowing the muscles of your upper body to rest while your lower body is works (and vice versa).
Essentially, you're providing a HUGE metabolic stimulus to your entire muscular and cardiovascular systems through strategically designed full body resistance training combined with minimal rest. This is what allows for an unparalleled exercise-induced increase in metabolism for hours and hours after your session—something we call the afterburn.
You want the afterburn. A lot of it.
To summarize, when you combine the metabolism power of Metabolic Resistance Training with the hormone-regulating power of Nutrient Timing, Carb Syncing™, and Strategic Overfeeding, you have a clear recipe for 24/7 fat loss.
But there is one last "secret" missing ingredient to the whole puzzle that, quite frankly, MUST be in place for success.
Principle #3 – You must be actively engaged in a social support community
We've said it before, and we'll say it again. Less than 10% of people who begin a diet and exercise program actually stick with it for any length of time. And the numbers get even worse when talking about people who actually experience success and keep the weight off.
Those numbers suck. And without a doubt one of the biggest contributors to these abysmal statistics is that it's just too easy to fall off track when you aren't taking steps on a daily basis to remain actively engaged in the program you're following.
As mentioned, "falling off track" can be attributed to a number of things:
Lack of motivation
Lack of accountability
Lack of active engagement
"Life" (you get busy)
Lack of results
Lack of planning
Lack of support
In other words, there are WAY too many things stacked up against the likelihood you will succeed, unless you do something about it.
The good news is that researched has shown one particular resource to simultaneous "cure" all these problems: an online weight loss support community.
In fact, in a year-long study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, participants in an online weight loss support community lost more than TWICE the weight of participants who took part in a more traditional program. And further, other research published in Obesity Research has shown that over the course of 18 months, those who participated in an online weight loss support community were much more likely to maintain their weight loss than those who did not.
A full blown support community that includes direct access to us as the creators of the program and thousands of other individuals doing the same program you are.
Support, accountability, motivation, active engagement all in one place to keep you on track and achieving your transformation. Oh, and there will be a bunch of awesome "extras" as well.
Not only did we do the scientific research to make this program foolproof…we've gone the extra mile to make it fail-proof.
(article above in blue contributed by Joel)
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Weight Problem?
Hi guys, how do you do? I am so sorry I have been missing for almost a year. Well, some might want to know how "BIG" I am :) Seriously I was not really doing what I used to preach. "BIG", depends how you look at it... emmm.. BIG as in term of gaining fat, YES I am.. but not really put on loads of it hehe... Some friends would say I am looking much better with some baby fats..Oh gosh, hate it!
Ok cut it short... I just enrolled to a gym, started workout the easy way, would not be too strenuous... Excuse me, don't forget I have rested for a looooooong time. I am sure you will have more updates soon.
I come acrossed an article about losing weight days ago... emmmm don't you think it should be losing FATS..which I used to emphasise? No worries, take it as it is at the moment, cut those jargons for the time being.. Enjoy!
15 Easy Tips For Rapid Fat Melting
Follow these simple tips from registered dietitian Jayson Hunter, the Head of Research and Development for Prograde Nutrition, for a lean and healthy body.
Eat 4-6 small meals day a day instead of the usual 2-3 large meals. Eating frequently will help regulate and boost your metabolism to burn more calories.
Consume whole foods that are high in fiber and low in sugar, such as lean protein sources (lean beef, chicken, fish, and whey protein), fruits & vegetables (oranges, apples, strawberries, blueberries, broccoli, peppers, asparagus, carrots, nuts (almonds, cashews, & walnuts), and whole grains.
Eat low-glycemic carbohydrates such as vegetables, whole-wheat products and oatmeal instead of refined processed carbohydrates which usually come in a box or a bag.
Consume 25-35 grams of fiber per day. Fiber will help satisfy hunger pangs as well as control insulin and blood sugar levels which tend to promote fat storage.
Eat some type of lean protein at each meal. Protein helps to satisfy hunger and provide the necessary building blocks to maintain lean body mass while losing body fat.
Consume adequate amounts of healthy fat foods such as olive oil, walnuts, almonds, Omega-3 fortified eggs or other Omega-3 products. Healthy fats are great antioxidants as well as help with brain function and many other essentials processes that take place in the body on a daily basis. Essential Fatty acids also help prevent certain diseases.
Eat 5-10 servings of fruit and vegetables a day to meet your micronutrient needs. Vegetables also contain a good amount of fiber and help to control appetites and curb hunger. Additionally, VGF25+ provides the power-packed nutrition of 25 whole vegetables, greens and fruits in a convenient “super pill.”
Consume Green Tea or Water instead of calorie filled drinks such as soft drinks. Green Tea has many health benefits and should be drinking 1ml of non-caffeinated fluid for every calorie that you consume. This works out between (8-12) 8oz glasses of Green Tea or Water a day.
Balance your fat intake for the day. 1/3 should come from saturated fats, 1/3 from monounsaturated fats, and 1/3 from polyunsaturated fats. Again, ensure you’re consuming Anti-Oxidant rich Omega-3 Essential Fatty Acids by incorporating EFA Icon into your nutritional plan.
Consistent fat loss requires good habits. If you want to create good habits then you need plan. Therefore, map out your meals every day and follow them. If you follow your plan everyday for 2-3 weeks you will form habits that become part of your daily routine and part of your life.
Incorporate “superfoods” into your meal plan on a daily basis. Some examples are salmon, low-fat plain yogurt, tomatoes, spinach, mixed berries, whole oats, mixed nuts, olive oil, flax seeds(or flax meal), green tea, and various beans. Many of the super nutrition found in these “superfoods” are also found in VGF25+.
Keep total fat intake under 30% for the day. This can easily be accomplished by avoiding “extra” fats such as butter, sour cream, mayonnaise… This doesn’t mean you have to completely eliminate these items, just use them sparingly and avoid adding them to foods whenever possible.
EXERCISE! Yes, you can lose weight just by changing your eating habits. But very few people succeed long-term - and it takes much longer to lose fat - when they don’t exercise. And something most people don’t realize is, just how critical ingesting the research proven Protein to Carbohydrate ratio is to optimizing the results of your workout efforts.
Record what you eat and drink. You will be amazed by what you find. Keeping a food journal is critical to your success because you need it to evaluate and analyze your current eating patterns. If your fat loss efforts are stagnant the answer can usually be found in your food journal.
Follow the 90% rule. If you can follow your plan 90% of the time you will soon see unwanted fat melt off your body. However, if you find yourself breaking these rules more than 90% of the time your chances of failing increase significantly.
p/s: thanks Jayson for the above article
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Back To Basic
Hello everyone, sorry for the long awaited new post on KStorm Workouts. I have to apologize for keeping you waiting. I have been away because I was busy for my work and moving into another direction. And now I'm back, BUT with more passion and new ideas how to make fitness more interesting and fun. And I'm here to share with you. Especially you. Yes! I mean YOU!
Today, we are GOING BACK TO BASICS. I was having a drink few days ago with one of my friend. We talked about gym, fitness, workouts and stuffs.
She was a member of one of the biggest gym chains in Malaysia. She told me that she only visited the gym for few months and she stopped going to the gym. The reason why is because she doesn't know how to do a proper workout and what to do in the gym. And another reason is because of those peacock guys at the gym are holding the dumbbells standing or sitting on the bench in front of the mirror at the free weight area as if they own the gym. I bet anyone of you ladies who goes to gym experienced this before, don't you? And my advice is, approach them and ask them is it possible to share the weights or bench. Ladies, you have the right, just speak out your mind, because you paid for the membership or the gym usage. Guys are not going to eat you.
O.K. Back to the topic. At KStorm Workouts, it's about lose fat, be leaner and fitter in a healthy way. No matter who you are, what is your objective, where do you workout. Whether it's a commercial gym or old fashioned gym with besi karat. (besi karat means steel with rust stain just in case you don't understand Malay) There are four basic exercises that you cannot skip which is what we called the BIG FOUR. These exercises are SQUATS, MILITARY PRESS, DEADLIFTS and BENCH PRESS.
These are all compound movements and also known as multi-joint movements. Obviously if you are moving more joints, you are moving more muscles. The alternative is known as isolation exercises. These focus on a single joint’s movement and concentrate on developing one muscle. With a compound exercise you could be targeting two, three, and sometimes many more muscle groups. We want the kind of muscle mass that we have sculpted and worked into an impressive physique. But most of us want to know that that muscle mass provides some real strength too. Compound exercises are great for developing real world strength. When you have to lift a box—or as your mass gains increase, a couch—you wouldn’t be using just one muscle. Most of life’s situations that require actual strength involve movements that are multi-joint, compound movements.
2) Deadlifts
Starting Po
sition: Get a barbell and place it on the ground where you have some room. Start with a weight you can easily lift from the ground if it is your first time. Stand with your feet shoulder width apart with your front of your feet under the bar. Your shins will be about 3 inches from the bar and your feet should be angled out a little bit.
3)Military Press
Starting Position: Find a s
houlder press bench. Position your feet flat on the ground shoulder width apart. You hands should also be at shoulder width apart.
4) Bench Press
*Guys, please don't stand in front of the mirror at the gym without doing anything. Share the gym equipments with the ladies, I bet they will give you the sweetest smile.
Until the next time I see you all again. Hope you enjoy this article.
To a leaner, healthier and fitter you.
Kevin.
Today, we are GOING BACK TO BASICS. I was having a drink few days ago with one of my friend. We talked about gym, fitness, workouts and stuffs.
She was a member of one of the biggest gym chains in Malaysia. She told me that she only visited the gym for few months and she stopped going to the gym. The reason why is because she doesn't know how to do a proper workout and what to do in the gym. And another reason is because of those peacock guys at the gym are holding the dumbbells standing or sitting on the bench in front of the mirror at the free weight area as if they own the gym. I bet anyone of you ladies who goes to gym experienced this before, don't you? And my advice is, approach them and ask them is it possible to share the weights or bench. Ladies, you have the right, just speak out your mind, because you paid for the membership or the gym usage. Guys are not going to eat you.
O.K. Back to the topic. At KStorm Workouts, it's about lose fat, be leaner and fitter in a healthy way. No matter who you are, what is your objective, where do you workout. Whether it's a commercial gym or old fashioned gym with besi karat. (besi karat means steel with rust stain just in case you don't understand Malay) There are four basic exercises that you cannot skip which is what we called the BIG FOUR. These exercises are SQUATS, MILITARY PRESS, DEADLIFTS and BENCH PRESS.
These are all compound movements and also known as multi-joint movements. Obviously if you are moving more joints, you are moving more muscles. The alternative is known as isolation exercises. These focus on a single joint’s movement and concentrate on developing one muscle. With a compound exercise you could be targeting two, three, and sometimes many more muscle groups. We want the kind of muscle mass that we have sculpted and worked into an impressive physique. But most of us want to know that that muscle mass provides some real strength too. Compound exercises are great for developing real world strength. When you have to lift a box—or as your mass gains increase, a couch—you wouldn’t be using just one muscle. Most of life’s situations that require actual strength involve movements that are multi-joint, compound movements.
Compound exercises provide the most bang for your buck. In the time that you can be doing an isolation exercise that benefits only one major muscle group, you could also have chosen a compound exercise. It is pretty simple to see that if you only have an hour to work out, all the time that hits more than one muscle group is more effective than the time spent on isolation exercises.
But most of the women are afraid of getting bigger or carrying bulky muscle like what they seen on T.V. and fitn
ess magazine when I say the word "muscle". Especially in Asia, they think doing weight training with 10 or 20lbs could make them look like "Incredible Hulk" or Arnold Schwarzenegger. To all the Western country readers, this might makes you laugh your ass off but can't blame them, it's the misconception that has been there for years.
Dear readers, it's difficult for women to build bulky muscle due to the different level of our testosterone.(male hormone) On average, an adult male body produces about ten times more testosterone than an adult human female body. And never forget the purpose of you reading this is because you want to lose fat. The fact is, the more lean muscle mass you carry, the more fat you are going to BURN!!! Sounds great, huh??? To maximize fat burning effects, you have to do compound movements to train all the major muscles and get rid of the slabs of fat on your tummy. Don't worry about your smaller muscle such as triceps, when you train your bigger muscle, the small ones will take care of themselves.
How to perform the BIG FOUR?
1)Squat
Starting P
osition: You will want to do barbell squats in a squat or power rack for safety reasons. If you do not have access to one, you might want to consider dumbbell squats. The barbell should rest on your upper back behind your neck. Grip the bar firmly, extending your arms well outside of shoulder width. Position you legs a little wider than shoulder width with your feet slight angled outward.
Performing the exercises: Keep you head straight ahead and your back straight as you slowly bend your knees until your thighs are slightly below parallel to the ground. Gently return the original starting position.
What not to do:
- Rounding the back – Avoid rounding your back when you perform a squat or you will risk injury. Ensure your back remains straight and your head remain straight ahead or slight angled up.
- Not going down far enough – Contrary to some opinions, stopping above parallel causes more injury to you knee than going below parallel. So make sure to go low enough and decrease your the weight on the bar if you are having problems.
- Resting the bar on your neck – The bar should rest on top of your back instead of on your neck.
- Pointing your knees inward – Make sure you do not let you knees point inward as your start pushing back up to the starting position. This tends to happen with new lifters or when you are lifting heavier weight.
- Leaning forward/weight on toes – push from your heels and do not let them come of the ground.
Other tips:
- Practice – Remember to first perfect your form before you begin lifting heavy weight.
- Go low enough – Remember no partial squats. Do not worry about how much weight you are lifting – go at least parallel to the ground.
2) Deadlifts
Starting Po
sition: Get a barbell and place it on the ground where you have some room. Start with a weight you can easily lift from the ground if it is your first time. Stand with your feet shoulder width apart with your front of your feet under the bar. Your shins will be about 3 inches from the bar and your feet should be angled out a little bit. Performing the exercise: Hold the bar with an over/underhand grip combination as you squat down to grab it. You should now be holding the bar in the squatted position with your back straight and looking straight ahead. Slowly begin lifting the weight up as you are pushing your feet against the ground. You should be moving you hips in and your shoulders up as you lift the weight up. Once you have stood up with the weight to your side you can slowly lower the weight back down to the ground in bending down similar to the squat position decent.
Tips
- Head up – Look straight ahead the entire time
- Back straight – Keep your back straight; do not round your back
- Full Rep - Return the bar to the ground before doing another repetition
- Make sure you are bending your legs and using your leg muscles as you lift. You shouldn’t be lifting the weight just with your lower back
- Keep the bar close to your legs on the way up and down
3)Military Press
Starting Position: Find a s
houlder press bench. Position your feet flat on the ground shoulder width apart. You hands should also be at shoulder width apart. Performing the exercise: Raise the bar overhead, extending your arms. Keep your back straight and remain looking straight ahead. Slowly lower the bar to nose height.
Tips
- You can perform this exercise lowering the bar in front of your face or behind your neck
- Try not to arch your back, use your shoulder muscles
4) Bench Press
Starting Position: 
Lie on a flat bench with your feet firmly planted on the ground. Your arms should be on the bar a little wider than shoulder width apart.
Performing the Exercise: Lower the bar slowly to your chest and explode the weight up.
What not to do
- Do not lift your feet up from the ground
- Do not bounce the bar off your chest
Tips
- Keep your bottom on the bench (do not lift it)
- A slight arch in your back is ok
- You can vary the width or your arms to work more of your chest or triceps
- Use a controlled motion when lifting the weight. Keep the bar balanced
- Make sure you do a full rep going all the way to your chest!
*Guys, please don't stand in front of the mirror at the gym without doing anything. Share the gym equipments with the ladies, I bet they will give you the sweetest smile.
Until the next time I see you all again. Hope you enjoy this article.
To a leaner, healthier and fitter you.
Kevin.
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