My mind is my gym

If I am at the gym, I like to spice things up a little. I avoid isolation workout machines and treadmills almost entirely (unless to warm up or during winter). I mostly try to incorporate compound movements or complex stability exercises - or functional fitness as one would call it. Time is short and my body parts needs to learn how to make use of each other with a bit more agility and explosivity!

I love spontaneity and quite dislike strict programs. I find designing my workouts on-the-go quite exciting because it keeps me on my toes of wanting to conquer the crap out it. I make sure I listen to my body on the day to decide what I want to focus.

Some days when I am tired from work and it's late at night, I focus on certain muscle groups (legs, core stability, shoulders, back). If I feel like I am well fed I will do some rowing to warm up and then learn/polish a weightlifting move. Sometimes I throw in some calisthenics now and again (hang from a bar, wall planks etc). And there are days when I've had a good badminton or tennis game - I'd usually just do my own yoga to stretch those aches, OR just be a hermit in the steam room!

If I am feeling hyper, I'd come up with WODs combining all the core muscle groups! The set of modalities will be done via;
Countdown 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 (my favourite because I don't compromise form from fatigue!)
10:00 EMOM [each minute on the minute]
10:00 AMRAP [as many reps as possible]
4:00 TABATA -my least favourite!

p/s: i still cannot do a pull-up, toes-to-bar and a boat pose! #justranting

Singularity of purpose, 

everything else is immaterial...

My body morphology

Two months ago - I spent some evenings to understand my body's musculoskeletal system better - learning to be my own "physiotherapist" without breaking the bank. So I came up with these notes for my own perusal.

Weight 54.5kg to 56.0kg ~120lbs to 123.5lbs

Height 162cm 5"3.5

Body fat ~25% 

Wingspan reach 165cm (+3) Ape Index 1.025 [Female ave +1 Male ave +5]

Good for swimming, rowing, badminton, yoga and muay thai

Not so good for olympic lifts and bench press

Protein intake - Need average 65g a day (Recreational athlete)

Chicken breast (20g) Fish (20g) Milk (8g) One scoop 25g 

My Posture

1) Sitting: Slouching on chair - weak core muscle

Bad news: Lower back strain, Hunched back

2) Standing: Slightly rounded shoulders - tight chest and weak upper back (upper cross syndrome)

Flat back and belly stoop forward - tightness in core and hamstring, weakness in quads, lower back and glutes

Bad news: Causes neck and upper back strain.

Advice: Strengthen core, glutes, neck, rear shoulder muscles and back extension

Elbow Structure

Upper extremity with significant valgus angle.

Forearm hangs distinctly away from body - Leads to prevalence of rotator cuff dislocation from racket sports.

Must break excessively at the wrist when performing a curl with a straight bar (which is painful). Use E-Z bar?

Badminton helped break right wrist abandoning the mobility of left wrist (affecting my front squat and inversion poses)

Torso : Limb ratio 1:1 (short limbed)

• Good for squats - Torso only tilts a little so limit stress on lower back and hamstring, movement more secure and focus completely on quads
• Bad for deadlift - Forced to flex legs so femurs lower to horizontal, this parallel position of femur means initiating deadlift movement requires enormous amount of energy from the thighs

Anterior Hip Flexors

Sartorius and Rectus Femoris quite limited. Tested by the Thomas method. Due to frequency of sitting and tendency to sit with buddha pose.

Ankle Flexibility High

Good for squats - Allow forward tilt of tibia hence anterior movement of knees, and allow flexion of the legs.

Types of knee

Slight degree of both conditions, more common in women:

1. Genu Valgum (knock knees) - greater risk of pathology with training

Advice: Be aware of knees falling inwards and activate quads at all times

2. Genu Recurvatum (hyperextended knees) - acute risk of meniscal pinching.

Advice: Never completely lock knees at the end of extension during squats and leg press

Bench Press Morphology

Small rib cage, long'ish forearm - excursion of bar increased.  humerus go lower than bench, pectoralis major overstretched and strength development limited.

Advice: Narrow grip to reduce injury to pecs BUT work on biceps is more intense

Elbows apart - more work on pecs ; Elbows closer - more work on deltoids (shoulders)

Avoid Vertebral Flexion

Never round the back.

As soon as heavy weights are involved - create a block

1. Expand chest and hold deep breath fill the lungs (to support rib cage and prevents chest from collapsing forward)

2. Contract abs to support core and increase intra-ab pressure (prevents torso from collapsing forward)

3. Arch lower back by contracting lumbar muscles (positions spinal column in extension)

After heavy weights - hang from chin bar and focus on relaxing body to rebalance pressures inside the intervertebral discs

Reference:

Strength Training Anatomy

The best project you'll ever work on is YOU

2015/2016 Half Marathons of interest

Spent the last hour researching on how to fit more half marathons into my already tight calendar. I am hoping to do at least one more this year and three next year! So here are the lists of good/popular half marathon of interests.



2015
R&R Chicago Half (19th July)

R&R Virginia Beach (6th Sept)

Chicago Half (27th Sept)

R&R San Jose Half, CA (27th Sept)

Cardiff Half (4th Oct)

Oxford Half (11th Oct)

Grand Pier Half, Weston Super Mare (1st Nov)

2016
Brighton Half (Feb)

Paris Half Marathon (6th March)

North London Half (March)

Prague Half, Czech Republic (March)

Warsaw Half, Poland (end March)

Riga Half, Latvia (May)

Helsinki Half, Finland (May)

Göteborgsvarvet Half, Sweden (May) - Largest in the world. Registration opens July 2015

Bucharest Half, Romania (May)

Morrisons Great North Run - Second largest in the world. Ballot opens January 2016 (Sept)

Bristol Half, UK - If I miss out on the Great North Run and Royal Parks! (Sept)

Budapest Half - Time limit 2h30m! (Sept)

Royal Parks Foundation - One of the largest in the world. Ballot opens January 2016 (October)

Workout Of the Day logging, explained...

I will start writing my WODs (Workout Of the Day) down rather than just doing it and allowing my goldfish memory to engulf them entirely. This habit will also allow me to not just monitor that I am not overdoing one part and neglecting the parts I don't like, but better design them based on questions like what I have done, what I have yet to do, what "are my maxes again?", "have I stretched today?" questions! My WODs are catered to noobies (beginners!) as I just started learning weightlifting March this year and properly doing yoga February this year. 

So a bit of background of my "athleticism" - I play mostly racket sports and will play or pick up any sport I want to. I am restless that way. 

My strongest sport is/was in order of okay'ness: badminton, basketball, netball, table tennis, shotput, table tennis.
(yes you got that right, I am that smallest Asian girl who can throw a metal ball up to division level!)

I have also played district-level hockey, tennis and javelin back in high school.

My relatively stronger part of my musculoskeletal is my back, and my relatively weakest is my core. My relatively greatest flexibility part of my joints is my hip and my least flexible is my hamstring (surprise!)

So that aside, here is my boring solo sport logged because becoming an adult means finding it hard to set a time with other adults to play team sports with!
Square brackets [ ] will indicate what type of workouts I have generally punished my body with!

Mar 25 
[Weightlifting, Strength, Stretch]
Deadlift 60 65 70kg x5
Bench 20kg 3x10; Bent-over Row 20kg 3x10
Rowing 1km 5mins
Backsquat 20 30 40kg x8
Military Press 8kg 3x8
Bicep curl 6+6kg 2x8; Yoga 1h
Mar 31
[Weightlifting, Strength, Stretch, Cardio]
Deadlift 60 70 75kg x5
Bench 20kgx10 25kgx8 27.5kgx6
High Pulls 20kg 3x10
Front Squat 30 40kg 3x8
Backsquat 40kg 3x5; Yoga 10m, Run 2.4km/15m

My goals, and the 10 physical skills.

When you hit the free weights section, put on your running shoes or/and take your bag of rackets and leave your doorstep, you need to think about your goals. Goals give your workout a deeper meaning. This applies to your daily job, your life and everything you choose to do now, especially when time is precious (you'll come to realize it with age, like me *cough cough*),

It was the new year's day of 2015 - and I had some time to sit down with my laptop and brainstorm my short term and long term goals dividing them to sections of personal, relationships, finance, self-improvement, spiritual, social/community, health and fitness. So here is it copied and pasted for your leisure read;

Long term goals: 

Reduce prevalence of joints injury and counteract muscle atrophy that naturally comes with age and with my bad genes, i.e. to not break my hips from a small fall when I am hitting 50s! (yes I am thinking very far ahead)

Solution to this?

- To include more functional and compound workouts. 

- To be well-balanced in all aspects of physical skills - cardio endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, coordination, agility, balance and accuracy. 

Mid term goals 

To master the foundation of calisthenics, weightlifting AND yoga, because in my opinion they are the best synergy of workout that can bring balance to the symmetry of my body (left vs right limbs, hamstring vs quads, adductors vs abductors, abs vs back, internal vs external rotator cuff)

SHORT TERM GOALS: To improve on...

1) Core strength (to reduce lower back overcompensation of load for the lack of it!) 

2) Postural balance (to balance sedentary lifestyle - hamstring tightness, upper cross syndrome, rounded shoulders etc) 

3) Left upper body strength and flexibility (no thanks racket sports dominance since young!) 

4) Anterior chain flexibility (thoracic and abdominal extension, hip flexor extension) 

5) Posterior chain strength (degree of importance and priority: shoulders > glutes > upper and middle back > hamstring)

My deadlift PR for a first timer: 70kg (120% my bodyweight)! :D

So being the geek I am, here are analyses on my physical strengths, what defines them, and each are rated according to where I think I am vs how far do I need to go to be where I feel/think I need to be;

1. Cardiovascular/respiratory endurance: The ability of body systems to gather, process, and deliver oxygen. 2.5/10 
2. Stamina: The ability of body systems to process, deliver, store, and utilize energy. 5/10 
3. Strength: The ability of a muscular unit, or combination of muscular units, to apply force. 2.5/10 
4. Flexibility: the ability to maximize the range of motion at a given joint 5/10 
5. Power: The ability of a muscular unit, or combination of muscular units, to apply maximum force in minimum time (i like to call this muscle explosivity!) 3/10
6. Speed: The ability to minimize the time cycle of a repeated movement. 3/10 
7. Coordination: The ability to combine several distinct movement patterns into a singular distinct movement. 5/10
8. Agility: The ability to minimize transition time from one movement pattern to another. 4.5/10 
9. Balance: The ability to control the placement of the bodies center of gravity in relation to its support base. 4/10 
10. Accuracy: The ability to control movement in a given direction or at a given intensity. 7/10

Proof of poor stamina after singles in badminton! :p

Learning on the court, in the gym, in the studio and off them, over the last two months has made me more aware (and also excited) of my body's strengths and weaknesses. I was going to mention something about health but I realize my ravenous and carnivorous eating habits prohibit me from being anywhere close to even have the intention to discuss about 'health'.

And that wraps up my rant of the day!

"What makes you unique?" 

I am a powerful challenger.

Read more

Common Posture Mistakes and Fixes

Muscles Imbalances and Syndromes

Bath half marathon and Resting Metabolic Rate

So I stumbled upon a new documentary by BBC regarding diet and upon doing the quiz, discovered that I am a 80% feaster, 20% constant craver and 0% emotional eater.

But what's more interesting is that I discovered that just by resting (and not doing anything the whole day) - I am easily burning 1500kcal per day. You can try it out on this website to see what's your resting metabolic rate which takes account your gender, age, weight and height.

Since I came back from my sedentary lifestyle of working and eating (a lot) in Sg and MAS - I went back on a workout routine to prepare myself for another half marathon at Bath, which I accomplished today within 2:30, my new PB considering how my knees are always the main deterrent.

I actually dislike running (it is too lonely and boring!) - the only run I did since the last half marathon (Bristol in Sept 2014) up to the Bath Half was a 5.6km run around the Downs. That single one.

I had only the month of February to train for my Bath Half and it was tricky. So I found an excuse to experiment on myself - minimal running and cardio training but build a routine to focus on my strength and flexibility. (or really just another excuse to skip running!)

So my rough plan for each week was;

• Weightlifting 1 hour
• Yoga 1 hour
• Pilates 1 hour
• Tennis 2 hours
• Badminton 2-4 hours
• Circuits or swimming (if there is no badminton or tennis)

[Most of this was done in Nuffield Fitness & Wellbeing, and the racket sports at Clifton College]

The fitness bug hit me last year in April when I was taught of how much need there is to be aware of my body as everybody has a different morphology and that training should cater to these differences! Thanks to Andrea Spencer (pilates), Ann See Yeoh (yoga) for getting me so immersed into this the first place!

So I started reading the Strength Training Anatomy and Scientific Key Poses of Yoga in my free evenings because I realize that the foundation I should be building is to understand the musculoskeletal system, specific to functional movements and functional workout.

Jack my fitness mentor developed a training plan for me after I told him my short term fitness goals;

1. Develop core stability and strength 
2. Left arm and shoulder strength 
3. Posterior chain strength

So he developed this for me to do it on the weekly basis after checking out my form;

1. Back squat 40kg 8x3
2. Walking lunges 20kg 20x3 for both legs
3. Supine Row BW 8x3
4. Single Arm Row 10/12kg 8x3
5. Straight walkouts to Pike 3x3
6. Plank rotations 8x3
7. Plank to press 10x3
8. Side plank rotation 10x3

Okay okay I DIGRESS, now back to my little half marathon experiment discussion.

So I had a few hypotheses that while my cardio endurance sucked (as I had duly neglected it out of laziness);

1. My strides will be bigger assuming the increased in hamstring flexibility. 
2. My thigh muscles are stronger which leads to slower fatigue
3. Also being more aware of my form, I will be running to land on a mid-foot strike (if not forefoot since I have been a heel striker) to minimize knee injury from my shorter/tight IT band which externally rotates my knee when running.

...all of these will therefore lead to similar running time as my last half marathon race.

So, importantly how did the half marathon turn out? 2:34, one minute faster than my last best.

My first three miles: Hardest wall to overcome ever as my mental prowess was taking a beating due to lack of any running at all! 

10km mark: My left knee started to hurt, which made me realized that I have been running on the left hand side of the road. We have to remember that the amazing roads of the UK have drainage gradient to channel/drain excess rain water. So I have been running with an extended left leg to make up for the slope. So it's time to switch to the right side of the road for the last 11km. And I did it - I saved it from hurting further 

Last three miles: I realized that my timing may be a bit slower than my previous half marathon, I sped up that my running pace 9-10 mins per mile! Lol.

Secondly, what were the major aches from the day after the half marathon? Quads and a bit on the lower back

This means I am still a quad-dominant runner, which isn't good as I am using more knees that I should be. Lower back aches mean I am not using my core to stabilise my form, so that needs improving.

So to wrap this all up, what I have learnt -

1) Strength and flexibility is as important as cardio for half maras.

2) that half marathons are actually quite fun when you include 'people-watching' as your past time. That killed time and distracted me from the aches and niggles! :-)

So there you go, my first rant of the month!

I run how I crawl, how I sit, how I walk.

Inception Part 2

I love to learn and immerse myself in them.

I am super curious.

About everything, about anything.

I am the jack of all trades (but master of none, hah!)

I have different phases of learning depending on what I have identified as a lack of knowledge (or rather, ignorance) about the certain subject.

I like to talk about it, share about it and write them down.

So I figured, why not collate and collect them in one place?

This allows me to look back at my 'diary of discovery' one day and remind me of things that I was once so engrossed in.

It's been years since I have actively blogged, and now with my new conviction that  - pen on!

Change is constant.
- Heraclitus of Ephesus