Sunday, May 16, 2010

Thoughts, Training (May 16, 2010)

Thoughts (It's been a while):
1) The LPT stretch from Gambang to Kuantan is dangerous in the presence of rain: T-Rex was skidding almost every 3-5 minutes.

2) An interesting quote from Harry Selkow to me:
"The quickest way to get strong is to be the weakest guy in the gym." I've learned to create my own ways to avoid a "jaguh kampung (big fish in a small pond)" mentality. For example, I always look at lift videos in the Internet, not really to humble me, but to motivate me.

MJ used to lie to the media that opponents smack talked with him, and admitted that he lied when he retired, with the intent of firing himself up.

3) An even more interesting quote from Michael Jordan when he was told to emphasize teamwork:
"There's no "I" in team, but there's an "I" in win."

4) People need to have a winning mentality. Standards must be individualized. You don't tell Federer to be grateful whenever he became second best to Nadal; hey at least he got into the finals. You don't tell the same to LeBron James when the Cavs just lost to the Celtics. When your potential is much more, why settle for less?

When I told Umi that I was close to getting a D for O&G, her response was to actually scold me (and my fiancee) for going back every weekend!

5) I've been feeling that I am very lax in preparing for the Professional Exam this Friday. Not spending much time studying, and more relaxing. No pressure for the most part.

This reminds me of SPM, a time in which Abah and I got into a very heated (understatement) argument, and a time in which I was even more hot-headed than I am now. Abah was pressuring me to study while I was home in between papers. I wanted to relax and take my time to read in the middle of a stressful exam period. The trigger was when he kept pestering me to come back after prayers while I was talking with friends. Hm...

6) Speaking of Abah, he and Umi are currently back to the general ward. Atrial fibrillation secondary to CAP. The neurologist said that there's probably new recent stroke(s), although there's no functional signs other than generalized lethargy. I guess the echo tomorrow is for that. Thanks for the wishes from everyone.

7) I'm finding that everyone loves my massaging skills. Maybe I should learn Active Release Technique (ART) or Graston (gasp!).

8) Hm, I can no longer borrow Abah's pants: my thighs have become too big.

9) I don't understand why casual gym goers waste their money with single joint, isolation exercises and getting no visible changes after even 1 year. Unless you can bench 100 kg (I can't), squat 140 kg (not tested yet), or deadlift 140 kg (yes), you have no idea imitating routines of people who spend at least 2 hours every day for 6 days a week with the help of assistance and are already fucking strong in the first place.

Sure, it's your choice, but money and time is precious for those of whom going to the gym isn't no 1 in their lives.

Training:
Since I'll be getting married soon (27 June, Bangi Golf resort - bookmark that date, invites will be sent out when they're ready), I'm going to start fat loss. It's time to dial in the diet 100%. I'm aiming for (generally) normal strength training via 5/3/1 3 days a week, with heavy conditioning on the same days + one. Every other day except 1 day per week will be filled in with general "light" conditioning, probably with Turkish get-ups.

Diet will be carb cycling. Previously I still took carbs on off days. Now it'll be carbs in morning and pre-training only on days with heavy conditioning, and no digestible carbs on off days. The aim is 1-2 kilos a week.

Soon I will also be going back to Bangi, with no lifting partners. At that time I'll have to reduce again my lifting maxes for the bench, which is my weakest lift relatively.

In the mean time, I did have a good deadlift session last week: 131 kg kg for 7 reps.

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