mquang’s BodyBlog

I noticed I felt a bit better, and my energy level went up a bit for today workout.  I am curious if it’s the result of food?  I woke up around 1:30am this morning, and stay in bed a bit till 3:00am.  Around 3:00am, I was hungry, and my body craving for food, and I did my usual two slides of toasted whole grain bread with peanut butter then 1 scoop of coffee for energy.   Then I ate my three eggs, 1 whole, and 2 white, and drank water.  Around 9:00am, I felt exhausted and dragging and I decided to eat, I got whole grain bread with eggs and ham from Subway.  I left work around noon, took 2 scoops of No.Ex, then did my thing at the gym.

I felt less nausea, a bit more focus in today workout, but I don’t think it was the result of No.Ex, but more from food.  I have to start eating more lean food.  Basically, I have to start eating.  I also noticed, I’ve been craving for sugar lately, especially after the gym.
Today, I was craving for donut those big donut with sugar coat all over it, and McDonald, but I pulled myself together and walked away.   Yup! I crave to have ABS more then anything else and the BODY THAT I DESERVE!!!!!!!!

Today workout wasn’t the best, but it was much better then yesterday workout in term of mentally and physically.  The  whole time at the gym, a conversation between my co-workers and I had this morning was repeating in my head.  We were talking about one of our coworkers that has a major heart attack at the age of 32.  In my opinion, that is a bit young to have such major problem.  I thought about myself, and I thought about eating lean and exercising daily are such a small price to pay each day to be healthy.

Today, I did bench press, and I noticed how tiny a 25lbs weight plate is.  I wrote as my goal that I will be able to bench press with both 25lbs on each side of the bar, but what I was thinking is to be able to bench press with 45lbs at both sides of the bar by July 4 of 2008.  I remembered how nervous I was when I first doing Bench Press, and a bar it self was heavy enough for me, but now I was able to increase it a bit.  25lbs on both side wasn’t hard, and I was able to do 12-15, then I did increased the weight with an increase of 5lbs on each side and I was exhausted.  I also did Squat with 10 lbs on each side.  It wasn’t bad at all, I will try to increase the weight a bit next time.  When doing Squat, I feel like it’s working my whole body, and I love it.  Oh, forgot to mention, I was using a bench press machine in between regular bench press.  I also did incline bench press, then I did work on abs a bit and finished it off with a 30 minutes slow pace jog.

I was supper hungry after the workout, and I decided to fuel my body with lean food course.  Alright, don’t know what else to type so I’m going to stop.

I have accepted the fact that the combination of eating lean and exercising regularly provide a hardcore physique.  But lately, especially these past few days, I’ve been struggling to tell myself to accept that fact.  As silly as it may sounds, I do noticed I have become a bit leaner then before, this morning, when I am trying to grab the fat off my stomach I noticed I don’t have that much gut left, and when I look in the mirror, I see definitions on my body.  I look fit compare to others at my company.  But what kill me is that I feel that I can never be as strong as other guys in the gym because I’m Asian.  I noticed lot guys doing heavy weight, and I want to be able to do the same thing.  Don’t get me wrong, I do make great progress in the gym, I do increase the weight if I feel it is too easy for me and that if i can do 10 reps.  It kills me to believe that Asian are weak, but i can’t seem to get that dumb believe out of my head.  I’m feeling down right now…I want to be strong, and I want it bad.  I want to squat with big fat plates, and I want to Bench press heavier!!!!

I’m still feeling the pump in both of my biceps.  I would say today was the first day that I truly felt it and I love the feeling.  Today, I’ve asked my trainer to help me train back, because I admired those that have great back on bb.com.  I tried to train back on myself, but I never feel a thing afterward.  We did Front PullDown, Pullups, Close Grip Pullups, Reverse Palm Pullup on the Pullup assistant machine (we put it on plate number 8, I can’t recall how much lbs on that plate), then rest, then repeat, a last couple of reps, we have to put it on 10, and he helped a bit.  After that, we did T-Bar row? I did without the weight to get the feeling for the machine, then I did 15lbs, then 15lbs, then another 15lbs one on top of another.  Then we moved quickly to the another machine, I have no idea what the name of it is, then we did Dumbbell Row.  By this time, I was already pumped, my biceps was about to explode, and they’re tired.  Then we finished it off with biceps curl, oh…then another biceps workout with the cable machine…then I asked him to watch me how to do Squat to see if my form is right…and he said "IT’S" YAHOOO!!!! I just signed up for another 10 training sessions, he said he’ll provides the additional 2 free sessions for me, because I told him, that I have to pay for my mom gym membership.  Which I need all the help I can get.  I completed the workout with a 45 minutes cardio, the last 5 minutes of 45 I was just walking.  Then Stretch…it’s importance to Stretch to stay flexible…I read that somewhere   After typing all of these, and my arms still pumped lol…

Tomorrow, I’m going to a friend’s wedding going to look awesome.  Nothing taste better then feeling fit (i heard that quote somewhere)  Actually, the quote was "nothing tastes better then feeling thin", but YIKE, who wants to feel thin…It’s gross.  Going to do cardio tomorrow, and tomorrow is the firs day mom in the gym…lol…can you believe that?  Actually, I haven’t pay for it yet, I am not sure if she wants to do Curves, with is for 50+ or she wants regular gym…I want to test her first to see which one she’s more comfortable.  It’s going to be a bite out of my income, but then I only have one mom, and I want her to be healthy.  I look at my friends, they all spending money on nice things for their mom, i.e. material stuffs, the stuffs might look nice, but their moms look like crap as they aged…my mom is going to look fit and aged healthy.

to complete this blog…I’m one day closer to getting THE BODY THAT I DESERVE! GOD BLESS

Today workout wasn’t exactly the best, but I did make great progress by increasing the weight when doing lunges.  When I was first introduce to this exercise, I was only able to do a few reps with the bar itself.  But every days, I continue to kept doing it, and today, I finally able to put on 5lbs and 10lbs from both side of the bar.  It’s a small progress, but my form is a bit more stable now.

I want to make the same great progress when doing Seated Dumbbell Lateral Raise.  I tried using 8lbs, but I couldn’t get the dumbell all the way up, I switched to 5lbs blah…I don’t think my form is incorrect, but it shouldn’t be difficult to do with only 8lbs weight right?  I can do standing dumbbell Lateral Raise with a bit heavier weight, but the seated one give me trouble.

After all the free weight training, I did about 2.5 miles on the treadmill.  I warm up about 1 miles in about 10 minutes, I guess, I did about 3.5 miles total.

I’ve been given permission to work early, and now my day started at 3:00am, and work till noon.  My workout is shifted from 5am to 1pm, I’ll be okay, just have to adapt first…it’s always hard as first, but it will get easier.

Today, I tried 1 scoop and 1/2 of the No.Explode, and I did felt a bit of energy through my body, but it doesn’t have the strong tingly sensation like WhiteFlood.  I felt the effect of Whiteflood within 10 minutes of consuming it.  I headed over to the gym around 5:15am, I warm up on the treadmill for about 10 minutes, then I did free weight.  Today was Back, Biceps and Calves.  After free weight, I head over and did about 2 miles on the treadmill (low intensity then high, incline decrease and increase).  It seem No.Explode provides a bit of endurance, but so does WhiteFlood and SuperPump.

My workout has been good, my eating plan is a bit off these past few days.  I hate eating potato chips, but i found myself craving for it these past few days, and I did ended up eating one large size bag.  I did finished a whole slides of cake, I know, it doens’t kill me just to have a piece of cake, it probably not going to ruin me, but I don’t know why suddenly my body craving for these.  I also, I’ve noticed, I’m feeling hungry more, and wanting to consume more food then ever before?  Is it because my muscles need nutritions?

I also been feeling sluggish around 3pm to 5pm, I just want to hit the bed.  I just have permission to work early from now on (4am to noon).  It shouldn’t be a problem, in fact I think it would serve me well.  Now a day, I get up around 4am naturally, then eat pre workout meal, then at 5:00am i headed over to the gym. My updated schedule is going to be get up 3:00am, breakfast, work, then eating in between then 11:00pm (preworkout meal), 12:00 (No.Explode), workout.  That’s my plan for now, i know it’s going to work…anyway, sleepy…later.

Today was legs day, I did Lunges with the barbell itself 2×15, then I throw on 10bls, then I started to feel dizzy 1×12.  My heart was beating, and I felt like it about to pop out of my chest.  I’m not sure why, I felt like I was out of breath, I wonder if it’s because I went and did 1 mile of cardio on the treadmill then I hid the weight immediately.  I felt my forms is getting better, meaning more stable then before.  Today was my second day doing Squat and Lunges with Barbell, the first time I performed them, I couldn’t balance the bar.   Then I did leg pressed, not the machine I used to do, but it was the one where I put weight plates on.  Then I did a few more legs work, on different machines.  Then I stretched, it felt good to stretch, I used to hate doing it, because I thought it’s waste of time.

I left work 30 minutes early today, and decided to do a bit of cardio, and so I did about 35 minutes of cardio on the treadmill and burned about 400 calories.  I was exhausted as hell, I could barely move my legs.  Is it because I exhausted them this morning?  Usually, I can do incline of 3.5 and speed of 7.5mph, but I couldn’t move fast enough this afternoon.  I have to dropped the incline and speed several times.  Then I headed over and do cable crunches.  While stretching, I looked in the mirror and realized how tiny I’m.  I want to gain muscle and increase my strength.

On personal life, I went over to an old friend house for dinner on Wed’s night, I haven’t seen his family and him for quite a long time.  They were shocked, and told me that I look good, followed by "how did you do it".  I said 45 minutes to 1 hour on the treadmill every days.  I gave the same answer as I did a few months ago.  During dinner, everyone was complaining about the foods, they were bored with the taste, I was the only one said that the foods was delicious and flavorful.  I got some foods take home, because no one was eating them.  I was the last one to put the chopstick down…Yumm.

June 22, I have a wedding to attend, and there will be more friends I haven’t talk or seen to for awhile, I have to concentrate on making it thought that day by being constant on my workout and eating lean.   I can do it!

I have noticed I am slowly breaking away from eating traditional Vietnamese foods naturally.  Whole Grain Pasta, Boiled Chicken breast, Broccoli, Tuna, Salmon, Oatmeal,  BrownRice, Peanut Butter, Lean Turkey sausage , Apples, Strawberries,  Eggs, Mini Wheat, almonds  are constant serving my days.   I’ve also noticed I’ve been craving for sweet (brownies, cookies, candies) around the end of the day, or during my 4th meal.  A few months ago, I was constantly craving for chips and soda, then the craving went away.

Today was my second day with my personal trainer, and today we worked on developing stronger legs.  Today was also my first day doing Squat, and doing all these leg pressed combined with other calves, legs machines…WOW. For the first time, I actually feel like I’ve work those legs.  I get a bit dizzy doing the Squat, and the leg lunges (with the 45lbs bar).  I’ve got to practice more, to ensure my forms are correct.  I was sweating like crazy, I felt my heart rate was beating faster ever seconds similarity to when i was doing HITT cardio.  After legs, he helps me to stretch, and work on my flexibility.  I asked him, who came up with these exercises crap–legs was killing me—he laughed and said I’m the first one saying that to him.  I wasn’t kidding…geeze, those legs pressed, and squat hurts like hack.  I’m glad I did it, I’ve been wanting to learn how to perform Squat, leg pressed and today, I get to.  COOLS.

I’ve decided to get up a bit earlier than before, my gym opens at 5:00am and I plan to be there by 5:00am, which mean I am getting up at 4:00am to have a pre-workout meal.  I was surprised there were couples of people in the gym already.  I focused on working on chest, and recalled all steps I’ve picked up from the personal trainer.  I think I did well, because I put myself back on the same stage as when he trained me.  I did Bench Press/Incline Bench Press, and Triceps, then Abs.  I never felt confident then today when working on chest.  I guess, it’s because I feel that I’m doing it correct.  My abs is still sore from a couple workouts ago, but I managed to do about 20 sets (Pain is temporary, Quitting last forever).

While working out, I was listening to a life coach seminar, and one thing he said that captured my attention, and that is “The only thing that is equal among humanity is the same amount HOURS that we got.”   After hearing that passage, I thought to myself, I can’t be one of those people who complaint about not having enough time…There are many others out there that have accomplished much more then where I’m right now.  I make up my mind to head to bed one hour early.

One day closer to getting the Body That I Deserve.