Cheat Day Adventures!

I apologize for not updating more frequently, I usually try to throw in a post at least once a week to keep up with progress but I've gone by these last few weeks remarkably silent. Which is funny because I do have a few topics that I wanted to discuss and share here but have lacked the effort and motivation to do so recently. With that said, I haven't really been posting anything interesting with my cheat days so I thought I would update with respect to that. Enjoy!

Crab House SF:

Fat Tire & Garlic Fries

Fleur De Lys:

Amuse of quinoa, chorizo & mustard w/ parsley whipped cream, tomato cappucino

Foie Gras & Duck Slider, Black Truffled Popcorn, some ridiculous black truffle crockpot thing.

I don't know what this was, but it was fucking delicious.

Black truffles, foie gras, braised beef all in a concentrated consomme. Heaven.

Black Truffle Mushroom French Toast on the left, Seabass on the right.

The French Toast was way better.

Kobe Beef Cheeks, Truffled Potatoes and Spinach

Lamb Shank & Lamb Loin

Cheesecake! Chocolate Cupcake! Ice Cream!

Finishing Amuse: Fresh Madelines, Gingerbread, Chocolate Fondue

Chocolate and fruit tarts on top.

And then some sugar coated candy for good measure:

On Ankles Sprains: Breakthroughs for Quicker Recoveries and Prevention

I sprain my ankles like I used drink alcohol: Often, and hard.

So it should be of no surprise when I tell you that this past week I had a mild aftershock of the earlier incident a few weeks back. I was walking out of the gym and managed to step on a slightly uneven part of the concrete and BAM! Sprained it AGAIN.

EPIC FAIL.

Luckily it was just a mild sprain and I could move on it again quickly, but that didn't change the amount of pain I experienced immediately afterwards. I sat on the ground outside of 24 hour fitness doing something like this for ten minutes:

What's more embarrassing is that the receptionist came outside offering to call 911. Seriously? from WALKING? This was the last straw.

I was immediately prompted to look up everything I could about ankle recovery and rehabilitation. It's amusing that I could spend so much time on the intricacies of dieting and exercise and not have a clue about what I could do to improve the condition of this common injury and possibly decrease the likelihood of it happening again. I guess I used to think that this was just something people had to deal with like the common cold. I now know that this isn't the case. So for those of you who have experienced this in the past, I'd like to share with you some interesting new (sort of) techniques to speed recovery and promote prevention.

On Recovery:

The old adage of RICE (Rest, Ice, Compress, Elevate) to treat a sprained ankle is archaic and now somewhat obsolete . Physical trainers have found that this is a very slow and inconvenient process that could take weeks to recovery. Instead, many sources including my current physical therapist now advocate a different process that could have you up and running as soon a DAY after, even for severe sprains. What's the secret?

The first ten minutes of an ankle sprain are critical. Your body is responding to the shock by sending massive amounts of blood to the area to stabilize and prevent movement. This causes the severe swelling that we usually associate with sprains. While sometimes this might be a good thing, swelling actually hinders the recovery process if the blood is allowed to remain in the area and prevent movement. Hence the new method of treating ankle sprains is as follows:

1. Ice/compress/elevate immediately in the first 10 minutes. The goal of this is to do everything in your power to prevent your blood from pooling in the ankle. You want to stop swelling before it can happen.

2. While icing, start moving your ankle joint immediately after the pain has subsided. Don't force large movements that increase pain, but move your joint within a tolerable range of motion. The goal of this is to promote blood circulation, which does two things: 1. Prevents pooling and swelling of blood to the area, and 2. Brings fresh blood to the joint to accelerate the healing process.

3. See a physical therapist as soon as possible for soft tissue massage work. Physical therapy on a sprain hurts like hell, but will improve blood circulation and increase your tolerable range of motion immensely to the point where you can do everyday activities and maybe even exercise again. They literally squeeze the swelling out of the area if you have any left.

On Rehabilitation and Prevention:

This was something I used to ignore completely, but now know is an important part of preventing injury in the future. Everytime you sprain your ankle, the tendons/ligaments in the area grow a little looser. In addition to this, sprains in the first place are indicators of an imbalance in your ankle stabilizing muscles (Read here for geek explanation) as well as poor flexibility and inadequate joint proprioception (i.e.: sense of joint position a.k.a. knowing your foot's in the wrong position so you can correct it before it lands on the ground).

Thus, proper rehabilitation focuses not only on increasing ankle stability by strengthening the proper muscles, but also on balance and concentration exercises to improve proprioception. The following are some great instructional and demonstrative videos:

They say the majority of ankle injuries are caused from previous ankle sprains not properly rehabilitated. (Um... guilty as charged?) So it's important to reiterate the importance of a rehabilitation regimen shortly following injury. DO THESE EXERCISES IF YOU SPRAIN YOUR ANKLE.

I'm already working on these exercises as I blog about this. I have strengthening bands and wobble boards on the way. For anyone interested in these items, you can find them here:

Wobble Board

Therabands

Hope you find this information useful!

Five Weeks Left: Increasing Intensity and Focus

I'd like to thank everyone for all the encouraging words these last few days!

It has motivated me to train harder and more consistently than ever before. To be honest, I'm probably victim to a bit of body/muscle dysmorphia. I spend a good amount of time looking at picture examples of what I'd like to achieve, and then when I look back on my own body, I still see a blubbering tub of lard that hasn't changed much. After all let's be honest, I'm still a far ways away from something like this:

So despite this fact, it wasn't until I posted a side by side comparison that I realized that there has been progress these last few weeks.

A certain concept has crystallized for me the last two days: I realize that if I'm truly serious about looking like these people do, I have to train exactly as they do. As a result, I've spent some time last night going through the regimens of dozens of fitness models (http://sixpacknow.com/abs_six_pack.html) and cross referencing them to determine the major commonalities in their training and diets. I've come up with the following:

Training:

1. The proliferation of cardio or high intensity interval training (HIIT) 3-4 days a week in the mornings before breakfast

2. Weight training at least 4 days a week

3. An intense ab regimen usually consisting of three to four different weighted and unweighted ab exercises consisting of 3-4 sets of 15 reps

4. The proliferation of supersets and compound exercises with minimal rest during weight training to activate cardiovascular activity

Diet:

1. Eating consistently every 3 hours for 5-6 times a day and consuming an adequate amount of protein each meal period.

2. Ceasing carbohydrate intake after a certain point in the evening usually between 6-8pm.

3. Consuming only low glycemic index carbs throughout the day except for before and after weight training.

4. Zero sugar and saturated fats.

Training-wise, my intensity level is still quite a bit lower than what these people are doing, and I haven't been using many of these ideas. The diet aspect is probably the most difficult to achieve simply due to scheduling of work, but I have it planned out. I plan to implement all of these points with strictness and discipline starting next week. A sample weekday diet schedule:

7:30am: Wake up

8-8:30am: Cardio on the elliptical

9am: Breakfast (two eggs, 3oz smoked salmon, steel cut oats)

12pm: Chicken tenderloins, broccoli, brown rice

3:30pm: Turkey & avocado sandwich on whole wheat

7pm: Pre-workout 1/2 protein shake & NO Xplode

8pm: Post-workout rice crackers & remaining 1/2 protein shake

10pm: Casein protein before sleep

As for training, I'll probably be researching compound and superset exercises this weekend to figure out a proper 4 day training schedule. Weekends will be reserved for HIIT in the swimming pool for a minimum of an hour and 20 laps while mornings will be reserved for half hour steady-cardio.

Admittedly, making these changes will turn this small past-time I've been doing these last few weeks into a major lifestyle priority. I can already hear the voices in my head saying "You have no life! All you do is workout and eat cardboard and rabbit food!" But at the same time, I've already made the commitment to change within these three short months, why not go all in and dedicate myself completely with the time remaining?

Before & After (So Far)

A Comparison:

Left: January 24, 2011

Right: March 14, 2011

Entering Week 8: Slowly But Surely...

Current body fat estimate: 12-15%

As mentioned before, the additional cardio I've been able to do since my ankle healed has made a significant impact. The amount of subcutaneous fat around my midsection has decreased considerably and I'm only able to grab a small portion when pinching the side of my abdomen. Visceral fat also shows a marked decrease as my stomach is much flatter now, and I'm able to suck it in further than previously. Despite all this, it's important to note that my weight hasn't changed that much. Currently I'm around 157lbs, down from the starting 162.

I've almost ceased lower abdominal exercises because I feel that my lower abs are almost overdeveloped. From this point forward I'll be focusing on cardio, myotatic and weighted cable crunches to to really bring out the definition of my upper abs. Even with these improvements, there's still a good amount to lose.

Visible results are a strong motivator. Waking up early tomorrow to do more cardio!

Think Soy is Good for You? Think again...

I'm sure most of you are like me and have grown up to believe that soy is some sort of super health food. However, studies done time and again are uncovering the incredible detrimental effects it has on the human body, including, but not limited to:

Hypothyroidism

Infertility/reproductive issues

Trypsin inhibitors which cause pancreatic disorders

Increased risk of breast and thyroid cancer

In men, the phytoestrogens in soy act like the actual estrogen hormone in your body and produce all associated symptoms:

Lower testosterone levels

Low sperm count

Infertility

Raised Estrogen

Increased fat storage in your pecs, hips and thighs

Read more here:

http://www.optimumchoices.com/Soy.htm

http://www.skrewtips.com/2008/02/08/oh-soy-bad-how-we-are-mislead-about-the-benefits-of-soy/

http://www.healingdaily.com/detoxification-diet/soy.htm

http://www.soyonlineservice.co.nz/

Trouble with Acne and Breakouts? (The Importance of EFAs)

An update going into week 8, getting back into consistent cardio, and doing it before breakfast has definitely made a visible difference this past week. A new idea that I've also been incorporating into my regimen is, in addition to eating consistently every three hours, to eat until I'm satisfied but never full. In other words, if full is 100%, then you're always aiming to eat to around 70-75%. Your goal is to never let yourself get hungry, but also to never let yourself get too full. I think this has also contributed significantly to my changes this week since I used to always eat until I was full.

An example of my diet regimen on a cardio day would be:

7:30am: cardio for 30 mins - hour

9am: breakfast

12pm: lunch

3pm: snack/protein bar/protein shake

6pm: dinner

9pm: protein shake with zero carbs

Updated pictures to come.

A new 24 Hour Fitness Super Sport opened up today and I went there to check out their pool first thing upon awakening, which was at 10:30am. Don't laugh because I can't wake up. This place was utterly packed on their grand opening day. I ended up having to park what felt like a mile away in a separate parking lot. Needless to say a ton of people were there. Hopped into the pool and did just 10 laps back and forth. Felt really good. Taking spin class tomorrow morning as well!

With that said, one of the things I've wanted to talk about since I started my diet regimen is acne. The first 3-4 weeks into it, I noticed my skin tone becoming uneven and red bumps becoming more prevalent. I noticed some other people struggling with breaking out too, albeit for different reasons, which led me to do some research on the internet about how to properly diet to reduce this issue. Along the way I found this great resource from an individual who manages his own website dedicated strictly to clear skin:

http://howtoclearyouracne.com/main/

One important aspect that I strongly agree with is the balance of our body's Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs: Omega 3s, omega 6s, omega 9s) and breaking out. The two are closely correlated. It is postulated that the balance of EFAs in our bodies should be a ratio close to 1:1 or 2:1 of omega 6s vs. omega 3s. These days with our foods heavy in omega 6s (eggs, cheese, meat etc.) the balance has skewed closer to 20:1. Long story short, omega 6s increase your body's inflammation response while omega 3s help lower them. Usually, inflammation is a good thing for your immune system because it helps your body fight off infection and disease. But of course with the levels of omega 6s that are prevalent now, our bodies overreact which lead to a whole host of conditions; one of which is breaking out! So in summary, you're most likely deficient in omega 3s. If you break out a lot, one of the things you can do is to start taking supplements or incorporating a large amount of fish into your diet.

Check out that website!

Week 7 (Easing back into Cardio)

My ankle has recovered to almost 100%!

There is very little discomfort when I exercise now and I'm really happy about that. I've eased back into cardio, but no badminton or HIIT since I don't want to risk re-injury from more dynamic motions. I started off the day with 45 minutes on the elliptical and another 15 on the rowing machine. I've had some additional energy to complete workouts on an empty stomach from the help of a supplement called NO-Xplode; essentially a concoction consisting of creatine, amino acids, caffeine and NO (nitric oxide) for vaso-dilation. (Thanks Stephanie.) My feelings about this product are still very mixed because it is in essence a stimulant and bordering on unnatural to me. I've never even taken creatine before. Regardless, I'm Asian and since my friend was kind enough to donate a jar of this stuff to me, I'd feel bad for not using and wasting it.

Static-state cardio on machines is probably the most boring thing you can do on the face of the earth. I seriously would rather watch paint dry or linoleum curl. I worked through it though and went first thing upon awakening before eating anything. Went again later this evening with my friend Jeff and did another hour of combined bicycle, elliptical and rowing machine. All in all a total of close to two hours of cardio; it felt very productive, but who knows if there will be any results? My upcoming weekly schedule has updated to accommodate the additional cardio:

Monday: Back and Biceps

Tuesday: Cardio (Swimming or treadmilling first thing in the morning)

Wednesday: Chest and Triceps

Thursday: Cardio

Friday: Legs and Shoulders.

Saturday: Cardio (swimming)

Sunday: Rest

Abs on cardio days.

Diet hasn't changed much, but I will discuss that and other complications I've experienced in a complementary post immediately following this one.

Progress:

In terms of fat loss, I feel like these last 6 weeks have been an epic fail overall. I've used injury as a crutch to not do cardio and I feel like I haven't made any progress at all thus far. Though I plan to stick to my diet and workout regimen as strictly as possible, I'm fearing little change come April 24th.

My abs have gotten significantly bulkier and harder when I flex. This is most likely due to the high number of weighted myotatic crunches I've been doing. A bulky midsection isn't exactly what I want, so I'm taking steps to lower the weight and increasing the repetitions for the future.

Keep your fingers crossed for me.