Myth #2 - If you eat more protein, you’ll build more muscle

There is only so much your body can absorb. If you're working out hard, consuming more than 0.9 to 1.25 grams of protein per pound of body weight is a waste.

Balance your intake into 3 parts carbohydrate and 1 part protein. Start eating a proper meal several hours later, this gives time for your body to absorb the carbo and protein. Then reverse that ratio in your snack after another few hours. This keeps high amino acids in your blood which is essential in your muscle building and recovery.

Tomorrow: Myth #3

Myths of Body Building - Myth #1

I did a presentation on bodybuilding myths some years back when I was in NS. I started doing weights when I was 16 and after that time, I have learnt a lot on bodybuilding. At the same time, I learned the common myths that people still believe are true. Even now, some of my friends still have certain misconceptions on bodybuilding.

For this week, I will list 7 Myths of bodybuilding. Before I move on to the myths of body building, let me explain what body building is.

Body building is - The process of developing the musculature of the body through specific types of diet and physical exercise, such as weightlifting, especially for competitive exhibition.


Myth #1 -Lifting incredibly slowly builds incredibly big muscles

Lifting weights slowly just tires your muscles, it doesn't build incredibly big muscles. University of Alabama researchers recently studied two groups of lifters doing a 29-minute workout. One group performed exercises using a 5-second up phase and a 10-second down phase, the other a more traditional approach of one second up and one second down. The faster group burned 71 percent more calories and lifted 250 percent more weight than the super slow lifters.

The best way is to lift rapidly and lower slowly. There's greater potential for growth during the lowering phase, and when you lower with control, there's less chance of injury.

Tomorrow: Myth #2

Yes, finally I have my own avatar

Ok finally I made meself an avatar of my own face.

My Avatar!

Yup, that's me! Well it is as close as I can get to my own look.

Not too sure what font it is? Get an image of it and see what it is online!

WHAT THE FONT?! yup that's what you might say when you found the font you that you like, but have no idea what font it really is. This website will give you a list of possible fonts just by you submitting an image of the font online or sending a url of the font.

The search is pretty accurate but they will need you to verify each letter's real letter by typing it out from each box.

This a pretty good resource for those budding designers and typographers. Although you might not want to buy the font, you'd at least know what font it is and probably might be able to get it from somewhere else.

http://www.myfonts.com/WhatTheFont/

Movie Review: Rendition

Tagline: When if some one you love.. just disappeared?

I think the tagline should have been more different, more powerful perhaps. The current tagline sounds like an alien abduction and doesn't justify the amazing story of this film.

The last time I saw Jake Gyllenhaal and Peter Scarsgaard together in a film was Jarhead. That movie had a catchy tagline: Welcome to suck; but the movie I think should have had more action, that movie ending was kinda of an anti-climax for me. Just imagine sitting down watching through the movie seeing them both train to be the best snipers and when they are called onto the Gulf War, neither fired a single shot at the enemy. Yeah it definitely was 'Welcome to suck'!

Anyway, Rendition is a movie about an Egyptian born man who has a family in the US, is being caught suspected of being an accomplice to a recent terrorist attack, thrown into a secret detention facility outside US and being interrogated mercilessly. Somehow this act is legal under the US constitution ever since the ammendment after 911.

Now I know some of you may have seen this kind of plot before, man got caught because he is a suspect of a terrorist attack/plot, he gets interrogated with unorthodox methods, some radical group starts attacking and how everything starts to get into a direction of chaos.

Well this movie is something like that, but trust me, it is much more. There is love involved in this movie, brotherhood, death, the usual terrorist and infidel accusations. The cinematography is pretty good, acting was pretty ok, but the story line is amazing. I don't want to spoil it for you, but the ending would just really leave you shocked, puzzled. It is one of those not so famous movies that is really good to watch.

There were some slow parts which I think should have been kept short or maybe be taken out. Nevertheless the storyline like I said before was amazing. After watching this movie, I feel like watching it again because I felt fooled at the end. I remember watching one guy in the cinema just shocked and probably angry that the movie fooled him. But in the end you really appreciate th movie direction of thsi film.

Basically, what you think you know in the film, is not what you think.

Go watch it.

4 stars out of 5.

Arabian Usher

Stumble upon this video, thought I'd share with you guys. This guy really has got moves! You don't see this kind of thing often. I wonder if he can break dance....

Eating does not make you fat!

My previous blog entries were touching on a bit on the science of losing weight. On how drinking sufficient water ensures that your body works to turn your stored fat into energy. For today's blog, I am touching on how eating food does not make you fat.

Well the truth is eating food does not make you fat. In fact, eating more than 3 meals a day helps you to reduce weight. Hard to believe? Well here is the science part; your brain releases fat burning hormones, and these are released after each meal you eat.


So what does make you fat?
You don't get fat because of a lack of exercising, that's a myth.
You get fat because you're eating the wrong foods, the wrong types of calories per meal, and you're also eating meals in the wrong patterns each day.

So eating less is not the answer, neither is jogging everyday when the food you eat isn't the right food to induce your brain to burn fat.


On the next few blog entry I will begin to touch on proper nutrition and what foods you should eat and avoid. Also, demystifying some myths and facts about certain foods and eating habits.

When you say you can't..

.... when you very well can. When I started my exercise regime about 2 weeks back, it has been kinda tough. It's really hard to get up when you have stayed dormant for so long. So when I did my first run, you can imagine the panting and wheezing I had through out my running. I am sure some of you can relate. But for my case, I had to exercise. Mainly not just to keep fit but keep my blood pressure normal. Some months back I got my BP checked, it was borderline. It is definitely not a good sign. Knowing that both my parents have High BP, I can't allow myself to be a statistic of a hereditary illness.

Maybe someone of you may not understand how it feels to have your blood pressure rising. You'd get this thumping headaches that just won't go away and you'd start to think you are actually having a tumor when having enough sleep doesn't seem to get rid of it. And bending down to pick up things or walking up the stairs seems to be painful and you'd can actually hear your heart beating in your ears. Everything sounds muffled and you'd get cranky because of the headaches.

So I told myself to exercise, watch my diet and avoid foods that contain too much salt, sodium, fat, coconut milk, etc. I even took the time to learn more on proper nutrition. After doing some research, and some trials and errors, I manage to figure out what was causing my high BP. Apart from my lack of exercise, and late nights at work, it is the junk food I have at night munching in the office that is the main culprit. To be more precise, the potato chips!! There is a lot of salt and sodium in there, and if you keep eating it every night it will eventually affect your blood pressure.

Potato chips is a no no for me and so are the other junk foods that I used to have. After learning about the right nutrition, what comes next is finding time to exercise. Previously I used to skip exercise when ever I reach home late. Now I don't, and seriously it has been very beneficial for me.

Even though I may exercise late eg: after ten, I realise that the next day I actually have more energy. My appetite increased, and not to mention the slumber I had, I really slept like a baby. I woke up feeling so refreshed that I looked forward to my next exercise. My sleepiness at work decreased, but I still do take power naps now and then, esp when there is a huge workload at work to finish. My creative juices have started to flow more and I am able to think more clearly and precise. I used to mumble when I speak but now my speech has more articulation.

So what brings me up and take the time to squeeze time to exercise? Well apart from the fear of getting sick or having a hereditary sickness, it is the countless videos and pictures of athletic ppl that has motivated me to keep going. Pictures of men and women doing challenges that are difficult or impossible for them. Ppl like Lance Armstrong, a 7 time tour de France winner. And also like these ppl in this video.

Online Family Tree - It's Free!

http://www.geni.com/

I been using this website for a few months. Quite frankly it's a good website to keep your family tree and you can let your family members to view it too. Plus it is free!

You can add pictures, edit the profiles, birthdate, email, addresses, add first, middle and last names, etc. There is really alot you can do in this website.

Previewing a family member is easy, just point to the box of the family members and quick preview window comes up. Much similar to the new features in the upcoming MAC OS X.

You can also view the family tree in different views. There is tons of features in this family tree.

One of the cool features to me is the map view. When you enter the addresses of your family members, geni will keep track of its location on a map, and it also has a 'Google Earth' view. So that means you can view where your family members are residing any where in the world!

There is more. YOu can create discussions, send emails, create photo albums of your family, it even has a birthday reminder that will be sent to your email!

So check it out, maybe it is time YOU start creating your family tree!

Driving for my family

Was out for my hari raya outing with my family today. My dad was driving us around with his cab. All the while, in the cab, I was hoping to drive for my family. But alas my parents do wish to own one because they would rather invest it in other things. I guess it's true, owning a car is pretty expensive here.

Anyway, on the last house visiting my mum decide that we should go visit her friend, which was all the way at Choa Chu Kang. I didn't felt like going, because first of all, its like on the other side of Singapore. Second we had no transport; my dad changed shift so we had to get a new form of transport to get there.

I thought we had to take a cab but luckily my mum manage to get her bro's car. So I thought, cool! Finally I can drive for my family, but my dad was apprehensive and said he would drive instead. I was a bit pissed but guess he knows the road better. I slept through out the journey there. Upon reaching there I was still thinking of driving the car, at least for the journey back home.

After the house visit, I manage to convince my mum about me driving, my dad said ok finally. oh man was I delighted. I was from tired and pissed to energetic and happy! I drove all the way from Choa Chu Kang back to Tampines.

All through the journey back I was smiling, it felt so good to be in control of a car. I know some of you who have drove before would disagree with me, because long drive journey's isn't a wonderful experience, but for me it was. Partly because of the fact that I haven't drove for a long time since I got my license. And also that I wished to drive for my family one day. Today was the day, seeing my family sleeping soundly in the car, I guess my driving was still pretty good because my mum is usually critical about my driving and today she didn't complain, she just advised me to not to drive too fast.

We stopped for petrol at Tampines and drove to my uncle's house to return the car. When we reached there, he was surprised to see me sitting in the driver's seat. Even his youngest son who was with him, was surprised!

He is a kid about 7 years old, and he kept asking me "Abang, you drive the car?" while pulling my 'baju kurung'. I said, "Yeah."
And then he asked,"REally?!". I said, "Yah la." Then he went 'police' on me, " Can I see your driving license?" I laughed hysterically.

Top ten things in 2025 that won't disappear (if the internet is still around)

10. Web Addresses
You need to know where you are. Once you are in the internet browser, you'd start typing out the address almost instantly.

9. Web Hosting
You need space to put up something on the web. Without it, there is nothing we can see or add.

8. Error messages
Codes are made my people, people make mistakes. It is self explanatory.

7. Porn
Let's face it, we watch it, we download it, we love it.

6. Electronic Banking
Money makes the world go round. We all make transactions everyday, either to receive, deposit or make payment. It is a world of numbers now, when you see those several numbers you see in you bank account, you know you are smiling!

5. Online Video

TV might not exist in the future, we would all be watching it all from your pc.

4. Viruses
Even computers get sick sometimes, even as we protect our computers, something new comes up. We create it anyway

3. Online Ads
Its a money making scheme, we do it, so will our children.

2. Search Engines
They are like our map, our encyclopedia, our library; heck we still need them in real life.

1. Spam
Like my home mailbox which is daily filled with unwanted mails and flyers, I do not see my email inbox without any spam any time soon.

The above is just a personal list of mine. I am sure some would agree or disagree, please feel free to comment. :)

Mr Olympia 2006

I know this is old news but I really want to talk about this man. Jay Cutler, I remember reading about this man in 2002. I was in Australia back then on a holiday with my friends. We took a break at a pit stop before continuing our journey to Noosa, Brisbane. I was browsing through some magazines and bought myself a magazine about body building. There was an article about Jay Cutler, apparently he has been doing this body building thing for a very long time but has never won Mr Olympia before. He has always been behind the shadow of this other guy, Ronnie Coleman ( a 5 time Mr Olympia then). And Ronnie Coleman has been dominating this sport until now.

What really amazes me is this guys has no trainer. A self trained body builder, who not only is disciplined on his training but also on his nutrition. Self motivated, and go getter, he would make his own meals, do his own workouts. But at the same time he takes time to get himself regular checkups on his body.

For those of you who have done some kind of sports training before, knows that keeping disciplined and motivated at the same time isn't easy. Especially with all the distractions all around us that can put us off from our training. This man did all that even though he kept losing year after year. Can you imagine yourself training year after year only to lose every year? So I am surprised after all these years since I read about him, he is still going strong. Some of my friends say bodybuilding is not a sport, but they have to agree that it takes a good amount of discipline to get yourself into that kind of shape. I am talking about putting in time and effort, sacrificing your play time, forcing yourself to eat the right foods, waking up early in the morning doing cardio to keep your heart rate up. I do not know many people who can do that.

My congrats to Jay Cutler for winning this title and not giving himself up to get in the lists of great body builders.


Here is a video on Jay Cutler, the champion! Enjoy!

Losing weight by drinking water - The science behind it

Many might find it puzzling as to how one loses weight by drinking water. The body itself is made up of almost 70 percent water, shouldn't drinking water add to the total body weight? Well theoretically it does but there is more to this than what it appears.

Our body is made up several organs, one of the major ones is the liver. The liver is an amazing organ, it is able to perform many functions. It's major role is its effect on your metabolism. Ok I am going to touch a bit on the science of your body organs.

One of the main functions of the liver is converting stored fat into energy. Another function that it has is it's ability to perform functions similar to the kidneys. Now kidneys need lots of water to work properly. When there isn't enough water, the liver steps in assist to the kidneys.

Now this reduces the ability of the liver to do other functions, in this case, turning your stored fat into energy. Doing two things at one time isn't an effective process even for a liver. Now with the liver acting as a kidney, it isn't able to metabolize fat quickly as it did when there is enough water.

So this means, if you keep depriving yourself of water, you are going to store more fat.



Ok so now how much water do I have to drink?

An adult male needs at least 2.9 liters a day, and for an adult female, at least 2.2 liters a day.
An active person would require more.

So basically you need about 9 to 12 cups of water daily. 7 cups from your drinking, 4 cups from your food intake and 1 cup from your metabolism. Please bear in mind that I am talking about drinking non-alcoholic and non-caffeinated liquids.

Interesting isn't it on how your body works. So guys and girls, keep yourself hydrated daily so that your bodily organs are able to do their jobs effectively. I hope this bit of a science lesson will give you a better understanding on why you should keep yourself hydrated.

Now that you know how important water is to your body. Here's a water tip video:

Looks matter? - The deception

I was browsing through the magazine section of the supermarket. Loads of magazines, different genres. Not to mention the men's section filled with covers of women in sexy poses and eye opening outfits. My eye caught the attention of the FHM cover with 2 girls on the front, I saw that earlier yesterday and thought of getting myself one, but just before I could reach it, another magazine caught my eyes.

Yes, Newman. Front cover of Jaymee Ong posing in a tight top with spandex pressing against her chest creating a bulge so prominent you'd wonder whats the spandex for when the dress top is tight enough to hug her body. And topping it off, she gives this demure yet sexy look so sizzling you'd just feel mesmerized looking at her. One look at the cover and images of that sexy young teachers during my secondary school days came popping up in my mind. I am sure men who have lived through the secondary period do remember that 'special' teacher who just emits 'HOT HOT HOT' all around. And the blood of 'just turned puberty boys' keeps boiling through the periods when she is present in class.

Ok, back to the topic. I know some men will start wondering why not FHM instead of Newman? I am not here to create a rivalry between the fans of both magazines but just relating this incident of mine in the supermarket with the topic.

Yes, both magazines have HOT covers which answers the question. YES! Looks DO matter...... but to a certain extent. Newman has been my favourite before my NS days, not just because of the cover (of course that plays a part) but also the content. NOt that FHM doesn't have good content, they do, I read them before I got Newman, but Newman just have more structured content, pleasing layout and not a bombardment of colours in a page. And the colors on the front cover is just refreshing. I do not know if they got themselves a new photographer or graphic designer but their look have improved a lot.

This actually relates to design too, even in print or web. The look of the web or print may be all pleasing and attractive but in the end, the content matters. People want to read good content, content that attracts them and want you to bring more into them in the next issue.

In life it is almost similar, looks do matter yes, but if you do not have content then you are just a turn off. Boring, monotone, etc, these kind will just make their dates delete their numbers from their cellphones.

But I'd like to point out, that even though looks matter it doesn't mean that one discards something or someone just because it or that person is not attractive. In reality of course, you have to know the person to see the beauty that's is hidden.

My point for creating this topic as my first is because I'd like to point out that whether you're pursuing in design or trying to look good for yourself in front of the mirror, is all just a tip of the iceberg. One has to better oneself to complete the picture. Better oneself in character like learning humility, patience, understanding, tolerance, etc. I have seen beautiful people here in this country and there are no shortage of them around, but sometimes even their visual beauty can't hide their ugly character.

So guys and girls, in this faced pace island of ours, remember to be polite, kind, thoughtful and don't be too sensitive. You may be the most prettiest girl in the MRT cabin but if you shoove me aside to get a seat without saying excuse me, you are just plain ugly.


Here's an interesting vid on looks. The documentary shows how looks can give a different perception on people.