Many aasics shoes in 1 day!
We got 7 pairs of cheap asics shoes in 1 day! My friend got for herself 4 pairs, and I got 3 pairs! WOW! I have never seen or bought so many ascis shoes in 1 day! No reasons why I should not pump up my trainings!
My masters are my heros. And yes almost all my masters are male. Competitive sports have taught me a lot about life. My masters are the ones who are there to complete most of what I need to know and learn, and there’s no stopping. When I recently picked up tai chi again with a local chinese master, my friends asked me, “WHAT!! you are still learning tai chi? I thought you had learnt it all few years ago!”
I told my friends, “Yep, but this master had made me un-learn and re-learn everything!!!”
I believe there’s always a reason why we stumble upon certain people in our life who would be teaching us something about life and this universe we are in. The masters I’ve met over my life never fail to amaze me with their stories and wisdom:
- my master in USA gave me another kind of perspectives on the kinds of marathons each one of us can run in our life time. Read the story here.
- another one of my master told us about the story of his mother, who had passed away but being a good person that she was when she was alive, she appeared in bliss and in pure land in his dream, and when she appeared in his lucid dream, she told him this, “Son, you must remember this lesson. This is the secret to life – 心专石能穿 (it’s in chinese, meaning – that’s what life is about. You get what you focus on, it’s like making a hole in a stone, like laser beam. Whatever happens to you in life, is what you have asked for, whether you know it or not, the seeds planted by you and you alone). Throughout all the months training under this master, this is the most valuable lesson i’ve taken away from him
Breaking Through Bricks
Each week it gets slightly harder and harder, because we are using different parts of our hands to break the bricks. Our male counterparts are also taking more attempts to break the bricks. One of the students in the same class as we were had initially took only one attempt to break the bricks, and this week, he was taking 4 attempts!
For myself, it took me 4 total attempts to break the brick. For my female friend, it took her only 2 attempts! Not so bad! I think she got it; her internal realizations were really better! Next week, we had even tougher job to do, we would be using the front parts of our hands.
Read our initial bricks breaking story here.
Strength training benefits for women
Many women are concerned with how their bodies look.
Dieting and weight obsession are very real parts of life for many women. Body building and women really fit together well when you think about it. Focusing on healthy weight gain and muscle fitness makes a woman look and feel a lot better.
Body building is a lot more than just dieting and lifting weights. Much of the advice given in previous chapters can apply to both men and women. But women do need to change a few things when it comes to a workout plan that will work.
Some women have never considered body building as a sport because they are afraid that they will get big, bulky, and become masculine looking. Nothing could be further from the truth. A trim, solid body on a woman is extremely sexy and very healthy.
Women cannot naturally produce the amount of testosterone that men do, so it is impossible for women to increase their muscle size in the same ways that men do just by picking up a weight or two. Without artificial substances, women won’t be able to get the same bulk as men do.
However, many of the same workout advice that we give to men apply to women as well: eat 5-6 small meals per day, drink plenty of water, and get lots of rest. The workouts are the same as well although some women may want to limit their reps initially until their strength is built up.
Many women struggle with excess fat and flabby muscle tone on their thighs and in their buttocks. Because women are naturally curvier than men, working these areas makes for a very flattering figure.
To work these areas, you will want to do a lot of dumbbell squats, leg curls, standing calf raises, and leg presses.
Add some lunges as well as dumbbell squat dead lifts as well for maximum effectiveness. You may want to invest in an exercise ball so that you can work your abs and make them tight and defined.
Strength Training Workouts
Change your workout every time you perform it and focus on one or two body parts each day you train. By doing this, you are not over-exerting muscles without giving them time to heal. Recovery is very important to the body’s muscles, so give them the time they need to heal and grow.
Many women live their lives by the numbers that they read on a scale. When you are body building for fitness, this is a mistake. Don’t concentrate on what the scale says you weigh, focus on your size and tone.
This can be calculated in the form of inches or body fat percentage. You will probably not see a huge weight loss on the scale, but you should see an improvement in your overall body’s look after a period of time.
Here are some areas that women should really focus on in their body building routine:
• Upper Back – Use pull-ups to build the muscles in your upper back which will accentuate your shoulders and make your waist look smaller.
• Side Deltoids – Side laterals and overhead laterals will help tone these muscles making your shoulders more defined and, again, your waist look smaller.
• Hips and Waist – These areas are mostly chiseled through diet by teaching the body to re-distribute body fat. It is the finishing signature to the rest of your body and will make your overall appearance look much more pleasant.
• Quads – The front muscles in your upper thighs need to be worked so that they are toned and defined. Doing lots of squats will help in this area and will complete your overall look. After all, what woman doesn’t want to have some killer legs!
Women are used to dieting and depriving themselves of food. When you are body building, however, the reality is that you need to actually eat more. The key lies in the foods that you eat. Eat the right foods, and they will work for you instead of against you!
As a woman, you need to remember that you will not be able to build your muscle like men do; however, your approach toward body building will be much the same. The results will be different, but you will still look incredible and be able to be proud of how you look.
Fat Man
Yes, even when you are building the perfect body, you’ll still need some fats in your diet. Fats are the main source of energy in the body. Fat combines with glucose for energy in order to spare the breakdown of protein. That way, protein can do what it is supposed to do – build muscle.
The key to fat intake is to stay away from bad fats and only eat the good fat. Saturated fat is bad. These are the fats that contribute to heart disease and high cholesterol. Because of the chemical composition of saturated fat, your body cannot break it down very well.
Saturated fats are commonly found in animal products such as meat, seafood, whole milk dairy products like milk and cheese, as well as egg yolks. Saturated fats elevate blood cholesterol by increasing both the good HDL and the bad LDL. Elevated levels of LDL can clog arteries and cause heart disease. They are also more readily stored as body fat, so they should be limited.
Trans fats should also be avoided. This type of fat is often used in commercially processed food because they are preserved longer. Trans fats cause an over activity in the immune system and are linked to stroke, heart disease, and diabetes.
You should truly strive to eliminate all trans fats from your diet.
Unsaturated fats are easier for your body to break down. Some of them can act as antioxidants that can actually help in losing stored fatty tissue in the body. These fats are found naturally in foods like nuts and avocados. These fats have a great effect on the cardio system as they work to lower the bad LDL cholesterol in the body.
The easiest way to tell the difference between saturated and unsaturated fats is to look at them. At room temperature, saturated fats are hard and solid. Unsaturated fats are in liquid form as in oils.
So basically, you should stay away from fats like animal lard and use oils such as olive oil or canola oil. Pay close attention to the fat content of any processed foods you are eating and keep it to a minimum or else your body will store that fat as, well, fat.
Probably the best type of fat to have in your diet would be Omega 3 Fatty Acids. These fats are most often found in fish and can have some significant health advantages. They can reduce inflammation, help prevent cancer growth, and improve brain function.
Omega 3 Fatty Acids can actually help combat conditions such as depression, fatigue, joint pain, and even Type 2 diabetes. Because they reduce inflammation in the body, they are good for the body builder because they help promote muscle recovery which can be important in the body building process.
Fats are actually an important part of any diet. They play an important role in protecting the body’s vital organs. Fats keep the body insulated, maintain healthy hair and skin as well as providing a sense of fullness after meals.
Fat Loss
Obtaining sufficient fat in its healthy form is one of the keys to good health and well being and a great body! However, you must be careful not to overdo on the fats, so consider the following suggestions for keeping your fat intake at a healthy level:
• Snack on peanuts instead of chips or candy. About a ½ cup is a good amount.
• Use olive oil in salad dressings and when cooking
• When baking, instead of topping with chocolate or candies, consider using nuts and seeds instead
• Try making sandwiches with avocado and tuna instead of higher fat lunchmeats
• Eat fish at least three times a week to increase your Omega 3 intake
• Limit or even eliminate fast food as well as sources of trans fats like commercially processed cookies and cakes
When you start on a body building program, you will want to pay close attention to the foods you are feeding your body. That includes alcohol as well. Many people like a drink or two or even three to help them unwind and relax. But when you are a body builder, alcohol can have a detrimental effect on your progress.
Alcohol contains nothing but empty calories. It has no nutritional value but it does contain high caloric content. In fact, just one shot of vodka contains 100 calories! Not only will drinking increase your caloric intake, it slows down your metabolism hindering your body’s ability to process foods.
Alcohol consumption also hurts muscle growth. Not only will having a hangover lower your workout intensity, but drinking actually lowers protein synthesis by twenty percent. There are several reasons why it does this.
For one, it dehydrates your muscle cells. As many know, hydrated and even over hydrated muscles allows for a much higher anabolic environment. Because your cells aren’t holding as much water, it becomes much harder to build muscle.
The second reason why alcohol can severely hurt muscle growth is because it blocks the absorption of many important nutrients that are key to muscle contraction, relaxation and growth including calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, iron and potassium.
Not only that, but alcohol lowers the amount of testosterone in your body and actually increases estrogen. Having higher levels of testosterone can help with your workouts by making you more aggressive, so when those levels are down, you will not be as intense in your lifting and weight training.