As most people are aware that I have a couple of bolts missing in my head, I have come up with an idea for a new sport.

I was sipping my protein last weekend on my balcony, staring blankly to an old tree in front of my apartment, I heard this most annoying noise everyone would be familiar with- Possom. Not just possom squeeking but 2 possoms actually going at it. It annoyed the hell outta me. However, this has got nothing to do with what I have about my new idea but just so everyone knows that 2 possoms were having a good time last weekend while I was having my protein shake.

 Lets picture this.

 We go to the jungle and hunt for some skinny ass chimpanze (have to obtain liscence from the jungle manager or one of those animal rights group so we don’t get in trouble for this).

Take the chimp back with us and put it in an experiment room, with a glass view window so we can observe.

 The room would be fitted with weights. The weights would be attached to sensors. The room would have an opening on the ceiling and a TV.

We require the basics, barbells and dumbells. 

 As we are all aware of the phrase, monkey see monkey do. It would not be hard to teach a chimp to perform certain tasks.

When the chimp regain conciousness from the tranqualizer, he would find himself in this room.

I am sure by then, the chimp would be hungry. We would flick the TV on, showing one basic exercise for start- Squats.

The chimp would find that interesting and proceed to the weights provided, and hopefully perform the same movement.

The sensor on the weights will keep count of how many repetition the chimp has performed on that exercise.

Once the chimp hits 10 reps, a banana will fall from the ceiling.

The chimp would then proceed and eat the damn banana. We will give him a little one first so he would still be hungry.

He would then go back and do the same exercise 10 reps, another banana will fall. He would then eat and proceed.

This way, we can increase the intensity of the exercise so as when the chimp hits the repetition required, a banana will fall.

Also, the banana has to be covered in whey protein so the chimp will not fall into a catabolic state.

 We will rotate around exercises on the TV everyday so the chimp gets a complete workout.

 Then there is the big day. Deadlift. If the chimp managed to accomplish this exercise with the reps required, a cake filled with protein powder will fall off the ceiling. Big reward.

 At night, we would sneak into the room when he is asleep and add another 5 lbs on the barbell every week.

It will be interesting to see what the chimp looks like in 10 years….

To gain health and fitness you do not have to walk into the legs room with a bucket in your hand.

Nor do you have to make a pillow out of your towel after leg press.

 The most common excuse I hear from people not being able to train is time restrain. I don’t know if time restrain is the correct terminology to be refered to as ‘busy’ cause I am asian and I cannot speak english properly. But I can eat a lot of rice though.

Simply put, in general, to gain physical, fitness and mental health from weight training, 3 days of training of up to an hour a day is suffice. On top of that, chuck in 30-40 minutes of low intensity cardio 3-4 days a week (power walking etc) in the evening should do the trick. You do not need a scale to weigh your food or do you need to steam your chicken everyday. Leave that to the slight mental malfuctioned individual like myself. Nor do you need to ingest 6-7 meals a day until your face smudges in like a prune. Just ascertain never to skip breakkie, have a healthy lunch and nice portion of dinner. All you need for breakkie is 15 minutes, which can consist easily of a couple peices of toasts and eggs.

Weight training hasn’t got to be intense. Just enough to stimulate muscle growth to a certain degree, and no, you will not look like Arnold within the next few months so you do not have to worry.

The gym in which I train now has a lot of successful businessman. These people are well organised and some of them come from a bodybuilding background.

 And I swear most of their success comes from the same mentality they have during their years of seeking muscle growth.

Every big success requires risk, hard work, dedication, determination, consistency, self believe and never-give-up attitude. And most of all, the ability to combat obstacles that surrounds us everyday.

And every road to success comes with good planning and execution.

Having said that, we can, find a balance in life. But at some point, some sacrifice has to be made. I solely believe in this one simple rule. Simply put, champions are different as they do things most people wont do.

I was watching a documentary the other day. Its about this guy who used to serve in the Army. He no longer believes in his government and fights his own battle. He lives in the bush, surviving by hunting for food and s%^t(not literally). I have no idea how this documetary is made and how the camera man made it through all the battles with him, undectected by the enemies. But I find it very inspiring.

I mean, this guy is close to 60 and man, does he carry a lot of muscle. He looks huge! and one thing that inspires me is that, the guy lives in the bush with minimum amount of protein and carbohydrate. I am sure he has no access to creatine or any testosterone boosters. I doubt he has a bank account or even seen a 50 cent coin.

The guy does not even sleep that much or train that hard. He does not squat, leg press or even bench press!

I am truely inspired by this soldier of fortune, how motivated he is to live his life and being able to look that good. The guy is ripped to shredd!!

I definitely recommand this documentary to everyone seeking inspiration in the gym.

The doco is called “Rambo”. Currently it is screening in every theater.

No, its impossible. Its a lie. Everyone knows that. No one on earth can put on 10KG of PURE F$%KING muscle in 10 weeks or even a year. I do not care what he takes. I do have to stress PURE muscle nothing else! I struggle to put on 1KG of muscle in a year!

One of my friends got questioned yesterday.

Heres the story,

He was pounding away in the gym, sweating and puffing lifting like a mofo, you know someone is training hard when you see his face sinks in like a prune as he struggles to fight against gravity. 

Now, this friend of my does not compete in the INBA or ANB. He thinks he is hardcore. So hardcore that he posts his biggest lifts in his facebook to impress his fellow friends. I looked at him and goes, man you train hard. He will not answer, just a nod as he struggles to catch his breath, resting between sets. He looks at the weights he sets on the ground before proceeding with his next set. Slapped himself in the face and grinded out as much rep as he can. 

As per his regime, he would have his post workout shake and all that bullcrap after his every workout. He finally tries to converse with me, “mate, the best time to have carbs and protein is straight after working out.” I agreed, pretending I don’t know that. In case he flips and slap me in the face if I disagree. This gym he currently trains in is more like a corporate gym. Nothing like my old gym, BodyWorld at camberwell., which is hardest to the core. You will always be greeted by this 2 uhhh..friendly staff members over the counter. Another personal trainer so big and strong that I think he is crazy when he trains, he looks like the cross between Matt Damon and an ape(don’t worry, I am not being mean, I know him well enough to call him watever I want. I think he will do the same to me). A couple of INBA competitor that tries to keep up with their fellow non-INBA competitor. An asian bodybuilder that looks so big that I am convinced he will never be able to compete in INBA. just to name a few personality in this gym. Love the place as Arnold has trained there before when he came down under. Definitely worth a look.

Anyway, this gym my mate trains at, like I said is more like a corporate gym. People will look and stare and think you are a freak, if you train like one, which he does. He cleaned himself up before taking off to work and ended up in the lift with one of the female gym members. Trying to be a bit socialble, he looked at her as she sips on her protein shake. 

—–scenario————————–

My mate got in the lift and pushed the Ground floor button.

*Lift makes this mechanical sound as it decends*

*Lift door opens*

*My mate got out and looked at the girl.*

*Girl was sipping on protein shake.*

*Looking at the girl,*

Mate:”Do you compete?”

*mate walks in front of the girl*

*lift door close*

Girl(smiles):”No. Do you?” 

Mate:”Yes, I have done 7 shows in 3 years.” 

Girl (grins):”Wow, I would never compete.”

*both stops and chatted*

Mate:”Why not? Its a very good experience.”

Girl:”Its too hard, too much dedication.”

Mate:”Yea, but its def worth it, its a life time experience.”

Girl:”Do you compete in the natural shows?”

*mate pauses*

*At lot of images flashes through my mates head and he tries to think of the appropriate answer; images like his favour cartoon-Futurama, cheesecake, pizza, chicken breast and tuna*

Mate (looking away):”Thats a very harsh question”

*girl pauses*

Mate(Sweating profusely):”No.”

Girl (looking dissapointed):”Oh no….”

Mate (with a stupid grine):”…….”

Girl:” You should do the natural shows instead.”

*Mate is never convinced competitors in natural shows are 100% natural*

*Mate looking at his watch as he is getting late for work, so he has not the time to go through the reasons*

Mate:”…………I’m sorry I am late for work. Ill see you next time”

Girl:”see you”

——–scenario finished————

He was a bit dissapointed as he was being judged on the path he decides to take. He complains to me alot. He is often challenged by this question. I know, however, he trains his arse off and eat a lot of food and all that. My best advice to him is to block all this negativity as I can see it is impacting his point of view towards his training and dieting and most of all-his goal. It creates doubts of which is right or wrong. And any doubt is an obstacle as we will have this fear to progress.

Like I have said before, blocking out any negativity is the only way to go. Block Block Block and just go for it! There is only one thing you can be, once in your life, a winner to yourself by conquering your own demon.

Ryan

My phone rang the other day-’I am going oversea, I am having a going away party at this place, you should come Ryan”.

 Actually, let me rephrase that- One of my friends called me the other day

Friend:”Hey Ryan, what are you doing”?

Ryan:”Its 4pm and I am having my fifth meal mate,tuna, bread and milk. What is happening?”

Friend:”Do you know Friend B is going oversea?”

Ryan:”Really? Whos is Friend B?”

Friend:”Ah you know, the one that used to go to the gym with me.”

Ryan (Have no clue):” Ah, yes where is he going?”

Friend:”England”

Ryan:”England? Why won’t he go to Thailand instead?”

Friend:”He is not a bodybuilder mate, he is an accountant.”

Ryan:”………”

Friend:”Anyway, he is having a going away party at this place.”

Ryan:”Really, he didnt invite me though, but I am going to attend anyway”

A lot of things go through my mind when I am to attend any social event. How am I going to smuggle food into the club/bar?.

Thank god this event was to be held on a Friday so lots of people would rock up with bags. Done deal- I will bring my gym bag in.

So comes Friday, I have not been out for awhile so I figured why not. Just to be amongst.

After all that awkward makes no sense I-will- see-you-when-you-get-back conversation. I decided to hang around my friend who used to be a bodybuilder (Yes, you know who you are if you are reading this, shame on you). He has a better understanding of the mentality of a bodybuilder so we get along pretty well. I looked at my phone and decided its time for me to eat. I reached into my bag and presented a pack of sashimi. 1,2,3,4, –12 slices! yea! that should have enough protein. I munch on that before anyone could see me. Next, I need carbs. My mates have actually ordered some dried up bread with cheese and dips. Thats barely 10g of carbs in each slice and theres only 5 of them. since I am not paying, I better not touch it. So I reached into my bag and took out a loaf of bread. Helga wholemeal now has a new stamp that says “new and improved” on it. I do not know what they have improved but anything that has improved should always be good. His wife rolled her eyes at me-”That’s emabarring Ryan!”

“No its not” I retaliated. I spreaded 4 slices of bread evenly on the plate of dried up bread. The cheese looks good so I had it with that. Minutes later, I have devoured 60g of carbs.

Now I am thirsty and everyone is having a beer. The bartender is kind enough to provide me an empty glass. As f%^ked up as I am .I reached into my bag of wonder and pulled out a bottle of milk……

That will keep me sane for a few more hours. Because if I miss my meal, I go schitzo.

It was a fun night cause I like people watching. Defining who is gay, who is desparately trying to pick up and how much success rate that bloke over that have going home with that broad over there. I am not homophobic. In fact, I know a few gay people and they are funny as hell. Anyway, I realised I draw more attention form guys then girls. I do not know if its the fact that women is repulsive to bodybuilders or are they playing hard to get. “How much do you bench?” and all those usual questions I normally get whenever I go out. “I wanna get big but not big like Arnold”

Anyway, I yawned as time goes by and everyone is getting more and more messed up. Again, I reached into my wonder bag and pulled out a shaker filled with 50g of 50/50 elemental nutrition whey protein. Chocolate of course. Mix that with 2 cups of milk and I think they taste better then beer. Pack my bags and set myself off to the train station. I have to sleep, even though its my time off training, I need to rest.

I will not miss a meal. I believe strongly in nutrition. Thats the most important part in bodybuilding.

Ryan

This is my 6th day off training. I cannot wait to get back to the gym.

My body was aching everywhere. I have to struggle to get out of bed. Sore, stiffness everywhere. I need the break.

It is a bit unusual everytime I take time off training. I do not know what to do with myself. I get up in the morning, I do not have to pack my gym clothes. I do not have to mix my protein shake with glucose. I still stick to the same diet. Having the same amount of meals everyday. It is, however, about recovery and nutrition is all that. We do not lose muscle from just a week off. In fact, our body will thank us for that. After months and months of pushing heavy weights day in day out, your body will actually recover and grow a little.

But hell, I have to go to work. I am browsing through the shelfs and notice things like 5-htp, Hyperdrol which I am keen to try. 5-HTP is mean to provide a little lift me up and hyperdrol is the closest to prohormone supplement you can get over the counter. 

I have had enough, you know when everyone keeps telling you. Why are do you go to the gym everyday? Why do you beat yourself up just for a plastic trophy?

That question makes a lot of sense to people that arn’t motivated enough to push themselves to the next level. I love to train. I want to be the best that I can be at what I f$%$king do. It’s not about the freaking trophy, its not about showing everyone who has the best biceps or triceps. It’s about self challenge. Its about doing what you love and haven’t to care about anything or any judgement by anyone. That is just foolish. Bodybuilding is a very individual sport. You don’t go around to your team mate and say “pass the lettuce, mate ”. You don’t ask anyone to eat your chicken breast for you.

It’s very self organised and planned. Setting goals and striving to achieve it. After all, isn’t that what we are trying to do in our daily lifes? Arn’t we trying to grow and learn everyday as we move forward?

It is purely as simple as that, keep doing what you love and believe in yourself. This takes me to another topic.

Believe- I do not think there is anyone out there that belives in myself as much as I do. Heck, I do not need anyone to believe in me. My sole motivator is always myself. You can pay $1000 to attend some motivational lecture but in the end, that person is just telling you what you want to hear. Reminding yourself what you have buried.

I stay away from negativity. You can see that I hang around true people, true friends. People that are negative tend to suck you dry as well. Its like a disease. Negativity will be passed along and alter your state of mind. I do not need that. I do not understand why people should be negative in the first place. I do get a bit loopy pre-contest though. But lets not discuss about that for now.

Stay true and believe my, bodybuilding or any other sports will create nothing but a better person in you.

Ryan

Nah, actually I hate it. By shopping I don’t mean shopping for cloths and s$%^t though. I mean shopping for food.

As soon as I stepped into my local Coles or safeway. I am always able to navigate myself to aisle 7-tuna, aisle 10-mineral water, aisle 9-oats, aisle 12-rice, aisle 4-shampoo and skin care (where I get to see some gorgous girls-always try to perfect themselves, damn!-dejavu?). All can be done with my eyes closed. (I don’t know how to spell aisle so don’t give me crap). 12-15 cans of tuna, 2 loafs of bread I would throw on the cash register belt and the cashier would look at me. I know what she’s thinking-”this guy is having a tuna and bread party tonight”. I do not like tuna, I do not like dry chicken breast and to be honest I am getting sick of food these days (yes, even pizzas)-but man , I have to eat. I can finish a can of tuna (325g) one under 15 seconds, washing it down with water of course. The clallenge is the bread, theres 4 pieces of them and I have to chew, then comes the banana. Do not even get me started on my chicken and rice.

 I love this blog, it gives me a chance to bitch like a women- revealing my feminine side.

The real challenge for me in bodybuilding is not lifting weights day in day out at all. I can live in a gym. I have 2 enemies in this journey- food (lots of them off-season and less of them pre-contest) and my shampoo bottle. The latter makes no sense so I actually have 1 enemy in this journey. Food. I have to eat eat eat  to gain muscle. I do get hungry everyday but I just cannot be F^&Ked eating anymore. Often, you will see me eating my food with a bottle of water in my hand. Not so sure if its a good practise because I read somewhere that sliver actually help disgest the food. (I am not that stupid after all, this would raise my stupidity level from donkey to monkey for now). I always try to eat my meal as fast as I can because the pause button on my DVD player doesn’t work anymore.

Every morning when I get up I would cook 1 cup of oats in a bowl with water for 3 minutes. Then the microwave would generate this annoying beep beep sound after 3 minutes for some weird reason. If I don’t take the oats out, it keeps beeping every minute. It is that annoying. Anyway, as I rarely feel hungry in the morning, I would chuck the oats in a blender with 2 scoops protein powder + 1 banana + 1 teaspoon honey. Blend it so hard that my neighbour would threaten me to stop doing it. I mean, c’mon its 4 in the morning, everyone should be asleep and no one would hear a thing right? Cause the last time I try to speak to someone asleep, he ignored me. So that’s a good sign indicating that when people sleep, they are oblivious to noise. 

This concoction  would give me 90g of carbs + 40g of protein + 10 g of fats. I would skull that and prepare my food for the rest of the day. Have a quick shower, pack my bags (food bag and cloths bag) and head off to the gym. I catch the tram to the train station to the gym and work everyday. Even though the train station is 15 minutes away from where I live. Often, I would miss the first tram as it whisses past in front of me. And I would never run just to catch a tram- too much effort. I will just catch the next one.

Later I find myself in the gym, training so hard that I felt like I left my testicles on the tram. After training, I would have 40-50 g straight suger (glucose, maltodextrine, vitargo- I don’t care the debates out there trying to say which is better then which. Glucose is so cheap that I have to stick with it) pluse protein(WPI/WPC). An hour after that I would have 250-300g rice and 200g grilled chicken breast and 1 banana. This is essential! You have to put back all the glucose you have used up and give your body the  to build muscle (protein)

 Next meal, I would have 4 pieces of wholemeal bread + 1 can tuna + 1 banananana + 5 alonds

The clock goes by pretty quickly when you are bludging at work, before I know it, 2 hours has gone and I hace to shove 250g of rice and dry chicken again,+ some vegies into my face. By this time, by eyes are rolling back into my skull, I can’t eat anymore.

After pretending to be busy at work for another 2 hours (I do programming so I sit infront of the PC a lot- its so easy to pretend that you are busy. All you have to do is reply your personal emails). I find myself holding 2 pieces of bread with 2 cups of milk + 2 scoops protein powder. It’s f%^$ked. Then I clocked off work.

 Tick tock tick tock tick tick f%^king tock- time to have another meal. This time its 200g of cooked beef(Steak they call it) plus vegies and a lil bit of potatoes on the side.

Sat down on my couch as I perspire profusely with all these food in my. I feel like I’m going to throw up.

Thank god its about time to go to bed. Its not over yet though. I would mix 2 servings of protein shake. One with 40g protein + 1 cup milk in it, another with 20g of protein.

2  hours after my last meal , before shutting my eye, I would down the 1st protein shake (the one with milk). Then hopefully sleep. I would drink a litre of water on top of that. This would assure me to get up in the middle of the night to go to the toilet-it’s f%^ked I know. Upon getting up, whilst stumbling into the toilet, I would down the other protein shake.

Its true what they say. Putting on muscle is a full time job.

 Ryan,

Yes, I am having my dry chicken breast and rice as I am writing this post. No, they do not taste good at all.

“ Are you having chicken breast and rice again , Ryan?” I hear this 10 times a day and often, I want to tie anyone who ask me this question day in day out to a tree. I’ll cook 3kg of chicken breast and 4 kg of rice. Chop the chicken to pieces, mix it with the rice and throw it at that person.

Consistency is the key; diet, training, rest. You have to do it day in day out . Your body changes bit by bit every day. We do not expect to pile on 5 kg over 2 weeks. Often, the weight would be either fat or water. Put it this way, regardless of what you take, if you can put on 5 kg over 10 weeks. Theres 52 weeks in a year. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to know that 5kg in 10 weeks, 52 weeks equats 15kg. I mean, 25kg. That’s a lot of weight.

Building muscle is a very slow process. Even if you take everything under the sun and moon. We just have to be patience and do it everyday. If we are consistent with what we do, we will get the results that we want. Practice makes perfect, right.

 That is actually the reason I started bodybuilding. I tried all sorts of sports, basket ball, soccer, football, heck I am asian so I even tried table tennis or ping pong they call it. I can never seem to get that damn ball through the loop and when I try to shoot right, the ball goes left. My point is, sports like that requires tremandous  skills to progress. I was diagonised with less brain cells than a donkey so I’ll leave those sports alone. My point of view in bodybuilding however, when I first started out, is that anyone can build a decent physic as long as they are consistent. If you lift weight consistently for the next 10 years, you will not look like Arnold but I am pretty sure you will look much better then when you fisrt started. I hit the gym everyday with that notion in my head. That I will be better then I am today 5-6 months down the track.

 A few simple advice for anyone who wants to build muscle:

1. Eat small portion of food every 2-3 hours. Include, the right amount of carbs, protein, fats and minerals in each meal, I have to stress “the right amount” because everyone has different metabolic rate depending on his/hers daily activity, genetics and so forth.

2. Train 4-5 times a week no more then 60-90 minutes a day. Do not chat to anyone in the gym, you are there to train. Chat to that hottie after your post work out shake. People often get carried away with small chit chats in the gym and before they know it, fifthteen minutes has gone and his biceps are no longer pumped.

3. Sleep/ rest. I do not care how much you eat and how hard you train. Your body recovers and build muscle when you rest or sleep. Get sufficient rest and sleep everyday.

4. Don’t lift too heavy. Yes, we do have to lift heavy to stimulate muscle growth. But try not to overdo it. Its an invitation to injuries. If you find yourself struggling at the first few reps, chances are, you are prolly using too much weight.

5. Cut alcohol to a minimum. I have issues, I don’t go out party and enjoy myself as much as everyone does. Its a fun thing to do but all I can think of is eat, train and sleep. And yes, I have screws loose in my head cause on saturday night when everyone is out partying and having fun, I am home weighing my food, having my tuna, bread and watch DVDs. When I do go out, its often a quick visit to the servo to get some milk. You don’t have to be as stupid as me but try not to party and drink too much. It can hinder your progress. I am sure all you want to do the next day after a big night out is to lie in bed and do nothing.

6. Steroids. I am not here to debate if steroids are good or bad, should someone take it or not. They are illegal. I can assure you that anyone that takes steroid or jungle juice or gear or whatever you wanna call it, still needs to train hard, eat the right food and rest to make gains. The amount of effort you have to put in to lift that 50 pounds when on steroid is no different to the effort someone natural has to put in to lift 25 pounds. Just an example. You will look good on steroid regardless. But if you take steroids, you should not compare yourself to someone natural. You are in a different level. I have seen people on steroids having the same physic as some one that is truely natural. Fact is, that natural someone is busting his balls in the gym and diet while the other person on the special sauce is training half ass. They both have the same quality physic. In my opinion, if anyone were to use drugs,they should put themselves in a different level.

7. Watch DVDs. This point makes no sense but I just wanna take everyones attention from point 6.

8.  Empty your rubbish bin. Again, this point makes no sense, just to divert everyones attention from point 6, again.

Train hard!

Ryan- 

I am sitting here under the heat of summer wondering what I should post in my first ever blog. So I figured, what the heck, lets cut the bull crap-formal-introductory bullshit and get straight to the point.

 I am a competitive bodybuilder, training for about 9 years, eaten about 19224 meals trying to pack on senseless amount of muscle. You know, the more the better sort. For whatever reason, I really cannot answer that question. I get asked a lot but really, I am unable to supply the correct answer. I guess its always better then having pizza crust hanging on my shirt, brushing it off as I struggle to get up from the couch to find the TV remote. Instead I face the challenge of eating the same food day in day out. Chicken breast, rice, beef, eggs,bread, oats, protein powder, milk and oh, did I mention veggies?

 I walked pass this supplement shop in Richmond one day and something caught my attention. Its not the fact that they have vast variaty of supplements over the counter. Nor is it the fact that they has discounted protein. Anyone knows of the song ‘Destination Calabria’? Anyone seen the music video? Yes, it was pumping on a flat screen hanging on the wall of the shop. Any guys (or girls) that haven’t seen the video should do a search on youtube. Trust me guys, if this doesn’t get your test level pumping, you seriously need to get your hands on some tribulus. Did I say tribulus? Here in Afan(356, Bridge Road, Richmond), we have a few to choose from. Tribex gold, Tribex blue pill, Nutrex Vitrix, Andrigen, Massive muscle fuel only to name a few. I personally have taken the blue pill and massive muscle fuel, yes I really have (even though I drool over the video everyday). They are no wonder pills that gives you the ‘instant’ boost in strenght as some ’supplement’ do. But you can definitely feel a bit of a different in your workout. They do assist in recovering suppressed test level, at least the best OCT supplement can supply. So anyone out there thinks their test level is equivalent to that of a 9 year old girl. You should definitely give these products a shot.

Signing off,

 Ryan 

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!