So...long time no update!

-I want to get fit but don't want big muscle-

"No, I'm not asking but sharing my experience with you as I used to be like that. Yes, saying stuff like the statement above but it's alright because I was new and didn't know half the things I know now. And mind you it's only 3 years ago when I started off so it isn't exactly ancient history. So maybe, God willing, you'll save 3 years of your life too instead of learning through screwups like I did.

Know that your body is a reflection of the lifestyle you lead. It isn't the result of a great 1 month of going to gym or eating veggies for the past week. It's not something you starve yourself for 3 weeks to get washboard abs and the go back to the yummy mamak lifestyle to reap the rewards. You see celebrities with hot bodies all the time but you completely miss the effort these people put into looking great, thinking it's a magic diet or some fancy product only to be disappointed to discover that there is work and effort involved. Anything that advocates 'no need to exercise', just use this product and look great is utter BS. Everytime. Because even if you lose weight you're just a walking health timebomb waiting to blow up and derail your life.

Your body looks that way because of 2 factors, In and Out. Your diet is the 'In', what you put in your body. Exercise and physical work is the 'Out', what your body burns for energy. In a nutshell in a very simplified context, this is it. More In than Out, you gain weight. Vice versa. In crazy diets which rely on the starvation, the In has been drastically reduced to be lower than the Out, but you're losing valuable muscle together with fat as well as malnutrition which weakens the body, rendering you a prime target for snatch thieves because you'll break your spine as soon as you fall over no matter how small the fall is.

I was once part on the confused masses, not knowing how to go about setting things right. I had the worst body shape you could possibly imagine (Of course, everyone has their own opinion on this and you're down enough, YOU become the worst). Think tall and thin. Good, now thinner. Remember those cases where you can wrap around your thumb and third finger around your wrist? I still can because there are no muscles around the wrist area to build and I'm skinny to begin with. Thumb and third finger wrapped around the wrist is nothing. Because I could wrap them around my bicep, almost. Granted there was still a 1 cm gap, but a 1 cm gap when you wrap your thumb and third finger around your BICEP?? Now being that thin isn't the worst thing, but when you have been pigging out the past few years and now have a belly that juts through your T-shirt, it becomes the worst thing. Stick thin guy with a beer belly. Horrible. I couldn't stand how my friends who I haven't seen in years point out the belly with a 'Hey hey!'. I wanted a change. I wanted to get fit. But of course, the guys who go to gym and push weights are usually huge bodybuilders right? So....

I want to get fit but don't want big muscle.



Exercise.

I joined a gym. I told my PT during the free sessions that I just want to get fit and of course he just put me through the regular cookie cutter workout. I avoided the free weights area because all the big guys where there and being the scrawny one, I was intimidated. I stuck to the weight machines and the cardio machines.

If I had one thing going for me, it was my determination to build some muscle. I didn't care for big muscle or small muscle, as long as I got it. And just so you may know, there is no way to build 'big muscle' or 'small muscle'. You work the muscle and give it enough fuel, it grows a little bit. You are not going to wake up with 24 inch biceps by doing curls. In fact, those elite bodybuilders you see plastered on the cover of magazines that scare you so much....accept the fact that you'll NEVER come close. Even if you tried. And tried really really hard. So there.

I started seeing results after 3 months. And it got me hyped and hitting the machines became the cornerstone. I looked fitter. I got myself a new set of gym clothes to go with a fitter body. But after about a year, the gains just stopped. I haven't yet reached my goal of looking athletically fit and showing 6 packs and I hit a wall? No way. With a thirst for knowledge not seen during my school years I scoured the internet, shift through articles and adivce both good and bad. And then it dawned on me. See sprinters with the body I want? See those really fit WWE superstars (Not the huge ones)? See those MMA fighters? They all do it.

Screw the machines. Screw the light pink coloured dumbells. Screw it all. The only way I could get the body I want was to hit the free weights. The big barbells. The weight plates.

I took a day of leave to hit the free weight area, hopefuly when there was nobody around. Just my luck, 2 huge guys (To me then) were there. Thicken the face, grab the weights I need, get used to the barbell and start doing those sets I found during my research. After that, it didn't become intimidating no more. I just wanted to workout, I didn't care who was there. It was at this point in time I discovered the other half of the secret...


Nutrition.

A PT approached me to ask if I was taking any supplements. Thinking back, I think he might have wanted to make a few ringgit off me as well but the well meaning premise was there. He managed to convince me to buy a weight gainer (See? After almost a year of gym looking fitter I still had people recommending weight gainers to me). It was scary. It was like I had decided to take steroids, I forgot the number of times I browsed through the ingredients list. It said to take 4 scoops at once. The genius in me decided that 4 scoops were for the big men on the cover of magazines so because I was 1/8 their size, I would just take half a scoop. Yes, half. And because it said mix in milk, I went and bought regular milk. Full cream instead of low fat. Oh well, at least it worked.

I started gaining some badly needed muscle from then on, the combination of free weights and enough protein to grow pushing the results in. But it's always that last layer of fat or that last inch of muscle that is the hardest. After more lengthy research, I learnt the supplements are not equal to drugs. In fact, it's providing what your body needs that you cannot obtain through food because of a busy life. Green light...with conditions.

I got desperate. I told gave myself 3 months in an all or nothing shot. I stacked NO, Creatine and Whey Protein with a punishing workout. I changed my lifestyle. I made small alterations at first, the kind of small changes I knew I could sustain and added on with each success. I avoided mamak food when before I would eat it every week (Sometimes everyday) without fail. I cut my rice intake (Very difficult being an Asian). I removed ALL chicken skin. I watched my portions and got picky with what I eat. Cheat meals once or twice a week. That's how much I wanted it. That's how much I would give up for it. The difference now was, I knew how to get it. The bloke at the gym doing a million situps a day still has that spare tyre even though he wants it just as badly, but he doesn't take the effort to find out how. You just look at what people do and swallow any advice from unfit people feeding you myths that don't work. And it becomes your fault. It becomes your fault when you do not use the biggest muscle of all and thinking all muscleheads are intellectualy challenged, and it turns out building a great body requires you to utilize quite a few braincells as well.


Now.

I've since got what I wanted. I think I'm done with NO, I just finished with Creatine though I must say the fatigue factor does set in harder without it. I've got 2 tubs of protein at all times because Asian diet is very protein deficient.

I recently fixed a shoulder problem because of sucky bench form after a year and I attribute it to the male ego thinking he's the best when he actually sucks. So I'm not perfect. At times I'm horrible. At others, I fail. But I take advice, I ask why and I evaluate if it makes sense. I'm doing mostly free weights nowadays, a few complexes but I do not forgo the machines. I do sports outside gym like football. I rediscovered martial arts.

I stopped wearing XXL T-Shirts that I used to buy to cover up the unflattering bulges and replaced them with fitting clothes. I had to throw away 2 pairs of pants because they were now too big, dropped a couple of sizes at least. It's the breast implant syndrome, when you don't have something and suddenly you get them, you really want to show it off. Especially if you've given sweat, blood and money for it.

I'm no longer easily intimidated, and it's a confidence boost in all facets of life. It was a pleasant surprise that most huge guys at the gym are actually gentle and nice guys. They don't dream of tearing your head off and crushing it. Go on, talk to them. Ask them stuff you always wanted to. See the guy with the body you want? Go ahead and get his routine!




At the end, I must say that the majority of people looking for change will fail. I've seen too many cases of people trying to make a drastic change, going balls to the wall during their first couple of weeks at gym, not eating and then disappearing because :

-Too busy
-Too much commitments
-Love food too much
-Lack of willpower
-Temporary motivation which wears out (Hangat hangat tahi ayam)
-Too tired
-Add in your reason here

I would say only 20% of all people looking for change will make it, perhaps even less. Everyone who has a great body has demonstrated enough determination, willpower and resolve to get it. You won't find that person at the doughnut shop just because they walked past and couldn't resist. Most won't make it because of the one weak link in the chain (See above).

Having a fit body is living the life to sustain such a body. That is why I do not agree with the whole Biggest Loser idea because it is not sustainable. Every contestant regains weight when they leave the show because there is no way in hell anyone can live their life like that.

But the fact that you're here reading up and preparing yourself means you're a little different. You do your homework. You ask. You find out what needs to be done. Take baby steps at first. If it gets hard, keep going with baby steps. Just as long as you're walking towards what you want. Don't allow yourself to be stopped. If you're serious about getting fit, don't worry about things that won't happen to you like getting huge muscles and do it.

I loved the journey. Now that I've hit my target, I have to say the rewards are great as well. Looking fit feels every bit as good as it looks.

Best of all, it seems that it has somehow gotten my girl to be more in the mood as well. And that's cardio to look forward to."

by statikinetic - forum.lowyat.net

obviously i didn't come up with this...