Fitness Journal #2

So I’ve been gymming for a week now… and I’ve barely settled in. I’m still struggling to find a regular gym, still struggling to find a good routine to follow, still struggling to get my diet plan in place.

Indeed, this quest for a bigger body is not an easy one. And is plagued with obstacles.

A Regular Gym

This was one difficulty I did not expect. It’s hard to find a gym that has the weights that you want AND is not overly crowded such that you have to queue for 15 minutes.  I initially settled on Hougang gym, but after 2 sessions of waiting around a lot I decided to try Tampines gym at SH’s recommendation.

Tampines was good because it’s slightly larger and had bench press machines and many other machines so there’s not much waiting… however after more research I found the consensus that using free weights is much more efficient than using machines. And Tampines’ free weights area was no less crowded than Hougang. And Tampines is also 20 minutes further away.

Thus I think now I will go back to Hougang gym, and try to find a good timing where there are few people. Wish me luck!

A Good Routine

Should I do 8×3 exercises or 5×5? I began by asking one of my friends who was a bodybuilder and he told me 8×3, but after more research I found that 5×5 seems more promising.
Besides the simple issue of the sets/reps, there’s also what exercises specifically to use. I’ve been switching it up a lot this first week, as I latch onto a ‘better’ program, a ‘better’ routine. But I think now I will just settle for the Stronglifts 5×5 program, and see how it works out for me.

I chose this as it had the clearest measure of improvement (constant weight increments) and seemed to be validated widely online (Though the more advanced bodybuilders have more advanced stuff…. But I’m not gonna be a more advanced bodybuilders so who cares). Hope it works!

A Good Diet

Building muscle is not just about lifting weights – it’s all about what you eat. I need to up my protein/calorie intake a lot, and this means moving from 3 meals a day to 5-6 meals a day. This proved to be more challenging than expected as it’s so troublesome to have to plan and prepare the extra meals!

Right now everyday my extra meals (besides breakfast/lunch/dinner) include pre-lunch and tea-break, and these include things like 4 egg whites, 100g chicken breast, almonds + protein shake, protein shake, peanut butter sandwich + milk (each of these are one ‘meal’). And every night I eat a cup of yoghurt.

About Gymming

One thing I learnt about working out in a public gym is that you need to be BUAY PAI SEH. If I’m too shy/ scared to try / ask people /hog a weight, I’ll just be spending a lot of my time standing around and not doing anything.

It’s not that easy as most, if not ALL of the people there go in pairs / small groups, and I somehow seem to be the only solo warrior. Rawr.  And the whole taking turns at a station is quite annoying like when you’re doing your lifts and someone is standing in front of you waiting.

Hope I’ll get more used to this and not be afraid to hold my ground more! (And complete my reps without alternating every set with someone else)

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Future entries will probably be much shorter with less thoughts and maybe a more ‘report’ style of my progress in weights, etc.  Bye!