High-Intensity Interval Training : 5 Reasons Why I Like It!

Have you heard of High-Intensity Interval Training or HIIT?

It is a specialized form of exercise that involves short intervals of maximum intensity exercise separated by similar or longer intervals of moderate or low intensity exercise.

I first learn about HIIT from Dr. Al Sears, author of The Doctor's Heart Cure and later from Dr Mercola, who owns the world's No.1 natural health website, Mercola.com.


Image courtesy of Top News Health

You can do any exercise using HIIT - skip rope, jog, cycle, swim or even use the elliptical trainer, treadmill or stair-stepper in the gym. For me, I prefer to jog.

This is how I use HIIT in my jogging. Start by sprinting as fast as you can for 1 minute. Then jog moderately or walk for 3 minutes. Repeat the high intensity (sprinting) alternating with the low intensity (jogging or walking) for another 6 or 7 times. Because it is such a demanding exercise, I can only perform HIIT 2-3 times a week.

Of course you should warm up for 3-5 minutes before doing the exercise and cool down for another 3-5 minutes after you are done with it.

So why do I like HIIT? Here are my 5 reasons...


Image courtesy of diptacoolness.tumblr.com

1. It saves time!
While the normal aerobic exercises like jogging takes about one hour, I am done with HIIT in about 30 minutes. Or even less, if you are fitter. You can sprint for 1 minute and jog moderately for another 1 minute instead of 3 minutes like what I did. Repeat this 7 times, and your total exercise time is only 14 minutes!! Add in 3 minutes of warm up in the beginning and another 3 minutes to cool down at the end, and your whole workout time is only 20 minutes! What a time saver!


Image courtesy of Gymboss

2. It strengthens the heart
Contrary to popular belief, the conventional jogging at a fixed speed over long distance and for long periods of time actually weakens the heart. That explains why some marathon runners, who are supposedly fit, die from heart attacks.

Aerobic exercises which stress your heart for long periods of time have been proven to increase your heart endurance power. But heart attacks do not happen because your heart lacks endurance. Instead, it happens during times of stress when your heart needs more energy and pumping capacity but does not have it.

High-intensity interval training which involves short bursts of intense workout followed by periods of rest or more relaxing workout makes the heart stronger and more effective in preventing a heart attack.


Image courtesy of Ab Workout Videos

3. It helps you lose fat more effectively
Cardio and aerobic exercises have been proven to burn body fat during exercise. Also the longer you exercise, the more fat you burn. But do you know this actually sends the wrong signal to the body?

Burning fat doing prolonged exercise makes your body think it needs fat and so it will try and adapt by storing more fat for your next workout! Your body becomes more efficient at preserving the fats and if you stop exercising, you will put on those pounds much faster than before!

On the contrary, HIIT tells your body that storing energy as fat is inefficient, since you never exercise long enough to utilize the fat during each session.

Also, high intensity workout increases your resting metabolic rate, which means you will burn fat long after you have finished exercising! So while normal aerobic exercise will burn more fat during the exercise itself, but stop burning fat after your exercise, HIIT actually burns less fat during exercise but continues to burn fat for the rest of the day!

Overall, you end up losing more fat using HIIT with less exercise time!


Image courtesy of shahtraining.com

4. It makes you look younger
A major advantage of intensive training is that it will stimulate your body to produce human growth hormones (HGH). What does HGH do? Well, it is clinically proven to build muscle, burn fat, improve bone density, raise your good cholesterol (HDL) and reverse the negative effects of aging.

Intensive training also helps to reduce age-related telomere shortening. It'll take too long for me to explain what is telomere and how it relates to looking younger, so it's better you read about it HERE.

For your information, traditional aerobic exercise has no effect on HGH and telomere shortening.


Image courtesy of picpu.com

5. It helps you build a better looking body
Who do you think have a better looking body - a marathon runner or a 100-metre sprinter? It's not surprising since a sprinter uses HIIT in his training whereas a marathon runner does not.

The reason is simple. HIIT raises your testosterone level which helps build muscles, whereas long duration aerobic exercises actually makes you lose lean muscle mass. That is why if you do normal aerobics exercise, you will lose both fat and muscle making you look thin but not toned, just like a marathon runner.


Image courtesy of Sports Club

Now with these 5 reasons, will you be willing to try high-intensity interval training?

Note : HIIT is a very demanding exercise. If you have underlying medical conditions like asthma, high blood pressure, diabetes, heart diseases etc, proceed with caution. Get a clearance from your doctor or physician before starting HIIT.

For more info on HIIT, get a copy of Dr Al Sears' PACE e-book, or learn more from Dr Mercola's PEAK8 program.

My Very First Canopy Walk At FRIM (Part 2)

In my last post, I mentioned about my fear of heights. I was surprised to receive many comments from bloggers saying they suffer from this fear too. I wondered how this fear came about.

I am sure that when we were first born, we were not afraid of anything! As a baby, we were not afraid of climbing out of the cradle. We were not afraid of falling down because we had not experienced pain from falling. Try putting a baby at the rooftop and I am sure the baby will be enjoying himself while we adults suffer from panic attacks!

So it seems that this fear of heights or acrophobia is a learned reaction. Somewhere along the way, we may have experienced pain from falling, or we had adults putting this fear in us by constantly drumming into us not to climb the stairs or out the window.

One way to cure acrophobia is to go for hypnosis. This method will help us trace back to our childhood and find the cause of our phobia. I thought this was time consuming and probably costly as I may need to engage a hypnotherapist.

Another way is to practise behaviour therapy. One kind of behaviour therapy is to gradually exposing yourself to your fear. You may start with climbing up a short ladder, then progress to looking out the window of a tall building, to climbing up the rooftop and so on.

Another kind is to immediately expose yourself to your most fearful situation without gradual steps.

I decided to go for the latter. By going canopy walking at FRIM.

I know, I know. It's just walking on a suspended bridge. Thousands have probably walked on it without any unfortunate incident. How dangerous can it be?

Well, those who do not suffer from acrophobia will never understand someone with acrophobia. I tell you, walking that suspended bridge is like risking my life!

Confucius once said "A journey of a thousand miles begin with a single step". And so with much hesitancy, I placed my right foot forward.



And I just walked without looking down. The bridge was pretty sturdy, I thought. I walked with the help of the ropes by the sides.

And then I reached the middle part of the bridge. I did not know why but I decided to look down. Oh my God! My heart almost popped out! I was very high up, as I could see the top of the trees below me. Falling down below would spell instant death!

My legs were turning a little rubbery like and I felt slightly dizzy.

Even then, I was thinking, should I take some photos here? I found myself saying, "Are you mad? You can't even stand steadily with both hands holding onto the ropes, you want to let go of the ropes to take some God damned photos?"

And so I steadied myself and walked on. I could see a wooden platform at the end of the bridge. I made myself walked a little faster to reach it. When I finally stepped onto the platform, I heaved a sigh of relief.

I looked back at the bridge I just walked, bent down and took this photo.



I rested for a while at this platform. I realised I did not dare go too near the edge of the platform as standing near the edge made me feel dizzy again. I was so glad there was no one near me at that time as the platform could only take the maximum load of 4 persons!



I have to say the scenery around me was quite beautiful. But I did not take any photos as I was more interested in crossing the next bridge.

I proceeded to step onto the second suspended bridge. This time, I felt braver and calmer. When I reached the middle, I decided to stand there and enjoy the view. It was great! But I still could not bring myself to take any photos!

Then I reached the second platform which was slightly bigger than the first one. No wonder it could take up to 8 persons!



On top of this platform, I saw some breathtaking views and could not help taking some photos.







And then I was off again onto another suspension bridge and another platform. I would not say that my fear of heights had completely disappeared, but it had certainly reduced to a level that I felt was manageable.



Finally I reached the end of the canopy walkway, after walking all 150 metres of it! Yes, I made it!! It was a good feeling indeed!





Now that I have conquered the canopy walkway at FRIM, what's next?

Well, I am thinking about going for the longest canopy walkway in the world! Do you know where that is? Believe it or not, it's right here in Malaysia, in one of the oldest rainforests in the state of Pahang. Yes, it's none other than Taman Negara National Park!

The canopy walkway at Taman Negara is 500 metres long, which is more than 3 times the length of the one I've just walked in FRIM. And it's also higher, at 40 metres above ground as compared to FRIM's 30 metres.

Anyone interested to join me?

FIRST COMMENTER

My Very First Canopy Walk At FRIM (Part 1)

I have acrophobia. If that sounds alien to you, well, it actually means a fear of heights.

Somehow, I don't think my phobia is that serious, but I do get dizzy when I am somewhere high looking down. Like on top of a building, or a mountain, or a bridge.

So yesterday, I decided to face my fear. Yes, either I fight it or I allow it to haunt me for life!

What did I do?

Well, I went to FRIM in Kepong. If you don't already know, there's a canopy walkway in the jungle at FRIM, which is like a suspended bridge about 150 metres long and about 30 metres above ground.

Now, I am a lover of nature. I love the forests and the sound of wildlife around me. I love the smell of plants and I like to hear the sound of river flowing in the distance. That's the reason why I love to go FRIM to jog and to walk the jungle trails.

Although I've been there many times, and passed by the canopy walkway each time, I have never tried going up the canopy before, probably because I have this fear of heights! Well, all that changed yesterday.

I could not find anyone free to accompany me. It's a working day, by the way. Who in their right mind would follow me to go walking in the jungle and climb up a suspended bridge in the late morning? So I guess I had to face my fear all alone! No one to help me if I suddenly go paralysed with fear in the middle of the bridge! Boo hoo! Well, so be it!

I arrived at FRIM at about 11.15am. After paying RM5 at the guardhouse, I drove my car inside. Oh, just driving along the road made me feel so relaxed. The vast greeneries seemed to welcome me with open heart. For a moment, I forgot about the canopy walk.

Everytime I go to FRIM, I always thank God for the forests and the nature that God bestowed upon us. I don't understand why humans would want to cut down the trees and log the forests. It breaks my heart each time I see trees being chopped down in the name of development!

After parking my car, I went straight to FRIM's One Stop Centre to purchase the ticket for the canopy walkway. After being briefed about the walkway, I registered and paid RM5 for the ticket. The lady told me the walkway will be closed by 2.30pm so I should not wait too long to go there.

I left the One Stop Centre and walked a short distance to enter the Rover Tracks after passing the mosque. I often go jogging here, so this place was like my backyard to me.


Map courtesy of FRIM

Here's how the Rover Track looks like, with greeneries all around.





I really think my blood pressure drops a few notches when I am surrounded by these trees and plants! Somehow, I just feel so comfortable being with nature.

After walking for about 900 metres, I reached an open space area where I saw this signboard directing the way to the Canopy Walkway.



The steps you see are the beginning of the jungle trail.



Inside the jungle trail, it was really shady as the trees blocked out most of the sunshine. You could hear sounds of animals and birds here.

As I went deeper, the steps became steeper and it was getting harder to climb. In fact, when I first came here, it was physically demanding for me, and it still is, though I'm slightly fitter now. If you have never exercised before, you will definitely find the jungle trail a huge challenge!



At one point, it was very steep and you just keep going up and up with no end in sight! If you have leg pain and heart problems, this may not be the place for you. But don't let me scare you! As long as you are quite healthy, you should give this jungle trail a try! It may leave you breathless, but you will be much fitter for it.

Some parts of the trail had wooden planks on the ground as a small stream ran below the planks.



I was in awe with some jungle sceneries here I just had to capture them on my handphone camera.





Finally, after about 15 minutes climbing the steep jungle trail, I reached the entrance hut to the Canopy Walkway. I entered the hut and passed the ticket to the person in charge.

As I stepped onto the suspended bridge, I could feel the fear coming. Somehow, I got to do this. And do it alone! To some people, this is no big deal. But to me, who have a fear of heights, it was a big deal.

I held on tight to the ropes as I put my right foot forward.



Will I make it? Find out in my next post coming right up!

FIRST COMMENTER

Lindsay

Which Gym Do You Go To?

After one whole week eating non stop during the Chinese New Year holidays, I believe I have gained some substantial weight.

So this week, I made it a point to go to the Fitness First gym to lose all those unwanted pounds! My brother who have never joined any gym before asked if he could sign up as member. I said why not, but when I told him it costs RM175 a month, he thought it was way too expensive!




Seeing that the economy is not that good, I think most gyms are not doing that well either. Perhaps they don't mind slashing the normal price to something more affordable? So when I went to Fitness First at The Curve yesterday, I decided to stop by the front counter to enquire about their latest fee structure.

I was hoping that I could reduce my own monthly fee and even negotiate a good price for my brother.

Well, fat hopes! Not only did I not get a reduced fee, the front counter staff told me that the price is now increased to RM185 for passport members, and RM175 for non passport members. Previously, it was RM175 and RM145 for passport and non passport members respectively. By the way, passport members are allowed to use any Fitness First gyms, whereas non passport members are limited to use only their Fitness First home gym and one other Fitness First gym of their choice.

I was surprised and asked why were they increasing the fees. Guess what the counter staff told me? He said times are bad so they need to increase the price.

Now what kind of logic is that? Don't they know anything about marketing? When times are bad, people do not sign up for gym memberships. They have other more important priorities to take care of financially. So what do you do to entice people to sign up? You lower the fee, right? You don't raise the fee further!

Don't they understand that when they lower the fee, more people will sign up and that will more than make up for the revenues lost from lowering the fees?

Well, will I still stick with Fitness First? Yes, because they have not increased my fee so far. And they better not try! The last time I heard, True Fitness was offering new members a fee as low as RM97 per month! I don't know how true is that, so any True Fitness members out there care to confirm?


True Fitness at Jaya 33 photo courtesy of MunFitnessBlog

I brought my brother to a gym called EITP in Damansara Jaya (near Atria) to see if this cheaper looking gym would be able to offer cheaper monthly fees. As it turned out, their fees were indeed cheaper. You can choose to pay RM470 for 3 months, RM720 for 6 months or RM1,350 for 12 months. Paying for 12 months in one shot will save you as much as RM530 compared to paying by 3 monthly intervals. And if you break that down to one month, you are paying only RM112.50 per month compared to RM175 at Fitness First, but still more expensive than RM97 at True Fitness!

The advantage with EITP as claimed by the person in charge, is the fee includes the services of a personal trainer as well. In Fitness First, you would need to fork out an additional RM120 (if not mistaken) an hour for a personal trainer!

It may look really worth your money signing up with EITP, but I kept wondering if the personal trainer will always be there for you as he also have other clients to take care of. You see, they only have a limited number of personal trainers. In fact, the more people sign up, the less time he will have for you! Furthermore, looking at the facilities at EITP, I still prefer the facilities provided by Fitness First anytime! Well, I guess you pay more for quality!

I do not know if my brother will join EITP or not, perhaps he would end up joining True Fitness.

Now I wonder how much do other gyms charge? Famous gyms like Clark Hatch, Celebrity Fitness and California Fitness? If you are a member of any of these gyms, please share with us the monthly fees that you are paying.


California Fitness at Sunway Pyramid photo courtesy of MunFitnessBlog

Here's a comprehensive review of four famous gyms in Malaysia by blogger Mun. If you are interested, check out his reviews of California Fitness, Celebrity Fitness, Clark Hatch and True Fitness. I wonder why he did not review Fitness First.

Oh, by the way, if you don't plan to lift weight, or do yoga, don't bother to join a gym. If you are just thinking of doing aerobic exercises, no point in wasting money joining a gym. You can easily go jogging at the public parks for free! Unless of course, you like to join those group classes provided by the gyms.

So if you do go to the gym, which gym do you go to and how often?

Absorbing Hado At Taman Lembah Kiara

All the eating at Raya open houses and dining at buffets during the Hari Raya week long holidays have taken a toll on me. I pinched my waist and could feel the fat deposited there! Not to mention holidays tend to make me lazy. Too much eating and lack of exercise is undoubtedly, a sure way to gain weight!

So the week after the Raya holidays, I went straight back to my usual workouts. Normally I would do some weight lifting and resistance exercises in the gym. My aerobic exercises would be done outside the gym. That’s because I prefer the fresh air and the greeneries outside.

Not only that, I heard that we humans need to connect with nature more often. This is because we need to absorb the good hado from nature. Hado is something like life-force energy, similar to what the Chinese call “chi”. If you read my previous post on Messages From The Water, you would know how hado can effect changes in water molecules.

A walk in the forests, camping along the streams, or going to the beach will help us receive more good hado. People who live in the city, and work in concrete buildings all the time have greater needs of this good hado. Without which, health would deteriorate and they would easily fall sick.

This week, I went to Taman Lembah Kiara at Taman Tun Dr Ismail to do some jogging. It’s a nice place with a beautiful lake and fountains, a waterfall and vast greeneries. There’s also a suspended bridge and a jogging trail that runs through the forests. I have mentioned about this nice park in one of my older posts, complete with photos. Read it here.

The photos in the older post were taken with my old handphone SE K750i so they did not turn out good, so here are more photos of the park taken with my new SE C902.


The beautiful fountains on the lake



The jogging track beside the lake



Jogging trail down the hill



Jogging trail leading into the forest



On the suspension bridge



Another photo of the suspension bridge



Signboard warning weight limit for the bridge



Me in my New Balance jogging shoes all ready for jogging



A large rock along the jogging track



Jogging track in the forest



Enjoy the beautiful scenery all around while you jog


If you want to lose weight or just to maintain your weight, stop stepping on those treadmills or cross trainers in the gym. Go to the parks and do your aerobic workouts! Besides the fresh air and some doses of healthy sunshine, you will also benefit from absorbing the good hado from the trees and grass around you.

Furthermore, listening to the delightful chirping of birds will definitely lift your mood - a sure cure for stress and depression!

What Is Your Excuse For Not Working Out?

What is keeping people from working out? Despite knowing full well that exercise is important to keep us healthy, and is recommended by virtually all doctors, people are still reluctant to work out. I have spoken to a number of friends and found out that people do really have a lot of excuses when it comes to working out!

Here are some of the more popular excuses.

“I’m so busy I’ve no time to exercise!”

“Gym memberships are too expensive – I can’t afford it!”

“I’ve tried to exercise but did not see any progress or improvement”

“Exercise is boring!”

“I’m too tired to exercise!”

Let us now look at each of these excuses one by one.

“I’m so busy I’ve no time to exercise!”
This is most popular excuse used to validate the reason for not exercising. In fact this is such a common excuse I am fed up with it!

Firstly, there’s no such thing as no time. It all boils down to priorities and time management. Ask yourself, is exercise a priority? Is health a priority? If it is, then you have to make time for it! If it is not, ask yourself why not. Do you want to be healthy and enjoy your life? Or do you rather be busy working your job and making lots of money but later find that you cannot enjoy your wealth simply because you are too sick?

As for time management, we are all too aware that there is only 24 hours in a day. What you need to do is to stop wasting time on unproductive things like watching too much TV, chatting too long on the phone, spending too much time cleaning and tidying your house etc. When you cut out these stuffs, you will be able to find the time to work out.

And by the way, no one is asking you to spend 2 hours working out! If you are short of time, 20 minutes may be all you need!

Exercise should comprise of cardio and weight training. You don’t have to combine both exercises at one go. Why not do cardio on one day and weight training on the next?

To save time, limit your cardio to just 20 minutes. By employing the high intensity interval training, you don’t need to exercise for 1 hour or more to lose weight. What’s more you can see better results!

As for weight training, limit it to 45 minutes. Do not do isolated exercises, concentrate only on compound movements like squat, bench press, deadlifts, chin ups and dips because these exercises train more muscles at one go and therefore, saves you time. For example, a bench press works the chest, shoulders and triceps all at the same time.

“Gym memberships are too expensive – I can’t afford it!”
Admittedly, the price of everything is rising. So why not save money by not going to the gym?

Cancelling your gym membership may save you some money, but really, do you honestly think it’s cheaper to be sick or to be healthy? Medical fees are not cheap nowadays. It’s better to invest in your health now than to pay for it later!

Besides, who says you need to go to the gym to exercise? There’s a lot of nice public parks where you can go jogging for free. What’s more, you get to enjoy the nice scenery while exercising instead of the four walls in the gym! Or you can go play tennis or badminton with your friend. Instead of going to the gym to lift weight, buy your own dumbbells and barbells. It’s certainly a lot cheaper in the long run.

And if you have been using a personal trainer and it is burning a hole in your pocket, stop using one! You really don’t need a personal trainer once you have learnt all the basics to weight lifting. You definitely don’t need a personal trainer for your cardio workouts – so stop wasting your hard earned money! If you really need help from your personal trainer to track your progress, cutting down your sessions with him or her to just once a month is good enough.

"I've tried to exercise but did not see any progress or improvement"
There are many reasons why you don’t see any improvement or progress. One of them is having the same fitness routine week after week, month after month. Our body is very clever to adapt. If you use the same routine ie. same movements, same reps, same intensity, the body will get used to it and you will reach a plateau. Therefore, change your routine at least every 8 sessions of the same workout. Also, each workout, try to have some progression, ie. Increase either in reps or weight. You need to keep your body guessing so it does not adapt!

Another reason is overtraining. After an intensive workout, you need a good rest. Don’t exercise excessively or you will suffer. Your immune system will weaken and you will feel tired all the time! Believe me, when you are tired, you won’t feel like working out! Not working out equals no progress.

The third reason could be your unrealistic expectations. If you expect to lose 10kg within a month, or you expect to build a body like Will Smith within 3 months, you are really deluding yourself. Whether to lose weight or build muscles, you need time to achieve it, so a false expectation will make you give up easily.

One way to track your progress is to note down every workout on a log book. When you see the small progress recorded in your log book, you will be more motivated to continue working out.

"Exercise is boring!"
To make your workout more interesting, vary your routines. Doing the same routine every day will definitely bore you to death! You can also try to have a change of environment. For example, instead of exercising in the gym, go to the public parks to have your workouts. Also, having a workout buddy will make exercise more interesting, and both of you can help to motivate each other. Just make sure your buddy is at the same or almost the same fitness level with you.

"I'm too tired to exercise!"
If you are too tired to work out, then you need to work out! Seriously! After a session of exercise, you will find yourself less tired and more energetic due to better blood circulation.

Tiredness also could be due to overtraining as mentioned above.

Or it could be due to lack of rest and sleep. Do not underestimate the power of sleep. It is during sleep that our body repairs itself. Our muscles grow when we sleep, not during the workout session in the gym! If you don’t sleep enough, you will find no improvement to your workout because your body does not have the opportunity to repair itself. If you have problem sleeping, you might want to try some of the tips provided in A True Account By An Insomniac.

After reading this, I hope you will have no more excuses for not working out!

To Eat Or Not To Eat After 8pm?

In one of my previous posts, How You Can Lose Weight If You Are Not Mariah Carey, there were some debates over my suggestion that we should not eat after 8pm if we want to lose weight.

For many of us, this point of whether to eat or not may simply be a waste of time. But to those who are seriously trying to lose weight, this is a very important matter. As such, I wrote an email to Jayden Chen, a Fitness Consultant, Speaker and Author of the recently released book, Slim Malaysians to clarify on this issue.

Here's his reply to my email...

You have an interesting topic going here. But it is not controversial at all. I would be glad to share my views. Both Reena's and your comments are valid but you seemed to be looking at this topic from a different point of view. Yours, for ordinary or less active peoples' weight loss and Reena's, from a more active persons point of view.

My feel is that this topic is meant more for an average person, which in our society are mostly sedentary people. People who don't exercise a lot. Addressing this subject from this angle, your advice would be most practical and applicable. However, it doesn't mean that Reena's advice is invalid or wrong. It's just that they are more suitable for people who are active. As you notice, Reena mentioned a lot about high metabolic rate, repair and growth. And even consuming some calories at 4a.m. in the morning. People who do these are usually rather active people and more often, bodybuilders.

However, for an ordinary sedentary individual, eating after 8pm or too late in the evening would not be a good idea if one is trying to lose weight. Unless, like you mentioned they sleep real late and would be hungry by then. In that case, some low calorie and easily digested food can be consumed to avoid interrupting our bodies, for example the liver, doing its job. Our body lower its metabolic rate gradually toward sleeping hours to prepare itself for proper rest. That's when your body temperature goes down, digestive system slows down to prepare for sleep. Try doing intense exercises just before sleep will raise your metabolic rate, making you feel warm and alert. You won't be able to go to sleep or at least can't sleep well.

Research has shown that consuming calories at different hours of the day does affect how much of them are burned off. Eat after an exercise session, for example lifting weights, your body would use up almost all of the calories to repair and replenish glycogen stores in your muscles. Some call this the "window of opportunity" for repair and replenishing glycogen stores. But eating in the evening does exactly the opposite (for inactive people). Unless, you have not been eating enough the whole day. Then probably the calories and nutrients you consumed at this late hour will be used for whatever its needed. (so it depends also whether you have been starving during the day, then eating at night would not really matter, as your total calorie intake for the day would be still at a deficit or within your need).

However, an average sedentary person who has a few more extra pounds is already consuming more than enough calories. Or else, why would he or she wants to lose weight? These individuals need to eat less and more healthily and not more. Having not enough carbs or protein to repair muscles etc are the least of their concern. They should learn to eat the right foods and the right amount and at the right time first.

This rule is important because it ensures that an average person would consume most of their calories during the day when they are more active. Walking and thinking during work for example, requires energy.

So, my conclusion is this - Eating late is not a good idea because it's time your body prepares itself for rest and other "cleaning up" process like you mentioned - detox. You may feel tired the next day if you eat heavy meals too late. Secondly, you body uses energy less efficiently at this hour (Unlike eating after an exercise session). And, it also helps set the person's eating habits and timetable right.

But for an active individual or a person who has a better idea of their calorie count (which most people don't) a light meal, like yoghurt, milk, or protein shake, would be fine if taken before bedtime. (I do that too, by the way but I exercise 3 - 5 days a week with a combination of weights, martial arts, training for 10km runs, swim etc.) Having said that, even some active individuals put on weight because of over consuming calories in their 6 - 7 meals a day. So, eventually, it's really a matter of whether you consume in TOTAL more than the calories you need or not.

Therefore, following the general rule of not eating too late for an average sedentary person who is trying to lose weight will prevent them from overeating. As they most likely already have.

Jayden Chen

How You Can Lose Weight If You Are Not Mariah Carey

Mariah Carey did it! Do you think you can do it just like her?

No, I don't mean marrying a younger man. In case you don't know, she just got married a few months back, and yes, to a much younger man. (Read my previous post Mariah Carey Married?)

No, no. no. I am talking about how my favourite singer managed to slim down to her former glory and looked all toned and fit. Even if you are not a fan, you would have seen her getting quite plump the past few years. It's not very flattering to be plump and wearing so little. But I forgave her because she made it up by singing really well.

That all changed this year. Nowadays, I am full of admiration when she goes on stage. Want to know her secret? Just read all about it at Mun's Blog.

And that brings us to today's topic. How you can lose weight even if you are not as rich as Mariah and cannot possibly afford a personal trainer who also doubles up as your chef and have a say in what you can or cannot eat!

OK, if you are a man and cannot identify with Mariah, how about reading how you can build a body like Will Smith?

Now in case you are the type of person who says you are comfortable being fat and don't have the slightest desire to lose weight, let Merqury tell you 10 good reasons to slim down.

Although I’m not fat or overweight, I know a lot of people who are. What’s more, Malaysia has the most number of fat people in the ASEAN region, and the number is increasing.

Most Malaysians attempt to slim down by going on a diet and also exercising. But they may be doing it the wrong way. Learning how to lose weight from books mainly written by authors from outside Malaysia does not really help because these books usually do not take into consideration our culture and food.

Which is one reason why I recommend this newest book called “Slim Malaysians” by Jayden Chen which I found at MPH bookstore. This book is specially written for Malaysians in mind and gives very good advice on what Malaysian food to eat and to avoid in order for us to lose weight.

And so, let me present you 5 sure-fire ways to trim those fat and lose weight.

1. Eat more frequently and in smaller portions.

Instead of eating the 3 main meals daily ie. breakfast, lunch and dinner, switch to 5 or 6 meals a day. However, for each meal, eat smaller portions of what you usually eat. The advantage of this is three fold.

Firstly, by eating frequently, you will not go hungry and therefore won’t binge or overeat on your next meal.

Secondly, by eating frequently and less at every meal, you are in better control of your blood sugar. Your blood sugar won’t suddenly spike and make you feel lethargic. You’ll be more energetic throughout the day. (By the way, this is especially useful for diabetics)

Thirdly, by eating in smaller portions, your body can make use of the food instead of storing excess food as fat in your body.

A great way is eat every 3 hours, eg. 7.30am, 10.30am, 1pm, 4pm, 7pm.

Warning: You must eat much smaller portions for every meal, or else you’ll be eating more than what you did previously and become much fatter than before!

2. Do high intensity interval exercises 3 times weekly.

Instead of your usual 1 hour aerobic exercises daily, switch to high intensity interval training for just 20 minutes every other day or 3-4 times a week. When you jog continuously at the same speed for 1 hour, you will lose fat during the exercise, and that’s about it! If you start to overeat after your exercise, the fat will all come back!

In contrast, if you do high intensity interval training, you will raise your metabolic rate and your body will continue to burn fat hours after your exercise! Would you rather burn fat all the time or just during exercise?

A very simple way to do interval training is this. Let’s say you choose jogging. First you run as fast you can for 1 minute, then you jog slowly for the next minute. Keep alternating between running at high intensity and jogging slowly every minute for the next 20 minutes. You can adjust the intensity and duration depending on your fitness level. For example, if you are just a beginner, you may want to jog for 1 minute, then walk slowly for 2 minutes and keep alternating for the next 20 minutes.

Research has shown that interval training not only helps you to lose weight more effectively, it is also more efficient at strengthening your heart than if you continuously jog for 1 hour at the same rate.

You may ask, why limit to 20 minutes? Why not 1 hour? Well, the answer is simple. Because of the intensity of this kind of exercise, you cannot strain yourself too long or else your immune system will suffer. Anyway, why exercise for 1 hour when you can see better benefits for just 20 minutes?

3. Lift weight and build some muscles.

This is the BIG secret not many people know about! Most people think that weight-lifting only helps you to build muscles and has nothing to do with weight loss. How wrong they are!

Now here’s a shocking revelation – building muscles will boost your metabolic rate to such an extent that you will burn fat even while sleeping! It’s not wrong to say that the more muscles you have, the more calories you’ll burn daily!

Furthermore, if you don’t lift weight, and only do cardio and diet to lose weight, you won’t look very good even when you have slimmed down. You need weight-lifting to tone you up.

4. Eat your breakfast.

Don’t ever, ever skip breakfast. If you want to lose weight, you simply cannot afford to ignore this rule.

The reason is one, when you eat breakfast you raise your metabolic rate for the day. That helps you to burn fat.

Secondly, by skipping breakfast, your blood sugar will drop and you will start craving for sweet stuffs the rest of the day. You also tend to overeat for your lunch!

By the way, never skip any meals and remember to eat every 3 hours to keep your blood sugar stable at all times.

5. Do not eat after 8pm.

This cannot be over emphasized. Although it’s hard to do this everyday, if you can do it 5 times a week, it’s good enough.

One way is to brush your teeth right after dinner so you won’t be tempted to eat anything after.

The reason for this is any food taken in excess at night will very likely end up as fat because you are mostly inactive a night and the body’s metabolic rate also dip at this time. As such, your ability to burn fat is compromised.

Another reason you should not eat late at night is because your liver is working hard to detoxify itself at this time and you do not want to make its job even harder by adding food into your system.

If you really must eat something after 8pm, choose low calorie, easy to digest food like fruits.

Now if you seriously put the above 5 rules into practice, you will definitely see a more slimmer you. No need to be jealous of Mariah or Will Smith. You can do it too!

Adidas vs Nike vs New Balance

After a friend read my blog yesterday on the subject of working out, she asked what shoes I wear for jogging in the park. Well, what she really meant was which "brand" I wear.

To be honest, I really do not know which brand is the best. The famous ones are Nike, Adidas, Asics and New Balance just to name a few. I guess the most important thing is to choose one which is comfortable and suitable for your feet. Maybe that's why different brands are suitable for different people.

I am currently wearing a New Balance running shoe for my jogging sessions in the parks. So far, I like it. It's comfortable, and gave me good support. Here's the photo.



It may not be very stylish looking but for me, it's OK. I don't need a very stylish shoe for jogging. As long as it gives me good support and can last long, that's good enough for me!

Actually, why I ended up buying New Balance is because I like that they help me choose the right shoes for my feet. I bought this shoes at 1 Utama New Balance shop (it's at the New Wing - can't remember whether it's 1st or 2nd floor). The owner of the shop was very helpful. He measured my feet and told me I am flat- footed as opposed to arch- footed. It seemed that if you are flat- footed, you cannot wear shoes meant for arch- footed people, and vice versa.

I don't remember those sales people at Adidas and Nike ever gave me such advice. They just let you choose your own shoes. Although New Balance shoes are not cheap, neither are Adidas or Nike's.

So I would definitely recommend that New Balance shop in 1 Utama if you are looking for a good pair of running shoes. What's more, if you are member of Fitness First gym (and also other famous gyms - can't remember which ones), you are given a 20% discount. If you are a member of the Pacesetter's Athletic Club, a running club in Malaysia, you get to buy at a whopping 30% discount!

Working Out

According to fitness experts, an average person should exercise at least 20 minutes 3 times a week. Yes, that's the absolute minimum to preserve good health.

With this in mind, I decided to make a trip to the gym this morning. But then I decided against it. What's so fun about working out on the treadmill or elliptical machine which is stationary inside an enclosed building? Unless, of course, if you are one of those people who enjoy watching the numerous TV channels offered by the gym while you are running on the treadmill. The way I see it, if you are not working out with weights, forget about going to the gym.

It's really so much fun and I dare say, healthier to exercise in the parks or anywhere close to nature. I mean, unless it's raining hard or snowing, or there's a haze blowing from Indonesia, there's no point in working out indoors. The air is fresher outside, the greeneries relaxes your mind and your eyes, the chirping of birds somehow makes you feel livelier and happier.

In any case, I do believe that we humans must regularly get back to nature. Especially for those of us who live in concrete jungles and hardly take the time to even relax in our own garden (that is, if you have one!)

I have a large field in front of my house that many residents here do their morning or evening exercises. But you know, I kinda get bored with it. Sometimes, you need a change of environment, a change of scenery.

Furthermore, it's no fun to be jogging round the field and keep bumping into your neighbours at every round! Especially when you are running in the clockwise direction and they are running in the opposite anti-clockwise direction. You are bound to meet them halfway every round!
First time, you both can simply exchange greetings of "hi!"
Second time, you can casually ask "How are you doing?"
Third time, you can say "Here we meet again!" and let off a pretentious laugh.
After that, I believe we will have a hard time coming out with decent one-liners. Maybe at the 10th round (if you can last that long), you can say "Wow! You're still here? Not bad! Not bad! You know what? I think I'll be making my move. See ya. Bye!!"

Of course, another stategy is to simply run in the same direction as your neighbours. Then, depending on how fast or slow you run, you will never ever bump into them. If your neighbour is ahead of you and he or she runs much faster than you, you are at risk of him or her catching up with you from behind and strike up a one-liner with you. So you have to be as fit as your neighbour to avoid him or her catching up with you.

However, if you are much faster than your neighbour, then you run the risk of bumping into him or her from behind and you will need to come up with a one-liner yourself. So the trick is to run at the same pace as your neighbours. The only problem here is if you are fitter than your neighbour, running at his or her pace will bore you to death!

Recently, I invented a third stategy. This is called "No Talking" stategy. It works like this. First time when you meet your neighbours at the field, let them know that when you exercise, you must fully concentrate and focus at the work at hand and you won't want to talk or involve in any kind of conversation with anyone unless it's an emergency. So, once they know your stand on this, each time you bump into them on your run, you either just smile or nod your head. Or just pretend your are focusing on your legs and don't look at them! They won't blame you or say you are arrogant because you already told them you won't talk during exercise. Good idea, no?

Now you may ask why bother with all these strategies? Why not just indulge in good old gossips with neighbours? Isn't it much more fun to be discussing which neighbours did what while at the same time improve your health by jogging? Or chat on Tun Mahathir's exit from Umno and if any Umno members follow suit. Or if David Cook really deserve to win the American Idol title when your neighbour is so eager to watch the results tonight and have no idea who won?

Yes, that could be fun, but according to fitness experts, if you can talk and chat so much without losing breath while exercising, you are not exercising hard enough! So there you go - no pain no gain! Not only that, it also defeats the whole purpose of exercising!

For me, I no longer jog on the field in front of my house. I now go to public parks. There are so many of them. Like Taman Lembah Kiara in Taman Tun Dr Ismail for one. I have even taken photos of the park. It's such a nice place with a lake and fountain and jogging tracks for joggers.



















The front entrance of Taman Lembah Kiara at Jalan Abang Haji Openg, Taman Tun Dr Ismail KL


Beautiful fountain and lake





Greeneries everywhere!


Nice shade under tall trees


Jogging track






Suspended Bridge


Weight limit for the bridge





View from the bridge


View of the lake from the jogging track


Beautiful scenery awaits while you stroll leisurely