DBS Retrenchment

I spent 5 years of my working life in DBS. Although most of my friends are safe from the retrenchment exercise this week, it still makes me sad that some of them were not spared the knife.

I knew that all the people who is working or have worked there are feeling down this week with such grim news. The mood was sombre when I called my DBS friends and they couldn't work for that few horrendous days.

I hope that the retrenched people will find something better in life soon.

Gulf in Standard between Singapore and Top Asian Nations

I was at the National Stadium (isn't it closed??) last night to watch a record broken. Singapore suffered its worst defeat in history to lose to Uzbekistan 3-7.

Although the Uzbeks were poor in defence, Singapore were worse. All the defenders were at sea, minus Noh Rahman who was the only defender to come out with any credit. Precious (or not so Precious according to The New Paper) were outjumped, Baihakki was burnt for pace, Daniel Bennett committed defensive suicide and Lionel Lewis, supposedly the best Goalkeeper in Asia, conceded a goal at his near post and let a corner kick sailed into the net directly. Mustafic was also found wanted in his defensive midfield position for letting the Uzbeks run riot in the middle.

It is a harsh result and reality for Singapore football but a timely wake-up call. We have a long way to go to match the top Asian Nations. Now I hope that some of the best local footballer such as Khairul Amri and the rest can go to take on Asia by participating in leagues outside Singapore. By participating in leagues outside Singapore, they will be able to improve much faster than in the S.League. This would be the way to bring Singapore Football forward.

Hort Park in Alexandra

I helped out in the NKF Patients' Active Day last Sunday in Hort Park, off Alexandra Road. It is a nice little park which is located between Kent Ridge Park and Telok Blangah Hill. If you are into plants, I think you would love this place.

Currently, the bridges linking Mount Fable to Telok Blangah Hill and then Kent Ridge Park is almost ready. I heard it would be opened from 1 Apr 08. I think this would be a new venue for exploration for walkers and runners.

Congratulations to the National Parks Board for another job well done!

Leg Press 250lb by 60 year old Client

I have a 60 year old grandma client who is diabetic, hypertensive and had suffered an ankle fracture few years ago. When she came to me about 9 months ago, she has just gotten off the wheel chair after sittting on it for 1.5 years.

Through great determination, I am proud to announce that she managed 250lb of weight at the leg press machine for 20 repetitions yesterday! Some of the gym instructors and gym goers whom we see regularly in the gym were also shocked at the amount of weight she can push.

Some of her other achievements
- Bench press - Olympic Bar (20 kg) 2 sets x 12 reps
- Squat - 10 kg barbell 2 x 15
- Walk 12.5 rounds (5 km) around the track in 73 minutes.

Not to mention that her blood glucose and blood pressure readings have been lowered over the past few months.

This gives me great satisfaction!

Liverpool 3 Chelskis 0!

Yes! That's how many semi-finals we have beaten them for the past 3 consecutive years!

The whole team played fantastically well. Probably I should get an air ticket to Athens?!

ASCA Level 1

Finally the dates are out. 2 weekends in mid May. Wifey would be away for the second weekend. Thus, timing is quite nice. Got to cancel my NKF training on Sunday, but Sat morning client training is ok since the course starts at 1pm on Sat. Sui sui lah!

ASCA

I have been checking the sports council website almost everyday for the dates of the ASCA (Australian Strength and Conditioning Association) level 1 course. But the date on the website keep say "Jan 07 (tbc)"!!!!!! Wait for so long and there is nothing yet......

Btw, caught the flu bug since Thursday. Still coughing today but the fever is gone. Hopefully can get well soon. Me not salaryman now, no work = no money.......

Firefox

Ha, finally this is working!

Downloaded firefox 2 and I will now get rid of my internet explorer. STUPID dump explorer, always makes my computer hang when I log into my blog.

Well, I know I am slow in all these computer stuff, but better late than never.

Yeah, can use my blog oredi!

Problems with posting

I was not able to make new posts on the new "beta" blogger until today. Don't know what's wrong with it. Since it is ok now, I will update my blog within these few days.

Sorry, if you have checked my blog and found that the last post was still in Nov 06.

By the way, belated Happy New Year!

Book Review: Fight The Fat

Omastase shimashita! This is the Japanese phrase for "sorry to keep you waiting". I had problems creating post on the blog on my laptop that I resorted to use my wife's laptop. Well here's the book review as promised.

This is my first attempt at a book review. Please feel free to give me your comments or share it with your friends if you like it.

Book Review : Fight the Fat – What You Must Know and Do to Lose Weight
Author: Dr Ben Tan
Price: S$25.20
Available at all major book stores

Brutally honest! This is my first impression of Dr Ben Tan’s book on weight management. After going through the book, I find that this book is not only relevant for all people concerned about weight, but is also an excellent reference for exercise trainers.

The book advocates 3 pillars of dietary restriction, discretionary exercise and incidental daily activities as essential means to the end of weight loss. One would have to work towards a target of incurring an energy deficit of about 1,000 kcal per day. This works out to about a loss of 1.0 kg of body fat (7,700 kcal) per week, which is in line with the guidelines of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM).

1000 kcal per day means that you have to run 1 hour 25 minutes daily or brisk walk 2 hours 30 minutes. Wow! This is near impossible for someone who does not exercise regularly and he/she would have given up without even trying. Hence, the person trying to lose weight would not only have to exercise but also to reduce his / her food intake, and to increase his/her daily activities (which mean less lying on the couch or driving the car). Thus, the 3 pillars of diet, exercise and daily activities as mentioned above. There is no short cut, which is what I have been telling my clients.

The part I like most about this book is the chapter on separating facts from myths. The book rebutted many promotional gimmicks for slimming products and services used to trick consumers. One common trick is that the slimming product or service would claim that someone lost weight after taking the product or service. However, this claim would be given little weight in the scientific community as there is no mention of sample size and percentage of success, etc. One person could have lose weight after taking the product, 9 other persons may not! Similarly, slimming centres do not publish the number of clients who do not lose weight or gained weight after engaging their services.

The “Before and After” gimmick usually employed to capture consumer’s attention was also shot down in the book. A question was asked on how much fat this person (see picture) lost? The answer is of course “None”.
Why? Read the book for yourself, else I’ll be sued for copyright infringement.

Of course, it is not easy for a person trying to lose weight just by doing all the action plans written in the book by himself / herself. However, this book provides him/her a good understanding of the foundations, methods, reasons and obstacles regarding weight loss, and it addresses the motivational factor too. There are also some good templates and action plans provided by the book.

For the exercise trainer, these templates and action plans are very useful. The book also provides tables on the caloric values of selected local food items which would come as a handy reference. There is a section on exercise-related injuries which I think would interest trainers, since many obese individuals have weight-related musculoskeletal injuries.

On another note, Dr Tan advises that one would be better off focusing on cardiovascular exercise to lose fat as it is difficult to significantly increase resting metabolic rate by gaining enough muscle mass through weight training. Thus, the book does not have examples of weight training techniques or methods.

From a weight loss point of view, I would agree with him. But from a motivational point of view, I think it may be good to incorporate some weight training exercises such as wall push up or core work. Gain in strength is usually faster than weight loss (due to neuromuscular adaptation) and I think this could encourage the person to work harder or carry on the program since he/she can see some improvements of his/her fitness.

All-in-all, I have more positive comments for this book and I would recommend it for people who are trying to lose weight to get one. Wish you all the success in managing your weight!


Book Review Written by:



Koh Mui Tee
Diploma in Sport & Exercise Sciences
American College of Sports Medicine Certified Personal Trainer
Singapore Sports Council Certified Fitness Instructor


P.S. If you are keen to lose weight or gain fitness or have any enquiries on exercise-related matters, please call Mui Tee at 9477 3180 or email at muitee@singnet.com.sg. Thank you.

Fight the Fat

Bought the book "Fight the Fat" written by our famous Dr Ben Tan, Asian Games gold medallist today.

Glanced a few pages and find that it is quite interesting, well written and relevant for all people concerned about weight and all exercise trainers.

I will finish the book fast and give you a book review by this weekend.

The Monk's Teachings

Someone taught me this. I think it is very interesting:

A teaching by a monk whereby he says; "If someone tells you your nose is crooked, why should you get angry? If it is the truth, why get angry with the truth? And if it is not true, why is there the need to be angry?"

Anger management, not that I need one.

5 away defeats!

The whole Liverpool team played crap football in tonight's loss to the Arse-nal. Bloooooddy pissed off! I am still up at 2.50 am! Can't believe they played so poorly away from home.

losses to bluenoses, bolton, chelski, manure and arse-nal. wah piang!

Title contenders, my foot!



P.S. I make no apologies for any offensive comments here, it is the Liverpool team that should apologise.

Fitness Improvements

Quite busy this week. Just a quick update to say that my NKF patients showed great improvements after 12 sessions of training.

Most of the patients walked about 500 metres in the 6-min walk tests in July but most of them managed more than 550 metres with some clipping 600 metres last weekend. Not only physically, they have also feedback to me that they benefitted psychologically and socially.

Very happy for them. Share my joy.

Know what you are doing

I had the last of my 12 sessions with the NKF patients last weekend. I will conduct a fitness assessment this weekend before getting in new patients for the next programme.

In the last session, I went through the safety aspects of exercise for the patients again as I did in my first session. For example, as many of the patients are hypertensive, I reminded them not to do strenuous exercise and not to hold their breath (valsalva maneuver) while exercising. It is imperative that patients with chronic diseases know what they are doing and what they cannot / should not do. For instance, hypertensive patients would have their blood pressure shot up if they hold their breath for sometime. This may lead to a stroke!

I always feel that educating my clients/patients is a very important part of my profession. This does not apply only to patients but also to the general public / athletes. I have come across athletes who do not stretch properly or do not know what muscles they are stretching. Also many of them have neglected stretching due to time constraints. This may have led to many tight hamstrings, calf muscles, ITB which could be the causes of injuries. Improved flexibility may also lead to better performance, although this is not guaranteed. But it would reduce the risk of injuries.

Similarly, for the general public, education about sports / fitness is very important. Many people have done crunches in order to reduce the abdominal fat. They do not recognise that crunches is a strength training exercise, not a cardiovascular exercise. Strength training exercises work primarily the muscles, not the fat. So crunches build your ab muscles. If your ab muscles are covered by a layer (or many layers) of fat, how could you show your ab muscles? You have to watch your diet, jog/swim/cycle/walk more to reduce this fat so you can get rid of your tummy. The formula is easy, take in less calories, expend more calories.

Many friends have also asked me about the various diet. The truth is that all diets work! This is because diet works on reducing calories. In the short term, you created a calorie deficit and lost weight. However, dieting is normally not sustainable as diets usually meant a shortage in certain food content, such as vitamins/minerals. This may lead to other problems as the diet is not balanced. ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine) recommends a combination of both diet and exercise for effective weight management.

Thus, if you want to achieve your objective, you must know what you are doing and what you should not be doing. This concept is frequently applied in working life, but this applies to exercise too!

Sick

Have been sick this couple of days due to running nose and sore throat. I think I passed the flu to my wife too who is having a bad throat today.

Hope to get well soon and back to my training again.

I will come back with further updates a couple of days later.

Pounding on Pavement

Running season, many running questions and comments.

One common comment that I heard is that the runner should not run too much on the pavement so that he / she can have less leg injuries such as knee pain or shin splint due to the pounding on the pavement.

This is quite true. Remember your physics lessons? Newton's 3rd law (bet you might have prayed for durians to drop on Newton rather than apples when you were studying physics) states that for every force, there is an equal and opposite reaction force. Thus, for every stride you take on the pavement, there is a reaction force back to your foot. So imagine the impact on your leg.

So how do you reduce the impact? There are a few ways -

(1) Run on treadmill
(2) Run on grass
(3) Run on sand

Although running on treadmill can be boring for some runners, it offers quite a lot of benefits for training. For example, you can monitor your pace closely with the speed control or increase intensity by increasing the gradient. You can also practice 2 training methods on the treadmill - LSD (long slow distance) and interval training.

In LSD training, the exercise continues as long as you are able to maintain your heart rate within the prescribed zone and energy is available. LSD is performed at an intensity less than that normally used so that the duration of the workout can be longer. The goals of LSD training include development of endurance in supporting musculature, and fat utilization within corresponding glycogen (carbo) sparing. Typical training sessions last between 30 minutes and 2 hours. To prevent overtraining, LSD should not take place more than twice a week. LSD is suitable for beginners, athletes recovering from injury and special population such as the elderly. LSD is also suitable for long distance runners or swimmers.

I have talked about interval training or sprint training in an earlier blog. Interval training can be quite tough and I would recommend that you build up a certain level of fitness before you try this form of training, either on the treadmill or outdoors. Interval training is suitable not only for runners, but also other sports such as football, rugby, tennis, etc.

If you still find running on treadmill boring, you can try to run on grass or sand or hilly places. This is a form of training called the Fartlek training. If I did not remember wrongly, it is invented by the Swedish? Swiss? Can't recall, anyway not important for you, right?

Unfortunately, Singapore do not have much lush greens for us to run on grass. Probably you can try Bishan Park or find any football fields and run around it. MacRitchie's ground is actually rather hard. Another place to do Fartlek training in Singapore may be Sentosa Island where you can run on sand or hills. East coast may also be a place for you to run on sand. The sand would absorb much of your impact when you run, thus, you would need more leg power (quadriceps / hamstring / calves) to run.

Don't just run and run, remember to rest and recover properly too.

The Most Expensive Parking Lot in Singapore?

I brought my mum to Fort Canning Park for a Friday morning walk yesterday. While we were passing by car park B, we saw this parking sign depicting S$100 for 1/2 hourly parking! So funny.

Fort Canning Park is a lovely place to walk. You could get up from the steps beside MICA building; or from the steps opposite Liang Court or if you are not keen with steps, the slope is slightly less challenging from the Registry of Marriages. You may see some historical sites and cannon.

The top of the hill is about 7 or 8 stories high. If my mum, 68, can get up there without any problems, you can too! There is a fort which you can climb up to as well at the top of the hill. Find it for yourself if you go there.

The Importance of Stretching

The Stanchart Marathon is on 3 Dec 06 (Sun) and is about 8 weeks away. I met a few runners who have come to me for post training recovery massage and to release tight muscles such as hamstrings and ITB (Iliotibial Band).

I realised that some of them are not aware that proper stretching is a necessary part of the training. One of the benefits of stretching, as many are aware, is to increase flexibility as muscles may be tight after a whole day of sedentary work or after some exercise.

Stretching can also help recovery as to reducing muscle soreness (DOMS or delay onset of muscle soreness), which occurs one or 2 days after a heavy bout of exercise. To verify this, I skipped stretching after my 30 minute run a couple of months ago. For the next few days, I experienced muscle tightness in my legs that I have not had before. I kept stretching and stretching to relieve the tightness. After this verification, stretching reaffirmed as a compulsory part of my routine after exercise.

It is also claimed that stretching may help to prevent injuries. This is not true, stretching cannot prevent injuries, but it may help to reduce the risk of injury. How does stretching do so?

As I have mentioned above, stretching helps to relieve muscle tightness. One less known fact for laypeople is that muscles usually work in pairs. For example, the biceps and the triceps; the quadriceps and hamstrings. In technical terms, we call this the agonist (prime mover, eg, biceps in a biceps curl) and the antagonist (triceps in a biceps curl). This is a wonder of the human body creation that made sure our body movements are controlled. However, I am not talking about movement kinetics in this article. So, back to stretching.

One of the common causes of sports injuries is muscle imbalance. If the quadriceps are heavily worked on but the hamstring are weak(as in the case of many runners), there is an increased risk of hamstring pull or strain. Thus, stretching and strengthening exercises must be done on both the quadriceps and hamstring muscles to prevent muscle imbalances.

Another common injury is the ankle injury which I have talked about in an earlier article. The key pair of muscles for the ankle movements (such as tip toe or plantar flexion) are the calf muscles (gastrocnemius and soleus) and anterior tibialis (located on the shin). Many people do not work on the calf muscles, not to say the anterior tib which is less known. This unawareness may also lead to another injury called the shin splint, which is pain along any part of the shin.

So if you are running for leisure or for marathon training, what are the muscles in the lower limb you should stretch? These are the more important muscle groups I think you should stretch:

(1) Quadriceps
(2) Hamstring
(3) Outer calf (gastrocnemius)
(4) Inner calf (soleus)
(5) Anterior Tibialis (major muscle on the shin)
(6) Outer Thigh (Iliotibial Band and abductors)
(7) Inner Thigh (adductors)
(8) Hip Flexors (Iliopsoas)
(9) Hip Extensors (Gluteus group or butt)
(10) Piriformis (deeper glute muscles)

Don't know how to stretch? Call me, email me or drop me a comment here...

If you need a rub down (massage) after your training or strength and conditioning advice for your training, contact me too.

Chester

Liverpool FC announced today that they have opened a merchandise store in Chester, an hour's drive from Liverpool. It brings back memories of my trip to Liverpool in Nov 2003. As part of the trip, we went to Chester to watch a reserve game and toured Chester before the game. I attach some lovely pictures here for your pleasure viewing.

The lovely ladies in the picture are my wife, Regina and my mum.