Inspiration & Motivation: Something GREAT is brewing..

Very recently, I met up with Jasmine (@jasminedanker if you are not following her on IG yet), it came across to me like a calling when I had to download kik messenger just for her to retrieve my contact details. In the very same week (last week), I met her for the first time. She shared her dreams and passion with me, she told me what she had been wanting to do and could not find the right person to do with, so she decided to contact me.

We met up as soon as we could last week and had a great workout together (though she's much stronger and fitter than I am), we share a lot of similarities. We have the exact same weight, height, BFP, played netball when we were younger, both Roman Catholics, both mixed blood. Well, the major difference is that she studied sports science and had been in the fitness industry for 5 years, coaching, studying and training (and besides the fact that I'm married she's not yet). We clicked right away and started planning our execution plan.

We have great plans and I believe God brought us together for a reason; a mission to help people who needs help, who needs an extra motivation to stay healthy and fit. Our ideas are all over the place now but we will be revealing very soon, once we get everything organized and ready to go public!

Here are some sneaks! Our logo: Why Hapa fitness (@Hapa_fitness)? Stay tuned! :)

Some of the happenings over last week, celebrated Nic's birthday in advance last Friday too! Great Karaoke with the gang, they sing so well! Been awhile since we had such epic sessions, oh yes and that cake at 11.30pm ZOMG.

Happy Birthday Nic!

Some of my meals.

Met Jasmine to gym on Saturday at Gymm Boxx, really helps when there is somebody to spot, correct my form and constantly goes "RELAX YOUR NECK LIMARAN!" (LOL, reason why I have stiff neck ALL the time). We wore pink to train that day, so we remembered to take photos and hashtag #operationpink to do our part for Singapore Breast Cancer Foundation!

Jasmine paid a boy for this photo HAHA

Cooked when we got home and spent a quiet Saturday with baby. Here's our very own chili beef with tortilla chips! YUMMMMSS!

I will be eating all I want (okay not exactly ALL I WANT BUT..) for 4 days (since yesterday) and starting a new diet (which I'll be sharing soon) on November 1st, together with Jasmine. BECAUSE I have completed 10 weeks (11 to be exact, not counting week 0) of Intermittent fasting! Halfway through the diet I thought this didn't suit me, but I wanted to hang in there and complete the 10 weeks so here is the final look (LOL pls don't judge me!).

I started with this OKAY?! HAHA.

Have a great week ahead everyone! Remember to catch us (Jasmine and I) live with regular updates on our IG (@limaranagustina and @jasminedanker) and our new IG account for Hapa Fitness @hapa_fitness! Till the next!

More about → Inspiration & Motivation: Something GREAT is brewing..

Health & Nutrition - Supplements

I did not start taking supplements the same time as I started working out and used to dread taking many pills and disliked the nagging Jason did when he told me I should start taking supplements few years ago. It was only in end 2011 that I started taking supplements, after a bout of fungal infections. The first supplement I took was of course protein shakes, and the first supplement tablets I started taking was probiotics. So today, I'll be going into details of what each supplement is essential for. It'll be a long post so hang in there! :)

As you can see, I have bought most of my supplements from vitacost.com (explains some of the house brands that I have), will be trying iherb.com for my next order! Please note that I'll be touching on the brief benefits of each supplement (why I chose to take them) as it'll have to go on in pages if I were to explain everything. Go on and google more about them if you are interested to get any of the supplements that I'm taking. 

1. Folic acid - As some of you may know, folic acid is taken before and during pregnancy for women to prevent birth defects on the baby, so, yea that was the main reason why I started taking  them. HUR. However, it also keeps our hearts healthy and brains young!
2. Probiotics - These are also known as 'good bacteria' that can be found in yogurt and this is the only supplement I cannot live without. It helps improve your immune system and brain function, helps lower cholesterol levels and improve stomach health, and it treats allergies.
3. CoQ-10 - Improves heart health and acts as an anti-oxidant for your body.
4. Milk Thistle - Helps protect my liver from liver diseases
5. BCAA - Short for Branched Chain Amino Acids, to prevent muscle catabolism (muscle breakdown) especially important during my current Intermittent Fasting stint.
6. Multi-vitamins - To get a little more vitamins, minerals and nutrients than what I get from my daily food intake.
7. Calcium - Okay, the main reason why I'm forcing myself to eat these 3 calcium pills everyday is the fear of teeth and hair falling during and after pregnancy, since I don't drink milk everyday. On top of that, calcium better improves the absorbency of the other supplements that I take daily.
8. Fish oil - Very important staple if you are working out and bodybuilding. Fish oil reduces signs of aging, improves fat-burning and MOST IMPORTANTLY, preserves lean muscles and improve bone health.

Now that you know what I'm taking, I guess you should also know what I'm lacking. HAHA. Feel free to comment, email me if you think I'm lacking anything, or am taking too much of something? I'm very open to suggestions as well! I hope this post helps in clarifying some of your doubts and questions on what kind of supplements you decide to take.

Some updates from last week and yesterday..

Sunday OOTD before mass

My current back with WIIINGS!

May 2013 V.S Week 7 of IF

Team Axis was at Elias Park Primary yesterday and today, for the HPB program me "Be Smart, Don't Start"!

We homecooked last night, was craving salmon!

Yellow and green peppers with white fish!

That's all for today and have a fantastic week ahead everyone! Till thennnn!

More about → Health & Nutrition - Supplements

Health & Fitness: Legs workouts

Sorry for the hiatus everyone! I'm back with a quick introduction to some of my favorite legs workouts. I love legs day I can just do legs all day everyday (I kid, again)! But nevertheless, I like to work on my legs because I feel a lot more pump when I work them legs as compared to the other parts of my body, probably because I started working solely on my legs when I kickstarted my fitness journey. My goal then, was to down my usual bottom size of a small uk 10 to a regular or small uk 8. AND I did it, I can even fit into some uk 6 now (Okay for bottoms with bigger cutting). I did this within (if I'm not wrong, 4-6 months). I whacked my legs hard with my mediocre knowledge of weights training. I could go to the gym every just doing legs but I loved it, that's why I have weak and puny upper body.

Those who know me well enough, I dislike my heavy bottom and curves and really envy those who have a more masculine, mesomorph physique to start working out with. I tried very hard to try to straighten the curves that I have, and I'm still trying. So, how did I manage to downsize my huge bum and hips? I did a particular workout over and over again, everyday to downsize to a uk 8!

The winner is... LUNGES!!! When I had the chance to gym, I'd do lunges, over anything else and it worked! Lunges is a good training for your stabilising muscles too! Start doing lunges if you haven't!

The fundamentals of my legs training always starts with a strength-based back squats or front squats. The back squat targets your entire legs; quadriceps, hamstrings and glutes. 

Whereas the front squat targets your quadriceps and requires a lot more core control

Of course, when you are more advanced, adventurous and into cross fit, you can attempt the overhead squats. Overhead squat, similar to front squat, targets your quadriceps and core but with good stabilising muscles and strong triceps, shoulders and back. So basically, entire body. That's the reason why I'm only doing an empty bar. HURHUR.

Then, there is wide-stanced squats, which target your adductor muscles (inner thighs) and glutes. You want a tighter 'upper' butt, this is one good workout you can do to tighten the 'upper' butt. Always remember to keep your knees out though. Also beware, the after-feeling of doing wide-stances squats can be rather uncomfortable. HEH.

The calf raise, is very often neglected and forgotten but ladies especially, should do to strengthen the calf muscles so it prevents injuries wearing heels! 

Lastly, I usually do wallballs after I finish what I planned to do, and add wallballs into a circuit or met con. It requires deltoids (shoulders) and legs, simpler version of a thruster to me, what with the similar hip thrusts and straightening of arms for the deltoids. You can do this for fun and increase the weight of your medicine ball for more challenge.

So, I have shared my secrets with you guys! Now go ahead and make it work! You wanna get perky butt and toned legs, you have to work hard on them legs. Moreover, our legs are the biggest muscle group in our body so by training legs and back (another large muscle group), you are releasing growth hormones and testosterone more than the other body parts, thus burning more fats!

Have fun with your legs training and happy midweek everyone! (=

More about → Health & Fitness: Legs workouts

Fitness & Nutrition: How important nutrition is

I took a long time to prepare this post because I have been contemplating posting this as it'll be a societal shock to our modern lifestyle and diet, and to many of you out there. The other reason for the delay was to carefully put all the technical terms into a simpler version so it'll be easier for everyone to understand.

Do bear with me on this post as I'll be stressing a lot on the most challenging part of your fitness journey AGAIN. I need to keep emphasising on the fact that nutrition should be the root and the foundation to your journey to perfecting health and fitness, well, not just that, but going slightly ahead, especially if you are a competitive athlete or sportsperson.

There is an apparent reason, to me, why the sports industry is not blooming and moving forward in Singapore. Yes, as you can guess right now, the reason is NUTRITION.

As you can see from the triangle above, this is the Crossfit Dietary Prescription (CDP). I guess some of you may have seen this, may have understood this, and some of you may think this is irrelevant because you don't crossfit. But hey, take a minute (or few) to read what I have to say because if you are disciplined enough to give it a try and spread the good news, maybe the sports industry, and even the SAF (Singapore Armed Force) in Singapore will see the enlightenment and improve the current sports and fitness education.

Today, I'll be attempting to simplify this prescription so this can apply to everyone and instill into your lifestyle.

Ever heard of 'You are what you eat!'? This is the summary of CDP. Your nutrition is the foundation and will break or make you in your fitness journey. A good and well-balanced diet will ensure increment in health, energy and sense of well-being; it is also the deciding factor  of whether your body is reducing fats, building quality muscles and optimising performance in and out of the gym.

Sport - performance

Strength training (aka weight-lifting) - control of external weight

Gymnastics - control of our body in space

Metabolic conditioning - cardio/respiratory

Nutrition - solid molecular foundation

I do not even have to elaborate and tell you more about the other 4 factors if you don't know how to keep your nutrition in check. SO here goes:

Macronutrients - what I have been referring to as macros, are your protein, carbohydrates and fats. Micronutrients, as you may guess, are then vitamins and minerals. Carbohydrates affects the production of hormone insulin, that derives energy from your bloodstream in your cells to be used as fuel. Though it is an essential in the body, too much of carbohydrates in your body will result in diabetes type II, coronary heart disease, depression, obesity, etc. Protein, goes the same way as carbs, will result in fat storage if consumed in excess, however if in deficiency, will break down muscles to make up for the necessary protein requirement. Fats are then your optimal energy source and it contains almost twice the amount of carbs and protein. Of course I'm referring to good fats such as nuts, seeds, fish and avocado.

So where am I deriving at exactly? 

I'm trying to encourage and promote a diet that is a combination of 2 individual popular diets and one that you can keep and instill into a lifestyle, that will ultimately increase your performance in your sport, in the army, or even, in your pursuit of health and fitness for life.

Diet 1: Paleo Diet

Paleolithic diet is all about meat, seeds, nuts, vegetables, very minimal starch and NO sugar. YES, you read me right, NO SUGAR! Alot of crossfit athletes don't consume sugar AT ALL, which means they even avoid fruits that are high in sugar. It's really up to you though, I personally feel that as long as you don't go overboard with the grapes, bananas, mangoes and cherries, a little won't kill but hey, #YOLO! You know what your body needs and wants.

Diet 2: Zone Diet

The Zone diet emphasises on both the quality and quantity of your macros - calorie counting, which everyone irks. 

To optimise performance, you will need a mixture of both diets (sounds complicated and difficult uh?).

Bottomline - your diet should consist of more lean meats, vegetables, seeds, nuts, some fruits, little starch and NO SUGAR. Also, you need to keep the intake of your macros to support your workout, not your body fat. WHICH MEANS, you don't eat less because you want to lose weight, you cut on what you eat for a purpose to maximise your performance in the gym, sport or even in the armed forces. The CDP recommends 30% of your diet to consist of lean protein, 40% low-glycemic carbs (low GI foods) and 30% of good/monosaturated fats.

So then, how do you know much much to eat for each meal? Remember I mentioned before, that your different body type will determine how you should be eating? There you go..

The CDP has defined that:

1 block of protein = 7 grams of protein (cooked)

1 block of carbs = 9 grams of carbs

1 block of fats = 1.5 grams of fats

Now look at the table below and you will be able to find out how many blocks are recommended for you on the different meals. 

Give it a try if you are game for it, and have the plans to optimize your performance in the gym, as a professional athlete or sportsperson. I hope I managed to deliver my message well. Do come back to me if you have burning questions about CDP. Start cutting out SUAGRS from your diet everyone!

To those who have emailed me and waiting for my reply, kindly be patient with me, I'll definitely get back to you ASAP! Keep those emails coming in! (=

One of the nights while I was marinating my food for easy cooking - used cajun & ginger ground

Yay, finally got a photo taken with Zheng ge ping!

Saturdays with LOVE

Have a great week ahead everyone! I'll be back with the recipe I promised to share! (=

More about → Fitness & Nutrition: How important nutrition is

Health & Fitness: Myths about Female weight training

I have been explaining about this to my family and friends OVER and OVER again, this topic about females not having to worry about gaining bulky muscles when they start lifting weights. So recently I came across an image that looked something like what I created (couldn't find the exact one that I had seen but yea, the idea is the same).

So, ladies, you only get your body at its peak and most beautiful when you start lifting weights, or at least be doing some exercises. Otherwise, if you are not on a caloric deficit and generally eating more than what you need daily (say 1lb), you will be gaining 365lbs in a year, which will be worse off if you don't even workout to start with. ISN'T that scary?!

The biggest problem of women that boils down to that fear of looking like a she-hulk, to me, is a complicated war of the will and flesh. Very often, you ladies genuinely and sincerely want to get your butts down to working out, but the flesh is reluctant, and so the misconception part comes into place, where excuses of the fear to look like a she-hulk seeps into the minds.

Let me simplify some of the myths that you have heard:

1. Weight-training will make me look like a she-hulk.
There is definitely no way a woman is able to build muscles like men because of the fact that we women do not naturally produce as much testosterone as men and testosterone is one of the main hormones that contributes to muscle-building. The bulky and intimidating images of professional female bodybuilders must have scared you away from the gym and weights, I do understand that. BUT, they do not get to those sizes without using anabolic steroids and other drugs to reach that high degree of masculinity. Even so, without all the drugs and steroids, it is not easy, takes heavy weight training, right diet and many years for men to build big and visible muscles, SO, when is it even our turn?

2. I want to get toned, don't have to necessarily be stronger. Can I just run?
I'm not saying running is not effective here, I still run (though seldom) and do other forms of cardio but that is not my main forms of workout. There are 3 main subjects that comes into this argument of fat-burning all the time:
1. Cardio
2. High Intensity interval Training (HIIT)
3. Weight Training

So which is most effective and why?
First of all, the reason why cardio should not be your main training is because though you burn fats, you not only burn the fats but the muscles (whole theory of muscle-loss=fats storing comes into play again). What's more, you only burn the fats during the cardio, nothing after that. It is still a good and healthy way to work the heart and keep your heart healthy.

HIIT, on the other hand allows you to burn fats during and up to 4 hours after the workout and by having HIIT in your training routine you burn more fats than a person who just does cardio day in day out, while sleeping.

Lastly, weight training allows you to target specific muscle groups and build lean muscles. By doing so, you will be able to gain quality muscles and then improve overall metabolic function. The functional training moves like squats and deadlifts will also improve your mobility in everyday activities, thus preventing injuries. Weight training also improve body composition (more lean muscles, less fats at the same bodyweight) and increases bone density which prevents the onset of osteoporosis. It also improves circulation, coordination, balance and bone and ligament strength.

So what is the verdict?
Add all 3 subjects into your training routine for best results!

3. When I stop weight training, my muscles will turn into fats and make me look flabby!
Muscles CANNOT turn into fats and fats CANNOT turn into muscles, I repeat, Muscles CANNOT turn into fats and fats CANNOT turn into muscles! This is equivalent to "metal CANNOT turn into gold". These are 2 different entities that must be clarified. Simply explained, when you stop exercising one day, your muscle cells will just get smaller and thinner, and your fat cells will not multiply too. If you do not watch your fat intake after you stop exercising, your muscle cells will decrease in sizes and your fat cells will grow bigger and bigger, that's how people get fat and overweight when they stop exercising altogether.

4. I should not be doing heavy weights because it is dangerous.
Well, there 1 main reason why I think women should progressively lift heavier. Here goes, if you have been doing weight training (which is good), you will ultimately reach a plateau where everything seems too light and simple for you, that is when your body is at its comfort zone and is used to doing the usual weights, therefore restricting or slowing down your progress. Generally, our body and muscles respond to resistance and when there is very light or even no resistance, then there is no way your body can change and evolve.

These are the usual questions I get from my family and friends and I hope to be able to clarify the burning questions of yours with these answers. Personally and honestly, one of the main restrictions to people not working out is the 'priority' issue. When health and fitness is your priority after God (if you have a religion) and family, there is no reason for you to not be able to find time to workout and keep fit. At least for Jason and I, we have a common priority after God and family, to eat and workout well, strengthening and protecting the only place we live in.

"You don't workout only when you have the time, you make the time to workout!"

This article is specially done for www.singasports.com and I'll be covering a specific topic every month to add into collection of articles on the page so do check the web out! I'm glad to see many like-minded fitness lovers out there and hoping to see more! Do email me if you have other burning questions and I'll try my best to help, apologies if I may take longer to reply though.

Before I end the post, I need to share my progress on the legs since 2009. Had a good time giggling over the skinny me in the past. I also have evidence of being a snack-junkie then (that bag of ruffles ewwwww! HAHA). Happy to see my progress over the years!

New recipe up next! Stay tuned and hang in there, it's midweek tomororrowwwww!

More about → Health & Fitness: Myths about Female weight training

Health and Fitness - The harsh reality hits you

Whether you like to hear/see this or not, I know there are many people (both male and female) who are still living in denial, thinking that they are satisfied with their bodies, they make do with what they have or blame it on genetics. Somehow they envy people who works out, somehow they believe that no matter how ugly, how flabby they become, somebody will still love them (duh, of course!), somehow somewhere out there deep buried in their minds, there is a portrait of a dream body. The problem is, where is the determination, where is the dedication and where is the discipline? They're all in self-delusions. Well, I don't know about you, but I have a dream physique in mind and I'll not give up till I get there, no matter how long it takes, whether family-planning comes into the picture or not.

Yesterday, I went for a body analysis at my gym and since the last I did mine, right after we came back from our honeymoon (June 2013), my bodyfat percentage has dropped by 2%, my weight remained unchanged, muscle mass has increased (not sure where the last body analysis slip was). Well, you may think 18.2% isn't very low but this had shown me how much my hard work is paying off and I'll continue to work hard (even though BMR is still slightly on the lower side though).

As mentioned in my last post, I would like to share briefly about bodyfat percentage and here are some images you can refer to if you do not have access to get your body analysis checked.

For men:

For women:

So, what do you think your bodyfat percentage range is? which one can best describe your physique right now? And which is your ideal physique? 

Remember I said weight is not a good indication of your fitness level and how toned you are? By having more lean muscles in your body, your weight may maintain or even increase because muscles are denser than fats and therefore weigh heavier than fats. The images above are also just rough guides, different body types may produce different results on bodyfat percentage too.

Why do I say muscles weigh heavier then?

The same weight of fats and muscles look very different because muscles are very dense and compact as compared to fats. Would you then, rather have 5lbs of fats or 5lbs of muscles?

Some examples that I found (credits to photo-owners):

This lady has obviously worked out, looking at the slightly rounder shoulders, flatter and more defined abs and you can spot that her butt is perkier and legs slimmer, but she actually weighs heavier than before. Oh, and her posture had also improved (back to that in future posts).

This guy, similarly, has worked out (HARD) and achieved good lean muscles, yet still weigh the same.

So guys, stop obsessing over that little weight gain here and there if you are working out fine. Instead, the mirror is the best judge and of course if you can and want to, get a proper body analysis done.

I will be attempting to perfect my oat tomorrow morning and will post a proper recipe after that. HAHA. Please bear with me while I attempt the best recipes I can to share with all of you. 

What I had been up to during the week so far.

Went for a last tan before I start work next week! On that faithful bloated day..

Thinking that watching this in broad daylight will be less scary, but no, I did not finish the movie. HUR

My beyond-presentable oatmeal

My beloved company for the past 2 days <3

TGIF everyone! Have a great and restful weekend filled with love, health and fitness! Till the next.

More about → Health and Fitness - The harsh reality hits you