Hi all,

This is my last post for this blog. From here onwards, all my blogging will be done through the Corporate Athletes website - a project that I’ve been dealing with for the past one month. It’s up and running now, and hope to get good feedbacks from the readers and friends alike.

Basically, this new weblog will have two main categories;

• Health & Fitness - this is basically all entries related to fitness and health. These are all self-written articles, with a simple hope to educate and share with friends on things pertaining to one’s health (and fitness).
• Lifestyle - basically, it is all about my life, living as a Corporate Athlete. Through this blog, I hope there are certain things that connect my life with your life. Things that i enjoy doing i.e hobbies, like Fitness Kitchen (FK), Farm Fitness (FF), Adventure Racing (AR), Charity, Family, Travels, and so forth will be shared here as well (There are also specific web pages on certain projects like FK, FF, AR under ‘Projects‘) I’m very excited about these projects, and hope you are too. All your feedbacks, ideas, & comments are most welcomed to ensure these projects take off well.

All of the blog entries from this blog were also transferred to my new website, and stored in the Archives of the Blog page. Also can be found in the website are the Personal Training packages, online schedule,  personal credentials and other stuff. Come and nave a look!

Okay guys, till we meet again, do take care of yourself and each other. Cheerio!  

p/s - Down the Memory Lane : I’m very new in blogging. This blog was activated in January 2008, and since then 111 blog entries have been activated and shared. Along the way, new friendships are created, and I thank YOU for that (and also for the support & words of encouragement).  Hope to see you guys at my new website !! Cheerio

For better handling of my training slots, my training schedule can be viewed online now. Please go to our  Corporate Athletes website to check the trainer’s availability prior to booking your slot.

This online calendar has been running for more than a month now, and has been very user-friendly to both myself, and my clients. I used to put down the session type & number (like PT for Personal Training & AP for AquaPeople) and clients’ name in the slot, but thought that it will be better if I put down the locations instead. This way, the client is aware of my wherabouts, and can decide the time it takes to get from the last training location to theirs.

Towerthon is back. This year, it will be held on March 1, 2009.  Registration form can be downloaded here.

Excerpt of their ad:

KL Tower Forest Towerthon Challenge is an annual signature event organized by Menara Kuala Lumpur whereby runners are required to run approximately one kilometer uphill before climbing 2,058 steps to reach Tower Head 3 at 288 meter above ground level.

Apart from attracting ever-increasing number of international participants, the Towerthon is also divided into several age categories, namely Men and Women (Open), Men and Women (Junior), Senior and Diamond Veterans, Boy and Girl (Junior) and Disabled Men and Women.

Take up our challenge on the next Towerthon!

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Those who are interested, Corporate Athletes can assist with the registration. Just email your personal details to trainer@corporateathletes.com.my, and deposit the registration fee to our account. We will be submitting the forms this Saturday. Thanks.

It’s been quite a while huh since I last updated my blog. Few reasons to it:

• Engineering work has taken up most of my time now. I’m now in-charged of the Technical Assessment for a RM6.7B project - the biggest loan that my Bank is (yet to approve) securing since its existense, and I’m proud to be part of it ….. and phiew , the paper has just recently completed. With infos/docs stacked as high as my 5-year old daughter, I’m proud to have it done within 48-hours. I guess, healthy body leads to healthy mind huh …. and one thing for sure, you can take hellot more pressure that the rest of the people too…..! So, guys, exercise hard!
• Business thingy is not helping out either. In a good way of course. This is the busiest month ever. I managed to complete 2 of my PT clients, and 4 new clients have just signed up, making a total of 20 clients actively working out at the moment. Alhamdullilah. Passion + Sincerity = Success
• Due to hectic work and business life, I took the lot for a family vacation in PD right after CNY - truly an excapade from city stressors. For 3 full days, we soaked ourselves in sea, sun and sand. This was also the time that I took effort in planning out the re-branding of Corporate Athletes.
• New website in on the way too. With a spirit to LOVE LIFE, I’m targeting to launch it on Valentine’s Day. This new website will replace the old one. Still using the url add of www.corporateathletes.com.my this website will incorporate my blog into the website …. it’s a weblog altogether. So, no longer need to update two sites, and it will be an interactive and pictorial one too (which my current website is lacking off… :)…). I would like to thank these important people behind this web thingy;

1. Halim - thank you so much for your time and dedication. Halim has been helping me out in setting and updating my website since the existence of Corporate Athletes. I owe you ‘alot’ …. hehhehehe …. when can we train together huh?
2. Kevin Zahri - His creativity has brought him to where he is now. A man of big dreams, he is slowly turned them into reality. A very professional person to work with, and lots of things were settled in a very short time. I thanked him for his time, dedication and sincerity …. tqvm. For those who have not bought his book; Fitness 24/7 or Cergas 24/7, please make sure you buy them. Loads of useful info.
3. Wan - Due to my time constraint, he is definitely one of the guys that help me out to lessen my ‘web’ burden …. despite of his young age, I see ’success’ all written his forehead already ….. again, tqvm.

Alright people, do check out my new website later ya. To my Indian clients, Happy Thaipusam, and may you have a memorable one! Take care of yourself and each other

p/s - For the time being, this blog is still running as usual.

simplified Chinese: 新年快乐; traditional Chinese: 新年快樂; pinyin: Xīnnián kuàilè; Hokkien POJ: Sin-nî khòai-lo̍k; Cantonese: Sun nin faai lowk. A more contemporary greeting reflective of western influences, it literally translates from the greeting “Happy new year” more common in the west. But in northern parts of China, traditionally people say simplified Chinese: 过年好; traditional Chinese: 過年好; pinyin: guònian hǎo instead of simplified Chinese: 新年快乐, to differentiate it from the international new year. And 過年好 can be used from the first day to the fifth day of Chinese new year.

(taken from Wikipedia.org)

Anyway, I just want to wish my clients, friends and relatives a very happy 恭喜发财, & angpow chi pow lai …… …. May you have a prosperous year ahead.

As for my family, we will be celebrating CNY upnorth with our relatives & friends. There will be no PT or AP sessions from 25-30th January 2009. Happy Holidays everyone!

How to Survive Malaysian Buffets

Written by Ian Yusof

The reason why we go to buffets is to enjoy as much food as we can and squeeze them down into our tiny stomach. For that reason, I’m not going to ask you not to eat but instead, share with you the tips on how to eat well while not compromising on the expansive selection of food at the buffet counters. These are merely guidelines and best to be taken in sequence. Well, you may get some comments from your buffet buddies on this out-of-the-world buffet sequencing but hey, it’s your health and life that we are talking about here. So guys, do it in style and be proud of it. Well, here it goes: 

• Always start off with liquid. This can be either in the form of juices, water or soup. Be cautious when drinking juices. Stay away from the cordial-type juices, instead opt for freshly-squeezed juice. Juices from concentrated cordial are filled with sugar and should be avoided altogether.  Water is the safest ever option and there’s no such thing as too much of it. For soup, always go for clear soup (like Minestrone soup or Miso Soup) as opposed to creamy type like Cream of Mushroom or Chicken – it is just too much cream and flour in it.  If you can’t find any clear soup, create one. Just go to the Noodle Soup counter, and start putting the ingredients for noodles like shredded chicken, spring onion and mushrooms (skip the noodle – you’re not having your main-course yet) and voila, you have one of the best soups in the world.
• Fruits, fruits, fruits – This is what we do wrong mostly. Fruits should be taken prior to a meal and not as a dessert. This is because fruits digest faster that other food. It goes straight through the stomach, and into the intestine. If you were to eat other food first like bread, rice etc and save the fruits as dessert towards the end, these food will block the passage as they will take longer to digest. So, always eat fruits on an empty stomach.
• Main Course – Now, this is the main part of your meal. What to look for? Obviously, the most expensive food. You will notice that most of the expensive food is either raw or comes in simply cooked form (with little seasoning and such). Among others, fresh oysters, sashimi, poached salmon, roasted turkey breast, raw or steamed prawns, baked lobster or sushi. Notice the way they are being prepared – either poached, steamed, baked, roasted or just simply raw - this is just to ensure that the flavors are locked in for its freshness. Good chefs will not jeopardize its freshness with too much seasoning or flavorings and such. Mind you, these are the wisest selection that you can have.
• Side Dishes – In complementing the ‘expensive’ main courses are the cheapest food – these can be stir-fry mix veggie, salad (stick with clear dressing like lime, olive oil, Italian, vinaigrette etc.), soup, whole-grained rolls and buns. If you are a rice guy, get half a bowl. …you need carbo anyway. Notice how I place rice as a side dish and not as a main course. Malaysians have too much rice in their diet and save very little room for the dishes. Just by changing this meal pattern alone (rice as side dish), you can reduce as much as half a kilo of body weight per week.
• Desserts – Well, don’t be a super-freak health junkie. Go for the desserts and satisfy your sweet tooth. The point is to take it in moderation. If there are choc-based desserts, go for it – the darker the choc, the better. Dark chocolate and not white or milk chocolate, lowers high blood pressure. Dark choc has anti-oxidants too. At The Temptation in Rennaisance, they even have a Choc Fondue with sticks of fresh fruits served at the lunch buffet. Go for it.

Hope the above serves you justice in trying to survive clients’ invitation for buffets. For more information and tips on healthy eating, please feel free to drop us an e-mail at trainer@corporateathletes.com.my. Bon Appetit!.

Delayed Report - Engineering role is taking over me … Finally, I managed to pen-down some crappy stuffs on the race last weekend.

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I’ve never participated in races that left me with so many leech bites, deep wounds & scratches from thorny branches. And I got all of them from the deeper wood of Maxwell Hill in the last Perak Ironbound Challenge. Frankly, I could not remember seeing anyone without bloody legs after the race …. Like some, I also got some pretty deep wounds on my face & arms.

I’ve never met my Macam Bagus partner; WMH, before. We got to know each other through blogging & e-mails. It was definitely a dicey move, as WMH could easily be the pain-in-the-butt team partner. To my ….. well in fact, OUR suprise, we bonded very well, and there were hardly any moments  that we felt like whacking each others’ head off … hehehheh.  I met WMH for the very first time at Puduraya Bus Station, minutes before our bus departed for Taiping. Despite of his ’fresh’ arrival after a flight from Miri, he looked rather enthusiastic on this trip upnorth. I was surprised to see WMH, who stood at the same height with me, also carries the same bodyweight and waistline ….. in fact, we have similar interests in life - travelling, self-improvement books (yah yah yahh) and outdoor activities. The only difference between us is that I am 10 years more ‘mature’ than him .

The Perak Ironbound Race started well at 8.30am the following day. It was a bright Sunday morning when we  were flaggged off from the parking lot opposite the Taiping Zoo. We had to run the entire Taiping Lake Garden before we went to our next race discipline - bamboo rafting. This was the run that I had to stop 4 times to tie-up my shoe laces … and that my friend, was always a double tie-knot (there’s no way that it could un-tie itself … probably, some things are best left un-explained). By then, I’m sure that WMH would think that I’m the biggest jerk on earth …… but hey, ‘Macam Bagus’ laa katakan!!

Did I say bamboo-rafting? As far as I could remember, I didn’t see anyone rafting ….. All of us were practically swimming with the raft instead …. the raft even sank when a small lady sat on it.  And yes, we were swimming with our full-gear on; hydration bag, carabiners, prussic cords, body harness, helmet and as the long list goes on :), for the entire 300meters (I think).

sinking rafts

Upnext was river rambling (a pretty long one too), where some elite teams got lost, and ‘forced’ to be reunited with ‘MacamBagus’ at 2nd hour of the race ……… and that was not long enough before they disappeared again into the deeper woods of Maxwell Hill, and left the whole bunch of weekend warriors like us behind.

(Taken from Doc Hisham’s blog …… Doc, hehhehe ….. I’ll take that as a compliment!)

the way to cross a river ..... follow the leader

let the leader go first

if he drowns ..... don't follow him

The moment we came out from the jungle trail, we were back on tarmac road. This is the road that ferries tourists up and down the Maxwell Hill. At first, we were glad that we were back to civilisation, only to discover that we had to brave a steep upclimb for the next 2km. I created a simple towing system made out of slings and prussic cords, to assist WMH with the speed. This was also the time that many mixed-category teams overtook us. No worries, we still had more than 4 hrs ahead of us to overtake these MEMANG BAGUS teams …. hehehhe … truly  a ‘MACAM BAGUS’ attitude.

Once we were on top of Maxwell (also known as Bukit Larut), we went back into the woods. This time, we tackled more vicious river rambling, which is more like ‘waterfall rambling’. Just imagine having to go down waterfalls with no ropes attached - lotsa sliding (more scratches), water dipping (more cramps) … but I tell you, the water is one of the purest of its kind in the world….hehehhe, and definitely more thorny plants (ouch, ouch, ouch). This was where they threw an 80m abseiling section too, but hey, no big deal, the highest I’ve abseiled was from 44th floor of Times Square in the AXN race….again macam bagus! This was also the point where we heard over one of the marshalls’ walkie that the first team had just reached the finishing line. Considering that, I think we were not that bad at all, as we would soon hit the Lake Garden. Our stomachs were already rumbling heavily by this time. Our ration of PowerGels almost finished too.

Once we were out from the woods, we were back at the Lake Garden area where 3 more disciplines were lining up for us; Zoo Mystery Test, Kayaking & Orienteering. We tackled the kayak section first (both, WMH and I are pretty good kayakers … so, we completed the 3 loops surrounding the lake at ease). We then, moved to Orienteering section (this is my personal best … compass and me jive very well) where by this time, WMH already gave up his shoes and practically ran with his socks. Who would have thought that the organiser was ‘cruel’ enough (sorry Sham … hehhehe) to throw not 5, and definitely not 10, but thirteen points, covering more than 8km I think. By 10th point, we could not stand the hunger pangs anymore, and decided to hit the F&B shelter at the finishing line. I took a plateful of fried noodles and 5 curry puffs, and drowned them in 3 glasses of icy cool water…. all well under 5 minutes. We could see the whole bunch of VAT teams (Police Commandos) in their truck already, waiting to head home… yelp! After my x-press meal, I went to see organiser Sham to ask about the cut-off time. He gave us the green light to proceed, and we continued with the remaining 3 orienteering points. We went back to the orienteering checkpoint for final passport stamping, only to discover that even the marshalls had left …. Now, I am curious to know how many teams actually managed to complete the entire race. As far as I am concerned, we were almost there and Sham promoised to give us the certs….Enuf said!hehheheheh

WMH, thanks for being a great racing buddy. Can’t wait for you to move back to KL, and continue racing with Macam Bagus.

p/s - WMH took some photos before and after the run. Probably will ask for his permission to upload later.

Looking forward to this run, but don’t think that it will be feasible to bring Iana along. Reason : It’s too early …. she’s definitely not that early riser. Furthermore, I have to run with one of my Corporate Athletes clients, as this will be her first attempt in completing a long-distance run.

Probably, should get wifey to bring Iana and the rest of her cousins to zoo right after the run (coz I feel ‘guilty’ to be in a zoo without the kids ……. … similarly, I don’t feel good to be in McD or KFC without the kids too, & that explains why I don’t eat at fast food restaurants if Iana is not around …. enuf said! )

For those guys who want to know more about this run, please visit this runner’s blog:

http://pm1.blogspot.com/2009/01/der-wild-wild-run-2009-rules-regulation.html (thanks Ronnie!)

Selected Collection of Fitness Quotes by Simran Khurana, About.com

Franklin P. Adams: Fitness Quotes
Health is the thing that makes you feel that now is the best time of the year.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton: Fitness Quotes
I am always busy, which is perhaps the chief reason why I am always well.

Dr. Jonas Salk: Fitness Quotes
I feel that the greatest reward for doing is the opportunity to do more.

Ernest Hemingway: Fitness Quotes
I still need more healthy rest in order to work at my best. My health is the main capital I have and I want to administer it intelligently.

Eubie Blake (On his 100th Birthday): Fitness Quotes
If I’d known I was going to live this long, I’d have taken better care of myself.

Julius Erving: Fitness Quotes
If you don’t do what’s best for your body, you’re the one who comes up on the short end.

Moses Maimonides, The Physician’s Oath: Fitness Quotes
Inspire me with love for my art and for thy creatures. In the sufferer let me see only the human being.

Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe: Fitness Quotes
It is in human nature to relax, when not compelled by personal advantage or disadvantage.

Norman Vincent Peale: Fitness Quotes
Learn to relax. Your body is precious, as it houses your mind and spirit. Inner peace begins with a relaxed body.

Izaak Walton: Fitness Quotes
Look to your health; and if you have it, praise God and value it next to conscience; for health is the second blessing that we mortals are capable of, a blessing money can’t buy.

After PT with one of my youngest clients (~8 years old) after work yesterday, I went home straight for another personal workout session. I hit the pool. Here are the workout details:

Event : Perak Ironbound Challenge

Training Date : January 14, 2008

Training Type : Aqua Cardio

2 x Freestyle - 500m & Breast Stroke - 500m

Total swim = 2km.

Enough training? Definitely not! … but whatever that I can do hopefully  will boost up my endurance level … Called up my racing buddy WMH last night. He also did double workout sessions yesterday (sampai almost ter’muntah’ ler …. hehheheh) plus a bowling session ( waitaminute, is there a bowling discipline in the race…) & loaded himself up with lamb chop soon after.