The Waterboy

 Continuing from my previous post. I finally found a place to train. I had to do workouts at the gym to keep my muscles fit. However, my gym routine is planned to stop 4 weeks before the race, and I did this is to avoid my body being dense and tight during my swim sessions. Trust me, it helps.  For the next few weeks, I did full-body workouts 2 times a week, and the others were dedicated to the pool with 1 rest day a week. I also invested in a foam roller to help in my recovery. To me, the foam roller is an inexpensive and essential tool to everyone's workout routine. The foam roller allows you to relax your muscles and removes some lactic acid formation in your muscle. At the same time, foam rollers also help increase the range of motion and help reduce muscle pain. Sometimes, I foam roll as a warmup before my workouts.  Then, I watched my diet. The diet part of this training is fairly simple. I just avoided certain food to keep me to shape. I avoided processed sugars, i...

Welcome back to another "Storytime." Well, it's not an official title. So, storytime. I'll be continuing a story I posted 2 months ago about my first open water swim. Link  here . Just to recap, I injured my ankle a few months before the race. My race was compromised, and I had redemption in mind. I wanted to prove myself that I was capable of winning a race.  After the race in May, I had three months to prepare for the next race in August 2018. The organizers have announced a race at Bukit Merah Laketown Resort, Taiping, Perak. The categories offered were the 1500m, and 3000m swim for adults. I have never swan 3000m in a go before, so I opted to choose the sensible 1500 meters. I invited my teammates to join me in the race, but none were available on the mentioned date. So, it was me, myself, and I to train and compete in the race.  Competition Poster I started training at my university's swimming pool. My teammates were kind enough to join me in my training to h...

  My YouTube suggestions have been filled with running tips and tricks for the past few days. I'm always keen on learning things because even the fastest runners need a coach. While watching these videos, one thing was a little too common. All the videos advised beginner runners to run at an easy pace. Running at an easy pace has been gaining attention as it can reduce lactic acid build-up in muscles and faster recovery. At the same time, running easy all the time won't help someone to run faster. The suggested routine was to run easy all the time and run at a fast pace once or twice a week.  You see, when it comes to monitoring your running, there are several parameters you will have to monitor. Your heart rate, pace, cadence, and your own capability to keep going on . For some elite runners, easy paces are 5.00/km. Where else, a beginner runner's fast pace is just 5.30/km. This separates the best from the good ones.  So, how do you run easy? In my opinion, there are 2 w...

Unpopular Opinion: YOU DON'T NEED A SMARTWATCH! Yes. I have said it. You don't need a smartwatch. I think smartwatches are redundant to whatever gadgets we are using now . Now, nearly every person has a smartwatch on their wrist. These smartwatch serves a purpose to monitor their activity and comply to their daily needs like making calls, using the GPS, receiving messages and many more.  Let's think about it. We can make calls, use the GPS, listen to music and receive messages using the phone. So, why do we need a smartwatch? Looking at it from a "sports" perspective. There are dedicated monitoring devices that can be used to track your runs, swims, rides, and many more.  As for runs, phones can be used to track running . Simple apps like Strava, Nike Run Club, Runkeeper, and many more apps can be used to track using the phone's GPS. Well, there are some doubts regarding the accuracy of the GPS and other sensors. But, both phones and smartwatches are using the...

Since the first lockdown, my feed was full of posts on road bikes. Road cycling has been a new trend among Malaysians who are suddenly getting into the new norm. Some have more off days than before due to social distancing restrictions and some just have too much money lying in their bank. For some others, they just want to fill their time doing activities to keep them fit.  There are no proper statistics to prove this, but I can bet the sales of bicycles especially road bikes and mountain bikes in the past year. The sudden boom of cycling enthusiasts has made a fortune for all the bicycle dealers out there.  Diving deep into the world of cycling there are many choices to be made from. Every component is modular and can be fixed to any bike on any frame when it's matched properly. For this, we are only going to talk about road bikes. The main components of a road bike are the frame and the groupsets which include the brakes and gearing. The most common frame in the market is t...

13 May 2018 - Kelab Tasik Putrajaya Open Water Swimming Challange The team posing after the race On race day, we always prepare to leave for the venue early. We always warm up together and keep things cheerful as we wait for our event nervously. We get suited up and wait for the starter to call us to the line. Moments later, the host announces the participants to the start line. The countdown begins. T minus 10 seconds the airhorn will be honked. Everyone starts to countdown.  10, 9. 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, HONKKKKKKKKKKKKK THE RACE BEGINS The start will always be crowded, all the participants will be packed together very close. So, when the horn sounds, I had to make my way to the front very fast. I received some kicks to my hand and splashes of water to my face when I came out to take my breath each stroke. The start is always messy and barbaric. Everyone pushing and swimming to get ahead of the other. Thus, begins the 2km swim for everyone.  After the first 200m, the participa...

Posing in front of the start line Everyone will always remember their first take on new things. The first time you try a certain food, the first sip of alcohol, the first theme park ride, the first time they rode a bike/car, first everything. Well for me, I will always remember my first open water swimming competition. It was special to me because of the teammates that I had around. The whole journey towards this 'first experience' was a total rollercoaster of emotions.  When I joined the swimming team in 2017, I had very little knowledge about open water swimming. At the time, I merely know what was open water swimming, but I always see my seniors train for it. They were more experienced in it as they have already competed in a few of them. After 3 months of being on the team, the coach announced to us about an open water swimming competition that will be happening in the middle of May. We were 4 months ahead of the announcement and we were all excited. The juniors will have t...

What are swimming drills?? To my knowledge, swimming drills are exercises or workouts that are done to improve the swimming technique. Throughout my beginner swimming experience, I have done many drills. Some drills help you go faster, some drills help you have better endurance. Overall, drills make you a better swimmer, without them, you wouldn't be able to swim well.  When do you do your drills? Back when I was in the varsity swimming team, we did our drills after warmup and before our main set and cool down. Our typical swim session would look as follow: 1. Warm-ups 2. Drills 3. Main set 4. Cooldown/stretches Swim session example for 2.2km session. 1. Warm-up - 200m 2. Drills - Total 800m Kicking - 200m Pull-buoy - 200m Fins - 200m Paddles - 200m 3. Main set - Total 1.1km 100m X 4 - medium pace 200m X 2 - easy 300m X 1 - easy 4. Cooldown - 100m How often do you do your drills? Well, we had drills every session, because swimming is not a natural movement for humans and it takes p...

I've seen and heard many posts from my friends and others about their fat loss journey.  I am working out every single day and I don't see any results.  I just bought a girdle to help me lose my belly fat I am drinking this tea that can lose my fat.  Green tea helps fat loss I am doing abs workouts frequently but my belly fat is not going anywhere Most of the time I see these posts or hear them, they usually have one thing in common. They simply do not care for their diet. I believe having a good balance reflects on your body. A kid suffering from malnutrition will tend to have a body reflecting this diet. He lacks all the nutrients causing his body to look in a certain way. So, diet is a basic this that everyone should know.  There are many companies taking advantage of people who lack knowledge in fat loss knowledge. They tend to sell anything from slimming teas to girdles and fat loss myths to buy their products.  Always remember. There is no shortcut to succ...

  The beginning is always a challenge. The same goes for writing this blog. Hahahaha... However, to achieve something, you have to START. A few days back, a friend of mine was having some trouble consistently training/workout. He just pickup running to build up his stamina, but he finds it difficult to keep doing it. I was a beginner once. I started running consistently for the past year and here are my tips.  1. Don't care about the distance and pace Olympic long-distance runners run a lot in a day. Some may even finish 3 marathons a week. An amateur runner can run 5km a day and still do the same or even more tomorrow. Comparing these athletes is not the way to go as they have different goals. Beginners usually get demotivated when they only manage to run a few hundred meters but it is okay. They should know that running a few hundred meters or a kilometer is also a good thing.  In my opinion, a beginner should focus more on time. Forget the distance and pace. Keep an ey...

  Endurance sports basically require speed, strength, stamina, and control over the body. Elite athletes and recreational athletes have to withstand a certain amount of effort for a long time. To ensure this, training has to be done. If you have a coach, then you are better to resort to him/her. However, if you are doing it alone, here are some tips for a better training regime.  Intensity   Mileage    Duration There 3 words you might have heard when planning your training plan. How intense I have to be doing it? How long I have to be doing it? And, how far should I go? Let's look into it one by one.  One of the most common references to intensity is maximum heart rate (HRMax) when it comes to endurance training. To calculate your maximum heart rate the rule of thumb is by subtracting your age from 220. For example, if you're 45 years old, subtract 45 from 220 to get a maximum heart rate of 175. This is the average maximum number of times your heart should ...

Everyone has to have a routine. Whether you are working or not, you definitely have a routine going on. Waking up, grab a coffee, watching the TV, getting work done, exercise. It can be anything you want, no one is going to judge you. However, when it comes to training, there are specific regimes that you have to follow to get the gains. Here I am going to write about training involving endurance sports like running, cycling, rowing, swimming and so on. So, don't mix it up with other sports like badminton, football, basketball, and rugby because these sports here require teamwork and strategy. Where else the sports I'm into are more individual. Let's get into it.  When I was back in University, I had to plan my training weekly. But, this training routine was set up by our coach. We (the swim team) have swim sessions 3 times a week, dryland sessions 2 times a week, and gym sessions once a week. Sundays are our day off. We have the week packed with activities. Sometimes we do...

Here we go. Part 2 of the recovery tips. I suggest reading the previous post regarding recovery before reading as I won't mention the methods that were in the last post. Assuming you did read the previous post, let's get started. Recovery playing an important role when it comes to training. These upcoming methods are for the athlete who is taking it to the very next level. These don't come on a budget nor is it simple to follow.  1. Sports massage/Physiotherapy Yes, a massage. This is a kind of therapeutic massage that considers the impact of certain activities on specific joints, muscle groups, tendons, ligaments, and soft tissue groups. I've got a few of these and let me tell you. It was awesome. Usually, the team will get a massage before major tournaments. It's to avoid any injury or fatigue in the muscles when we are performing. But, if you are training heavy, it's wise to have one or two massage sessions a week. Other than that, having checkups with a phys...

This post relates to everyone who is an athlete or anyone who is training for competitions. Recovery is an important regime to deal with when it comes to training. As once my swim coach said. "What you do outside the pool matters the most" - Mr. Helmi Yes, he is correct. Training in the pool makes you a better swimmer, but the things you do outside the pool make you an athlete. The same goes for all sports: either a sprinter, bodybuilder, cyclist, or anything else. You can train like a mad man, but you have to be ready to do the same on the next day. Our muscles tend to get damaged in high-intensity workouts or training. The only way to do the same thing the next day is to recover those damaged muscle cells. There are many ways to recover. Some cost a huge amount of money. However, some recovery methods do not cost a single cent. I am here to talk about the simple and cost-effective way to recover your muscles for you to take your training to the next level.  1. Sleep The fir...