A month of training.

Since 7/3/2012, ilya moved into my new house and we began our summer training.

The idea was simple.

We just wanted to be a bad ass popper and a great popping partners/crewmates just like the ones we look up to like Jsmooth and Kid Boogie, Crazy Kyo and Popping J, Gucchon and Kei, Mosta Pop and Venom, Rasshard and Future.

I had a glass and got knocked out lol

Those guys are dope as an individual popper.
But when they go on the stage together, chemical reaction happens and destroys the floor.

We wanted to know how they do it.
And from a shallow resource, we just assumed that they train together often and in some cases live together.

We just put that into action.

Our goal was to strengthen our body and get the basics solid.
This is because we are going to LA from 8/19-25th and we wanted to be ready to learn and absorb as much technique as possible when we get there.




Therefore, we focused on working out, diet, and drilling.

We both worked during the day. And since I have two jobs, sometimes I came home after midnight. So we decided to go to the gym to workout in the morning.

We woke up at 4 am.
First thing we had was oatmeal + whey protein shake.
Than we got ready for the day and left the house at 5 am.

What I enjoyed the most about getting up early was to see how the sunrise colored the cloud.
Taking pictures of the cloud using iPhone is actually starting to become my new hobby lol

82nd St Station

By 5:45, we got to the gym. Planet Fitness was a little far from my house, but its only $10 a month and the tools are easy to use. On top of that, it was open from 5 am, and when we got there, it was almost empty, allowing us to use the equipments and machines freely.

Planet Fitness

Both of us had our own training routine. I'm not sure what Ilya's workout routine was but I stuck to the Brad Pitt work out I found online.

After the workout, we had another protein shake and off to work.


Ilya's job ended by 5 pm. However, I have two jobs so when I had double shifts, I came home late.

Therefore, when I had double shift, Ilya worked on the drills alone at home while I tried to drill a little on the train back home :D lol

When I ended my work by 5pm, we drilled together.


Like I said, we didn't do anything intense. We did basic drills with intensity.

Since we needed at least 5 hours of sleep, we slept by 10:30-11 pm.

We ate healthy too.
I made the meal and we packed it into the neat lunch box I got from Wal-Mart.

Other than the protein shakes, we had the meal (picture below) on lunch and dinner, had snacks between breakfast and lunch, and between lunch and dinner.

Rice (white/brown), Chiken, Green Salad

It was not easy to do all this. lol

I mean we were awake and active for almost 20 hours a day.

But we kept going, believing one thing......

I mean if you can't believe in yourself, how can you keep on improving for the better?

Of course we had arguments as well.

I mean our lifestyle were pretty repetitive. It wasn't really fun lol
Especially when you don't see that much of a progress, it was very stressful.

So we talked a lot. A LOT OF TEXTING during work LOL
We discussed about many different topic. Dance, work outs, diet, videos, jokes, girls, mentality, inspiration, life etc.

The conversation made us understand each other as a person more than before.
And kept pushing ourselves to keep on going.

I felt all of this was worth doing when I went to events with Ilya, especially at Electro Soul Satisfaction (waiting for the organizer of the event to upload the video. Review of the event will be posted once the vids are published).

Having Ilya aside when I was battling influenced me more than I could ever imagine.

Since I got into this dance battle environment, I've always been alone.
I had a crew, but I've always lead the crew. Therefore, when I battled, I got prepared and pushed my ass up to go against someone.

But this time, I had a partner that slapped (more like slammed lol) my back to get me prepared physically and mentally.
Not only that, I had someone who knew what I should do or should've done and I can ask for advice for the next battle.

This was very new to me
But having a crewmate that I can rely on gave me strength.

Now we are a part since I'm going back to Japan for a week before visiting LA.

Our summer training is not over yet.

But I just wanted to summarize what we've done till this point.

 LA is going to be AWESOME.

We will keep striving to evolve as a human being, dancer, popper, and crewmates.

Kamikaze What The Funk?! Crew

Training with consistency to gain the power to bring destruction on the dance floor!!! 

Peace and God Bless

SUGALOO

Day 8: Experienced person is a great working out partner!

So back to day 1 of the week.
Today was my chest workout day.
I hate this day because my chest is so weak and flat that I can't lift most of the weights......

What was worse was that I over slept in the morning.

So I had to go to the gym after I got off work.
What a great start of the day.

When I got to the gym it was around 6 PM, of course there was a lot of people at the gym.

I got very discouraged because I knew that I'm not going to be able to use the machines that I want to use in a timely manner.


However, surprisingly, today turned out to be a great workout day for me.


The reason was that there were a lot of people who is experienced in working out.

There was this one guy who literally looked like THIS↓↓↓ (0_0) lol

Usually you would get VERY discouraged working next to a guy like this right?

I mean c'mon.
They've been working hard and gained what you really want and are trying so hard to get.
They are better than others. Every rep that they do is amazing that all eyes goes to them.
And next to that person, here I am, with a body that's 10 times smaller, thinner, and weaker, working out struggling with small weights.

I think a lot of people would be like

"I'm just making myself looks stupid"
"I can never be like that"
"I'm trying so hard but why aren't I becoming bigger like him...."

and eventually gets discouraged and give up.

But somehow I was able to look at them differently.
I thought that they were the best living proof that IF YOU PUT YOUR MIND AND WORK INTO IT, YOU CAN BECOME HOW YOU WANT TO LOOK.


So I intentionally shared the machine and/or worked out next to the toughest person I can find.
By doing this, I put myself in a situation to fight against my limit and workout much more than I usually do.
This resulted in a better training because I kept on pushing myself to my limit.

It was tough, and I'm sure I looked stupid struggling with a small weights right next to the giants.
But it was all worth it.
Because I was trying my best to follow a the best example.

"Experienced person is the most reliable resource you can have"

Peace and God Bless.

Day 5,6: Slipping....lets get back up.

Sigh.....

So I got too tired and fell a sleep before updating this blog yesterday.

Although my training continues, I'm surprised that I can't even keep 5 days of constant posting.....

I'm busy doing a lot of stuff everyday. But that is an excuse.

However, beating myself with negative energy won't help improving myself.

So I say to myself

"Failure is a sign of trying"-anonymous

I saw this on FB wall the other day and I though it is a good perspective to see failure.

I've always told myself that "Failure is the key to success".

But I've always felt that this line is geared towards people with a failure that occurred after their intense effort. 

In contrast, the first line is more for people like me, who has just started to try something new.

Tomorrow is the beginning of a new week.

refresh my mind and soul.......and let's get back up!

Peace and God Bless.

Day 4: Completed the weight training section!

Oh man I'm tired lol

Today I had 9 hour shift at my job and I'm exhausted.......

BUT

I've completed the weight training section of the Brat Pitt workout plan for the first week!!! :D


For tomorrow and  Saturday, it will be cardio exercises. I'm pretty confident about this part of the workout because I'm used to walking and moving a lot. Also, dancing is a pretty intense cardio exercise. So compare to the weight lifting, it should be easier.

Well, its getting late, I'm tired, and I must wake up at 4 am to do the workout in the morning before I go to work in the city so I'm ending my day with chocolate Casein protein :P hmmmm.....

I'm so glad for whoever made these protein in chocolate flavor because you don't know how much I LOVE chocolate lol


oh, also I've also uploaded a new movie that shows the speed of the MacBook Pro's Boot time. So if you are interested, please enjoy :)

"Big goal needs small steps"

Peace and God bless.

Challenge....

Ok.


Simply put, I've been working out here and than starting this year.
However, it is not showing ANY physical transformation what so ever... I want to cry lol


and frankly, I'm tired of it.


Than recently, my crew mate ilya introduced me to Brad Pitt's workout plan that he did to prepare for the character he played in the movie "Fight Club".


He did some research and told me that he gained this body....

ONLY BY UPPER BODY AND CARDIO WORKOUT....


to me that super ideal because
1. I need to put some muscle on my chest to do some chest pop (chest pop is essential in having a hard hit in popping but I got no muscle.....)
2. I want my arms to be more thicker because my arms are like sticks....
3. I do a lot of cardio exercises (includes dancing)


Well honestly speaking, I've always wanted to get jacked on my upper body.


I've always been really REALLY thin. I'm just tired of looking weak and want to look more confident.


So instead of sticking to my own workout plan and diet, I'm going to do exactly what Brad Pitt did to prepare for Fight Club. (There will be slight adjustments at the beginning because some of the weights are too heavy for me to even do a single rep).


Here is his work out and diet plan. (By Brad Campbell of Top Fat Loss Trainer)
(Brad Pitt reportedly used a weight that would allow for 15 reps with proper form, where failure would be reached on the last repetition. He performed 3 sets per exercise and used 60 second rest periods in between sets).


Workout Plan

Monday-Chest

3 – 25 push ups (75 push ups)

3 – bench press – 25, 15, 8 reps (165, 195, 225)

3 – nautilus press (80, 100, 130)

3 – incline press (80, 100, 130)

3 – pec deck machine (60, 70, 80)

Tuesday – Back

3 – 25 pull ups     

3 – seated rows (75, 80, 85)

3 – lat pull downs (135, 150, 165)

3 – t bar rows (80, 95, 110)

Wednesday – Shoulders

3 – arnold press (55, 55, 55)

3 – laterals (30, 30, 30)

3 – front raises (25, 25, 25)

Thursday – Biceps & Triceps

3 – preacher curl machine (60, 80, 95)

3 – ez curls cable (50, 65, 80)

3 – hammer curls (30, 45, 55)

3 – push downs (70, 85, 100)

Friday – Cardio

Treadmill – 60 minutes at 80-90% MHR

Saturday – Cardio

Treadmill – 60 minutes at 80-90% MHR

Sunday – Rest

Maxin’ and Relaxin’

Diet Plan
Breakfast: 
6 egg whites (a few yolks added in) and 75 grams of oatmeal with raisins for added taste. Pitt also substituted a protein shake for the eggs if he was short on time.


Morning snack: 
canned tuna in wholewheat pita wraps.


Lunch:
2 chicken breasts, with 75-100 grams of brown rice and green vegetables.


Afternoon snack: 
protein bar or whey protein shake and 1 banana (this was pre-workout time).


Post-workout snack:
another whey protein shake and 1 banana.


Supper:
Grilled fish or chicken, more brown rice, veggies and a large salad.


Bedtime snack: low fat cottage cheese or a casein protein shake.




I here by declare to keep this up for AT LEAST two month (because I may be traveling for summer vacation). If I successfully continue this and see promising results, I will continue it and hopefully find balance between keeping a good physic and dance ability.


I'm scared and I know this is a HUUUUUGE challenge for me....


But you gotta take a step and try your best to become what you want to be....


"Where there is a will, there is a way" 




Peace and God Bless to all