“I’m [insert religion]…we look at things differently”

After sitting on my ass for 12 hours a day 5 days a week, I really appreciate my workouts during the weekends. Over the weekend, I was training with my dad at Marine park. After our run, we did our usual calisthenics exercises on a chin-up bar. But there was one problem, my dad can’t reach the chin-up bar (my dad is 2 inches shorter and 20 lbs heavier than me). So I had to give him a boost. As I was lifting my dad from the knees, these two brown guys were watching us and couldn’t help but laugh. One of them is a beer bellied 50ish y/o and the other is a thin but fit 40 y/0 wearing skin tight clothes. After my dad finished his set, Nazeem (the 40 y/0) struck up a friendly conversation with us. He told my dad to try jumping up to the bar but my dad explained that he was too short and proceeded to compare his height with Nazeem to prove his point. But Nazeem countered with examples of short people who can reach the chin-up bar and that my dad should keep trying until he reaches it. Then somehow we talked about how age affects your mentality about exercise. Dad told Nazeem that once you get close to retirement age, you switch from a push-your-limits mentality to a maintain-your-limits mentality. Once again Nazeem with his gung ho attitude brought up examples of 60 to 70 y/0 people who have done some incredible physical feat. And for some odd reason he throws in this comment: “I’m [insert religion]… we look at things differently”. I was like what the hell does being from a certain religion has anything to do with what we’re talking about??? (in my head of course) My dad laughed and empathized with Nazeem about how he use to be gung-ho like him back when he was 40 but things like family and finances become more important. To our surprise Nazeem then mentioned that his wife is half Chinese and German and that he understands the family part but still believes in the push-your-limits mentality. One day you’ll understand Nazeem…..one day.

Training Log

6/27 – 7/1

• 50 push-ups
• 20 chin-ups
• 1 min tuck planche

7/2

• Dance practice

7/3

• 15 mile bike ride at Prospect Park

7/4 – 7/8

• 50 push-ups
• 20 chin-ups
• 1 min tuck planche

7/9

• 7 mile run
• 5 chin-up turnarounds, 19 pull-downs, and 15 leg lifts in a set

Quick Update

I only got 2 minutes to update this before I go to bed so please excuse my grammar and spelling errors. I’ve started working at an investment bank which makes it really hard to do the kinds of workout I’ve been doing a few weeks ago. So I’ve shorten it to a 5-10 minute intensive workout consisting of 50 pushups, 20 pullups and 60 second tuck planche with no rest.

Went to the Bronx Zoo yesterday with some friends and I walked from 9 in the morning till 5 pm. And somewhere in the afternoon there was this yoga instructor teaching the different yoga poses using animals as the theme. It was freaking hilarious because we had to make the animal noises while we did the poses. Then stuffed myself with Persian food at Ravagh Persian Grill, which is supposedly the best persian restaurant in nyc. Pretty classy place I must say. Then I trekked back to Bronx to meet up with my man Alex Guo and Willis Zhang with his friend from Maryland for a productive dance practice at Albert Einstein College. Got back home at 4:30 am with a bruised back but it was well worth it.

Training Log

06/20 – 06/24

• 50 pushups
• 20 pullups
• 60 second tuck plaches

06/25

• walked for 9 hours
• yoga
• Dance practice

Week 1

This weekend was my sister’s b-day, and we as a family decided to celebrate it together by taking a nice long bike ride along the trail bordering the beaches of Brooklyn. It was such a pleasant ride until we got to the Marine Parkway Bridge. Imagine riding in a narrow bike lane where two bikes can barely fit and seeing the ocean 50 feet below on one side and cars vrooming past you on the other, creating this ghostly sound. I didn’t realize how hard I was gripping on to my bike until we crossed the bridge and my hands were shaking. Afterwards, we got to Fort Tilden, which has all these abandoned military buildings and some structures that were converted into art pieces. Then we finally arrived at the beach, and it was gorgeous; the water was clear, the sand was free of broken beer bottles, and there were only a handful of people around. While my parents were collecting the smooth rocks and shells, my sister and I had a little competition to see who could get the highest number of rock skips. Then we headed back and pigged out on fried lobster, steak and cake. Totally negated our workout =D.

Training log

6/3/11

• 5 mile run
• 4 chin up bar turnarounds
• 15 pull downs
• 10 pull up leg lifts
• 75 seconds of tuck front lever in 2 sets
• 75 seconds of tuck planche in 2 sets
• 10 pull ups
• 60 seconds of one arm bent planche in 4 sets
• 1 hour stretch

6/4/11

• 5 hour bike ride

6/6/11

• 50 push ups
• 75 seconds of tuck planche in 2 sets
• 15 pull ups
• 1 hour dancing
• 1 hour stretch

6/7/11

• 5.5 mile run
• 5 chin up bar turnaround, 15 pull downs and 9 pull up leg lifts in one set
• 10 pull ups
• 60 seconds of tuck planche in 2 sets
• 60 seconds of one arm bent planche in 4 sets
• 1 hour stretch