Instead of beating up on your abdominal muscles everyday and running until out of breath, let me introduce a method of strengthening your core muscles efficiently and instantly. If you have never heard of BOSU, time to make that equipment your favorite toy in the gym. Go to it, touch it, rub it, and train with it!

Last week, while still doing multi-sports training for triathlon, I have created a core-strength training protocol for my weight training program. I have designed a program to challenge my core muscles more in every single weight training exercise that I perform. How? The title of this entry tells it all: using BOSU. I flip the BOSU (please visit the link above if you haven’t and have no idea what a BOSU looks like) upside down and stand on the flat surface while performing exercises. The idea is to keep you off-balance in the beginning and train you to stabilize yourself with core strength. While my weight training program stays fairly simple and self-explanatory, it might take some times for me to get used to working out on a rounded surface.

Here’s the look of my simple 45 minutes weight training program:

• Dumbbell bench press (on a stability ball): 35 lbs., 2 x 12 superset with squat (on the BOSU): 70 lbs., 2 x 12
• Push-up (on the BOSU) : 2 x 12 superset with single leg squat (on the BOSU): body weight, 2 x 10
• Inverted hamstring 1-arm row: 25 lbs., 2 x 10 superset with front lunge with twist: 8 lbs. medicine ball, 2 x 10 each side
• 1-arm clean and jerk (on the BOSU): 15 lbs., 2 x 10 each arm superset with lateral raise: 15 lbs., 2 x 10
• Pull-ups: 2 x 10
• Abs: leg drops and dead bug coordination

Endurance Training:

• 20 minutes of interval training on each elliptical and treadmill

BOSU…coming for you this Thursday for the second round!

Under 1 hour and 20 minutes. No excuses.

So, I have promised to show you the veggie quesadilla that I made over the weekend after spending an hour mowing my lawn. Here are the ingredients:

• 1 La Tortilla Factory tortilla (I used rosemary flavor.)
• 1 broiled zucchini, sliced
• 1 broiled eggplant, sliced
• 1 broiled long chili pepper, skin peeled and seeded
• 1 broiled jalapeño, skin peeled and seeded
• 2 tablespoons of fat-free or low-fat cottage cheese
• 2 tablespoons of fat-free or low-fat yogurt

I highly recommend buying La Tortilla Factory’s tortillas if you can find them in the store. La Tortilla Factory makes its tortillas flavorful while providing good balance of carbohydrates (plenty of fiber), fats(contains omega-3), and protein. But you can always substitute with other brands as long as you are buying whole wheat or whole grain tortillas that have at least 8 grams of fiber per serving. For vegetables, you may also grill them if you have one of those fancy outdoor grill or stove grill pan. After you char your long chili pepper and jalapeño on the grill, cover them up in a bowl with plastic wrap or aluminum foil for 10 minutes for easy peeling. After you prepare your vegetables, just simply lay them out on one half of the tortilla and spread cottage cheese over them (or you can use other cheese such as pepperjack, cheddar, or American yellow or white. Just don’t over do it! Everything in moderation). Now, fold your tortilla over and grill it on a frying pan or skillet for 2 to 3 minutes on each side until the tortilla gets warm and crispy. La Tortilla Factory’s tortillas are made with extra virgin olive oil; therefore, you don’t really need to grease the pan to get the tortilla crispy. Otherwise, drizzle a bit of olive oil or use PAM. Finally, the last touch of this fabulous dish…just scoop some yogurt (low-fat or fat-free sour cream if you wish) and lay it on the quesadilla.

Enjoy! And invent your own version of quesadilla!

I haven’t gone back to Jersey, my home, for at least a month and half. My grass has grown tall and in different directions. My first reaction was…”not again, this is a nightmare!” As much as I appreciate the greens, cutting grass is definitely not the way I want to enjoy the nature. However, I was able to get a couple hours of moderate workout from mowing the grass. And of course, I was not shy to replenish myself with some delicious vegetarian quesadillas filled with cottage cheese (in the next entry) for dinner. Well, here’s the look of my lawn, before and after I have done some work to it.

Before

After

I burnt about 200 to 300 calories…not bad on an off-day from training.

Don’t take chores for granted. They count as part of having an active lifestyle!

“Brick” training means going for a run after biking. With my triathlon race coming up in less than two months, I desperately need to get my body ready for doing multi-sport for at least an hour and half. So here’s a simple “brick” workout I had this morning:

• Biking: roughly 25 miles
• Running: Roughly 1.5 miles

There you go…simple but mentally challenging. The pay-off? A nice and big breakfast!

Breakfast Menu:

• 1 whole wheat english muffin with egg
• 1 banana
• 1 orange
• 1 cup of freshly brewed black coffee

Reward yourself with some guilt-free but nicely prepared breakfast will make your morning workout more enjoyable! I guarantee.

I have applied to several fitness consulting firms for personal trainer positions. In a consulting fitness company, managers usually send out trainers to train clients in their homes. The interview process was rather intense comparing to the ones given by corporate gyms such as Equinox and New York Sports Club, where they basically tell you that you will be paid minimum wage cleaning and putting weights away while prospecting your clients in the first phase of being a personal trainer. In the process of interviewing with my first consulting firm, I have gone through three stages of the interview with them and just finished the final stage where I had to give a training session to one of its clients. Designing a program that fit the potential client was rather interesting and simple. However, once I had started my simulation of training a client, I made many mistakes along the way: not timing the session well, not getting enough feedback from the client, and not being able to explain the biomechanics of human body relative to the exercises. I failed miserably…I wouldn’t hire me if I were the founder of the firm.

I have eventually gotten over my frustration and embarrassment. My interview experience with the first consulting firm was invaluable. I have learned my weaknesses and strengths; a personal trainer not only has to be “personal” to his or her client, but he or she has to hold the profession to its highest standard by designing exercise programs that could benefit clients’ physiology, physical, and performance within a specific time frame and help them reach their goals.

Good luck to all of you who are inspired to be personal trainers. Don’t be discouraged if you have had bad interviews. Remember, you are about to become an educator, coach, and best of all, consultant for anyone who needs your help and advice. You are accountable to your clients’ health and weight management. A bad interview is merely a stepping stone to improve your skills.

As a certified personal trainer by American Council on Exercise, I am required to attend the practical training to enhance my skills in client assessment, program design, and client relationship and motivation principles. The most useful information that I have learned is program design; besides designing a strength training routine, I have also learned to implement other important stages to support the workout. Below is my new approach to program design:

1. Dynamic Warm-ups
2. Core Integration (Activation)
3. Neuromuscular Stabilization
4. Strength Training Exercises (Functional Training)
5. Core Strengthening
6. Static Stretching

Give it a try! See if you can increase your strength, reaction time, speed, balance, flexibility, and have better postures. For exercise recommendations in each stage, please leave me a feedback and I will get back to you. Good luck!

I really need to pick up my pace and train harder for biking. I especially need to work on my pedaling technique because my hips sway left and right when I get tired. Also, my transition from standing to sitting position is not smooth, which will slow me down during my triathlon race. I have implemented approximately a 15-mile ride to my morning workout routines. I bike along the Hudson river from 20th street up to 95th street and come back down to my office at 36th street. Although the wind blowing against my face can be grueling sometimes, but the smooth ride and great view have made my workout enjoyable. Below are some pictures that I took the other day:

I used to live on the other side of Hudson river, New Jersey. I felt nolstagic looking across the river from New York.

What a great way to start the morning off by riding along this beautiful river.

My week has been hectic and filled with interviews for personal trainer position. To ensure that I get to my interviews on time and still keep up with my triathlon training, I have been trying the Power of 10 workout that only requires 20 minutes in the weight room…according to Adam Zickerman, a trainer who developed the exercise program.

The key to Power of 10 is to do every repetition 10 seconds, 5 seconds on both concentric and eccentric contraction phase regardless of the exercise that you are doing. The purpose of Power of 10 is to “fire” up every single muscle fiber and build strength and endurance simultaneously. Adam suggests doing 6 to 8 repetitions for every exercise that you choose and thus spend up to a minute for each exercise. Also, Adam recommends doing 6 to 8 exercise per session and leaving about 10 to 12 minutes at the end for stretching.

My workout is below:

Weight Training

• Bar-bell Bench Press: 65 lbs. x 6
• Leg Press: 90 lbs. x 6
• Dumbbell Shoulder Press: 25 lb. x 6
• Machine Back Row: 80 lbs. x 6
• Pull-ups: 1 x 10
• Front Dips: 1 x 20

Cardio Training: Swimming for 45 minutes

I was exhausted by the end of my first Power of 10. Adam suggests doing this workout only once a week while no cardiovascular exercise is necessary. I personally don’t recommend following his opinion on this matter. According to American Council on Exercise standard, a person should engage in at least 30 minutes of moderate intensity exercise in order to stay healthy and fit. To beat your crazy schedule, I recommend doing Power of 10 twice a week with two to three times of endurance training implemented.

I set up an 8 AM bike-ride session with my mentor, Brice, from TANYC this morning. To my surprise, tons of people were already running, walking, and biking as I arrived Central Park at 7:30 AM. Since I arrived earlier than my scheduled ride, I took some photos as my record for the first practice.

About to hop on my bike and start the morning off with a fun and relaxing ride

This was the route we took, starting at 5th Avenue and 90th Street. Brice and I rode 3 laps around the park. A lap around the park is about 6 miles.

During the ride, Brice gave me a Triathlon 101. He gave me some tips on the transitions going from swimming to biking and to running. Brice emphasized the importance of having a solid swim and told me some drills that I can try on my own in the pool, such as practice swimming in a straight line with eyes closed and making half-circles with my head when taking a breath to increase my visibility of the surrounding in an open water. In addition, since my first triathlon is a short distance race, Brice recommended me not to stop for a drink when going from biking to running. He suggested that I fuel myself about 3 to 4 miles before the end of the biking part in order to go into my run smoothly.

I have been feeling less anxious about my race after my Triathlon 101. Besides working on my endurance to improve my time, I hope to shed some time off the clock by practicing transitions and other techniques.