龙虎门

好不好看？见仁见智。。。
动作精彩，剧情老套，就如70年代的李小龙电影（多了些电影特效）。
有一些意犹未尽的是，王小龙的降龙十八掌太强了！

p/s: 片尾王小龙建议石黑龙改名石黑豹，那么他们三人就成为“龙虎豹”（香港土产黄书《龙虎豹》）。

Periodization (cont.)

I joined celebrity fitness on the first week of June and start workout since second week of June. After 8 weeks of 'high' intensity cycle ('high' is in relative context, since i don't like to push myself to the limit, kekeke), today is the last day of this cycle. Tomorrow, a 2-weeks low intensity cycle will begin for recovery...

Keep the today (30 July 2006) workout log for future reference...

Flat bench press
warm up sets:
bar only: 8 reps
+ 10kg: 8 reps
working sets:
+ 30kg: 8 reps
+ 40kg: 8 reps
+ 50kg: 6 reps (i was cheating for last 2 reps, as the bar did not touch my chest (no full ROM))
+ 50kg: 4 reps

some dumbbell flyes (on flat bench & declined bench)

Pull up (body weight)
3 x 8 reps

Bent over barbell row (with EZ bar)
25kg: 8 reps
30kg: 8 reps
35kg: 8 reps
40kg: 8 reps
47.5kg: 8 reps
27.5kg: 8 reps

some Arnold presses
some cable tricep pressdown
some dumbbell curls & hammer curls

The General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) - A training principle that concludes there are three main stages in physical stress: The Alarm Phase - The body will not like the overload stress placed upon it and begins to take drastic measures to combat it. The Resistance Phase - The body will try to resist the stress. The Exhaustion Phase - The body will become exhausted if it doesn't receive rest from the stress. This principle leads to the belief that there must be periods of low or no intensity between overloaded stresses that work the body.

Preventing Shoulder Injuries

Summary from Preventing Shoulder Injuries and Cracking the Rotator Cuff Conundrum

Impingement syndrome describes the pain originating from compression of the rotator cuff tendon or the biceps tendon between the head of the humerus and the bony arch just above the glenoid. One of the major causes of narrowing is an upward migration of the humeral head when raising the arm. This is usually because the rotator cuff is not strong enough to effectively pull the humeral head down and into the glenoid.

INJURY PREVENTION
Simply put, the secret to preventing shoulder injuries is to strengthen the rotator cuff and scapular muscles to allow for coordinated and stable shoulder movement. Yet these muscles are often overlooked in many strength-training programs.

Why Should I Train the Rotator Cuff?

1. Strength: Weak external rotators of the humerus are limiting factors to development of internal rotator size and strength, as the body will not allow progress to continue in the presence of an imbalance that could lead to injury.
2. Safety: The rotator cuff (particularly the external rotators) is of paramount importance in injury prevention. Internal rotator dominance is extremely common among bodybuilders, powerlifters, and athletes for whom the pecs and lats are prime movers. Strengthening the rotator cuff and the resulting improvements in glenohumeral stability significantly decreases the occurrences of humeral head subluxations, dislocations, and nagging overuse shoulder injuries. It goes without saying that injuries are one of the greatest barriers to progress in the gym; if you're in too much pain to lift weights to stimulate growth, you won't be doing any growing! By giving the muscles of your rotator cuff the attention that they deserve, you can eliminate the loss of valuable training time to injuries and increase your training longevity.
3. Size: In addition to all the indirect ways that direct rotator cuff training can lead to size, let's not forget that the four muscles of rotator cuff themselves are capable of hypertrophy! Unfortunately, hypertrophy in the subscapularis and supraspinatus is unlikely to be noticeable due to their positions behind the rib cage and deep to the upper trap, respectively. Growth of the infraspinatus and teres minor, on the other hand, will certainly further one's back development by enhancing the "V-frame." When an individual is quite lean and possesses good external rotator development, the separations between the posterior deltoid, infraspinatus, teres minor, teres major, and lats are readily apparent and quite impressive, especially during the back-double biceps pose.
4. Posture: Several factors can lead can lead to tight internal rotators. Many athletes and lifters who utilize these muscles extensively without attention to the external rotators can experience a marked shortening effect of the internal rotators due to tightness. Over time, poor posture can place considerable stress on the skeletal and nervous systems, leading to injuries and decreased performance in the gym. A combination of internal rotator stretching and external rotator strengthening has proven successful in decreasing the anterior inclination of the thoracic spine.
5. Improved Range of Motion on Mass Builders: Simply stated, exercises performed through complete ranges of motion yield superior gains in muscle mass. If your internal rotators are tight, your ROM and, in turn, potential for mass development will be greatly diminished
6. Confidence: Some might debate me on the psychological carryover of a physiological change, but I'm a firm believer that you'll have a lot more confidence supporting big weights if you know your stabilizers are healthy and strong. You wouldn't want to get under a squatting bar unless your core and lower leg muscles were comfortable supporting the load on your shoulders; the same is true of benching, chinning, and overhead pressing. Confidence is an often-overlooked component of strength training performance, even if it is only confidence that your humeral head is going to do what it's supposed to do during your set.

Exercises

1. Cuban Press: Grasp a barbell and perform a wide-grip upright row until the bar is about two inches below your clavicle. Once the bar reaches this level, hold the elbows steady while externally rotating the bar as if you were trying to touch it to your forehead. As the external rotation phase completes, press the bar overhead.
   Lower the weight along the same path and repeat for reps. This exercise preferentially recruits the infraspinatus over the teres minor, and there's certainly significant contribution from the delts and traps as with any upright row or press. Be forewarned that the Cuban press isn't an ego booster; the external rotation phase is a limitation to moving big weights with the movement.
2. L-Lateral Raise: To finish off the infraspinatus, hold a dumbbell in each hand and perform a lateral raise to 90° with the elbows simultaneously flexed to 90°. Once your upper arms are parallel to the floor, externally rotate your humerus so that your forearms are perpendicular to the floor (as in the mid-phase of a military press).
3. Side Lying Dumbbell Abduction to 45°: Think of this as a single-arm, half-lateral raise while lying on your side. The two-second pause at the end of the concentric (lifting) portion of the movement really intensifies the exercise. For some individuals, performing this exercise on a flat bench may feel awkward; a low incline is an acceptable alternative.
4. Y lifts: Lie on your stomach on the floor with the arms 45° above shoulder level, thumbs pointed up towards the ceiling. Raise both arms up off the floor trying to initiate the movement with your shoulder blades. Start with hands only and progress to one- to three-pound dumbbells.
5. T lifts: Lie on your stomach on the floor with the arms 90° straight out to the side, palms down. Raise both arms up and rotate them as you do so by pointing your thumbs toward the ceiling. Focus on pinching your shoulder blades together. As with the Y lift, start with hands only and add weight as your strength increases.
6. One-arm, one-leg row: Stand on one foot with that knee bent 30°-45°. In the opposite hand hold the cord or pulley handle attached in front at chest height. Start with the thumb pointing down and perform a one-arm row as you straighten the knee. At the end position the palm should face up. Focus on pulling aggressively, bringing the elbow well behind the body. Repeat with opposite arm/leg.
7. Elbow pulls: Use a cord or pulley attached in front at waist level. Stand with the feet shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent, and with a slight forward lean. Hold grips with thumbs up and with elbows at 90° and close to the rib cage. Maintain the 90° elbow position and pull the cord straight backward quickly.
8. Side lying external rotation: Lie on your side with the top arm resting against the side of your trunk with that elbow at 90° and with the forearm resting across the abdomen. Hold a one- to three-pound dumbbell and rotate your upper arm outwardly to raise the forearm up and back towards the ceiling. Keep the elbow tucked at the side. Repeat on opposite side.
9. Scarecrow: Stand with both arms straight out to the sides at 90°. The elbows are also bent at 90° with the forearm dangling downward towards the floor. Simultaneously raise both forearms upward and backward by rotating the upper arms outwardly. Maintain a 90° position at both joints. Use one- to three-pound dumbbells.
10. Standing two-arm overhead medicine ball throw: Stand with feet shoulder width apart and hold a two- to three-kilogram medicine ball overhead in both hands. Throw the ball powerfully against a concrete wall or to a partner.
11. Alternating overhead dumbbell press: Stand with one dumbbell resting on each shoulder, palms facing each other. Alternately raise one arm up overhead rotating the dumbbell as you do so that the palm faces forward at the top. Alternate arms each repetition.

Software Design Patterns

Is software design patterns good?
Definitely.
Can design patterns do more harm than good?
Undoubtedly.
"Design Patterns" is just a "tool" for us to come out better designs. Like other tools, the outcomes depend on the person who uses the tools.

Most ppl who are learning design patterns will pass through a period of "pattern happy". We are so addicted to patterns that want to apply patterns in all our designs... The result is usually overengineering codes.

I did...

A good design is based on justified requirements. Over-flexible codes (as result of "pattern happy") is always more complicated than it should be, and therefore require higher maintenance cost.

I am lucky that i learnt the lesson in less bitter way- got critics from boss + learnt through "Refactoring to Patterns" by Joshua Kerievsky. This book opened a new pespective in software designs to me... in more than one year ago.

GoF's classical Design Patterns is damned hard to read, so dry and academic. But once i did understand it, it shows the beauty of good Object-Oriented Design. Be proud of myself!

overcompensation...

The Overcompensation Principle
The body overcompensates in defense to the stress placed upon it. A muscle grows bigger and stronger when trained with heavy weights, just as your hand will develop calluses when friction is applied. If you do not change the form of stress the muscles will have no reason to further adapt.
When will overcompensation happens? Contrary to common belief, we grow stronger when we rest and not during workout.

Your goal should be to become stronger with each subsequent workout. Get into the gym, stimulate growth, and then get the hell out of the gym to go home and grow.

Most Powerful Bodybuilding Tip

Periodization

learnt a new term in weight training today - periodization...

Periodization is the process of varying a training program (frequency, volume, intensity, duration/distance (endurance athletes), exercise selection, exercise complexity, speed of execution, accommodating resistances, asymmetrical loading, or range of motion) at regular time intervals to bring about optimal gains in physical performance. Some proven benefits of periodization are improved muscular endurance, strength, power, motor performance, and/or muscle hypertrophy. The goal of periodizing an exercise program is to optimize training during short (e.g., weeks, months) as well as long periods of time (e.g., years, a life time, or an athletic career). The same concept works if your goal is overall health and fitness. Periodization will help maximize results in a minimal amount of time!

According to some writers, "planned overreaching" is the most effective! one example is

4 weeks of planned loading (slightly overtraining) followed by 1 - 2 weeks of deloading (lower volume / frequency = recovery)

it sound so fascinating... and i m going to apply this in my routine, kekeke...

Shoulder Impingement

Shoulder Impingement syndrome is caused by compression of the tendons of the rotator cuff between a part of the shoulder blade and the head of the humerus. This can become a chronic inflammatory condition that may lead to a weakening of the tendons of the rotator cuff, a situation that may result in a torn rotator cuff.

i have been suffering reoccuring shoulder impingement. This problem is worsen by long hours of using mouse. I think it is time to do some rotator cuff strengthing exercises to correct impingement...

1. External Rotator on Knee
2. Propped External Rotator
3. Side-Lying External Rotator

http://www.bodyresults.com/E2RotatorCuff.asp

1. rows, etc...

http://www.mindandmuscle.net/mindandmuscle/magpage.php?issueID=40&artID=41

deadlift... first trial

today, i tried deadlift with very light weight- 20kg. just to make sure that i performed the deadlift in correct form.
Each time doing a rep, return the bar to the floor under control. i think it enures that each rep is performed correctly.
The shins should be two to three inches from the bar and then when actually bending down and lowering the hips in preparation to lift, the shins will touch the bar. During the ascent, the bar will travel as close to the leg and shins as possible.
the head should be up, the hips down, and the back flat. Keeping the eyes and head up, aids in keeping the spine in proper position.

after the exercise, my lower back is very sore... simply because i have weak lower back muscle.
sadly, i have lightly scraped shins now. think positively, it shows that i performed the deadlift close enough to my body. I found someone said "Deadlift shins are manly", hahaha.

Bent Over Barbell Row

just start doing "Bent Over Barbell Row" last week. only can perform correct form with 35kg (max). it is "the best exercise to develop thickness of the back". i think it is complement to pull-up which is "the best exercise to develop width of the back".

perfect form:

1. do NOT swing or use momentum to lift the weight
2. Head up, eyes forward, chest out (so that the upper back is little arch)
3. Squeeze the shoulder-blades together momentarily before lowering the bar
4. Concentrate on not using the arms to lift the bar, just imagine that "your lower arms are just a couple of hooks attached to your upper arms" (i like this vivid description)

born of my blog

yeah, today is a memorable day - the born of my blog...