Monthly Archives: May 2007

“How come you guys are doing cleans?”

Training

Yesterday, I had the best workout experience in my life. My brother and I were just starting our last exercise of the day, the power cleans, until a fellow gym trainee (who was fairly built) came up to us and asked us how long we have with the olympic lifts area (my gym has a special area for Olympic barbells and weights). At this point, the guy didn’t know we were doing cleans, so he sat back and wanted to jump in during our rest periods. With that said, my brother went up first to perform the power cleans. He quickly finished his first set and sat back down. I got up and the guy came up to us once again, astonished this time, asking “How come you guys are doing cleans?”.

I’m thinking to myself, why wouldn’t I be?

Worried, I asked him: “Umm… are we doing it right?”

The guy replies; “You guys are doing a fantastic job at it. I’m really surprised you guys are doing this exercise since the rare people who usually do it never get it right. You guys have the technique all written down. Great job guys!”

At this point, I never felt so good during a workout. For the remainder of our exercise, we had a good conversation about strength training and how the majority of people who “train” at the gym simply do it to look good (he referred to them as ‘pretty boys’, haha). Alvaro, which we later found out was his name, gave us a few great pointers on the cleans (don’t forget to use your legs) and pretty much reinforced the knowledge I had gained through reading the Starting Strength book.

I felt great after that. Damn great.

Controlled Labs’ Green Bulge Review (Final Take)

Reviews and Rants, Supplements

Last month (or two?) I mentioned about reviewing Green Bulge by Controlled Labs. I never got around to it, so here’s my final take on the supplement.

First, it works. After a week went by when I stopped taking Green Bulge, I immediately lost the “pump” in my body. I didn’t feel as strong as I used to when I was on the pills. In the end, I had to drop by 10-20 lbs on my exercises as they became a bit too difficult for me… but after 2 weeks of training, I came back to my previous strength, albeit not as strong. The supplements DO work, but you need to be taking this stuff often if you want to see improvements in your training. I, for one, will not be taking Creatine supplements again because I find they are not worth my money. I believe proper nutrition can wholly replace all supplements out there and so far I have proved it: I started eating a bit more cleaner than usual and bumped up the protein intake in my body. I noticed results right away… but not as significant when I was taking the Creatine, sadly. Now, I must admit that there is a place for supplements, but they should be supplemented with your existing diet and not substitute it. You cannot simply rely on chemicals to help you out with your diet or solely depend on them thinking they’re all you need. A lot people simply chug down a protein shake thinking it’s a replacement for a meal. Unfortunately those are the people who end up quitting their training when they don’t see anymore results. Anyway, that’s my take on it for now.

Updates Resume

Business, Ramblings

So it’s been a while since my last post. Sarotech recently moved its offices to a bigger place (same building) so for the past month and I haven’t had the time of day to update any of my websites. The new place had to be painted from top to bottom, new flooring had to be installed as the carpet was garbage, and Ethernet had to be passed through every room. Well, after a month of work, it’s finally done. There are a few more things to do of course (need to build shelves!) but since Monday, we have officially moved and kicking business into high gear. The new place totally kicks ass and definitely makes Sarotech look like a software development company.

Last Sunday, Chloe photographed me (professionally!) with a suit on. I always wanted to be in a photo-shoot and my wish came true. I can now say that I have some great pictures of me with a suit on. 🙂 I will be posting pictures as soon as I get them from her. Thanks Chloe!