FITNESS, FIGHTING and FUN

Back Home

2010-02-27T00:36:00.000-08:00

Last night, after arriving back in Korea to pursue another teaching contract, I met a few friends at the local bar. Like me, they've been teaching on and off in Korea for several years. Korea can be a good place to lose weight, but given its drinking culture and fast food/stress based lifestyle, it usually isn't---actually, the opposite frequently occurs. Most foreigners leave here heavier than when they arrived.

One of my first friends in Korea---whom I met at a local gym, was overweight like me at the time and was likewise struggling to lose the extra pounds, having succumbed to the aforementioned drinking culture and his own genetic predisposition to rapid weight gain. We worked out together several nights a week and if I recall correctly, we lost about 10 kilograms in about six months time.

Being overweight is hard enough on one's self-esteem, but Koreans (and kids world wide) exacerbate this by their honest bluntness: "teacher you fat" "look at the fat guy" " you pig same" etc....Because of this, many overweight and even just chubby westerners feel uncomfortable about their bodies. As a result, I encourage many teachers (there are more than 40,000) in Korea to train and get fit in Thailand during their holidays or after the completion of their contracts.

Anyways, last night my friend and I saw each other for the first time in almost three years and he was curious about my weight loss. He remembered a much fatter Bob and wasn't aware of my experiences in Thailand. However, when I told him about training in Thailand--the food, the running, the swimming, the muay thai, the bag work, the pad work, the weight lifting---he still seriously questioned my motives for living and training there.

He adamantly argued that one can easily and quickly lose as much weight in Thailand as in their own country and vehemently opposed the idea of a fitness based vacation. Why go abroad when you can do it at home? BUT HERE'S THE CATCH. He's now heavier and fatter than when I met him four years ago. And I believe what he really needs is 2-3 months of fitness training in the tropics, just to get the ball rolling. Then, he can return to Korea, 10-15 kilograms lighter, and really watch the weight come off.

However, people will make excuses, offer alternatives and try to discredit your claims, but at the end of the day, only one thing matters: results.

Running to Lose Weight - Sprints Or Long Distance Running?

2010-02-21T20:29:00.001-08:00

Here's a great post from http://ezinearticles.com/?Running-to-Lose-Weight---Sprints-Or-Long-Distance-Running?&id=2786433

"When it comes to running to lose weight, I get questions about what is the "best" way to do it. Intervals, sprints, long distance steady runs? Why should chose between them if can do them all? I feel in life as in exercise variety really helps spice things up and keeps the motivation high. Remember the fat burning success equation: exercise + nutrition + motivation.

Overall when you're running to lose weight, I recommend doing it first thing in the morning, on an "almost empty stomach", that is I take some fat burning supplements and sometimes a very small scoop of protein or BCAA.

Yet if you're anything like me and most humans, you'll find it probably much harder to do sprints in the morning. The risk of injury is greater as well. So in the morning, I'd personally select "normal" endurance, non stop running for 20 to 50 minutes depending on the time you have and your fitness levels, or some interval style running when you alternate between running hard for a minute with going slowly for a couple more.

Interval training as been shown in many studies to be the more effective of the two if you're running to lose weight but again, the reality is what you prefer to do is much better! The "perfect" program that you don't act on is not better than the one you'll actually do! I like to do both styles of running as I feel variety is important. Yet I know many people on the opposite of this that need to do the same thing day in and day out to perform at their best. Whatever suits you, do it!

If you're overweight and/or out of shape when you start a running program don't just dive in at full speed. You'll be so sore you'll lose your motivation and you have a good chance of injuring yourself. Start walking fast if you can't run. Or do interval training when you alternate between slow jogging and walking. Whatever you feel you can do without pushing yourself to hard yet. You'll get better if you keep at it I promise you. In fact, if you start out really out of shape, you'll probably progress much faster than you think. By doing it slowly but surely, you'll keeping making progress for a long time, feeling better, getting better, and with that momentum you'll be unstoppable!

At a higher level of fitness, interval training is good preparation to sprint workouts - probably the best form of running to lose weight yet gain muscle at the same time.

Why do I like sprints? Is it because if I'm a masochist? Hmm, maybe that's part of it. I also know that the feeling of putting out max effort is addictive. When you're really in a zone you seem to fly by like an Ussain Bolt - even though it's an illusion, it feels real to me ok :) It's so hard yet so fun. Warning: don't eat just before you do sprints though if you don't like messy situations! (hint: you don't want what's in your stomach to end up on your shoes and belly...)

Also I truly believe success leaves clues. Have you ever seen a fat sprinter? Not only are they fat free, but they have muscular, defined physique - what most fitness enthusiast would rather look like. On the other hand, marathon runners are often very thin also, but without any muscle tone, and they look jaunt and almost sick. They rarely have a vibrant, energy bursting feel to them. The same with many women addicted to aerobic classes. They don't look that fit either.

So why follow in their steps if you're running to lose weight if you can follow those that have the results you're after? Run to lose the FAT and keep the MUSCLE. Not simply lose weight. And by the way you do know sprinting really works the butt so you get a behind that will get a few sneak peaks :) Hey, it's ok to vain once in a while, after all we work hard for it!

Again, whatever you chose as your way of running to lose weight, just do it! The "perfect" running to lose weight program doesn't exist, and if you just read about it if wont do no good! You know the slogan: JUST DO IT!

You want to get more info on running to losing weight AND get the best deals on the best fat burning supplements? Then by all means come visit the fatburning-supplements.com website and get the savings AND the info you need to lose fat.

Healthy cheers to your fat loss success"

Acting on Motivation: 4 Week Loss Competition

2010-02-15T00:10:00.001-08:00

In my most recent post I wrote that the one factor which will determine whether you accomplish a goal---be it weight loss, learning an instrument or learning a language----is this: motivation. You have to be motivated. You have to really want it. Half assing it is Fat assing it. You can't just want it: you have to act on it.

And this month we at Phromthep Muay Thai we are acting on it. For our fitness students (in other words, not Harley and the other fighters), we are having our first 4 week weight loss competition. As of this morning we have 13 participants, ranging from 73-119 kilograms, striving to lose as much body fat as possible in about a month's time.

There is a variety of strategies: some are doing the green smoothies for their first week, one is doing a detox at Atsumi, but most of us are doing lots of cardio, dieting and of course, Muay Thai.

In addition to bragging rights and weight loss, there will be a prize.

Half Assing it Is Fat Assing it.

2010-02-12T19:45:00.000-08:00

Having spent the last several years teaching English in Asia, I've seen many children and adults progress from beginners to talkative and comfortable English speakers. Its an awesome feeling for them and me to see this transformation.

And do you know what is the number one factor that will determine language acquisition? Is it student-to-teacher ratio, better and brighter books, computers in the classroom, more or less homework, numbers of contact hours with the language or the teacher's style of teaching? No.

The one factor that will determine it all is this: motivation. If students sincerely want to learn and use the language, they will. If they don't--despite their intentions (or their parents' intentions), they won't; or at least as quickly and to the extent of their motivated peers. The other variables are important and can increase or decrease motivation, but the underlying variable is motivation.

The same applies to losing weight and getting fit. You have to be motivated. You have to really want it. Half assing it is Fat assing it. You can't just want it: you have to act on it.

I've been here about six months, and I've seen the difference between those who want to half their asses and those who are the half assers; those on a fitness vacation and those just on a vacation.

Having said that, I believe that most people here need a kick up the ass. If it were my camp, it would be Boot Camp style. Arguing that people are lazy--why are we here in the first place and not doing it at home on our own---I said there should be wake up calls, curfews, a strict diet and exercise plan for students' individual needs as well as continual reinforcement and meetings. It would be the West Point of Muay Thai (West Point, by the way, is a strict military university and its graduates have higher average incomes than graduates from any other American University, including Harvard, MIT, Yale, etc....)

But I believe Danny and Goong do a much better job than other gyms at catering to individual needs. Because of the small number of students, it is more quality than quanity. You aren't just a number. They'll sit with you and talk with and get to know you.

However, I've realized that its not just up to others. Here are some things you can do to motivate yourself:

1. Write down your goals on the first page of your fitness journal. Also, keep another copy of those goals above your bed.
2. Write down what you ate, how many cardio sessions you did, how many group sessions, and what you learned everyday
3. Spend time around Harley and Jom, and steal some of their enthusiasm.
4. Hire a Personal Trainer or do VIPs.
5. If you can't get out of the bed, find someone to wake you up.
6. Stay away from the bars during the week.
7. If you really need a morning or day off, take it.
8. Mix it up: Bike, run, swim, do yoga or go to the local gym for a session.
9. Fight Train. If you are training for a fight--here or back home, the trainers will really push you.

Abs are made in the Kitchen, not the Gym.

2010-02-04T23:11:00.001-08:00

If you want a six pack, its primarily about diet. Granted you have to do ab exercises and sprint cardio work, but its mostly about your eating habits. When I arrived here at Phromthep in October, I had a six pack, but I was much stricter with my diet and less concerned with my overall fitness. I ate three small meals a day: rice, veggies and chicken. And by 6:30 at night I was dead tired, often putting my head down while waiting for others to finish their meals.

My I've lost the six pack---well, its still there just hidden a little-and I've lost the desire to maintain it because I have other fitness goals now. But here is the catch: I'm in much better shape now, exponentially better shape.

When I was at my previous gym, I didn't eat enough; just trained Muay Thai twice a day, and rarely ever ran. I didn't think running was important. I did upper body weight lifting three times a week as well so my arms were much larger and stronger, and I looked fit.

Now, I've reversed my figure and my fitness plan. Instead of focusing on upper body weightlifting--which I can do back home in a gym--I can easily run 20K a day through the steep hills here; my legs are massive and my kicks are much more powerful. I have much much better balance in the clinch and it has positively affected my punching and blocking.

But in order to sustain myself during the long runs, I eat a lot. And I eat a lot of rice at night and I get midnight cravings for yogurt, which is a NO NO if you are looking for the Calvin Kline physique. Back home, I could easily get back the six pack in a month's time by monitoring my diet and exercising for an 1 and 1/2 six days a week because my fitness level is so high now from my current training.

Meanwhile, my goals have changed. I would rather be running, training and enjoying my diet--not abusing it---and be able to rupture the spleen behind the superficial six pack with a powerful front kick, than to be focusing on superficial appearances.

SHERPA TRAINING: Still Crazy After All These Years

2010-01-30T18:13:00.000-08:00

I'm Crazy, and if you are crazier enough, I'll challenge you to Sherpa Training with me on Wednesday or Saturday morning instead of Muay Thai training. I call it Sherpa Training because it will build up every muscle in your legs, and Sherpas have the strongest legs in the world.

Basically, we'll cycle our bikes through the Phromthep hills, down to Naiharn Beach and then up, up, up and further up the hills to Look At Point on the way to Kata Beach. If you want, we can continue to Patong. Its not all up hill, however. We do get to cruise down the hills.

But here's the catch:

When you can't climb the hills because they are too steep, you have to walk the bike up. If you are tough enough, you have to run and push the bike up. And if you crazy enough like me, you have to carry the bike on your back while climbing the hills.

I did it last year when I was between 95-105 kilograms and it gave me greater endurance than a morning session of Muay Thai. And my friend Tim did it yesterday with me, and he was exhausted.

(Thats Tim in the Picture)

6 Easy Ways to Lose Weight Without Starving (from Yahoo News)

2010-01-30T17:56:00.000-08:00

1. Fidget: People who tap their feet, prefer standing to sitting, and generally move around a lot burn up to 350 more calories a day than those who sit still. That adds up to nearly 37 pounds a year!

In short, during your off-hours, don't just lay around. In the future I would like to see a swimming pool, ping pong table and foozeball table to keep people active when they aren't training. In the meanwhile, walk around, talk to people, take short bikes rides to the market.

2. Keep most meals under 400 calories
Study after study recommends spacing out your meals at regular intervals and keeping them all about the same size. Eating meals at regular intervals has been linked to greater calorie burning after eating, better response to insulin, and lower fasting blood cholesterol levels. When you eat regular meals throughout the day, you're less likely to become ravenous and overeat.

This is a biggy. Since I eat at the buffet twice a day, I eat way too much at each meal. In addition, my sugar levels drop too low from training so I'm inclined to grab a soda. Keep the meals small and frequent and you won't have this problem.

3. Take yourself off cruise control
Increase the intensity of your everyday tasks, from vacuuming to walking the dog, recommends Douglas Brooks, an exercise physiologist and personal trainer in Northern California. "Turn on some music, add in some vigorous bursts, and enjoy the movement," he says.

Focus less on the number on the scale and more on the numbers of minutes you are running or doing other forms of cardio. Can you run the same distance faster than you did last week? Can you go more rounds? Can you do more sprints while running? Those are the numbers you should be looking at. Again, easier said than done.

4. Drink 8 glasses of water per day
Water is not just a thirst quencher--it may speed the body's metabolism. Researchers in Germany found that drinking two 8-ounce glasses of cold water increased their subjects' metabolic rate by 30%, and the effect persisted for 90 minutes. One-third of the boost came from the body's efforts to warm the water, but the rest was due to the work the body did to absorb it. "When drinking water, no calories are ingested but calories are used, unlike when drinking sodas, where additional calories are ingested and possibly stored," Increasing water consumption to eight glasses per day may help you lose about 8 pounds in a year, he says, so try drinking a glass before meals and snacks and before consuming sweetened drinks or juices.

If its yellow, let it mellow. If its brown, flush it down. GROSS! Let me return to the first one. If its yellow, DRINK MORE WATER!

5. Step it up--and down
Climbing stairs is a great leg strengthener, because you're lifting your body weight against gravity.

For people who have weight issues, I recommend the following for cardio. 20 minutes of power walking on the tread mill, 20 minutes of cyclying or on the ellipitical, 20 more minutes on the tread mill...but with every passing minute or two, increase the spead and incline. By the time you get to the last five minutes, you should be SPEED walking up hill pretty quickly.

7. Eat 4 g of fiber at every meal
A high-fiber diet can lower your caloric intake without making you feel deprived. In a Tufts University study, women who ate 13 g of fiber or less per day were five times as likely to be overweight as those who ate more fiber. Experts see a number of mechanisms through which fiber promotes weight loss: It may slow down eating because it requires more chewing, speed the passage of food through the digestive tract, and boost satiety hormones. To get 25 g of fiber a day, make sure you eat six meals or snacks, each of which contains about 4 g of fiber. For to-go snacks, buy fruit; it's handier than vegetables, so it's an easy way to up your fiber intake. One large apple has just as much fiber (5 g) as a cup of raw broccoli.

Training For Women

2010-01-28T21:52:00.000-08:00

I don't know much about anything but what I do know is this: men tend to lose weight quicker here than women. Even while doing the all-water detox, men lose more weight each day than women.

Women lose weight--lots, just not as quickly and as much as men. Instead of me advising women on what to do, read an informative email from my friend Michelle. She brings up good points about over-training, under-eating and the importance of cross-training. She did very well while was she was here, but feels she could have accomplished more had she trained SMARTER, NOT HARDER.

"As soon as I stopped friken training (my weight) started to shift again. I got my body composition done over here and spoke to a really great trainer who felt I was just over training. I think it's a bit different for guys in a way, maybe not all, but (my boyfriend)lost 8kg's in 3 weeks of training, and though I know that I lost a lot in my first month I know he would have just kept on loosing.

Look at (our other female friend) for example, she was training like mad and her results slowed like mine. The other thing I was doing when I stopped training and started travelling was eating a little more. That might have had something to do with it. It's amazing how not eating enough can affect you just as badly, and sometimes even more than eating too much. I tell you, getting to know your body is a mother bitch, I can't imagine how I ever would have really gotten to get a better idea on how to treat mine unless I went away and had all that time to focus on it.

Anyway, if I can recommend anything to (women) it's cross train, send her over to Julie at Ganesha to try some Yoga maybe, I found at times when I had a break from the Muay Thai for a couple of days and just did the yoga I shifted some weight.

The other thing is walking/jogging/running, it's the thing I struggled with the absolute most, but in the end it was always the thing that really made the difference. Tell her to join one of the gyms and walk as fast as she can on an incline on a treadmill if she's not comfortable on the road, or jogging. They say a good way too gage that your heart rate is in the fat loss zone is you should be able to talk while walking/jogging/running, but you shouldn't be able to sing. You want to puff and sweat, but don't push yourself out of that zone. I wish I'd focused on that a lot more now!

And diet wise I chose to drop all carbs other than vegetables because I was having bad reactions to the gluten and I don't believe I needed carbs from anything more than vegetables and fruit. A lot of people have gluten intolerances and don't realise, so that's a thing to try.... If she is eating other carbs make sure it's not in the evening after training or she wont get a chance to use them. The other thing is to really make sure she's not under eating. That's what I found I was doing for a while. Some of the symptoms that your body's going into starvation mode is not being able to sleep, your body feeling like it's stressed and tense, and growing a light hair on your body in more extreme cases.

She should be eating regularly, roughly every 3 hours. That's how long your body can hold onto protein for. Great snacks are a hand full of the raw cashews, yogurt, cheese (yes, trust me, say a 20g slice is fine, good essential fats), things like that...will keep the metabolism a churning and happier to shed fat because it trusts you'll be getting sufficient food. Otherwise I stuck to the omelets, stir-frys and salads.

And honestly, this is something I think you need to think about to, your muscles wont recover and grow unless you get sufficient breaks from thrashing them. Bodybuilders will only work out a certain body part once every 3 days to give it sufficient recovery time. And lets face it physique wise they know what they're doing. Not that most people want to be that bulky, but they know how to sculpt themselves, and get their body fat down to nothing, and not all of them are doing it in dodgy ways."

Its Only The Beginning

2010-01-28T05:45:00.000-08:00

Dieting, doing cardio and Muay Thai training in the tropics will result in weight loss. But too many people are often too obsessed with immediate results in the beginning. Hence, the popularity of detoxing on an all water diet. Many people--myself included--detox specifically to see numbers drop on the scale. However, most of the weight being lost is excess water weight from a salty Western diet. Its comparable with my obsession with monitoring the amount of weight I lose after a 1-2 hour run. I can lose 2-3 kilos during that time, but its mostly water. After a meal and a bottle of water, I'm up again.

In my experience and from my own observations of others, fitness students lose the most weight in the SECOND month. At this point, our bodies have adjusted to the temperature, the food and the training. We aren't as sore, as hot or shocked by the novelty of being in a new environment.

As a result, students can do more cardio at this point. I can't overemphasize the importance of cardio. If you want to burn fat, you must power walk, jog, run, cycle or run. And its much easier to do in the second month.

In addition, cross train. Don't do the same routine everyday. PLEASE, PLEASE, PlEASE: Take Wednesday and/or Saturday off and cycle for a couple of hours, especially if you have sore ankles from too much running or Muay Thai.

In short, focus less on the numbers and more on changes in your cardio routine. Try to run further, faster and for longer periods and distances over time. And I'll try to do the same.

Lastly, remember this: training here isn't the cure to your weight issues. I lost 14 kilograms during my first 10 week stay here last year. More importantly, it set the foundation for continued weight loss after I returned home since I continued to train and diet. If I made a movie based on our weight loss experiences here, it wouldn't finish with the "THE END", but "TO BE CONTINUED."

THREE THINGS

2010-01-27T06:33:00.000-08:00

I can't overemphasize three things when trying to lose weight here at Phromthep:

1. Diet. Its most important. Danny places a lot of emphasis on green smoothies. Try his program and see if it works for you. If it does, stick with it until you plateau. Then, alter your diet.If it doesn't work for you, change your diet. This is what my friend Antonio Graceffo recommends based on his experiences:

my diet: no carbs, no sugar no soda, no bread, no noodles no pasta no potatoes. eat only meat, vegetables and fruit. i buy grilled meat and fruit on the street in Thailand three times a day. my cost for food drops to almost nothing and the weight just peals off.em>

In short, if you don't recognize the food in its natural state, don't eat it. And stay away from the rice. And stay away from the Buffet.

2. Cardio. Cardio is more important than Muay Thai training, in my humble opinion. You should do both, but if you have to choose, go with cardio. Do Muay Thai AT LEAST once a day--morning, but cardio two or three times a day: morning power walks, swimming with the swimming group, cycling or my favorite: walking up Phromthep hill to watch the sunset.

BUT DO THE CARDIO AND DO MORE AND MORE AS THE WEEKS PASS BY!

3. Change Things Up:

Take the morning off and bike ride at least twice a week for 2-3 hours. Head down to Kata Beach. I did that when I was between 94-103 kilograms last year. If you can't bike the hills, walk the bike up the hill. And if you are nuts like me, carry the bike on your back and try to jog up!

And if you need someone to bike with, just ask me.

Recommendation for Fitness Students.

2010-01-15T22:33:00.000-08:00

For Fitness Students, I think 10-12 weeks is the perfect amount of time to considerably change your body. If you look at weight loss programs such as P90x and Body For Life, they also advocate a 3 month program.

Regarding training in Thailand, first things first: Be natural and GET OUT OF BED when the sun comes up.

6:00-6:30: Wake up, shower.

6:30-7:00: Stretch and do some light cardio depending on your ability. You can walk the street, speed walk, ride your bike, jog, hop on the elliptical or do some sprints up the hill. And do your stretching with Johm in the morning.

7:00-9:00: You should really, really, really take advantage of the group training classes. As a beginner, you'll get a lot more specialized attention. You'll learn how to jab, punch, hook, elbow, knee, kick and block. Its intimidating watching the fighters hit the pads at times, buts its also motivational. That will be you in several months!

Most people are discouraged by the group training. However, the best part is this: you can walk away whenever you want. If you want to stop at 8, then stop at 8. But at least you got in an hour and half of exercise! That's more than the average person back home.

9:30-10:30: You are in the tropics. Take advantage of the beach and water. Head down to the ocean and either swim some laps---if you still have the energy, practice your Muay Thai in the water or just relax and float around.

10:30: Breakfast.

FREE TIME and SLEEP TIME

2:00 or 3:00 Do a VIP with one of the Thai trainers. And tell them your goals. Make sure they know you are more concerned about weight loss and fitness than muay thai technique.

Lastly, I recommend one of two things: Either do a Yoga class down the road at 5:00 or do one last cardio session at night, after dinner.

Keep the meals frequent and light and don't worry too much about the eating if you are doing lots of cardio. Just don't eat a lot before going to bed (unless you find that you don't have the energy in the morning to train).

AND MOST IMPORTANTLY: Change up the routine if you find yourself getting bored. My first year, I usually didn't train on Wednesday morning and Saturday morning after the first month. I would go for long bike ride, 2 hours at least. Usually, I would ride by bike over the hills to Kata beach. If I couldn't bike the hills, I would just run with the bike.

Likewise, my friend Liz and Michelle started to do a session of Yoga at 5 at night instead of their afternoon Muay Thai group class, and my other friend opted for afternoon weight lifting sessions at the local gym.

Getting back up again

2009-12-27T09:19:00.001-08:00
Like falling off a motorbike for the first time in Thailand (which I did on Christmas--right of passage in Thailand), getting back up again is extremely important in dealing with your fitness goals.

I have friends visiting from Korea, and with a visa run to Malaysia earlier this week, the biggest fight of the year tomorrow, three birthdays, Christmas BBQ, drinking seriously for the first time since Halloween and then later New Years and all the Western food in between this week such as Indian twice and two burgers, the most important thing is this: getting back up again.

I'm down on myself, but I should and shouldn't be. I shouldn't have eaten and drunken so much, but I did. Now get over it and move on and move forward.

Just get up again. And get up at of bed tomorrow, start the program over again with a 6:30 run before training. Keep it habitual and it will be perpetual. Practice doesn't make perfect. It makes permanence. You shouldn't take several days off, albeit legitimate reasons, but if you do, get back in the practice of having healthy habits.

Its going to be tough this week, however. The toughest so far, and not regarding training and a strict diet, but the possibility of straying from them. Monday is the big fight night--a K1 champion is fighting and three of our fighters as well; Tuesday is a going away and birthday party; Thursday is New Years Eve and then we are closed on the following days so I'll probably be touring with some friends.

Its cheesy, but I dig the quote from Batman Begins. "Why do we fall. To learn to get back up again."

To Detox or Not Detox

2009-12-23T18:29:00.001-08:00

Like training Muay Thai, people detox for different reasons: spiritual, physical and mental. For many, detoxing brings about mental clarity and its a spiritual challenge. However, detoxing specifically for weight loss is highly controversial. Are people actually ridding their intestines of years of built up plaque? Are people actually losing fat or is it muscle mass or is it just water weight when they detox?

I don't know too much about the science behind it all. What I do know is this: last year, when I weighed 107 kilograms (235 pounds)I needed something to jump start me out of my sloth-like sedentary ways. I was overweight, I was lazy and I needed a kick in the butt, or a tube (see colema) in it. For that reason, I chose to detox at Atsumi's Detox Center in Phuket.

Atsumi is located in southern Phuket, near many beaches, shopping areas and Muay Thai gyms. Despite its accessible location, it is isolated as well, which is advantageous for detoxers. The last thing you want while you are starving yourself is the aroma of delicious Thai food in the air or the temptation of cheap beer.

I detoxed on an all water diet for five days and had two colemas each day. Like my calorie intake at the time, my 5 days were nothing. My friend detoxed for two weeks only on water, his reasons being strictly spiritual.

Surprisingly, not eating is lot easier than we think, especially in the heat. Humans have faced famines throughout our long history and our bodies have evolved to not eating, days and weeks at a time.

Again, I don't know much about cleansing plaque out of the digestive system, but I do know that I lost about 5 kilograms (11 pounds) in five days. Most of that was water weight in my opinion. However, westerners have a very salty diet and the excess salt in our bodies causes us to retain excess water, which is extra weight anyways. For me, a detox is like flushing a toilet: its mostly water going down the drain, but with some unnecessary shit from the body.

Many people questioned my choice to detox. And many of those people didn't lose as much weight as I did in the same amount of time. Other variables aside (motivation, exercise routine, diet), I feel I did much better than my counterparts who didn't detox, and I wouldn't have lost so much weight without restarting my engine with a detox. Lastly, I attribute my current aversion towards fast food to the detox.

So for me, the answer is To Detox.

Disclaimer: That is for people who want to follow my program: detoxing for a week, followed by 9-11 weeks of Muay Thai training. If you are only here for a week to a month and your primary purpose is weight loss, I would alter the program.

Weekly Cheat Meal

2009-12-22T22:08:00.001-08:00

Most diet plans advocate the weekly cheat meal. Eat healthy during the week and have a decadent, yet a reasonable cheat meal. But they are missing a vital point: when to cheat.

If you are going to have a cheat meal, which you should, DON'T MAKE IT A DINNER. Have your cheat meal during lunch--sometime between 2-4 on a Saturday or Sunday, so your body has time to digest all that unwanted, unnecessary food.

Later that night you can get some light exercise to work it off, be it jogging, dancing, playing with your kids or screaming at athletes on the television like my father.

What is better for you? Cheat meal in the afternoon plus light exercise vs. Cheat meal before going to bed. It is common sense.

What Not To Drink and Eat: My Guilty Pleasures

2009-12-22T21:54:00.000-08:00

I'm not much of a beer drinker so that isn't my guilty pleasure. But here they are:

1. Soda: Raised on Cola, I struggle to break the habit. I can go weeks without it. Then, on a road trip, I'll drink two to three cokes, out of habit. In addition, my sugar levels drop so low from training I need the quick fix. Solution: drink a green smoothie, eat some fruit, have a fruit shake with no sugar or have a little honey. But most importantly, if you are exercising for four-six hours a day, make sure you are getting enough carbs, simple and complex. The Atkins diet works back home. It won't work here (unless you do it just at night.

2. Ice Cream: Same as the Cola. I need the sugar but I have to find natural ways of getting it.

3. Indian Food: I love it. Its my favorite. Chicken masala, with some basmati rice and two orders of nan bread. Grease, carbs and fat...mmmmmmm. Its my cheat meal (more on the cheat meal to come). That with a cola.

4. Bread. Like UPS, what can brown do for you? Everything! So when eating bread, stay away from the white brands.

My Controversial Argument

2009-12-20T00:49:00.000-08:00

We lack self control in a world that increasingly glorifies the immediate satisfaction of our impulses.

Some people can resist the urge to swing by McDonald's drive-thru at 2AM or resist the temptation of an extra order of garlic bread and a free cola refill before the main course arrives at a dinner date. YOU AND ME CAN'T.

Food for us is like a drug. Last night I ate two huge dishes at our buffet dinner and later went out for a bag of peanuts, two yogurts and a peach soda before going to bed. Now, on my day off, I'll have to go running twice, weight lift and shadow box when I should be hanging at the beach in order to burn off those calories. Its an ongoing struggle.

If we had self control, we wouldn't be here in Phuket---at a Muay Thai camp---attempting to lose weight in the first place. We would be dieting and regularly exercising back home. Some people have argued that we need to learn self control while we are here, but that's much easier said than done. The same argument has been made about wake-up calls and mandatory training (which I strongly advocate): we need to learn to do it on our own. Again, great in theory, but unless you are extremely motivated, which you probably aren't, you'll hit the snooze button and sleep through training because of the slightest ailment or sign of fatigue. And given the option of an extra serving of food at dinner, you'll do that to.

For those reasons, this is my recommended diet while training.

Depending on the the length of your stay here, begin with a detox. Detox with a couple of days of a water diet, then a few days of green smoothies. Like Danny, I would prefer to see fewer people on a strict water diet for a long duration because it slows down your metabolism, causing you to gain weight after you detox. Stick with the green smoothies and do as much training and cardio as possible. If you can't group train, do some VIPs and join our swimming group at 9:30 AM.

Once you are group training and doing additional cardio, you should do the following AS A FITNESS STUDENT:

MORNING: Power walking or cycling or jogging. Muay Thai Training. Swimming

BREAKFAST: Eat at Goong's Restaurant. Have a bowl of the delicious rice stew and a bowl of muesli with fruit and bio yogurt. Eat a banana or two. Just drink water. You need the carbs to sustain you throughout the day.

Snacks and Lunch: Green Smoothies and fresh fruit from Goong's.

AFTERNOON: Some form of Cardio. Muay Thai Training.

DINNER: At this moment--which is highly controversial, I don't recommend that fitness students eat at Goong's Buffet, unless they have strong self control, which I didn't last year and still struggle with this year. There is just too much temptation with all that delicious, all-you-can-food. As a fitness student, the last thing you want to do is binge eat at dinner, right before going to bed.

In the future, I would like to see special plates at the buffet line, which will limit serving sizes, at Goong's restaurant for fitness students. Or, a special menu just for fitness students, and maybe, just maybe, a separate eating area for them.

If you are anything like me last year, you should be no where near a buffet at dinner. We are like recenetly widowed women at a funeral (according to Will Farrell in Wedding Crashers): we are at our most vunerable time.

For dinner, you should have:

1. Salad, small amount of spaghetti and fish (I used to get this specially made for me at Cashew Nut)

or

2. Salad, small amount of rice and chicken or fish

or

3. Steamed vegetables, small amount of rice and chicken or fish.

or

4. Protein Shake

or

5. One of those meal replacement meals.

BEFORE GOING TO BED: Take a walk or cycle for a litte bit. I noticed the most improvements last year after incorporating a post dinner work out.

Ideas For Blog Topics

2009-12-17T23:18:00.000-08:00

Here Are Some Topics I'll Be Writing and RESEARCHING about:

Fitness
1. My Detox at Atsumi here in Phuket
2. Losing 30 pounds in 10 weeks: Muay Thai, Cardio and Diet
3. Keeping Fit After Returning Home.
4. Dieting for Weight loss Vs. Dieting for Fight Training
5. Interviews with Students
6. Why Thailand for Weight Loss?
7. The Do's and Dont's of Weight Loss
8. Asians Are Right: We Are Fat--and They Are Getting Fat, too.
9. People with Mild Depression should be on an exercise and diet plan, not pills.
10. ADD and ADHD: Some kids are Huskies--they aren't meant to be sitting down all day.
11. Cardio Work Out that Incorporate Muay Thai
12. There is no such thing as the best gym: just the best gym for your needs.

Fighting
1. The Day and Life of a Muay Thai Fitness Student
2. The Day and Life of a Muay Thai Fighter: Farrang and Thai
3. MMA Conditioning VS. Muay Thai Conditioning
4. When is running too much running?
5. How to Weight Train while training Muay Thai
6. P90x vs. Body For Life
7. Rossboxing.com
8. Interviews with Fighters
9. Five Ways to Work The Bag: Fight Simulation, Practice Combos, Power, Speed, Cardio
10. What to do between working the bag and working with the trainer
11. Three Ways to Spar: Fight Simulation, Practice Combos, Practice Technique
12. Muay Thai for Self Defense Purposes
13. I'm Not a Fighter
14: Fun Drills for Everyone
15: THE IMPORTANCE OF SHADOW BOXING

Fun
1. Things To Do in Phuket

Your Parents, Your Past, Your Plan and Your Purpose

2009-12-16T21:11:00.000-08:00

Most people are deceived by my weight loss pictures, and by weight loss pictures in general. They assume they can do what I have done just as easily and as quickly. Some can--and can do it with much better results, some can't, or at least in the same amount of time. Without work and family responsibilities, fast food joints on every corner and because of the weather, losing weight and getting fit is much easier in Thailand. However, there are other variables that will affect your success. Off the top of my head, I would say--and I'm not a Personal Trainer but your average sloppy Joe---a full body transformation depends on four factors: genetic makeup, athletic/diet background, your program and your motivation.

Your Parents (Genes): We all know him: he's the twenty-something who eats left over Chinese food, a beer and skittles for dinner and doesn't pack on the pounds and always walks around with a six-pack. I can't relate to him. So, forget him. He'll be dead by the time he's forty. And on the other side of the spectrum--probably a Samoan rugby player or a Polish farmhand---there is the one who can eat a pound of food and then pack on two pounds of fat or muscle, depending on his program. The rest of us are somewhere in between. Like a fat man on a bench, I lean towards the latter. I can easily put on muscle; however, I can just as easily put on fat. My weight fluctuates by several kilograms in a day. You must know your body type and train accordingly. Baukaw will never be as be as massive and powerful as Mighty Moe and Mighty Moe will never be as lean and quick as Baukaw. However, don't assume you can't transform your body into something different; perhaps you don't even know your body type or its potential. Last year, my personal trainer told me I could never have a noticeable 6 pack and my Thai trainer, Yib, told me I could never look like him: a little more than a year later, he now asks me for weight loss advice!

Your Past: I was never much of a natural athlete, nor was my older brother. The running joke in my family is that my best friend, Perez, who moved in with me in High School, who later played Penn State basketball, and my younger sister, who won national champion rugby games and toured throughout Europe before hitting 22, are the sons my father always wanted. For people like them, who have a strong athletic background, getting back into shape again is far easier than getting into shape for the first time. Most of the 3 month transformation pictures you see on TV or on the Internet are perfect examples of such people. I'm somewhere in the middle.

Middle School through High School I played sports, but mostly in the neighborhood and not seriously like my sister Kelly or Karley. I wasn't much of an athlete. I spent a lot of time in the forest with friends, climbing trees, building forts and getting into some trouble. I was one of the least athletic among all my friends, many who swam or played organized sports seriously. My family of 9 and I ate military style: big portions made with big heart, but not the most nutritious. Drank lots of Hi-C, Soda and ate lots of pizza and burgers--like your average pudgy third generation American kid.

I've always done most things backwards. Inspired by Perez who was now living with my family, I started to study harder and work-out more. We played lots of basketball with friends after school and on the weekends; we all played in a local B-Ball league, many of us coached by my father and aunt. Did some weight lifting with some football players, lots of push ups and sit ups, and worked at UPS several hours a night lifting boxes. Graduated at a 179 pounds, but not too strong.

During my freshman year of University, I kept the motivation going. Staying focused mentally and physically, I dabbled in some martial arts, ran and kept a 4.0 average for the first two semesters. After our first year of university, Perez and I worked at a Tent Company, setting up big tents, tables and chairs for graduation parties and weddings. Packed on a lot of muscle, but drank too much. Surpassed 200 pounds for the first time: Freshman twenty. Later, I joined the university lacrosse team and got distracted with college life. I started to drink more, and got bigger and bigger. Lost my spleen playing lacrosse, and like the spleen, I gave up lacrosse. Yada..yada...yada... met a girl my junior year and we lounged around a lot eating and reading and talking about the future. My last year at UNI was my best: lived with my friend from Nepal, two women from Kenya, one from Ghana and a bunch of guys from India. Proper UN house, with lots of delicious food. Finished university at around 230 pounds.

After graduating from college I moved to Florida to live with my Grandparents for a few months, and that is where I learned one of my most valuable lessons: Train in the Tropics. In addition to spending many nights talking with my grandparents about anything and everything, I swam everyday, went running and ate lots of fresh produce. I lost weight and left Florida feeling much healthier. A couple of months later, acting on a whim, I moved to the Caribbean, where I then taught for nearly two years. And my experiences outside the classroom in the Caribbean reinforced my position on training in the tropics. The only whales people want to see at the ocean are in the ocean.

At 22, it was an exciting and exotic time in my life. My sister loves the Colorado mountains, my brother prefers small-town New England, my youngest sister loved her time in the Aussie outback and my second youngest sister is moving to Ireland. Me, all I need is warm weather and somewhere to run and exercise to keep me from bouncing off the walls.

I ran everyday through the hills or along the waterfront and did lots of push-ups. Towards my second year, I began everyday with 500 push-ups: a set of 100, then two sets of 50, then twelve sets of 25. I taught, played some sports with the kids after school, then ran home with my books in my bag and then went to the gym. I was a young white boy in a gym with lots of big locals and Dominicans and they taught me heaps about weight lifting and dieting. Them being mostly construction worker, we focused mostly on upper body, lifting for size and strengh. By the time the guys in the gym were done with me, I was benching 300 pounds and doing push ups with a 100 pound weight on my back. Like most Americans and the boys at my gym, I associated chest, back and arm size with overall strengh and even fighting ability, which I learned later that is a rule that Thais defy, as well as the Brazilians.

Planning to enroll in graduate school, I returned to the states. Like most plans, they changed. I stopped lifting as much, actually became quite sick for several months, got depressed, and fell back into drinking and began taking sleeping pills. My father, who is proned to misquoting movies but capturing the general idea, said to me "Nothing will happen to you here. You have to go where things happen." I don't know if he meant South Korea but because an English academy offered a job, housing and a ticket out of the US, I boarded a plane at for the city of Busan. I was 103 kilograms at the time, still muscular from push ups and lifting, but fat by Asian standards---even for Koreans, who are far taller and larger than any other Asian. And this background brings you up to date on my first posting. And sorry for all the details, but the point I'm trying to make is that your past exercise and dieting habits will greatly affect your plans.

Your Plan

"He's a man, with a plan....he's Mr. Know It All." --as some of my closest friends here in Phuket would teasingly sing to me. But you need a plan. Because as my Grandfather would say, "The Future awaits for those who plan for it". Don't just arrive here in Thailand and expect to lose weight. You will. But not as much as you would like to without a plan. I've seen many success stories here and an equal amount of disappointments. It won't happen just through a few hours of Muay Thai everyday; so don't blame the camp if it doesn't. It takes a lot more. Basically, you'll need to do your muay thai training, cardio twice a day (A MUST) and diet correctly (A MUST, MUST). Do your research. I'm going to provide as many tips as possible to help you out. And read through the Weight Loss thread on Rawai Muay Thai's Forum especially Mike's biography from England. Lots of advice there. I'll also be conducting interviews once a week here in Phuket to provide more insight into how others are doing. And stay off the weight loss pills here in Thailand. Its analogous to dropping ecstasy on a Buddhist retreat and experiencing enlightenment: Its ephemeral and its cheating.

Your Motivation

I call it functional fitness. You'll lose the weight and get fit here in Thailand, but what comes next? What will keep you motivated after you are back home? I used to
love lifting weights for size and strength because I'm an endorphin junkie and it gave me a false sense of security. Now I train because I want the Thai physique: thick legs, lean stomach, chiseled arms and a strong but compact chest and back. Vanity is an acceptable form of motivation, but I think most people need more that. For me, Muay Thai is also a fun and a very practical martial arts systsem. I also keep up the training when I leave Thailand because I'm interested in self-defense, I want to compete in amateur kick boxing and I feel better about myself when I'm in shape. For me, I need more than a treadmill and a weight room to sustain my motivation. And you'll need purpose, too. Or, truthfully speaking, you will put on even more weight after you return home.

In the beginning......

2009-12-14T05:27:00.000-08:00

I came to Rawai in late August of 2008 primarily for weight loss and fitness reasons. I’ve struggled with me weight throughout my life. Several years ago I was quite active and healthy, but after falling while running one day, I tore all the tendons in my left ankle. As a result, I couldn't walk without crutches for a month and didn’t wear a pair of running shoes for more than a year. I unhappily went to work, watched TV, surfed the internet and developed unhealthy if not deadly eating habits for over a year.

I subsisted on fried chicken, Coke, pizza, McDonalds and fried rice. In a few months time, I lost significant muscle mass and increased by body fat by more than 15 percent, surpassing 30 percent total body fat. To make matters worse, the extra weight exacerbated the pains in my ankle, preventing me from reducing my weight with any form of aerobic exercise. I met several foot specialists and they all came to the same conclusion: I needed to drastically reduce my weight.

Prior to my injury, I developed an interest in Muay Thai in Korea, where I have been teaching for the past 3 years--but I didn’t practice seriously. However, because of the emphasis on weight loss on Tuk's Rawai Muay Thai's website, Danny Avison's advice and the detox program at Atsumi convinced me to train at Rawai.

Beginning with a five day detox, I lost around a kilogram a day. Then I trained Muay Thai twice a day--longer and longer every week. I power walked at night, sometimes went swimming in the afternoon, rode my bicycle and focused on eating healthy. When I arrived in Thailand I weighed 107 kilograms (235 pounds) and in two and half months, I lost 14 kilograms of fat, finishing at 93 kilograms (205 pounds)!

Then, I returned to my teaching job, but continued to train Muay Thai and lost an additional 12 kilograms, a total of 26 kilograms (57 pounds) in 8 months! Every one I know—coworkers, friends, students, people on the street---are all impressed by my continual transformation as a result of my experiences in Phuket. Everyone wants to know how I did it, and I love sharing my story with them.