I'm back from my Bodybuilding Level 1 course and I must say I had a great time away at International Youth Centre for the past 4 days. Sure, it's not some fantastic holiday with travels or adventures or beaches with a 5 star hotel - it's Cheras fer cryin' out loud - but it was the company and new friends made that made the experience fulfiing, memorable and enjoyable. LONG POST COMING UP!!!! :D
I arrived at IYC at 7-something a.m. A good hour in advance as dad had to rush for work after dropping me off. Thought I would be stranded there alone for some time but there were already people hanging around the lounge. That's how I met my first friends on the course - Rodi, Fizey and Ismail, who arrived from Johor at 4am!
The lobby of IYC
The registration,which look quicker than expected and started on time!
The majority of participants were bodybuilders, and the others personal trainers, sports science students, gym owners, and "budak-budak baru" who just started bodybuilding and came together with their mentors. And I was very, very surprised to see the amount of people that recognised me and knew my name... x.x And how embarassing - some guys spotted me at my own gym when they visited EF once or twice and I didn't know them. Some guys have seen me at comps. One guy recognised me as "Man Toyol's friend". Lol wtf.
OH and guess what!! The owner of the newly opened Az Gym in Bahau, Azmi, is here too!!! I told him I would DEFINITELY drop by to lepak and train the next time I'm in Bahau. Wanted to go during CNY but he was closed. I'm so glad we met during this course and got to talk. Looks like I won't be so alone after all when I next go back there!
Sazali Samad was present on the first day, just to catch up with his friends who were there and sat thru a few lectures.
The classroom that was going to be our "base" for the next few days. Here is Lt. Kamaruzaman, Secretary of the MBBF, giving the opening speech.
My room! I was the only person on the course who took a single room. Thought it would be better for me to not share keys as I had all my food and protein with me, and would be doing alot of moving about running up and down during my breaks to the gym. There were two other gals on the course, but only I was actively involved in weight training.
One of our lectures - En. Jasni from MSN giving us a talk on anatomy, physiology and general exercise science.
Francis Yong with his segment to touch on the rules and regulations of competitive bodybuilding.
And for the 7 compulsory poses.... Oh yea Buda Anchah was actually in this batch of aspirant trainers. Lol. Sooo... needless to say his friends singled him out for this one and he got called out to the front to perform the poses.... and everyone screamed for him to "tanggal baju" (a few "tanggal seluar"s too!) which he complied to after pretending to be shy for awhile. Lol.
Everyday we had an hour's break from our lectures (on top of mealtimes) and during then we would watch video clips about training techniques, bodybuilding at home and things like that. Our hours there were really maxed out at absorbing everything we can and even when we were relaxing and having fun! And on the first day, we watched the free posing routines from 2009's Mr. Olympia which had everyone glued to the screen in awe.
Mealtimes doubled as a time to get together, mingle and get to know one another better. On the first day the caterers didn't prepare any food for the dieting bodybuilders so many of them resorted to home-packed meals... or wiping out the restaurant's entire stock of eggs. XD But even so the regular menu, even tho cooked in curry or gravy, comprised of lots of chicken breasts, fish, and beef; except for the breakfast and tea-time menus which were extremely carby. And Mr. Halim had been so kind, telling me on the second day to go sit with the competitors and have specially prepared "diet food", and even ordered egg whites for me when the food ran out!
Not bad right!!! :D
Unexpectedly, I ran into some members from the Binabadan forum! Turns out Ichi, Eddy and a few others workout at the IYC gym. And Soulreaver himself... or Rashid, works there! And he has been very accomodating and hospitable, keeping the gym open way past the normal hours so that I could come in to workout after the day's classes. He even got someone to go out and buy milk for me when mine ran out, and brought me out to makan.
Cheras got some of the biggest tandoori I've seen. And at RM5 too!! Fuuuh
An Indonesian bodybuilding magazine "Reps", with Zetri Munir on the cover! He won the Mr. Prolab Challenge overall last year.
Oh and thanks to Rashid... I also have a huuuuuge storage of bodybuilding e-books that are probably gonna be lasting me till next year! Hehe.
Mr Halim's 5Fs of bodybuilding success.
And Buda wants to come up with his 5Bs after seeing this. Lol.
Practical sessions! Everyone was divided into groups of 12-14 people under a respective leader. I was put into Halim's group. I think I was very fortunate for this cos Halim was very strict about form and technique, and for our exam he didn't just want us to be tested for what that was in the syllabus, but he also wanted us to be creative and come up with variation of the exercise (i.e if you are performing a bench press, you have to also explain variations like the dumbell press and the differences between incline/flat/decline, and alternatives like using water bottles for a female client who cannot handle the weights at first), and also safety issues (grip technique, back extension, use of collars etc) I don't think the other groups did this so I believe all of us in Halim's group had much to benefit from.
Some snapshots from our practical sessions
And the other groups at work
Vincent Ho's first-aid and CPR training session, which was probably the most entertaining session of all! We had all sorts of stupid questions, jokes and had a really good laugh. But it was informative and educational. I think this was probably the only session where everyone was so alert and giving 100% attention to!!
Apa jadi kalau seseorang itu tercekik? Apakah yang anda akan lakukan...?
(from the back of the class) KAKI KASI AMBIK NAIK ATAS!!!!! *and everyone starts rolling around in laughter*
Aaaaand it's crunch time. We had our fun and we had our games... but there was the exam on Friday to study for! Again, I am very thankful to have my own room, and could study in perfect peace.
Hanging around outside the gym, waiting for our turns to go in for the practical exam.
*last minute studying!*
And finally, the course draws to an end.... we had a group photo outside IYC, and then everyone was just mingling and taking pictures and exchanging contacts.
With new friends Azlan, Azwan, Fizey and
Suzaili
With Azlan and Nurashid
Shidi and Mokhtar from Perak. I was in the same practical group as Shidi, and he is such a nice and friendly guy to hang with. He's from the Air Force, and travels to KL quite abit so I hope we will be meeting up again one day!
And here is me with Buda. Buda started off keeping to himself and his gang alot at the beginning of the course, but we ended up sitting next to each other cos he was late one day, we were all divided into groups already and he didn't have a seat. That got us talking and by the end of the course he was stealing my notes! *whack* He also offered to give me a lift after the course to the LRT station. Got to pick his brains about training and dieting, and had to chance to ask for his advice about getting tattoos (Buda has two dragons and a pheonix adorning both his arms and upper back). Apparently it's not advisable in the local scene and he had trouble with it as well in the beginning. But once you compete outside Malaysia tattoos are a very common thing and not a problem as many bodybuilders out there are even more extensively tattoed. So looks like I won't be getting mine yet for a long time to come.
Lt. Kamaruzaman giving the closing speech.
It was a valuable experience indeed. There's always something about all us gym people being able to get together in one place and put our heads together. But the course isn't over. We have a practical assignment to complete over a span of 3 months, requiring us to train someone, design a program and write out something like a module (with pictures, explainations, materials etc) to be submitted back to MBBF for grading. I'm glad I decided to sign up for this as it was a great opportunity to refresh my memory and meet new people. Hopefully one day we will all meet again at one of the competitions or courses. Take care everyone, you all will be very much missed!
I arrived at IYC at 7-something a.m. A good hour in advance as dad had to rush for work after dropping me off. Thought I would be stranded there alone for some time but there were already people hanging around the lounge. That's how I met my first friends on the course - Rodi, Fizey and Ismail, who arrived from Johor at 4am!
The lobby of IYC
The registration,which look quicker than expected and started on time!
The majority of participants were bodybuilders, and the others personal trainers, sports science students, gym owners, and "budak-budak baru" who just started bodybuilding and came together with their mentors. And I was very, very surprised to see the amount of people that recognised me and knew my name... x.x And how embarassing - some guys spotted me at my own gym when they visited EF once or twice and I didn't know them. Some guys have seen me at comps. One guy recognised me as "Man Toyol's friend". Lol wtf.
OH and guess what!! The owner of the newly opened Az Gym in Bahau, Azmi, is here too!!! I told him I would DEFINITELY drop by to lepak and train the next time I'm in Bahau. Wanted to go during CNY but he was closed. I'm so glad we met during this course and got to talk. Looks like I won't be so alone after all when I next go back there!
Sazali Samad was present on the first day, just to catch up with his friends who were there and sat thru a few lectures.
The classroom that was going to be our "base" for the next few days. Here is Lt. Kamaruzaman, Secretary of the MBBF, giving the opening speech.
My room! I was the only person on the course who took a single room. Thought it would be better for me to not share keys as I had all my food and protein with me, and would be doing alot of moving about running up and down during my breaks to the gym. There were two other gals on the course, but only I was actively involved in weight training.
One of our lectures - En. Jasni from MSN giving us a talk on anatomy, physiology and general exercise science.
Francis Yong with his segment to touch on the rules and regulations of competitive bodybuilding.
And for the 7 compulsory poses.... Oh yea Buda Anchah was actually in this batch of aspirant trainers. Lol. Sooo... needless to say his friends singled him out for this one and he got called out to the front to perform the poses.... and everyone screamed for him to "tanggal baju" (a few "tanggal seluar"s too!) which he complied to after pretending to be shy for awhile. Lol.
Everyday we had an hour's break from our lectures (on top of mealtimes) and during then we would watch video clips about training techniques, bodybuilding at home and things like that. Our hours there were really maxed out at absorbing everything we can and even when we were relaxing and having fun! And on the first day, we watched the free posing routines from 2009's Mr. Olympia which had everyone glued to the screen in awe.
Mealtimes doubled as a time to get together, mingle and get to know one another better. On the first day the caterers didn't prepare any food for the dieting bodybuilders so many of them resorted to home-packed meals... or wiping out the restaurant's entire stock of eggs. XD But even so the regular menu, even tho cooked in curry or gravy, comprised of lots of chicken breasts, fish, and beef; except for the breakfast and tea-time menus which were extremely carby. And Mr. Halim had been so kind, telling me on the second day to go sit with the competitors and have specially prepared "diet food", and even ordered egg whites for me when the food ran out!
Not bad right!!! :D
Unexpectedly, I ran into some members from the Binabadan forum! Turns out Ichi, Eddy and a few others workout at the IYC gym. And Soulreaver himself... or Rashid, works there! And he has been very accomodating and hospitable, keeping the gym open way past the normal hours so that I could come in to workout after the day's classes. He even got someone to go out and buy milk for me when mine ran out, and brought me out to makan.
Cheras got some of the biggest tandoori I've seen. And at RM5 too!! Fuuuh
An Indonesian bodybuilding magazine "Reps", with Zetri Munir on the cover! He won the Mr. Prolab Challenge overall last year.
Oh and thanks to Rashid... I also have a huuuuuge storage of bodybuilding e-books that are probably gonna be lasting me till next year! Hehe.
Mr Halim's 5Fs of bodybuilding success.
And Buda wants to come up with his 5Bs after seeing this. Lol.
Practical sessions! Everyone was divided into groups of 12-14 people under a respective leader. I was put into Halim's group. I think I was very fortunate for this cos Halim was very strict about form and technique, and for our exam he didn't just want us to be tested for what that was in the syllabus, but he also wanted us to be creative and come up with variation of the exercise (i.e if you are performing a bench press, you have to also explain variations like the dumbell press and the differences between incline/flat/decline, and alternatives like using water bottles for a female client who cannot handle the weights at first), and also safety issues (grip technique, back extension, use of collars etc) I don't think the other groups did this so I believe all of us in Halim's group had much to benefit from.
Some snapshots from our practical sessions
And the other groups at work
Vincent Ho's first-aid and CPR training session, which was probably the most entertaining session of all! We had all sorts of stupid questions, jokes and had a really good laugh. But it was informative and educational. I think this was probably the only session where everyone was so alert and giving 100% attention to!!
Apa jadi kalau seseorang itu tercekik? Apakah yang anda akan lakukan...?
(from the back of the class) KAKI KASI AMBIK NAIK ATAS!!!!! *and everyone starts rolling around in laughter*
Aaaaand it's crunch time. We had our fun and we had our games... but there was the exam on Friday to study for! Again, I am very thankful to have my own room, and could study in perfect peace.
Hanging around outside the gym, waiting for our turns to go in for the practical exam.
*last minute studying!*
And finally, the course draws to an end.... we had a group photo outside IYC, and then everyone was just mingling and taking pictures and exchanging contacts.
With new friends Azlan, Azwan, Fizey and
Suzaili
With Azlan and Nurashid
Shidi and Mokhtar from Perak. I was in the same practical group as Shidi, and he is such a nice and friendly guy to hang with. He's from the Air Force, and travels to KL quite abit so I hope we will be meeting up again one day!
And here is me with Buda. Buda started off keeping to himself and his gang alot at the beginning of the course, but we ended up sitting next to each other cos he was late one day, we were all divided into groups already and he didn't have a seat. That got us talking and by the end of the course he was stealing my notes! *whack* He also offered to give me a lift after the course to the LRT station. Got to pick his brains about training and dieting, and had to chance to ask for his advice about getting tattoos (Buda has two dragons and a pheonix adorning both his arms and upper back). Apparently it's not advisable in the local scene and he had trouble with it as well in the beginning. But once you compete outside Malaysia tattoos are a very common thing and not a problem as many bodybuilders out there are even more extensively tattoed. So looks like I won't be getting mine yet for a long time to come.
Lt. Kamaruzaman giving the closing speech.
It was a valuable experience indeed. There's always something about all us gym people being able to get together in one place and put our heads together. But the course isn't over. We have a practical assignment to complete over a span of 3 months, requiring us to train someone, design a program and write out something like a module (with pictures, explainations, materials etc) to be submitted back to MBBF for grading. I'm glad I decided to sign up for this as it was a great opportunity to refresh my memory and meet new people. Hopefully one day we will all meet again at one of the competitions or courses. Take care everyone, you all will be very much missed!
posted by LadyVanity at
10:23 AM
<< Home