Alpha Asian

Q:  "Just finished Strength and Physique, Volume One . Great book. I am interested in trying the 6 Factors Program. I have a home gym, but I don't have a leg extension machine or a cable stack. Would lying band curls be a good substitute for lying cable curls? "As for finding a replacement exercise for leg extensions, what do you think of walking backwards on an inclined treadmill? I know it sounds strange, but it really works the quads. Set up is simple. Set the treadmill to a high incline (20 to 30 degrees) and a decent speed. Hop backwards onto the side of the treadmill and while holding the rails carefully move onto the treadmill and start walking. Hold onto the rails the whole time. Its kind of awkward at first, but a minute of this will leave your legs burning. The motion kind of mimics that of a leg extension with a shorter range of motion. "Do you have any other recommendations for leg extension alternatives?" Thanks, Matt My Answer: Backw...

Q:  I have bad nutrition, because I am 15 and can't cook. I eat Asian food my aunt cooks and white rice. I am skinny: 5'6" 128 pounds. I have small muscles and about 10-12% body fat. I have two 15 pound dumbbells, a pull up bar, and 5 resistance bands. Any tips or ideas on achieving my goal? Should I buy anything like an EZ-curl bar or a bench press thing? I'm new to bodybuilding. I don't see [any] gains. -Max My Answer- Well Max, a lot of us have been where you are: a skinny teenager living at home eating whatever's on the dinner table. The good news is that your teen years are an optimal time in which to gain muscle. You've got testosterone pumping at full capacity. It's a wonder how any of us guys learned anything during high school when a boner popped up every minute. Anyway, as far as equipment, what I suggest is that you get a barbell with some plates to load on. If you're able to work out at a school gym, then go ahead and ...

Okay, this is very late, but I thought I'd do a write up anyway. Besides, it's snowing here on the east coast and work has been canceled due to the storm so I'm stuck indoors (I've discovered there's a LOT of shit on daytime TV, apart from the news, so I'm better off doing something constructive). Anyway, the Boston Red Sox won the World Series but what caught my eye was the great sports photos of relief pitcher Koji Uehara. Upon clinching the championship, Keiji was front and center---an Asian male the focal point of the championship photos. Interestingly enough, the Boston Red Sox also have Japanese relief pitcher Junichi Tazawa in the bull pen as well. But Uehara has an interesting backstory. Koji Uehara was the American League Championship series MVP, pitching well enough in relief in the 9th inning for scoreleess inning, striking out two Detroit Tigers batters, giving up only an infield single. However, at the start of the 2013 season, Uehara wa...

So Shadow Warrior Gene Yu has come out of the shadows and is now a celeb in Taiwan.  His book "Yellow Green Beret" was translated into Chinese. This guy's a true Alpha Asian. Gene served as a U.S. Army Special Forces officer. He served in 4 combat tours in Iraq and the Philippines, working extensively throughout Southeast Asia and the Middle East in special ops missions. He received several medals for his accomplishments, including 2 Bronze Stars. Yellow Green Beret documents his experiences, all the way from his time at Westpoint in 1997 to the Iraq War in 2009.  It's a compilation of 23 episodes from his military life, some of them quite humorous, some of them profound life lessons. All of the stories provide the reader with an inside look at Army Special Forces Operations and the intense training that's involved.  You learn a lot about the war in Iraq, hazing at Westpoint, sniper school and scenario based training And yet, this guy does...

Q:  I'll follow the body weight and dumbbell exercises you recommended but drop the use of kettlebells.  Will these be enough? And do they follow the correct sequence? 1. Dips (progress to weighted dips) 2. Pull-ups 3. Push-ups (progress to One-hand push ups) 4. Leg raises (progress to Pike) 5. One-legged squats (progress to weighted one-legged squats) 6. Lateral push away with dumbbells 7. Lean away laterals with dumbbells I plan to do this workout thrice a week.  How many sets and reps per exercise do you recommend? Kind regards, E. Ong My Answer:  Yep those exercises should be enough.  As far as sequencing, you should sequence them according to difficulty.  So exercises where you perform a low number of reps (due to their difficulty) should be done at the beginning of the workout.  Easier exercises where you can perform a high number of reps  (like push-ups and lateral raises) should be done at the end of the workout. Sin...

Q: James, thanks for your training wisdom. Yes, pull-ups for me is a problem. I have to do them at work hanging from a support beam. It's tough. My fingers can't go around the wood since it's a beam, so I have to cup them on top, then pull myself up. It works, but it's not easy. I still train at home, and at 57 I'm doing OK. I have to improvise a lot. Thanks again for your updates. -Bruce My Answer: Well Bruce, if you're doing pull-ups on a support beam, then I say you're doing good and kicking the asses of guys half your age. You got to work with what you got, and sometimes that's better for you. In my starving student days, I used to workout at a playground, which had a 3 inch thick pull-up bar for kids to hang on. I did pull-ups on that. Scared a few soccer moms, made a few pint sized friends. Even though it was initially difficult to do pull-ups because of the thickness of the bar, I kept doing it. So when I joined a gym and perfor...