Diplomatic,
Hey, I'm Asian too, and although I'm no expert on weight training, I can give you some advice concerning food and the Asian diet.
I was also raised on an asian (Korean) diet, but luckily, Korean cuisine is quite hearty by East Asian standards, with many meat dishes. So I grew up gorging on marinated beef, pork, chicken, and enjoying it. Yummm.... Unfortuantely, I never paid much attention to exercise as a youth, so when I finally left the mother's for college, I was a chubby 160 pounds at 5'7". Now, after 2.5 years of weight training (out of that, 1 year of serious, well-informed training), I'm a trim 152 pounds at 5'9". I reckon that with a few more years of intense hard training, could bulk up to a peak of 175 pounds or so, but for aesthetic reasons I don't want to achieve that 'steroid ape' look. I intend to maintain my weight at 165 pounds in lean weight, when I reach that goal. On my shorter frame, too much muscle just looks dumb, and can even have adverse health effects in the long run.
Most East Asian diets are based on rice and vegetables, and supplemental helpings of meat. You'll never see a huge slab of flesh slapped on a plate like they do in America! I think they call it a "steak".. j/k, Lol.
This is probably why you don't see too many obese Asians, unlike whites and black who can turn out to be... no offense intended... quite disgustingly fat. On the flipside - and to the credit of western diets - the Asian diet has a low-energy content, which means that people who consume it can't grow very big. That's why Asians aren't as big or muscular as some whites and blacks are. This is just circumstantial though. The proof is there when you compare Asians in Asia to 2nd generation Asian Americans. They are a few inches taller, but most of all, they are much more muscular. And they have the American diet to thank for that. If all Asians ate and ate and weight trained, they could get buff too. It's too bad that our East Asian cultures intrinsically place less emphasis on physical health, as much as they do on spiritual health.
Regardless I guess we Asians in the West are blessed, since we can enjoy some of the worlds best food in terms of health and taste (low cholesterol, anti-oxidants), but also have access to some of the most nutritious food from the West.
I hesitate to post detailed advice about nutrition, as someone like Diesel could do it infinately better than I, but I suggest that you stick to a healthy balance between Eastern and Western cuisine. Lean more toward the American diet if your goal is getting bigger. If you are in Asia, at least try to enjoy a steak or some tuna moer often, instead of eating steamed vegetables with rice.
Good luck.
- Jake
Originally posted by diplomatic_lies:
Just won the bid for the encyclopedia of body building (from ebay - and yes, i am a cheapskate).
Now I can finally figure out the names to the exercises.
Demon: Basically, my goal is to get a better body. Not total bodybuilding, but "enough", in order to look like I actually have some muscle. Also, I'm trying to extend my chest beyond my stomach by a few cm. So basically, my goal is mainly focus on the arms and chest, as well as toning the abs.
My diet, I'm Asian, so most of what I eat are what my parents cook. They insist on a lot of vegetables, and beef (mostly wok) are the main meat I eat. Usually for breakfast I eat several slices of brown bread with peanut butter and occasionally bacon in between.
One of the biggest problems I have is that I do not know much of the routines. In fact, I don't know ANY of the names of each exercise. My gym is very small, and personal trainers cost too much (being a student and all). Most of what I did was copied from people around me who looked like they had sucess.
As a note, does the Modern Encyclopedia of Body Building have give out routines, with illustrations, to them?
