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National Service, Part 1

2008-07-16T04:10:00.000-07:00

This post is long overdue. I wanted to blog about my experience last year in national service. So now, post exam and also since im recovering from an injury, i got the time to write it up. mmmmmkay lets begin

It was around June 14, if im not mistaken. I recall it being a sunday... and being the day right after graduation which meant

1) I wasnt gonna be at prom night
2) I wasnt going to have a long break like the other kids after a long and stressful exam
3) I wont have the time to hit the gym after a long absence

So anyway
Sunday morning, Likas stadium

reached there to see a bunch of kids waiting around, no one looked to excited about it haha
Now before i go on, prior to this I've heard from friends that the 3rd group, which i was entering is the worst group of all. Its where all the juvies, high-school dropouts, trouble makers, gangsters(or wannabes for that matter) get thrown into
Had breakfast after signing up, and boarded up late only to get stares from my would-be camp mates. By this fime i found out that only a HANDFUL from sabah were heading for my camp, there were suppose to be about 20-30+ but they all chickened out. It just shows what most kids today are made of lol
7 guys including me and 3 girls,5 chinese 3 malays 1 kadazan and 1 anomaly :p

Bus sent us to airasia terminal where we waited 2 hours i think, before we boarded the plane. Things seemed good right from the very start. The insturctors at the stadium were nice, even gave us RM10 each before we left(yes, i know its by the government) and prepped talked us all the way to the airport.
I pretty much kept to myself the whole time, only one of them bothered to start a conversation at first

Reached camp around 3pm, where we had to hand in the forms that came in the mail, at least for me, the rest didnt fill it in until they were asked to lol some actually couldnt read so you cant blame them
Another issue i would like to point out, in spite of the deaths occuring in National Service there are some parts on the administration that are carried out too lightly

I know for a fact that i was the only one among the sabah group who actually went for a freakin medical check up. was a complete waste of time, had to wait one whole day just to get approved. What sucked even more was i had an exam the next day and only got to study few hours before that 'cause of this. So yeah, they didnt bother to look at the medical condition at that time

One of the first things the trainers said to me was "ada main besikah?" of course i said yes but was surprised they could tell. was wearing baggy clothes at the time and stopped lifting for a month or so. I actually got on good terms with most of the trainers because of this, and believe me, in the camp its best you get on all the trainers good side. Makes it easier to tolerate all the crap you're bound to face

They lined us up at the hall and mixed and matched us in pairs of 2 or 3s and i was wondering what they were up to. Turns out it was the whole "racial balance" thing to ensure each team had the same amount of races.

Stadium. was great. Bus to airport. was great. on the plane. still good. signing up at the camp. was great.

But my first step into the dorm? worst feeling yet

At the time there was only 2 chinese there, only one of 'em was there.
Out of the other end of the corner, i just barely managed to hear one of them say "China lagi...." heh, not exactly the reception i was expecting
One of them than goes to get our details, funny you know, instant i mentioned i was mixed, "Kadazan" as in a drop of native blood, he said "dia macam kami"(he's like us; one of us) I'm not one who favours racism but i used this to my advantage in the camp, funny thing was i looked like a chinese to them but because the papers said something else i got along with most of the malays just well apart from the occasional trash talking i have to put up with
Im not saying the chinese and malays didnt get along, because they did and it was all good towards the end but being "native" or "bumiputera" in their view somehow puts you on their wavelength haha i'll leave it at that

This was the very locker(p122) used by the legendary JIB haha :P

The first day was actually the worst for me. Despite being kept awake late at night, punishments, nightshifts etc etc nothing was worse for me than the first day. I talked to few of the trainers but i barely talked to the people around me, so i tried to sleep early to escape the fact that that very moment, everyone else from college was partying, relaxing..... i was bracing myself for 3 months of well.. work and manual labour :p

See this? thats something you will rarely or would probably never see well, in my camp not sure 'bout other places. Peace? quiet? not here. I couldnt sleep early the first day 'cause all the kampung kids were running and screaming all over the place. and they have this stupid tendency to disturb you out of nowhere, even if they dont know you. Sometimes its out of friendliness and sometimes they're just asking for it

Most of the camps are practically built with the same dorms and toilets. there'll be a bit of difference, but its same everywhere so luxury is obviously out of the question

The toilet/bathroom hmmm.... This one you must learn to get used to.
No doors for the bathing area, only the cubicles
This is how it looked like on the last day, when it was all cleanend up. And it still looks like crap. The picture might not show it, but some areas of the toilet is covered with moss
Each Dorm basically has only one toilet, but because my batch wasnt as big as the previous batches, the dorm behind ours wasnt used so the toilet behind ours was unoccupied.. and cleaner... much cleaner
We're all suppose to use the same shower area 'cause the back showers were meant for the dorms behind BUT most of the chinese guys ended up using it anyway
At first i thought id play along with rules... Shower in our dorms area, where the malays go just to appear supportive but there were a few things that drove me out of there.
One was i knew the cubicles were a place that some of the guys would frequent..its where they jerk off, to make things worse they had a habit of not cleaning up after that.
second, and the thing that changed my mind 'bout showering there was one morning, i was showering in the cubicle, cause all the showers outside were used. and i remember this, cause the toilet's cover, where all the water was stored was open, and when i took a good look i saw tadpoles/worms or a bunch of something swimming and crawling in there. and that was it. never bothered to use the cubicles there again. not even for a piss
thats it for now, a lot to cover, will write more on my next post

TUESDAY D.E SQUAT

2008-07-11T06:01:00.000-07:00

D.E SQuat:

90 x 3
90 x 3
90 x 3
90 x 3
90 x 3
90 x 3
90 x 3
90 x 3

Goodmornings:

100 x 6
100 x 6
100 x 6
100 x 6

Reverhyperse: 15, 15, 15, 15

M.B Crunches: 12, 12, 12

SUNDAY: D.E BENCH

2008-07-07T06:57:00.000-07:00

Bench press:
90 x 3
90 x 3
80 x 3
80 x 3
80 x 3
80 x 3
80 x 3
80 x 3

D.B Extensions:

66(lbs) x 6
70 (lbs)x6
70 x 6
70 x 6

Military press:
60 x 6
70 x 3
60 x 6
60 x 4
60 x 3

Barbell rows:

70 x 6
70 x 6
70 x 6
70 x 6

Hammer curls:

40(lbs) x 6
40 x 6
40 x 6

-Gonna be laying off soon, was playing around with the weights to find out if i could lift 'em, still not ready for 90 as speed work, my M.Ps arent increasing could be 'cause of a weak core

-I actually got a good pump by taking nearly all of 'em up to 4 instead of 3 sets, muscles are even more sore and in future i may take it to 5, seems to help increase work capacity as well

-My deload, if i do, that is, will probably be accessory lifts taken to 4-5 sets with higher reps, im not gonna start of with a 1-rm compound movement, need to give the joints some rest, may incorporate cardio into work out

M.E Deadlift

2008-07-06T02:55:00.000-07:00

FRIDAY

M.E Deadlift

Deadlift:
80 x 6
100 x 4
120 x 3
140 x 2
150 x 1
180 x 1
190 x 1
200 x 1
210 (FAIL)

Hyperextensions:
BW+10 X 12
BW+10 X 12
BW+10 X 12
BW+10 X 12

Reverse Hypers:
15, 15, 8

M.B crunches

Yes, i finally have a vid

WEDNESDAY

2008-07-03T09:35:00.000-07:00

M.E Bench

Incline Bench press:
60 x 8
70 x 7
80 x 6
90 x 5
100 x 0 (Fail)
100 x 2
110 (Fail, lift assisted)

Funny... weights felt lighter, i thought i was getting stronger but i couldnt budge 100, could be because i wasted too much enery on first few sets or the fact that my low carb diet is starting to effect my endurance

Tricep pressdown:
35 x 12
40 x 12
40 x 12

Pullups:
BW X 6
BW+10 X 3
BW+10 X 3

Side lateral raises:
20 (lbs) x 10
20 x 10
20 x 6

2008-06-30T08:39:00.000-07:00

Sunday, D.E B.P

2008-06-29T00:40:00.000-07:00

D.E Bench press

Bench press:

80 x 3
80 x 3
80 x 3
80 x 3
80 x 3
80 x 3
80 x 3
90 x 3
90 x 3

Barbell extensions:

25 x 6
25 x 6
25 x 6

Cable rows:

70 x 6
70 x 6
65 x 6

D.B Floor press:

20 x 6
20 x 8
20 x 8
20 x 8

D.B hammer curls:

20 x 8
20 x 8
20 x 7

First post

2008-06-27T23:54:00.000-07:00

I'll be moving my training journal here due to the exponential increase of idiots in the forum. There'll be more room for stories here 'cause i can rant as much as i want without limits
thats it for now

FRIDAY

M.E Squat

Front squat:

60 x 8
70 x 5
80 x 4
90 x 3
100 x 2
120 (FAIL)
Nearly gaveup but told myself i wasnt going home without pushing more weight
60 x 2(switched to clean grip here, stopped at 2 cause my right forearm was giving way, looks like i dont have the flexibility to use a clean grip)
120 x 1
140(FAIL)

Reverse hypers: 15, 15, 15

45 degree Hyperextensions:

BW+10 x 12
BW+10 x 10
BW+10 x 10

Hanging leg raises: 7, 2
abs fell apart from here, a friend of mine decided to join in so i ended up doing MB crunches after this

M.B Crunches: 10, 10, 10

This day SUCKED

only good thing was reverse hypers, seems to be more effective now that i took it up to 15

probably cause i didnt wait 1 hour after having my pre-workout meal, was feeling drained cause of that, yes i know, insulin sensitivity and all that crap, but lets keep it simple and let the labcoats do all the fancy stuff