Back Muskels

At the end of my bis/tris and legs workout and I'm on the ab ball doing some crunches. I notice a petite Asian lady walking towards my direction and she's looking at me. She comes forward and says, "I'm sorry, I just wanted to tell you I really admire your back. Could you tell me what you do? I don't lift free weights so I don't know what I should be doing."

That was a first. Totally random stranger coming up to me to ask for workout tips. I told her it probably had to do a lot with swimming, but I wanted to help her anyway. She said she had some wedding to go to in a few weeks and wanted to look good.

I showed her the lat pulldown. She had been doing a machine called the Lat Pull where each arm had a separate grip, but it wasn't doing much for her since she was doing 110 lbs. and it wasn't even hard. Obviously, the machine was doing too much of the work for her. I put her at 50 lbs. for the lat pulldown (keep wide grip and make sure the motion is up and down) and she was challenged.

Then I showed her the one-arm row. It was a first for her so there were a few form corrections (only use your back, not your bicep) but after some pointers she looked great.

Then, I told her to do the seated row, but she already knew that, so I didn't bother watching her form, but now that I think about it, maybe I should've.

That picture isn't the best since the top covers up the muscles, but it was the only one I had.

100! My new one rep max for bench press. YAAAAHHH! I thought I would stop at 95 and was very sad that I hadn't improved that much from 90 lbs. a while ago, but I was pushed to go for 100. I huffed and puffed but I got the bar off my chest without any help.


In other news, since I was tuning in to the pageant while preparing a chicken, Ms. Japan Riyo Mori won Ms. Universe. I think that's the first Asian country besides India that's won it.



















There were a lot of notable awards in this competition given to Asian females this year. Ms. Photogenic went to Ms. Phillipines, and Ms. Congeniality went to Ms. China.


































Ms. Phillipines.
































Ms. China

Ms. Korea Honey Lee was also 3rd runner up. Ms. USA was 4th runner up. The competition had a bunch of celebrity guest judges like Dave Navarro, Michelle Kwan, and Tony Romo. Most surprising for me was seeing Michelle Kwan ask a question. What the heck has she been doing lately? Ice exhibitions? I miss seeing her compete.

Ms. Korea

Lyrical Thrash

I started ballet/tap classes when I was 6 years old. I've kept it up since then, taking a summer off here and there when I can't find good dance classes in the area. I am so thankful that I know of the Jimmy DeFore Dance Center in Costa Mesa near my parent's house. They have all sorts of dance classes for adults and the teachers are always great.

Tonight, I wanted something different from ballet since I can take lots of ballet classes at Davis but not good jazz classes. Lyrical Jazz 3 sounded good since it was an intermediate class. To my surprise, the instructor was a tall lanky man. He really liked contractions (sharp abdominal contractions common in jazz dancing) and there were lots of them during warm-up which is cool. Then came an extension and balance exercise, and the rest of the class was dedicated to a long combination. It was really fun and just the right level for me while still challenging. I was the odd one with pink ballet tights, leotard and ballet shoes. Everyone else was wearing more modern dance clothes and jazz shoes, but I didn't let it bother me like I would have when I was younger.

The music sounded a little bit like country but more poppy. Although it was a slower tempo there was a lot of of quick sharp movements to accent the song's dramatic moments. The teacher was excellent at demonstrating since he was so dramatic. He was thrashing and contracting really well and it gave me a good idea of how he wanted it done. I struggled with all the contractions and timing for most of the class. But then he split us into 3 groups and near the end of the hour-and-a-half class, he had each group watch the other ones. And when I had to perform, everything came together. I hit almost all the highlights, even the difficult spots where most people missed, and I had a great balancing side extension at the end. It felt so good. She-Hulk likes to thrash!

In celebration of the fact that I'm in the best shape I've been in since high school, I caved and bought some sweet gym outfits for my birthday. I figure that I can only justify buying expensive clothing if it's for work or for the gym since those two places will be where I will spend most of my time in the future.























As you can see, She-Hulk, like most superheroes, always wears tight and skimpy clothes when she's ready to kick ass. My muscles need freedom to work at maximum efficiency. Now that they are getting bigger, I decided to reward them with the following:

Other shopping goodies included another pair of booty shorts in black and a cropped hoodie with a sweet ghetto fabulous hood. Pics of those later. I must spread them out among the posts so you guys will be continually entertained.

Crane's First Performance

A fellow crane and I at this year's first "The Lord of the Cranes" performance at an elementary school. Why the anonymous faces? I like to have a secret identity. Our costumes are pretty neat with the winged gloves. I really like dancing with them since they add a nice visual effect onstage. The kids were a good audience and applauded after our dance even though it was in the middle of a scene. While I was rehearsing I was bitching inside about how this was a little sad; a bunch of old adults who aren't professionals, performing for free. (Well this one is for free, but the ones next week aren't, and a lot of other performances are discounted.) Anyway, the long rehearsals were getting me down, but the first performance really lifted me up. Having an audience makes a difference and everybody was a bit more on. The principal came backstage later to shake hands and thank everyone. She was sincerely grateful and said that many of these kids don't get to see live performances since they are from low income families. So even though I had to wake up at 7am to perform at 9:30, I thought it was worth it, unlike when I have to wake up for Immigration which I missed 3 days in a row now.



That same night I broiled myself 1/2 lb. of salmon doused in lemon juice, olive oil, sherry, mashed garlic, salt & pepper, capers and dried basil. I sauteed some spinach for some veggies.
I only finished 1/2 of the salmon though since it was a big piece.

She-Hulk Moment of the Day: I was doing weighed lunges with my back foot propped up on a stepper to put more weight on the front leg and make the exercise more difficult. I'd gone up that day to 22.5 lb dumbbells so I was taking it nice and easy. I left after two sets to grab water and came back.

My dumbbells were gone!

I was annoyed. I couldn't find them on the racks. I became upset. VERY UPSET. I was GREEN WITH RAGE. Wasn't it obvious that someone was using the weights? People don't just leave big dumbbells near the cardio machines and next to a stepper. Determined to find the culprit, I scoured the gym twice scowlingly walking to find the person, most likely a male since most females do not carry around that kind of weight. I was so mad that my routine was interrupted I had to do some curls to get it out. I returned to the racks and found the 22.5s put back. So I finished my set, but was disappointed that I didn' get to call someone out on their bad gym etiquette.

• Well, no big workout today since I just flew home. I did walk on the beach with my parents though, and later we went out to eat. Usually we go out for Vietnamese or Chinese/Vietnamese. If my brother is home, maybe sushi. But I was thinking Korean. Problem was my mom had never eaten Korean and I wasn't sure if the idea would fly. Somehow, I brought it up during our walk and she said a lot of her friends like it and had told her about this one place on Brookhurst and Dale. Super. We had dinner at Tofu Village. I had beef soondibud, she had blue fin crab soondibud, and my dad ordered egg and tofu pancakes. The restaurant called the tofu soup "SoonTofu," but I think that is an americanization of the word since I'd never heard my Korean friends say it like that before.

• They gave each of us complimentary steamed egg in a bamboo cup. Delicious! Then all the random small plates. My mom, having never eaten a place like this before, asked the waitress "what does this go with?" since none of the main dishes had been served yet. The waitress looked confused so I told her my mom had never eaten Korean before. hehe. The pancakes came out first and they were excellent. Then the soups with green rice. The rice was really nice with delicate tea flavor. The last time I had soondibud was with my sister when I was home last month, and I had stuffed myself then. Tonight was no different. I just can't let myself let the good broth go to waste even if I could take it home. My mom was really happy and my dad liked everything too. I think they will go back to try the cold noodles. My dad told us about this one excellent Korean BBQ on the same street that was always full of Vietnamese people, so maybe we can visit that restaurant later. Yumyumyum in my tumtumtum.

• I seem to turn into a little kid when I'm home by myself with my parents. Today on the walk, I was galloping and skipping and just doing goofy moves. I dunno if it would be the same if my brother and sister were there too. Something about being home on my last spring break.