Fitness, it is

This week marks my first full year as fitness columnist for The Freeman. For one year, I have already penned more than 40,000 words, and this could be more than what I have written in my entire high school years.

Just in case you missed my article for the past 12 months, below is the Top 5 in my list with summary and highlights in each piece.

No excuses (March 8, 2014): The most common reason for people not to workout or exercise is the expensive gym membership and no time at all. But with the 4-minute metabolic workout, you can exercise anytime and anywhere. It's been proven to burn up to 600 calories. The four-minute Metafit workout is composed of four exercises –the jumping jacks, squats,  push-ups and lunges. One must do 10 repetitions of each and then repeat the four exercises as fast as one can in four minutes.

Stage Parents (March 29, 2014): Is your child living his dream or his parents' dream? In the world of sports, behind most successful athletes are great parents working behind the scenes. That is because the role of parents is very important in the development of their children particularly in the athletic field.

There is, however, that line that parents should not cross in raising outstanding athletes. They must constantly bear in mind that the role they play during actual games should be limited only as supporter or chief cheerleader of their child, so to speak.

Talking about support, it means giving your child appropriate sports gear and outfits, and at the same time providing them with proper hydration and nutrition. The moral side of it comes in the form of cheering, which should be reserved only to applause and maybe a few inspirational cheers. There should be no bad-mouthing or taunting the opponents, much more the game officials.

Fountain of Youth (July 15, 2014): Let me share you a little secret that will save you tons of money on the search for the elixir not for immortality, but elixir how to stay young and look young. All you need is proper diet and exercise.

As we pass the age of 30, our body lose as much as 3-5% muscle every decade. This is a condition known as age-related sarcopenia or sarcopenia.

Although there is no accepted test for specific level of muscle mass for sarcopenia diagnosis, but any loss of muscle mass is of consequence, because loss of muscle means loss of strength and mobility. Even if you are an active person you may experience muscle loss.

So you need to exercise 3-4 times a week, stretch after each workout, eat right, and rest. Recovery and sleep are as important as working out. It is the time when your body recharges and repair your muscles.

Off-Season (August 23, 2014): Off-season is the time to rest and recover, but for elite athletes, it is the time to train on what they are weak on and during the off-season. They focused on that weakness and turn it into an advantage.

It's sad to say that some athletes fall in the pit of the off-season. Even elite cyclist Ian Ulrich gained so much weight in the off-season that he tried to lose weight before the Tour de France. As a result, his body suffers so much as he tried to shed off extra poundage while training. That greatly affects his competitive edge during his cycling carrier.

My advice to all athletes, plot your training, fights, events, races and schedule your rest day throughout the year.  During off-season, find one sport or training regimen and make it your base training, something to keep you in shape. It does not mean that since it's the off-season, you should stop training and eating healthy. Just lessen the quantity and maintain the quality of training.

Mountain Bike Shootout (November 29, 2014): Mountain biking is my favorite pastime. So this makes it my all time best article for 2014. Apparently this is the most shared article as well.

I had the chance to do our version of mountain bike shootout, 'the wheel size wars.' Three cyclists with three different bikes, Terence Fernandez brought his showbiz 26er Hard tail bike, yours truly rode a 650b/27.5  hard tail and Ramon Rodriguez from Cagayan de Oro rented a 29er full suspension  bike courtesy of Noy Jopson and the Brick Multisport store.

Our goal was to test and switch bikes along paved road, off-road both uphill and downhill. In order to have an accurate shootout, the 3 bikes has to be of the same make and model with wheel size the only difference.

The test was far from scientific mainly because we used different bike brands, geometry and group set.  But in the end, we all agreed that this will be a never-ending argument of which will be the better bike – the 26er, 650b or 29er. Everything boils down to the cyclist. It is the Indian never the arrow. You have to train hard to be a fast cyclist, spend hours and hours of biking. One should focus on training, core,   strength and conditioning rather than getting a new bike and expect to be stronger and faster.  If you are slow on 26er, then you will be definitely slow on 650b or a 29er.

If you own a 26er mountain bike now and has no plan to race and level up in a more competitive races, then you have no need to upgrade your bike. But if one is seriously considering to compete, then you have to get a 650b or a 29er.

Looking forward to a another fruitfull year of fitness advice, tips and races for 2015 and beyond!