Besides juggling with work and blogging, I still manage to squeeze in time for some workout. No matter how occupied I am, I would make it a point to hit the gym at least twice a week. Losing weight used to be the sole reason why I hit the gym but these days, it’s more of a soul retreat centre where I could simply get my mind off work and catch up with my gym buddies.
My Current Fitness Schedule
Monday – Body Pump, Dance
Wednesday – Dance, Body Pump
Sunday – Body Pump, Zumba, Yoga
Muay Thai
I’m running between two gyms right now as both gyms offer different types of classes and services. For instance,
Radiance PhysioFit offers Muay Thai classes which is quite exclusive and is not found in many other gyms. Besides, the classes are always fun because the Muay Thai instructor would vary the training workout to challenge the body. After each subsequent training session, I felt stronger and more agile than before. Yes, even a random in their gym went up to tell me how much I’ve improved. Shadow boxing? Easy peasy.
But I really wish I could continue learning Muay Thai at Radiance PhysioFit though as it’s one of the best exercises to shape the abs and tone the arms.
My Muay Thai Training Playground
Spinning Class
Recently, I have been trying to incorporate spinning into my fitness routine. It’s a fantastic cardio workout but it can be pretty boring if the instructor doesn’t push and excites you to do your best. I used to love attending Sunday morning Spinning classes by this instructor called Mark, but he has now left for Hong Kong. It’s really sad because he’s one of the better spinning instructors!
Floating Yoga Class
One of my favourite fitness classes would have to be yoga, in particular, floating yoga. It’s similar to anti-gravity yoga except that it has hand and leg straps for you to do various yoga poses. It’s fun and also very challenging. I’m currently attending both the clinic and advance classes with yoga instructor Kimberly. She’s one of those dedicated yoga teachers that inspired me to take up yoga seriously. Her passion in teaching yoga is sincere and she,too, has motivated others at the gym to do yoga. You could imagine her pack her classes are!
I could perform most of the basic floating yoga moves but have yet to master the advance moves even though I’ve been doing floating yoga for almost a year now! It’s requires alot of core and arm strength to toggle between the different yoga poses on the hammock. This is equivalent to any high-intensity circuit training session because we do both dynamic and static movements. Loads of sides planks and crunches to tighten up the core muscles. Usually, I will be sweating buckets especially after the advance classes.
It does requires alot of patience on my part to practise these moves til I perfect it. Hope to do the superman pose on my own soon! Go,go,go!
A great fitness workout needs to be complemented with a healthy nutritious diet in order to attain a fitter and healthier body. So, with regards to diet, I’m pretty careful as to what goes into my mouth though I have to admit that sometimes I still succumb to temptations and snack on food which I would have otherwise avoid it.
With my busy schedule and lack of time to prepare my own meals, I found myself snacking on these muesli bars that contain wholesome food minus off all the preservatives. I just discovered that Carman’s muesli bars are one of healthiest snack bars available at local supermarkets. It’s affordable too. A dollar a bar?
Another way of curbing my hunger pangs is to snack on fresh fruits like bananas and apples. I was elated when I saw a basket full of apples at Radiance PhysioFit as I don’t have to fret about what I need to snack on after a workout. After my Muay Thai training class, I would grab an apple to munch on before I leave the gym. In my opinion, it’s these little things that motivates people to come to the gym for a great workout.
These days, I am also experimenting with energy bar recipes where I attempt to make my own energy bars using raw foods. Because energy bars sold at health food stores could be really expensive so I thought I might as well make my own at home. It turns out to be really easy to make your own energy bars or energy balls! Some of the common ingredients found in energy bars like whey protein, seeds, nuts and oats could be easily purchased from health food stores or supermarkets. I will be coming up with my own version of energy bars soon ( with my iherb stash!) so do keep a look out for that!
Chocolate brown rice energy balls with nuts,seeds and dates.
One of the ways to track and monitor your fitness progress is to use this body analyser which analyse your body composition and calculate your overall fitness level. I am proud to say that my fitness level has increased quite a fair bit from 69 to 73 out of 100. For some very odd reasons, it does felt like I am studying for an exams. Though I have not achieve an A grade yet, I know I am on my way to reach greater heights.
To get out of my comfort zone, I have also decided to take part in a marathon this coming April! It’s not a full marathon but it’s definitely another stepping stone for me to stay lean and fit. Run 350 would be my first marathon and I hope it’s not the last! I guess this is one of the ways to jazz my up fitness routine so that I would not get bored easily. So besides going for group fitness classes, I’m starting to run on treadmills but let’s hope that my knees are strong enough to handle the impact!
I might probably spend the next couple of weeks using the gym equipment at Radiance PhysioFit to train for my marathon as I’ve been sloughing off these few days.
See you at the gym!
