Before I start blabbing about workout, gym, fitness, health and whatnot, I’d just like to establish that I am not a fitness trainer nor am I a learned nutritionist, or have any legitimate background on any of the two. Just take this as a note from a few personal life experiences and observations of a regular gym rat who cares about her health and body and admires physically fit women and Victoria’s Secret Angels and continues to struggle (and dream) to be either of the two.

How it started

When I was grade five I was part of the Badminton Varsity in my school and I continued to take part in it for seven years. I got used to training schedules after class and sometimes twice a day trainings in and out of the court for those seven years. At an early age I found myself making hospital visits because of the perpetual knee pains I would get. My leg muscles were weak and my knees were suffering from it, causing my knee cap to be unstable.  Because of this I was forced to gym a lot for strengthening, and from that time on it became a weekly requirement for me.

Why workout

I love to eat. If I don’t want to deprive myself of food, I need to exercise twice as much as I eat so I can eat again.
I feel sick when I don’t exercise. It has become part of my routine to exercise a minimum of four times a week. Once I stop for several days but still eat the same amount of food, I feel bloated and weak, and especially given my naturally slim body type, I feel extra frail and unable to do strenuous activities.
It’s stress relieving and can take you out of work mode and life for just an hour or two.

About yoga

I started it just last August 2015 because I was feeling some stress and my eczema was taking over my skin. My back was filled with red marks that started mapping downwards from my nape, and it slowly started multiplying on my chest and the sides of my face. My dermatologist prescribed some medicine to help reduce it, which helped, but I felt that it was not enough to totally get rid of it. I also didn’t want to keep buying medicine to reduce it and felt that I needed to do something more natural to keep my skin from flaring.

After much convincing from my sister who insisted that yoga would help my skin problem, I started taking classes at a neighbor’s house and I fell in love with it. I’ve been doing it for months now and I have to say that it has helped a lot with my skin. I still have marks from my previous “eczema attacks,” but they don’t flare up as often as they used to. Aside from that, I started putting Virgin Coconut Oil on my skin and it has done wonders. My skin rarely flares up now and it has slightly cleared the marks that were once on my back. But more on that on another post. The exercise I get from doing yoga is different from the gym and has a lot to do with balance, stretching and still strengthening, but without the weights.

My two cents

– Know what workout works for you. Some love the gym, some hate it. I’ve tried barre and cycling several times and I enjoyed it, but I found that I liked gyming more as a constant source of exercise so I stuck to it. Get to know yourself and your body, find out what works best for you and continue challenging yourself in it.
– Make it a part of your lifestyle. Some people go through phases of intense workout and then suddenly stop, and others treat it like gimmicks where they join the latest trend, announce it, then stop and wait for the next one to come. Exploring is a good way to start, but ingrain it in your lifestyle once you’ve found what works for you.

I found that going to the gym regularly and practicing yoga at least twice a week is the perfect workout combo for me. I enjoy both and find that they both help me physically and mentally, putting me in a better disposition to take on my day. I suggest you find the workout that’s best for you—may it be in the gym, a studio, on the field or in the court. You’ll thank yourself once you find the right one and the desire to workout will just come naturally.

Another thing I need to start working on: choosing the food I eat. Because once you’ve got the workout train going, you’ll realize that no matter how much workout you do, the food you eat matters big time.

On a sort of related note—I’m joining Condura this February. I’m taking on 10k for this one and hopefully when it’s time for the Nike Women’s run again I’ll be able to take on a 21k. Wish me luck!