Exercise (Mid January-End January 2014)

My exercise log, which complements my current diet which includes lots of salads, fruits and blends :).

15 January, Wednesday

Activity: Mat Pilates
Organizer: Joyful Steps & Rhythm 
Instructor: Amy Chong
Location: Beauty World Centre
Teacher-Student Ratio: 1:4 (a lot of individual attention!)

Comments: First time under this instructor's tutelage. Utilized the instructor's mat as I was not advised to bring my own beforehand :\. Very thick cushioning of the mat which made it very comfortable as I couldn't feel the ground (similar to the image below). May be worthwhile to invest in a good mat for long-term and frequent usage. Really expensive class, at SGD$38 per session. This was a substitute/ makeup for my missed ballet classes. Took me an hour from NUS, and half an hour back home though. Will probably stick/ commit to using up the rest of my ballet package, which is charged per semester i.e. 12 weeks.


Source: Thick Exercise Mat 

17 Jan, Friday

Activity: Pilates
Organizer: NUS University Health Centre Wellness Division
Instructor: Rachel Ong
Location: NUS Sports and Recreation Centre
Teacher-Student Ratio: 1:11

Comments: All ladies, as the gentlemen didn't attend. Each of us placed a mat against the mirror. I find using the mirror helpful in self-correcting my alignment. Utilized exercise bands for resistance. Enjoyed myself as she is a dynamite instructor! The only downside is that I decided to use my yoga mat, and ended up rolling up my mat frustratedly post-class. I need a yoga mat bag.

19 Jan, Sunday

Activity: Climbing 
Organizer: None
Instructor: Husband the belayer
Location: Onsight Climbing Gym
Teacher-Student Ratio: 1:1 ;)

Comments: First time, after months of not climbing. Found it difficult to activate my lower limbs and managed four 6B routes. This is my favorite climbing gym in Singapore, opened by Ben, my husband's friend, who saw me trying on climbing shoes and told me that he would offer a discount :). Side story, Ben let us use the climbing gym for free during our wedding photo shoot. We were only required to pay for the rental of shoes, harness and belayers. Here's one of the awesome shots we managed, with the help of our photographer of course.



Sadly, the Evolv Elektra shoes that I've been lusting after doesn't have my size (6.5), despite checking with both Onsight and ClimAsia since late last year. Maybe I should get it online, at some point... if my interest persists, which probably will thanks to my husband.


Source: My desired climbing shoes

21 Jan, Tuesday

Activity: Yoga
Organizer: Diana, a colleague
Instructor: Rashita
Location: CREATE Aerobics Gym
Teacher-Student Ratio: 1:10

Comments: Perspired a lot and struggled through the dolphin push-ups and crow pose. Arms ached the following day. Great workout with the colleagues!



Source: Crow Pose

24 Jan, Friday 

Activity: Pilates
Organizer: NUS University Health Centre Wellness Division
Instructor: Rachel Ong
Location: NUS Sports and Recreation Centre
Teacher-Student Ratio: 1:11

Comments: Utilized Sveltus elastibands which are essentially exercise bands with numbers, really cool as we can use the combination of different numbers for different body parts. Great to have Michelle help me with rolling up my yoga mat =).

Here's the exact version that we're using:


Source: Sveltus Elasticband

Here's how it's used for illustration purposes.



Source: Sveltus Elastiband

Here's a cool video that illustrates the different ways to use the Elastiband! -> How to use an elastiband!

Rachel said that I'm the kind that 'boyfriend-help-me-carry-handbag-kind" i.e. weak shoulders/ upper body strength? :\

26 Jan, Sunday

Activity: Ballet
Organizer: Joyful Steps & Rhythm
Instructor: Xinyi
Location: Beauty World Centre
Teacher-Student Ratio: 1:7

Comments: Michelle's first lesson! Realized that when I'm doing ballet routines, I tend to have an S-shaped curve spine. Need to work at correcting it, while concentrating on the sequences. To be honest, I find the instructor mediocre, especially if you compare to my first instructor who made me fall in love with ballet - Ms Xia Haiying. The only problem is the location and higher price, and more importantly, because Haiying is no longer teaching the class :\. Here she is, in all of her white swan glory.



Source: Xie Haiying

29 Jan, Tuesday

Activity: Yoga, Moon Salutations
Organizer: NUS Aerobics Club
Instructor: Agnes
Location: University Town Aerobics Gym
Teacher-Student Ratio: 1:40?

Comments: Too light and easy, but I guess this is the first of ten sessions, and she catered for the students who were new to Yoga. Too crowded but there will be fewer people as the semester progresses! Fun to have Michaela and Min Hye in the class :).



Source: Yoga Posters

Pilates

What is Pilates all about?

Pilates is the godfather of core strength training. Your core, or commonly called, the powerhouse, is comprised of the upper and lower abdominal muscles, the lower back and the buttocks. Pilates exercises are designed to stabilize your torso and work the muscles of the powerhouse lower, deeper, and more intensely. All movements are initiated from your powerhouse, increasing flexibility and strength.

The principles of Pilates... 



Source: http://www.thepilatesflow.com.sg/pilates-and-you/about-the-pilates-method/


...


My love affair with Pilates begun with Alice, my colleague's wife, who was trained in classical ballet at The Australian Ballet School and Ballet Theatre of Victoria. She was also a soloist in Alberta Ballet (Canada) and Zurich Ballet (Switzerland). Here's our gorgeous instructor, Alice!



Source: http://www.chengballet.org/shop_assemble.html

I thoroughly enjoyed the classes held at our office gym last year, where we were introduced to Pilates exercises. Alice incorporated some ballet exercises upon request. It was excruciating at first, but my body gradually got used to it and it was a most pleasurable workout that I dearly looked forward to :). I managed to have a flat belly with visible abdominal muscles... until we stopped and the "little pooch" - according to my husband - grew :P.

One thing that Alice emphasizes, which is key to Pilates, is the breathing that goes into each movement i.e. knowing when to inhale and exhale. I also like that she focused on our alignment, as I was at times overconfident that I was doing the right thing, only to have my posture corrected gently. I recall that the class would end with planks, which were simply torturous given how beat we were at the end of the session ;). Her music selection choice was also really good, and that helped pace us as well as put us in the right mood.  

...


When that ended, I signed up for Pilates as part of NUS Aerobics. Classes were held at NUS Sports and Recreation Centre's dance studio. Had ~3 lessons with this male Ballet-Pilates trained teacher. I liked that he had a good sense of humor, sadistically enjoying pushing us beyond our "limits" (don't you just love instructors who finish counting down, and then ask you to hold it there for awhile more...) and incorporated ballet routines. However, the class was simply too crowded for my liking. It was really cheap (SGD$5/class) and because of that, there were 40-50 students?! Although I enjoyed the poses which were challenging, it felt more like a Physical Education class than a Pilates session i.e. too routinized, without a good "flow". I enjoyed the later classes where we begun the use of resistance bands, which really made my upper arms ache, an area that I dread working out...


...


The day before my wedding (Nov 22, 2013), I went for my SGD$25 trial offer at PilatesFlow@2 at Bukit Timah. This was exciting as it was my first time trying Reformer Pilates. Armand was my personal trainer, and he was a bulky guy who was patient with me but I felt that I couldn't really click with him. He demonstrated the use of the various Pilates equipment, before allowing me to try it out myself. Well, the conclusion is that I prefer Mat Pilates to Reformer Pilates, despite the benefits of Reformer Pilates (more resistance...).

  
Source: http://blog.moveyourframe.com/properly-fit/don%E2%80%99t-be-scared-by-reformer-pilates

...
I decided that in 2014, I shall keep a proper exercise log and so here goes:

Jan 6: First Yoga class with Amy, organized by NUS Aerobics Club and conducted at the University Town gym studio. My first time trying Vinyasa flow yoga, which is more fast-paced.  I enjoyed doing yoga to the upbeat music. Amy's a little aunty in demeanor, but very hyper and she certainly puts people at ease. Most enjoyable Yoga class to date! We utilized the mirror to support bending backwards to touch our toes, as seen below. This is known as the plough pose. I was proud of my achievement until my lower back started to ache immediately, and the two days following that...


Source: Plow Pose (Halasana)

...

Jan 9: Final Pilates class with Renee, as part of the NUS Aerobics Club, conducted at the UTown gym studio. Renne is trained in Fletcher Pilates. According to an article Wikipedia cited, Fletcher incorporated Martha Graham-based (modern dancer) elements of movement and dance into the equipment-centric structure of Joseph Pilates’ original creation. This is why I love Pilates, because it really helps the dancer in me.

We incorporated the use of dumb bells for some exercises, which pushed me as I have weak arm strength. She's a strict instructress (and was a tad condescending during the first class). She remarked that we were surprisingly silent... little wonder. I was motivated to push myself for fear of ridicule :\. However, the good thing is that this forced me to concentrate on my movements, which is a key element of Pilates. To be fair, she was very diligent in correcting us and serious in making sure we practiced properly. It just killed off the fun... that's all :P.

I recall her requesting us to have more energy in our movements during the first class, and also to have control over our movements. I liked that she explained what constitutes our core muscles. I also liked the intense abdominal exercises, which is why I'm drawn to Pilates more than Yoga. Muscles felt the ache the day after, but went ahead with Pilates the following day...

...

Jan 10: First Pilates intermediate class by Rachel as part of the NUS University Health Centre's initiative, conducted at NUS Sports and Recreation Centre's dance studio. Rachel is a Stott Pilates certified trainer. The most significant difference between Stott Pilates and Joseph Pilates's original method of the early 1900s is that, where the original method uses a straight spine during exercise, Stott Pilates focuses on maintaining the natural curvature of the spine. Stott, a ballerina, discovered that the original Pilates method, while highly effective, did not conform to the modern principles of postural alignment and exercise sequencing. She thus developed her own method (http://www.livestrong.com/article/38767-difference-between-pilates-stott/).

We were advised to bring our own mats and I purchased an expensive yoga mat for this (SGD$40), which proved redundant - for the day at least - as gymnastics mats were laid out, so we used that for support. I liked that she focused on the fundamentals of breathing, pelvic placement, rib cage alignment and scapular stability and head and cervical placement. She reminded us to imprint our spine on the mat, especially when we do our hundreds. We utilized resistance bands for warm down stretching. Rachel looked like she was enjoying herself and had good rapport with the other students. I was happy that I was motivated by my own desire to improve.



Source: http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photos-yoga-pilates-background-image18997563

Looking forward to next Tuesday's Yoga with the colleagues!

Pope Francis

Put on Christ 

The Pope preaches against materialism. 

 “Certainly, possessions, money, and power can give a momentary thrill, the illusion of being happy, but they end up possessing us and making us always want to have more, never satisfied. ‘Put on Christ’ in your life, place your trust in him, and you will never be disappointed!”

“For this reason, I want to insist with you today: ‘Put on Christ!’ in your life, and you will find a friend in whom you can always trust; ‘put on Christ’ and you will see the wings of hope spreading and letting you journey with joy towards the future; ‘put on Christ’ and your life will be full of his love; it will be a fruitful life,” Francis said.

* To remember that less is more. To commit to prayer. 

Meet the poor 'in the flesh.'

“It is not enough to mediate this commitment through institutions, which obviously help because they have a multiplying effect, but that is not enough. They do not excuse us from our establishing personal contact with the needy. The sick must be cared for, even when we find them repulsive and repugnant. Those in prison must be visited.”

* To discern a means to reach the poor.

Make it a habit to 'ask the Lord.'

“Dear young people,” he says, “some of you may not yet know what you will do with your lives. Ask the Lord, and he will show you the way. The young Samuel kept hearing the voice of the Lord who was calling him, but he did not understand or know what to say, yet with the help of the priest Eli, in the end he answered: 'Speak, Lord, for I am listening' (cf. 1 Sam 3:1-10). You too can ask the Lord: What do you want me to do? What path am I to follow?”

*To be courageous and patient amidst uncertainty. To fully trust God that He has a plan for me.

Be happy.

“Sometimes these melancholy Christians' faces have more in common with pickled peppers than the joy of having a beautiful life,” Francis says in a homily. “Joy cannot be held at heel: it must be let go. Joy is a pilgrim virtue. It is a gift that walks, walks on the path of life, that walks with Jesus: preaching, proclaiming Jesus, proclaiming joy, lengthens and widens that path.”

Francis says, “The Christian sings with joy, and walks, and carries this joy."

This joy, he reminds us, should translate to love of neighbor.

*To let go of insecurities and fears, and experience peace and joy, which would translate to a genuine love and concern for meeting others needs.


Source: http://www.rappler.com/move-ph/46933-new-year-resolutions-pope-francis-quotes