I decided that for my next adventure, I’d choose one a lot closer to home.  Myself.  Yes folks, Inday has embarked on a Fitness Adventure.  To paraphrase a friend of mine, “It’s time I helped God finish perfecting my body.” And while I had some free time and no long trip scheduled for a while, I figured now was as good a time as any to, yes, EXERCISE! Not my right to vote or my willpower, but exercise, as in down and dirty, stinky and sweaty work out.  I knew that I was over the whole enroll in a gym and lift weights kind of workout.  Been there, done that.  Don’t feel like doing that again.  And with all the different workouts available these days, I thought I’d explore what was out there.

1. TRX

I had heard about this workout for a couple of years now but wanted to try it on a one on one basis.  Did not want to fall flat on my face in front of a crowd, if you know what I mean.  I found this guy who was willing to give me a free TRX trial, but since it took me two years to reply to his email, suffice it to say the offered had flown away.  But finally I found Reema Chanco, who offers TRX training at her home.  We scheduled our first session and the rest, as they say, is history.  Reema keeps you entertained with funny stories while she makes you push and pull and plank and before you know it, an hour has passed and you’re dripping with sweat.  Plus, there’s the added novelty of having her two dogs hang out with you because they like the airconditioning.  I’ve taken about 15 TRX sessions now and I do see the difference.  TRX uses gravity and your bodyweight to perform different exercises.  You adjust your body position to add or decrease resistance. One of the most important things you get from TRX is a solid core.  Or, after all those planks, sit-ups, crunches we’ve begun to call, “stupid core.” It’s fun and it works.

2. KETTLEBELL

I was also intrigued by the different Kettlebell training videos that I’d seen, especially those of Korean actor/singer Rain when he was training for his role in Ninja Assassin.  I was even more excited when I read that you can burn up to 1,000 calories per session.  So I searched for Kettlebell classes and a friend suggested contacting Paolo Villaroel for a personal Kettlebell training session.  Paolo combines the Kettlebell training with some Plyometrics to increase your heartrate.  He gave us 8Kilo Pink Kettlebells to use.  And we swung and we lifted, and once again, we engaged that stupid core.  It was fun and I was very interested in trying it again.  Unfortunately, scheduling conflicts prevented us from going back to additional sessions.

3. ZUMBA

I have heard so much about Zumba but I wasn’t always a fan of group classes.  I had had bad experiences before where the instructor focuses on the regulars and other people just had to figure out a way to catch up.  But after we found out that SilverPOD, new dance studio opened just 10 minutes away from my house that offered Zumba, we decided to give it a try.  We tried two sessions.  The first one was high energy, exhausting and fun.  But he was just a substitute teacher.  The regular Zumba teacher is small and quiet.  She didn’t shout out instructions but rather used gestures and pointed her fingers.  For a moment we thought that she had a speech impediment or something because she didn’t speak till we were 30 minutes into the class and only to whisper, “Water Break.” We were confused and kind of bored.  We decided that we’d go to Zumba class when our schedules allowed, but not adjust our schedule for it.

4. CARDIO GROOVE

SilverPOD also offered a class they call Cardio Groove.  Our super hyper instructor Arnold creates these dances that he teaches over a few classes.  Arnold’s energy is infectious and even when your tongue is hanging halfway out of your mouth from exhaustion, you still want to go go go.  Or at least you are motivated enough to try.  So far, I’ve attended two classes and plan on coming back for more!

5. WENGA

Arnold also teaches a class he developed himself called Wenga but pronounced Venga.  Yes folks, the Venga Bus is back!  This a dance exercise class and the steps are kind of funky, kind of hip hop-py, and kind of NOT ME.  I did all the required moves but I knew, even without looking at the mirror, that I looked kind of stupid.  But never mind, we went there to sweat and we did.  Not sure if I’ll go back, but who knows.  I didn’t hate it, I just hated that I felt I looked stupid.  I am disco, I am not hiphop!

6. D-I-Y WORKOUT

When I don’t have any of the above classes scheduled, I walk around the village.  And sometimes I wiggle my hips a bit or hop and skip depending on the song playing on my iPod.  I tried working out in our village gym but I got bored.  I was going to try swimming with my nieces paddleboard but I haven’t gotten my underwater mp3 player yet so that’ll have to wait.  So I walk and I strut instead.

I still have a couple of workouts I want to try or get into, but it will have to wait till after the upcoming trip.  For now, I’ve already formulated a plan for when I come home.  After all, I will surely need to burn off some of the excess calories left over from this year’s attempt at the Travel Poor Diet.  (see earlier entry)

For now I am still working on this new project.  So far, am happy with the results.  No photos for now. Let’s just let it all be a surprise….

That’s all for now…bow.