Category: Wellness & Workout

I will be starting my 3rd round of BBG on Mon, Feb 22. Do you care to join me? I liked my experience with this program, even if my progress was slow. I’m so proud I was able to stay committed! It really helps that there is a set workout and that it was do-able at home for a majority of the program. I won’t be sharing any progress photos here, since the lighting and timing is not consistent, thus change is really noticeable, haha! This is the timer I use at home on my laptop and on this app my Android phone.

BBG (Bikini Body Guide) is a 12-week program by Kayla Itsines . It has 30 minute workouts for Mon, Wed, and Fri that target all parts of your body. The off days are for you to do cardio, light intensity, high intensity, and stretch. (You can obviously switch the days around that work into your schedule.) There is also a separate guide for Part 2 (weeks 13-24) and nutrition.

I started on August 24, 2015 after my cousin received it from her friend. It has been 24 weeks since the beginning and I did the entire 12-week program twice, ending on Fri, Feb 5, 2016 (no break in between). The first 8 weeks were done at home and we video chatted. The last 4 weeks were at the gym since we needed Bosu Balls and more steps. Great timing because I got a one-month pass for her!

Are there results? Yes. I am stronger  . I can do 10 push ups in a row. My arms aren’t exactly at 90 degrees, but I can do it. And I can do sit ups. (Surprise surprise, I was never able to do one without my feet being held down by something). Just for background, before this program, I went to the gym often and took a bunch of group fitness classes (Zumba, total body training, etc).

Did I lose weight? Maybe. My weight fluctuates a few pounds. In Sep 2015, I was 110.1 pounds and in Feb 2016, I am 107.8 pounds average. Here is my weight chart based on a 7:25 am weight measurement almost every morning recorded in my Fitbit:

I also didn’t take any measurements of the rest of my body because I am not trying to shrink into a smaller clothing size. Maybe I’ll do that this time around just to blog about it, ha.

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 bbg, strength training

I redeemed my free sampler pack of 5 Vrou water bottles from Wellcoin (see post on Wellcoin rewards). Vrou water claims to be packed with micro-nutrients, natural ingredients and contain no sugar nor calories. I started to do some digging about Vrou water, to see if it’s all it claims to be to HYDRATE (electrolytes), ENERGIZER (B vitamins), STRENGTHEN (magnesium, calcium, vitamins D + K), DEFEND (vitamins A + C + E).

(PS: I love regular water, especially boiled water cooled to room temperature! I owned one of those water fruit infusers, but the bottle really sucked and leaked.)

I am not one to read a million labels and ingredient lists every time I shop, I just look at the nutrition facts to get a quick idea on the calories, fat content, and such. There’s that rule “if you can’t pronounce it, then it’s probably not good for you” so looking at the long ingredient list… I can’t pronounce a ton of stuff, haha. Just wanted to read more into this so this post has more flesh.

Pineapple + Mint : my first bottle. It tasted like water that had pineapples soaking in it for a while and nicely diluted with MORE water after. It wasn’t very sweet and didn’t have any mint flavor (thank goodness cause I don’t like mint flavored water). Overall, it left me feeling hydrated. I must have been really thirsty at my desk because I finished it in under an hour.

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 micro-nutrients, review, water

I saw this article floating on Facebook yesterday and wanted to plug it on my blog as well! Going to keep this as future reference when I am super sore.

http://makeyourlifehealthier.com/36-pictures-to-see-which-muscle-youre-stretching/

You should all know that you need to stretch, whether you are a chronic sitter, a weekend warrior, or a daily exerciser. Stretching helps your blood reach your muscles and your joints move through their full range of motion, but it also improves your posture and athletic performance and reduces the risk of injuries and pain.

How do you know which muscles you are actually stretching or if you are performing each stretch the right way while you do yoga or the flexibility routine?

Well, here is a little knowledge on the topic, and having this in your back pocket, you can opt for the best stretches that best fit your goals. In case you start feeling pain, and not the regular, good pain, but the stretchy one when you know that something does not feel right, you should pinpoint the muscle that gives you the trouble and change the technique you have been using in order to avoid getting injured.

These stretches should be felt in the belly of your muscle. However, you should not feel pressure or strain in your joints, and if you do, it means that you are pushing too far. During the stretching, concentrate on your breathing and make sure these movements are as natural as possible.

Stop thinking about the time you are holding the stretch, but instead, start concentrating on feeling your muscles relaxing and returning to their natural, resting length. This may take about five to thirty seconds. If a stretch does not feel like it is doing something for your body muscles, change it and try another one.

The beautiful illustrations we present you are made by Vicky Timon, a yoga expert and author of “Encyclopedia of Pilates Exercises”, and James Kilgallon, CSCS, creator of Mazio’s Body Maintenance Program, contributed by giving the expert commentary.

1. Camel Pose

Muscles emphasized: Rectus Abdominus and External Obliques. This stretch is though most appropriate for people who already have a good flexibility. Sitting on your heels, put your hands behind you, pushing your hips up and forward. Do not put too much pressure on your lumbar spine. Also, in case you have problems with your neck, do not drop your head back.

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 stretching

First off, super glad that Hurricane Joaquin decided to breeze by New York, bringing only heavy rains on Friday (which made me super cold since I was ill-prepared, except for my wonderful polka dot children size rainboots).

I was prepared to sit on the couch all day. I’d like to point out that I am not a huge watcher of shows and movies, so this was a big deal. With Verizon FIOS as my arsenal, I was ready to stream away the latest episodes I missed and maybe, just maybe, catch up with the pop culture everyone is obsessed with.

To much of east coast’s surprise, Sunday was a very nice day. Since I just always have gym clothes on me, I was ready to sweat, get my 10,000 daily steps, and enjoy the sun while we still can.

Ta-da! Time to make use of those pink tennis balls (which donate $ to Breast Cancer Research Foundation). We played tennis for about a hour before the park shut down due to construction. Who’s scared of a bull dozer…

Also, Fear The Walking Dead was such a huge disappointment. Can’t wait for the season 6 premiere on Sunday!

 fear the walking dead, tennis, tv

If you’re into fitness, wellness, or need some motivation to be more wellthy, here are two apps I think are awesome because you get rewards for working towards your best self:

Pact App http://gym-pact.com

In summary, you wager $5 for each activity you will complete, whether it’s gym or fruit/veggie. If will earn $ for the promises you keep and lose $5 for each promise you break. Ex: if you promise to do gym 5x and veggie 5x, but you only did gym 4x, you will owe $5.

Wellcoin http://wellcoin.com

In summary, you log all your wellness activities, from sleep to food to exercise to buying groceries, etc. Each activity belongs to one of the five categories. Each category has a max # of wellcoins you can earn each day. You redeem wellcoins in the marketplace (granola bars, fitness classes, retail discounts, etc) and get entered automatically into weekly and monthly raffles for Amazon/Target giftcards.

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 rewards

This is a long post about how I went from loving group fitness classes to being a group fitness instructor, thanks to the Shape Up NYC program!

I don’t know when it started, but I live for group fitness classes. Okay, that’s an exaggeration–more like group fitness makes me feel awesome. And happy.

I tried many chain gyms (Ballys, Crunch, Dave Barton, Equinox, NYSC) through free day or week passes or monthly trial deals. I used to go on group fitness deal crazes with my awesome workout buddy. We even took turns booking the classes.

We ♥ pole dancing class so much, we bought the deal three times, and each time, the price per class rose (still below retail). I bought a Pole-X cause I thought I would practice more that summer. I would teach myself inverted tricks. None of that happened. I didn’t have a spotter. My sister made use of the pole (climbing up in a week what took us 10 weeks).

I tried many different classes: kickboxing, Jazzercise, burlesque dance bikini boot camp, trampoline yoga, dahn yoga, and hip hop… Everything was just a lot of fun!

In the summer of 2013, I decided to go for a certification and did research on the different ones available. I saw AFAA had their APEX deal in September… but a month and half of study wouldn’t have cut it.

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 community, group fitness, shape up nyc, volunteer

I stumbled upon #MyYogaGratitude, which is Gaiam TV’s 12 days of free online yoga to help us empower our gratitude!

I found this on Day 5 and wanted to commit to doing it for the remaining seven days. In short, I was able to follow along twice. The first yoga practice I tuned into was very cute, as it was taught so kids can follow along too. The second program was about breathing and meditating.

Relax with 12 Days of Gratitude of yoga instruction by @GaiamTV http://t.co/weNMagyBB3 #MyYogaOnline. (@ameliantips, you would like this :D)

— winnie mui (@winniemui) December 18, 2014

This is a pretty neat idea and I wish other fitness programs will think of something similar to share!

 gratitude, meditation, online fitness, yoga

It’s been a while since I have taken an anti-gravity class! I was scared I’d be too dizzy (like my first time about two years ago). It was a lot of fun just flowing through the motions (thanks Michael Becker). There was this one hip position that hurt so good. It helps with loosening the inner thigh muscles to counter all the sitting we do every day. And to end it all, we all flipped around and landed like superstars. Can’t wait for Saturday again 🙂

This is at Studio Anya and I am an intern here for the Winter 🙂 . I found the job listing on Indeed and thought to try it out since I thought about being a yoga instructor.

 anti-gravity, yoga

You know that feeling when you go back to some place you have not been in a while? And just when I thought it, Swarm let me know that I have not been back since August (thanks a lot for making me feel worse).

I pat myself on the back for a job well done: I woke up early and GOT UP (comfy blankets, you’re no good for me, we may need a divorce).

I had 30 minutes before the class started and did a few exercises with the body bar for my back, glutes, legs, chest, and back. Just in time for Shelly Heitman‘s Zumba class. I wondered why some students took the 2.5 pound discs. Oh, here we go… raise the roof. Stephanie and Miss Motivational would be proud of this move :0)

During one of the songs, the Pon De FLO came out in me (by the way, I recently became certified to teach this class type). Hands like guns, pew pew. It reminded me of Kappas.

 cardio, free weights, pon de flo, zumba

Color Run. Happiest5k 🙂 ♥

How did I hear about this run? I was scrolling through Facebook around Dec 2012/Jan 2013 and saw an interesting volleyball profile picture. Being the volleyball lover I am, I wanted to see the actual photo. Two profile pictures earlier, it was the color run. It looked like so much fun that I wanted to run it for 2013 (just in time for making the year’s bucket list).

I subscribed to the newsletter and followed them on Twitter, since the NYC date was not out yet. When it was announced, much to my dismay, it was during my Tokyo/Seoul trip. I thought, “time to defer to 2014.”

Then, randomly, I get a text from my friend about joining her team. I thought it was full for June! Turns out there was a Sep date and Color Me Blueeeeeeee I joined.

The run was definitely NOT 5k, but it was definitely colorful & fun.

The cornstarch was more difficult to scrub off than I thought. I sprayed my tee shirt with vinegar to iron, but ran out of the house before I could iron. I woke up the next morning to a sparkly white tee; thanks grandma 🙁

 color run