Update 2017 and 2018

Since the last post way back in Feb of 2017, fast forward, a lot of dust has gathered here and lots have happened since then.

Best thing in 2017 was to join TripleFit, the gym that has great coaches,a good variety of classes, many that I tried for the first time like

-Calisthenics: body weight exercises mainly involving a lot of upper body and core strength and a sense of balance. It is a beautiful form when you see the instructor in action. Not easy though, behind it is a lot of gruelling upper body work and also a lot of core exercises and trying to balance using tucked core position. A lot of muscle awareness and memory to build.

-Kettlebell: A whole series of different movements with the KB that involves a total body workout. Things like push press, press, clean, ground-over-head, thrusters, situps, pushups, farmer's carry, rack hold, step ups, squats, lunges all with the kb. Gives new perspective to the KB and how to utilise a single or double in a full workout. Quite a bit of technique involved which translates very well to barbell.

-Barbell: Traditional lifting and that has progressed with time to more exotic lift routine. I love lifting, especially since Strength was a natural forte for me but I gave it up after six months after there was negative effect on my problematic knees. Not that it damaged anything but my knee issue meant my knees were not able to take so much heavy weight bearing exercises. So I kept KettleBell and dropped Barbell though I was good at it.

-AthLean/EnduroFit/HITT/TripleHIIT: First time doing a whole series of these the first two AthLean and EnduroFit has more aspects of strength and endurance. The latter HIIT and TripleHiit has more cardio intensity. The programs written by the instructors whipped our asses (I attended with my senior from KM, we both stopped going for KM after 4 months free trial at TripleFit) Though we were fit by KM standards, some of these classes especially when doing double classes like we did, the final product was aches and asses handed to us. Not many were doing double classes like we did. We follow the classes of certain better trainers.

-CoreYoga and other yoga: Our first yoga class was not good at all. We felt entirely lost in the poses and it being our first one by one instructor. There were about three different yoga classes taught by three instructors. My senior was kinda put off and didn't want to attend more. I saw another different yoga, core yoga by now our most favourite yoga instructor, and decided to give it a try. I went on my own, found that I could follow her instructions and do the poses. Of course my core sucked. I convinced my senior to try, she went and totally agree with me. That yoga instructor changed our perception of Yoga which was tainted our first lesson. We totally appreciated the hard-core core Yoga. Really good session, I was so happy to attend Core Yoga though my core wasn't a strong area. Over time, I found myself being able to enjoy the mindfulness and breathing and poses. The strength, balance and flexibility of the poses. We were totally going to her classes and helping spread the word around. Some regulars who we meet for other classes, we influenced them to give it a try. It also became their favourite class amongst the numerous classes by main instructors. When I had to forgo Barbell, I went for more Yoga classes like Yoga Jam and Yin Yoga. Subsequently I reduced one day in the gym cos it seems though I took out Barbell, overall still a lot of pressure on my knees from the numerous classes I attended, like 7 classes over 4 days. So now I go for 4-5 classes over 3 days. Less impact, more rest time to recover. Even got Quetzal to attend a trial and she likes the instructor that she signed for single classes then later a three-months just to attend her class. She is that good and effective. Though now the Core Yoga has become Yoga Stretch, it is still an effective class by the same instructor.

Now I go for Athlean (Mon), KB and Yoga Jam (Tue), Yoga Stretch (Fri), I wanted to do more like double classes on Mon and Fri and I was originally doing Basic Calisthentics until it changed to Obstacle Relay then I went to KB instead. But it will be reverted back so I need to revert back to Basic Cali too. Will have to reconsider Thur KB again. So back to 4 days but depending on whether there are good classes by good instructors, then I will do double. If not, keep it at that. And to mention, AthLean (Mon) is a really really killer workout, so one that day is enough.

I hope I can continue to upkeep an active lifestyle when I finally find a full-time job and keep up this level of fitness though my weight has ballooned up and hasn't gone down... urgh I need more fat-burning exercises and control my diet more.

2018 is the time when I finally overcome the inertia and things have been delayed, deferred, procrastination to start the search for full-time employment after CNY.... more on that in the next entry.