Beauty and Fitness talk – Facial Fitness PAO

(Sponsored post)

Many times, we talk about keeping fit and working out to keep fit and look good. However, whenever it comes to beauty, the first things that come to my mind is often skincare regime, makeup products and aesthetic enhancements. Never would I have imagined that I would be introduced to gadgets that will promote facial fitness (even with the knowledge that we all have facial muscles). 

Then comes the question: Do you work your facial muscles (like how you work other body parts)? 

Facial Fitness PAO

MTG Pacific Pte Ltd (MTG Singapore) originated in Japan and is committed to bringing out everyone’s maximum potential, through products that complement a healthy lifestyle, and encourage beauty, the natural way. Since its inception in 1996, MTG has been innovative in creating attractive-looking products, bridging the business domains of “Beauty” and “Wellness”. In Japan, the ReFa series (which Jason will be covering in his blog) has sold over 2.5 million units, making it extremely popular!

So what is this gadget all about? Facial Fitness PAO or PAO for short may look funny but a lot of research and work had been done to produce such a gadget to work on the (more than) 40 individual muscles that are responsible for a wide range of emotions that our face make daily. Similar to our bodily muscles, our facial muscles will weaken over time and age, causing us to have wrinkles and droopy expressions.

All you need to do is to put the mouth piece (without the casing, of course) into your mouth and hold it with your lips. After which, bob your head to swing it up and down rhythmically for 30 seconds. All you need is twice a day, or more if you want to. The colourful plates are actually weights (similar concept to progressive overload when you workout) that you can slowly progress with.

3 technologies:
1. Resonance Movement
By just nodding your head up and down, you can swing the weighted ends of the bar extending from the mouthpiece. This resonance movement, generated by the up and down motion of the head produces the a force (load) that exercises facial muscles.

2. Technical Distance The part that you hold between your lips extends 30mm from the center of the bar. Maintaining this slight distance from the exerciser serves to intensify the force applied to the facial muscles.

3. Mouth Hold The “Mouth Hold” refers to the part of the mouthpiece that you clamp between your lips. It is designed to effectively stimulate the muscles with the force delivered to the orbicularis oris muscle.

PAO and us

Jason and I started using PAO for about a month religiously, until we found out that we were using it wrongly. We were biting it with our teeth instead of holding the mouth piece with our lips. We managed to clarify with the partners and corrected the usage and started seeing visible changes and feeling the soreness physically!

After some getting used to, Jason started to increase his sessions up to a min each time. After which Jason managed to feel much more soreness and difference on double chin area. Wheareas for me, I felt a lot of soreness and more difference on the cheeks and jaw. We tried using PAO for a total of 2 months and here are our results! Apologies for the bad photoshop of the background (oops!) but no other editing/photoshop was done besides the background and removal of some pimples!

There was not drastic changes to our face shapes but if you notice, our smile lines were kind of lifted (which makes it easier to smile now)! Well, we were using PAO effectively and correctly only for a month or so then. We shall continue using it and see if there will be more visible differences from when we first started! :)

Jason and I also love how it comes with a pouch and we brought it to Seoul so we could use it while on holiday, like how we would still look for gyms and workout during holidays. We strongly believe that just like having a good physique, maintaining a youthful look requires time and effort as well. Best of all, you can use it anywhere at your convenience!

Feel free to find out more on http://www.mtg-sg.com and quote “JLnetwork” for a discount of 5% on any product!

Fitness Talk: Legs workouts

Apologies for the hiatus! I will be back with more health and fitness tips this year! I have been getting a lot of enquiries about legs workout especially for the ladies, so before I add more workouts in, let me share with you some of the ones I had posted on Instagram, in detail.

P.S: Please pardon the quality of videos since they were taken using my phone and edited using a third-party video editor!

This, is a superset of Sumo Deadlifts aka DL (the first set) followed by Stiff-legged DL (the second set). The sumo DL works primarily on the inner thighs and upper butt (glutes) and it is almost like a squat and conventional DL.

Sumo DL:
Start with your legs spread out wide with toes pointing out. Slowly, push your butt back and bend your knees to a squat. Try to avoid letting your knees move inwards. If you find it a challenge to keep your knees pointing out, try pointing your toes out less and focus on pushing your butt back and knees out. At all times, make sure your back is upright and chest up. A lot of emphasis is placed on the hips and legs for this variation of DL.

Stiff-legged DL/Romanian DL:
Also another variation of the conventional DL, the romanian DL targets the hamstrings. Keeping your back straight and chest up, bend your upper body down slowly while pushing your butt back and knees locked as much as you can (you may bend very slightly to take stress off your tendons). Straighten up again and repeat.

Of course, you don't have to do these as a superset. You may also separate the workouts and do them individually.

Dumbbell Bulgarian split squats/Bulgarian Lunge:
Another of my favourite legs workout would be the Bulgarian Split squats. Well, I heard the name came from a Bulgarian weightlifter in the early 1900s so correct me if I'm wrong though. Start with a split squat/static lunges if you are not comfortable elevating your rear leg. Once you are comfortable, elevate your rear leg on a bench or a step and slowly lower your body down to a squat, focusing on your front leg and bending you rear leg too. Make sure your knees do not go too far out off your toes in an awkward position. Then straighten back up, keeping your back straight and upright, and chest up. Try with a pair of dumbbells of a barbell over your back.

I will be back with more workouts and other body parts too so stay tuned! Meanwhile, stay motivated and feel free to email me if you have any doubt. I'm also taking in more clients for personal training so feel free to enquire too!

xx