Fitness Talk - Personal Training at Orchid (SGPT) Gym

As promised, I'm back with photos of the gym that I'm based at! The gym is cosy and exclusive to only personal training and our clients. Apart from the usual personal training sessions, clients are also invited to utilise the gym at your own time, outside of the scheduled personal training sessions. I love to train here myself, because I have the luxury of space and equipments. Enjoy as I bring you through to the different parts of the gym!

View from the entrance. There are more than 4 benches for you to choose from!

First smith machine, nearest to the entrance.

Plenty of mirrors for you to check your form out and well, selfies. :P

Boxing gloves for some action on fun training days.

2nd smith machine, which couples as a rack too.

Hanging knee/leg raises.

Multi-purpose machine which you can use for plenty of exercises (I will share bit by bit along the way).

Array of dumbbells for your use. 

Oh there is also a leg press machine and one of the benches can be used as a leg extension and leg curl for some isolated movements on your legs!

General locker area for your water bottles and miscellaneous.

Simple shower facilities, for clients who rush back to work after a lunchtime workout.

Changing room and exclusive shoe rack for our clients who leave their shoes there for convenience.

Selfietime!

I will slowly introduce some of the workouts I do with my clients and for myself along the way so stay tuned! Meanwhile, if you happen to work around the area and looking for a quick lunch workout, feel free to give me a buzz at 9688 6802 and I will provide a FREE trial session for you! Bring your colleagues and friends down!

Have a fantastic weekend ahead everyone!

Health & Nutrition - Brandnewstart's supplement tips

Sorry for the hiatus! I had been working through the entire of last week, from Monday to Sunday! Our company had the honor to manage the HPB Lose to Win Reconnect last Saturday, which was held at Bishan CC. It was great to be able to see all the graduates from the previous seasons all reunited to do a mass zumba session! Some of them look so good now I can never imagine they were ever obese before. Such a great inspiration!

Before I go ahead with my usual updates, I would like to share some of the supplement tips that Brandnewstart has been sharing! These are the elaborated versions of some of the supplements that I have shared before so for guys who wants to know what you can take, here you go!

CoQ10 or Coenzyme Q10 are substances that facilitate the activities of enzymes. 
Functions of CoQ10: Energy Production & Cell Protection
CoQ10 in natural food: Rich dietary sources include almonds, ocean salmon, sardines, spinach and certain meats

Possible health benefits:
- Reduces High Blood Pressure
- Age-related macular degeneration
- Alzheimer's disease
- Asthma
- Chronic fatigue syndrome

Fish Oil: Derived from the tissue of fatty fish. Fish oil contains Omega 3 fatty acids called Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)
Fish Oil in natural food:
Fish of course!! Here are the recommended fishes (Mackerel, tuna, salmon, sturgeon, mullet, bluefish, anchovy, sardines, herring, trout, and menhaden)

Possible health benefits:
- Decrease the incidence of depression and anxiety
- Decrease Blood Pressure
- Reduce the Stress response
- Assist in the treatment of psoriasis and dry skin
- Assist in decreasing your body’s insulin response to food
- Decrease body inflammation as marked by C-Reactive - Protein
- Decrease Triglyceride levels
- Help with treating ADHD
- Assist in activating fat burning genes
- Assist in Muscle Protein Synthesis

Folic Acid: a water-soluble vitamin B. Folic Acid & Folate occurs naturally in food and folic acid is the synthetic form of folate.
Functions of Folic Acid: Helps the body to break down, use and create new proteins. Also helps to form red blood cells.
Folic Acid in natural food: Grain products, Orange, Green vegetables, Kidney beans, Lentils and Garbanzo beans.

Possible health benefits:
- Prevents Health Diseases
- Prevents Alzheimer's disease
- Helps prevent type-2 diabetes
- Helps treat depression

Multivitamins are dietary supplements that come in tablet, capsule or pill form and provide you with an array of essential vitamins and minerals.
Adding one capsule of Multivitamin a day is like having anutrition insurance policy.

Possible health benefits:
- Illness recovery
- Improved cognitive functioning
- Improved energy

Brandnewstart will be sharing more on the Facebook page so do check it out! 

Meanwhile here's what I have been up to!

Made crepes that Saturday so yummy! 

"Giraffe pancakes"

Attended a wedding dressed in LB, zara, stradivarius and my trusty ASOS clutch!

With my MIL

Jason the mummy's boy!

Okay we used the flashlight from Jason's phone and my phone to capture the photo! SO SMARTT!

Pretty photo printout from the wedding

Last Sunday in Church marks the start of advent - all ready for Christmas!

Met Jess for a quick dinner one of the nights

Me, last week, feeling very very bloated because of the time of the month, glad its almost over!

Work yesterday - Sundays at the Park at Sembawang Park! Do join us if you live around the area every Sunday from 9am to 11am!

Yesterday in full LB, the Solaire skirt is such a beauty. Pity it's tad loose for me because I had gotten this in M! 

LADIES - If you happen to be on Instagram, do remember to hashtag #hapa_fitness and tag @hapa_fitness to entitle yourself to a free workout with Jasmine and I! The tentative workout date should be 28th Dec 2013, Saturday. We will be updating accordingly along the way! Here's your chance to burn all your Christmas feasting before the year ends! 

 Have a great week ahead everyone!!!

Health & Fitness - The Operation Thigh Gap

I have been requested to write about this new trend among female teenagers worldwide, and this is something that bothers me much. As I was googling to find out more, I discovered that there is even a pinterest topic called 'Operation Thigh Gap'! I briefly browsed through the photos and realised there are like-minded people like me who commented to say that this obsession is not healthy. Well, so what is this obsession over thigh gaps about?

Firstly, girls out there, please do not obsess over not being able to achieve a thigh gap, in other words, this should NOT be in your list of fitness goals. Why so?
1. Everybody's legs are shaped differently.

A. Straight - You are lucky to get this leg shape, straight and non-bandy.

B. O-shaped curvature - This is a congenital bone deformation where only your ankles touch in standing position, making your legs form a letter O.

C. X-shaped curvature - Another congenital bone deformation where your knees touch in standing position, making your legs form a letter X.

Looking at this, I'm sure you can identify what kind of leg shape you have. Very often when your legs are slightly O-shaped, your thigh gaps are larger. Vice versa for A. Straight and C. X-shaped. I'm no osteologist so I'm nobody to judge on the different types of leg shapes but I do have a slight X-shaped curvature (a little bothered!).

2. Whether you have thigh gaps or not will also be dependable on the size of your hips (of course and the leg shapes will then come into picture). You will only be able to reduce the fats around your hips, but unfortunately, unless you can cut the hip bones at the sides (sounds really silly), your hip size is rather fixed genetically.

Conclusion, do not think that just by losing weight (healthily or not), you will be able to achieve this because we are made differently! Instead, try focusing on your fitness goals to live healthily, exercising/working out regularly, eat well, having ample rest; having a healthy lifestyle will lead to longevity, which is much more worth it than obsessing over getting thigh gaps. 

If you have been following me on FB and Instagram, I think you might have already heard of Brandnewstart SG. Do check it out if you are looking for a personal trainer to kickstart a fitness regime, OR, if you know of somebody who needs such help! Our team of trainers are ever-ready to help! 

These are the 4 main programmes that Brandnewstart offers:

For ladies who are looking to burn fats and tone up!

For men out there who are looking to shed some flabs and that beer belly!

For men and women who are looking to gain some quality muscles!

Lastly, for men and women who are athletes or are looking to train up to be one!

Take your pick and simply email enquiry@brandnewstart.sg if you are already sure of what programme you are interested to sign up for, otherwise, feel free to look up www.brandnewstart.sg for more information!

I know I promised HEALTH TIPS! Coming up next! Have a great weekend ahead!