Extra Curricular Exercising
I don't really consider myself an exercise junkie. I joined with my cousin on a special offer and decided to stick with it because I needed something else to do after work besides sitting around playing games and eating time on the Internet.
The most I want out of going to the gym is to [keep my nicely shaped delts in tact] [be able to make a dash for trains without running out of breath] keep fit. But running on treadmills and sitting around lifting weights all day isn't my idea of fun, so when my cousin moved/stopped going with me, I decided to give group fitness a go. You feel unco-ordinated and clumsy at first, but eventually you get used to the moves before you know it, you become a complete group fitness junkie.
It helps if you like the music too. My CD collection these days is shaped around what I've been exercising to >_>;;
These days I go to classes 2-3 a week. I regularly try to make the Body Attack (cardio), Body Combat (boxing + martial arts + cardio), and Body Core (balance, core strength). You won't see results as quickly as going hardcore on the machines or with a personal trainer, but you do see the results eventually. With the combination of classes I'm taking, I find that I can run longer distances without losing my breath, have better co-ordination, better upper body and core strength.
Today I made plans to catch up with the "old work gang" after work and therefore couldn't do my regular routine of going to the gym when I got home. Having skipped Monday because I had to stay back for work, I was a tad miffed that the only day I'll be going to the gym this week would be Saturday.
Having just launched a new service at work two weeks ago, the office has finally calmed down. So I decided to make up for the fact that I'd miss my regular Wednesday evening gym class by sneaking into a Body Combat class during lunch time.
My current membership doesn't allow me to go to other clubs, but I thought only $12 for a one-off visit was reasonable (more reasonable than $22 for a non-member, anyway) so I gave it a go.
The following is a summary of impressions I got out of my sky-larking:
1. Wow, this Group Fitness Studio is dinky.
2. Hey, this was the previous release. What happened to the new one?
3. Hrm... I seem to be the only one jumping in the air for Evasive Side-Kicks.
4. Oh, they cut out the second power training, upper/abdominal conditioning and cool down track.
Which was understandable - since it was the middle of the day, people had to work so they tried to limit the class to 45 minutes. I don't think there would have been enough room to have everyone on the floor doing push ups anyway. But I do miss doing the cool-down katas. You can be really posey in those - hehehehe.
5. Crap, there's a queue for the showers.
6. Crap, is that the time already? Changing + Gym Session + Changing back took about 1.5 hours - good thing I went to work an hour early.
7. Crap, I'm still sweating like a pig. Needs moar cool down.
All-in-all, I'm glad I did it because I got my group fitness fix for the day. But I wouldn't want to make it a habit. The whole routine was rushed and trying to get yourself cooled and dry enough to go back to work was also troublesome.
Besides, I don't really want to give [Finance] Fitness First an excuse to increase my membership fee... :x
As for the reunion with the "old work gang", I couldn't really stay back that late to catch up with everyone since I had to take the train back home.
Not that there was much to catch up on. It was the same old story really: More than a year after I've "escaped" and they're still fighting the same battles with the same organisations/people and no one really realises how under-valued the work and research is in their area. I hear people are being covertly kicked out of their offices. The new Director sounded like things would be on the "up" but nothing's gone up. It's either been shipped out, gone backwards or gone nowhere. It's all disappointing really.
I hope things turn around for them - especially the Creative Dev guys. But the way it's looking, they're probably better off finding happiness outside the concrete jungles of Kensington.
The most I want out of going to the gym is to [keep my nicely shaped delts in tact] [be able to make a dash for trains without running out of breath] keep fit. But running on treadmills and sitting around lifting weights all day isn't my idea of fun, so when my cousin moved/stopped going with me, I decided to give group fitness a go. You feel unco-ordinated and clumsy at first, but eventually you get used to the moves before you know it, you become a complete group fitness junkie.
It helps if you like the music too. My CD collection these days is shaped around what I've been exercising to >_>;;
These days I go to classes 2-3 a week. I regularly try to make the Body Attack (cardio), Body Combat (boxing + martial arts + cardio), and Body Core (balance, core strength). You won't see results as quickly as going hardcore on the machines or with a personal trainer, but you do see the results eventually. With the combination of classes I'm taking, I find that I can run longer distances without losing my breath, have better co-ordination, better upper body and core strength.
Today I made plans to catch up with the "old work gang" after work and therefore couldn't do my regular routine of going to the gym when I got home. Having skipped Monday because I had to stay back for work, I was a tad miffed that the only day I'll be going to the gym this week would be Saturday.
Having just launched a new service at work two weeks ago, the office has finally calmed down. So I decided to make up for the fact that I'd miss my regular Wednesday evening gym class by sneaking into a Body Combat class during lunch time.
My current membership doesn't allow me to go to other clubs, but I thought only $12 for a one-off visit was reasonable (more reasonable than $22 for a non-member, anyway) so I gave it a go.
The following is a summary of impressions I got out of my sky-larking:
1. Wow, this Group Fitness Studio is dinky.
2. Hey, this was the previous release. What happened to the new one?
3. Hrm... I seem to be the only one jumping in the air for Evasive Side-Kicks.
4. Oh, they cut out the second power training, upper/abdominal conditioning and cool down track.
Which was understandable - since it was the middle of the day, people had to work so they tried to limit the class to 45 minutes. I don't think there would have been enough room to have everyone on the floor doing push ups anyway. But I do miss doing the cool-down katas. You can be really posey in those - hehehehe.
5. Crap, there's a queue for the showers.
6. Crap, is that the time already? Changing + Gym Session + Changing back took about 1.5 hours - good thing I went to work an hour early.
7. Crap, I'm still sweating like a pig. Needs moar cool down.
All-in-all, I'm glad I did it because I got my group fitness fix for the day. But I wouldn't want to make it a habit. The whole routine was rushed and trying to get yourself cooled and dry enough to go back to work was also troublesome.
Besides, I don't really want to give [Finance] Fitness First an excuse to increase my membership fee... :x
As for the reunion with the "old work gang", I couldn't really stay back that late to catch up with everyone since I had to take the train back home.
Not that there was much to catch up on. It was the same old story really: More than a year after I've "escaped" and they're still fighting the same battles with the same organisations/people and no one really realises how under-valued the work and research is in their area. I hear people are being covertly kicked out of their offices. The new Director sounded like things would be on the "up" but nothing's gone up. It's either been shipped out, gone backwards or gone nowhere. It's all disappointing really.
I hope things turn around for them - especially the Creative Dev guys. But the way it's looking, they're probably better off finding happiness outside the concrete jungles of Kensington.