My Favorite Workout Channels

Lately, even going to the gym or getting out of the house alone is a chore in this heat. For those who need their workout fix without leaving home, check out these YouTube channels to keep you moving without even needing to step out of the house. I find this absolutely great since I'm such an introvert and sometimes there are times when I have this mood that I don't like to go out because I feel so stressed or overwhelmed with all these energies around me that I really like to retreat in my cave. But then, I get this itch to exercise (kind of funny though). These are some of my go-to channels when I need to work out at home and I want something to really follow rather than do things at the top of my head.

Because of online workout videos, #theresalwaystimeforfitness can actually happen

The Fitness Marshall

Their cardio hip-hop workouts are for those who hate cardio. Lead by Caleb Marshall, he takes you into a sweaty, sassy dance session to get your heart rate up and melt the baddies away. With fun tracks such as Justin Bieber's Sorry, Britney Spears' Toxic, Rihanna's S&M, and Pussycat Dolls' Buttons to name a few, you would be super inspired and stoked to dance you don't even know that it's cardio. He even recruits his sister and grandma to work out with him making this a workout for anyone. And who cares if you look funny? You're just at home.

Blogilates

I wrote about her and as you can see, I'm a fan of this lady and she has so many fans around the world. It's practically a community. Blogilates not only features a series of workouts that you can do everyday with a theme each month but also easy recipes for healthy eating to keep the pounds and muffin top off. There are also words of wisdom and inspiration to live by so this fitness thing will not just be a one time thing but a lifestyle change. With her bubbly personality, it's as if  you're working out with your friend.

Fightmaster Yoga

Missed the yoga studio because of traffic and you just want to get home but still want to get the body moving somehow? Or are you travelling and want your yoga fix but couldn't find a yoga studio near your area? Fightmaster Yoga is lead by yoga teacher Lesley Fightmaster and she has a variety of free online classes depending on your practice. Basic yoga stretches, yoga flow, power yoga, ashtanga yoga, or yin yoga, there are so many classes to choose from. I do this class when I can't go to the yoga studio and I definitely need a yoga fix for the day. Try her 50-minute ashtanga yoga if you want something strong or chill with her yin class at the end of a hard day's work. No time at all? Do the Yoga Quickie workouts.

TaraStiles

Model-turned-yoga teacher Tara Stiles is like one of my life pegs. She's fun, she's gorgeous, she's got both strength and flexibility balanced. and she makes yoga fun and less intimidating. I was doing her classes way before becoming a yoga teacher and even way before developing my own yoga practice. Oh and that body is such a fitspiration. The best thing about her channel is that she makes yoga fun and less intimidating. I like how some of her videos are titled. My teaching style is somehow inspired by her because I also want yoga to be fun and less intimidating. Most of her videos are quick, and she has a routine from the moment you get up and also when you're about to go to bed. Also, she has recipes in her channel .

As you can see, I vary my workouts a lot so my body doesn't get bored and plateaus. I sometimes mix and match, like I would do cardio hip hop, then do some pole training and cool down with yoga or something to that extend. What matters is that there are ways I can get things moving too. Also, if you're travelling and where you're staying has free WIFI, put it to good use and get your daily dose of fitness. Have fun and stay fit and fab!

Photo credits:
fitness photo by Dix Perez

The Story Of My Jade

I guess when the split gods decided to shower their blessings in the world, I was tucked in pike position, legs closed and asleep in bed. There are just people who were born to split, and others needed a bit of effort to get in there. Baby ballet and baby gymnastics didn't help widen my hips and when some of my classmates were naturally in a wide 180-degree straddle, I was still struggling to reach forward with a flat back. Studying in a Catholic all-girls school didn't help though because when our bones, joints and ligaments were still pliable, the straddle had to be snapped back closed because ladies should always sit with crossed legs. As a result, over the years, my already tight and stiff joints stiffened up and as a result, flexibility went from 1 to 0.5.

How should I know that years later, I'd be taking up dance regularly and then later on would be doing things which would require a split? Of course, day 1 in pole dance didn't require a split, but eventually, we started working on our splits by home exercises and flexibility classes because later as we progress, there would be advanced tricks that would need a good split to make it prettier.

Such that I share with everyone the story of my Jade.

A jade is a pole trick that we start learning at Beginners 2 level in Polecats Manila - when you finally get your basic invert and outside leg hang and get stable with your pole sit and hip hold. At first, it will start first as a V shape (or L-shape to some of us) and eventually, progress to a very pretty and flat line like this, shown by pole champion Crystal Lai.

photo taken from Crystal Lai's Facebook page. In a perfect and splitty world, it should look like this

In a perfect world, it should look like an inverted split. The jade just doesn't entail an automatic split. You need to know how and where to grip and the points of contact to stay there. 

As for my jade story, having no split to start off with, here I'll show you my jade progress:

Erratum on the July 2011 photo. It's actually July 2012.

I remember last year, CD had a Jade campaign thing going on in class where her mixed class on Mondays would be working on flexibility, jades, and splits and working on flat jades come Christmas time. And yes, it's possible to finally get that flat because there are girls who don't have splits to begin with that eventually got their splits and their jades. So I knew there was hope because 1. I got a split already on my right side thanks to exercises 2. There are exercises to be done that can work and open the hips and finally 3. there are ways to make a flat jade even if you don't have a split to begin with. With a bit of patience, I was able to get to a quite picturesque jade come Christmas of 2012.

A flat jade was actually in my Christmas list, and I worked harder towards flatness, with 3 teachers hammering it too. It obviously didn't make it to my list of tricks come my first-ever pole competition.

It did make an improvement come summer of this year when I met Crystal herself and took her Pole Artistry workshops where she taught us tricks to make it prettier and more even and to make our numbers look badass and effortless.

 Here she is spotting me making sure I'm all pretty and even as I struggle to get my split right and my body not topple over.

Several flexibility classes and homework later, I revisited that trick that I've been working on for 2-1/2 years a while ago, compiling what I have learned from the now four instructors who have helped me hammer my jade to flatness:

1. point those toes and lock those knees (a must!)
2. push the hip with my left hand.
3. pull the front leg close to you
4. squeeze the butt like it's closed for business
5. squeeze your hoo-ha

and by miracle of all miracles, this is my latest Jade photo dated June 28, 2013:

From all the photos, it's a big improvement from the jades of my past, and I know that it will get better. It's so much flatter and more symmetrical. It just pinches a lot on my left thigh but when did pole dance ever not hurt?

I remember the very splitty Margaret of Polecats Manila say that we will all eventually get to our goal tricks as long as we keep working and trying to. With effort, I will work on it getting prettier and eventually get into an oversplit soon, and eventually work on my other side jade.

As I write this post, I'm currently having my left foot propped on a block for more oversplit madness, but that's another story.

My Work Appears In Women's Health!

Being an advocate of fitness and health, I was really giddy when my friend Kate contacted me and asked me if I could do makeup for Women's Health feature on women who have won the battle against weight loss. This monthly section in Women's Health magazine features a girl who was once on the heavy side but with hard work and dedication, lost the excess weight. The girl to be featured in that month is carefully selected among various stories sent by readers. I've done makeup for them since the September 2012 issue up to this month and I would like to share them all to you:

For September, I had the chance to work with not one but five women, shot at CSA Makati.

The October issue features a petite girl named Lorie, who found her love for boxing. This shoot was shot after the storm with no name, and it looked like Mother Nature meant for that day to happen as the day was just sunny and paved way for the shoot to be done on Natural light.

This is a behind-the-scenes shot

For November, I met a girl named Paz, who was once double her weight. She even brought the gown that she wore when she was still overweight. Her weight loss program started only last January. She's absolutely the sweetest, travelling all the way from Iloilo to Manila for this shoot. She shares her love for running and willingness to try more fitness workouts when she visits Manila, like crossfit, pole dance, trx, and yoga.

December is something close to my heart. It features someone that I've known for two years and who pushed me towards awesomeness. She's our momma cat herself, Christina Dy, founder of Polecats Manila. It's hard to believe that she was once 20 pounds overweight, looking at her photos. But it's such an inspiration that if she started doing pole at her 30s, gained flexibility, strength, founded a dance school, that with no fitness background at all.

From the four months and many more that I've shot with these girls, I've learned and picked up a few things that I would like to share with everyone

• There are no shortcut diets. Sure, trend diets work to a certain extent, but after a while, they're bound to come back to their regular routine.
• Find an exercise regimen that you would learn to love. The exercise depends on each person. For Alona and Paz, it was running. With Michelle, it was boxing. CD of course, was pole. With that, you will learn to love other stuff. 
• Don't be discouraged if you sucked on your first day. We all did. Soon, our body gets stronger.
• Enjoy and be patient. Although the initial goal is to lose weight, having that as your sole and main focus may end up getting you frustrated and stressed out. Just enjoy every minute of it. That hot body you wanted may come sooner than you think.
• Once you reach your ideal weight, make it a lifestyle change. This time, it's not about losing weight anymore, it's being healthy and happy.
• You don't need to be rich to get healthy or start a fitness routine.

Shoots like these are so close to my heart. Not only did they reinforce my love for fitness, but I really get inspired by their own stories that nothing is impossible. I really look forward to doing more shoots like these!

Pole Progress: Inverts

I haven't been writing in a while, so much has happened in the past few days though. I was just getting bored at my extended "vacation" meaning off-peak season but somehow, fate has a way of surprising me with new twists and turns. I'll start my update with my favorite thing in the world aside from makeup - POLE (wait! it's Pole then makeup, I mean makeup, then pole, er.... okay I love both of them in equal overwhelming amounts!)

Ever since I'm already in Beginners 2, we've been prepping for inverts and we do lots of them every class. My first invert ever was the cross-ankle. It's pretty scary, sometimes it's a hit or miss thing for me, depending on how my body's like or the pole's like but on a really good day, I get it done quite right and I hope for more good days like this.

The cross-knee is my favorite invert, probably because it's where I'm most stable. This trick starts from front cupid and it works well if I get the pole really clipped at the back of my knee and I push with my straight leg and have more skin in contact with the pole.

Just sharing how proud I am of Danah, who did the cross-knee too very gracefully. I told her she could do it with perseverance and patience and courage.

The side cupid is a trick that starts from a side climb that also requires lots of strength from the knees as it's what holds me in that position. It hurts yes, but the pain and bruises go away with time.

The Superman is a very painful trick, yet this is one of the first tricks I ever learned. I'm glad I'm able to do this trick now without spotting, with (less) pain and hold it a few seconds longer and actually look like I'm not in pain as I'm doing so. I'm beginning to like this trick though.

Of course, there's always the Gemini, the trick I wanted to master since day 1 but somehow had the difficulty doing so. My pole tricks have a way of surprising me. One time I'm sobbing by the fact that I can't do a trick and what did you know one time I really could do it. Oh where were we? Oh yes, the Gemini.

This was after we had to take the mats away. My mat came out last and I asked if I could have my picture taken doing a Gemini with my mat still there. Yay! It's so funny too because I write with my right hand but somehow when I do my inverts, I'm left-handed. We're starting to do this invert without a mat now, since we have to get used to be doing inverts without mats and that means we have to learn and master proper dismounts and recoveries.

I actually have a pole album and it's cool how I get to see our progress as we get better. Hopefully by the end of the term I could perfect my inverts and do a few more like pole sit, yogini, rocketman, and develop back flexibility for me to be able to do a liberty and arm strength to scissor climb. And when I have my own pole, I'll be able to post videos of my routines and all. Yay!

Stretching To Be Sexy With Tara Stiles

For my workouts, I have yet to rely on a gym or personal instructor. At most, my workout routines are prescriptions from my doctor plus enhanced with movements I've seen in magazines or books. Since I'm not much into the high-impact workouts, I decided to go low-impact with Pilates and yoga, at-home of course. Why? Because I prefer getting in shape at the privacy of my own home and being in all my sweaty self there, hence my collection of fitness DVDs and videos.

[picture from mindbodygreen.com]

I've also turned to YouTube for some of my exercise routines. One of my favorite channels is tarastilesyoga, which are series of yoga workouts by yoga instructor Tara Stiles. I first encountered Tara Stiles' yoga videos in the fordmodels channel, where she would give quick yoga routines. I later learned that she already had her own channel and her own website where she gives more tricks and tips to stay fit. As you could see in her picture above, she's very fit and sexy, lean with definition in the right places. Makes you want to grab the yoga mat right away. In fact, most of the comments in her videos remark on how toned her body is.

Tara Stiles started off as a fashion model, then later on as a yoga instructor. She's currently the founder of Strala Yoga. Some of her collaborations are Authentic Yoga for the iPhone with Deepak Chopra and Yoga Anywhere DVD series.

[photo from tarastilesdvd.com]

Tara's videos in YouTube show quick movements dedicated to certain needs. She describes quick beginner's yoga routine for those who want to get in the healthy habit. One of my favorites is her routine for back pain, which is important for me since I tend to experience a lot of lower back pain from work. I also like her Hotel Room Yoga routine, which gives us absolutely no excuse to spend a few minutes each day to calm our mind and tone our bodies. I like how she describes each movement without intimidating us in her calm voice and encourages her followers with positivity. She's also got a good sense of humor by being goofy in some videos.

I've been a fan and follower of her routines for quite some time now. Aside from helping me get the healthy habit of exercise going (she's got toning, fat burning, and detox in her routines, yay!), I really like the positive energy she has. If I'm not that flexible enough in doing some of the poses, it's okay. In her videos, she gives certain modifications if the stretch is too hard to do. Just this morning I did her fat burning routine and I was sweating buckets right after.

This is one of the best resources I got in YouTube, indeed a new treasure trove of tutorials of anything under the sun. :)

When My TV Isn't Just for Veging Out

Healthy lifestyle also includes exercise, and although I'm not overweight, I still try to get some exercise. In fact, I was advised by my doctor to get regular exercises to keep my bones strong and my muscles toned. I also was told that exercise improves blood circulation, combats stress, and releases skin-wrecking toxins from the body. So why not?



Here's the thing, I don't enrol in the gym since aside from finding it too expensive, I'd rather do exercise at the comfort of my own home, especially by the fact that I'm a hermit. Also, the exercises I choose have to be low-impact and nothing too straining for my weak lungs. Plus, since I'm super impatient, they gotta be quick.

So these CDs have been my best friends for years, and now my secret's out. Video workouts are what I do, since I really find it better for me to exercise at home, since I do enjoy my privacy and me time by doing my workouts. Plus, I chose workouts that are customed to my lifestyle, type of body, and preference.

Carmen Electra Aerobic Striptease - For the mere reason that it takes me only 20 minutes to work out (I'm very impatient, LOL) plus it's fun. And since it's not that hardcore, I could do this wearing high heels and I get the bonus of toning my calves in the process. However, my absolute favorite is the one I do not do on high heels: Fit To Strip which gives me toning and tightening exercises targeted at specific areas. Disc #5 (Hip-Hop), is really aerobic workout at its finest, so I always combine #2 and #5 if I want it intense but not too intense.

Bellydance - I have two video CDs of this, one targetting the upper body and one targetting the lower body. Aside from the fact that it's low impact, it also works on my grace and balance. Plus, I don't feel the 30 minutes pass as it's fun. I've tried the cardio and they really mean cardio. My thighs really hurt after, but hey, no pain no gain.

I Want Those Abs - This video workout has scientific basis and each workout was tested in the lab, and instructor Tami Lee teaches us how to go about it. Aside from the fact that it's quick at practically only 15 minutes per workout (YAY!), it's highly intense. I've tried the advanced workout and whoa! Advanced really mean advanced. My obliques practically burned and my muscles were put to the limit. But here, I was able to see results in a month doing the workouts regularly, although they did hurt. Results? Flatter, firmer abs and my apollo's belt starting to form.

Pilates - Whoever said that Pilates is for lazy girls who just want to lie down and stretch is wrong. This video targeted every muscle in my body focusing on the core. This workout is low-impact so no pain and strain on my knees and wrists and ankles. Pilates also improves my flexibility and I found myself more flexible and able to do more contortionist poses a-la Giselle Bundchen as I got better. Of course, I still can't do very advances yoga and pilates routines but I know I'll get there. This workout is kinda long though, so I only do this when I have a lot of time to spare. But what I like about it too, is that they break down the more complicated postures so you know how to do them right, because if you "cheat" your way to workout, it's apparently less effective.

Other workouts I do are yoga routines that I follow in YouTube (I love Tara Stiles!) and the traditional classic: 300 crunches. :)

Of course, I always couple my toning with a good cardio workout and stretching too. I also make it a point to eat right and try to avoid unhealthy foods, especially if I'm having a shoot. :) I figured out that my doctor is right and I worked out regularly. Not only did I notice an improvement in muscle tone, I feel stronger now. It's easier for me to carry my super heavy equipment and I've got more stamina to do work. I guess exercising really is for everyone, it's just finding the right workout for you.