Motivations of A Group Fitness Instructor

The most popular question I'm asked is, "Why did you become a fitness instructor?" For a guy who lingered around during Pendidikan Jasmani and showed no disposition towards exercise, this has been a 900-degree turn.

However, for those who know me well, this doesn't seem like a wrong step at all. I have always stated my ambition to be a lecturer one day, and this is a logical stepping stone. With my current job I don't have much opportunity to teach, but as an instructor I get to do what I love (though in a different subject matter).

On whether I might one day drop everything and become a full time instructor, I highly doubt that. The instructor pool is becoming saturated, and it'll be unlikely one can teach enough classes per week to live comfortably. But it's my safety net, something I *could* do if all computers died tomorrow night in a worldwide EMP attack by overzealous aliens.

Perhaps people won't be too keen on BodyStep in such trying time but I hope the aliens might want to stay healthy while dominating Earth.

Maha Sanghikadana 2007

Last Sunday I helped out at the 17th National Maha Sanghikadana at the Che Hoon Kor Moral Uplifting Society building. It's an annual event that brings together hundreds of monks and nuns for a lunch dana (offering).

When all was still quiet...

I arrived before 8am even though the actual lunch started closer to 11am. Lots of waiting and briefing. A lot of students from Penang Free School came - there seems to be an endless source of young helpers from that school!

Going through the things to do

By 9am the crowd started coming in, but after the briefings all we could do was sit around and wait...

Jastin, HM, CK, WK

As the monks start to arrive, the catered food is brought out. They are arranged into little plates and spread out on the long tables...

Devotees waiting while a human chain places out the food

Here's a look at the vegetarian dishes served this year. They are quite tasty, but I don't know who's the caterer who cooked all this. There's always leftovers and at the end of the event after the monks have left, we turn into greedy cretins and swoop up whatever's left. I would have taken some photos of us eating, but my hands were dirty from picking up the food...

Sambal "prawns", curry "fish", cabbage stir, brocolli + cauliflower stir, "fish" fillets, fruit platter, and vege appetizer

We finished at 12pm and I went home to get a good rest. Last weekend was quite a whirlwind and I didn't get enough rest!

Warts and All

Seems I have enough health problems to warrant a new label. But I'll have to be brief. Workload is up to my neck right now.

For those of you gym rats, let me ask you, "Do you wear sandals when taking a shower or changing out of your filthy clothes?" If your answer is no, I recommend making it a yes.

I didn't know any better, and as a result I have an annoying and painful viral wart on my right heel. And somehow it got on my left index finger too. As I know, it spreads by touch so now I am very very careful with where I lay my finger. I've also resorted to wrapping it in plaster before I go to work.

I've been treating it with salicylic acid for months now with varying levels of success. I recently visited a dermatologist who did some probing and digging and it resulted in much less walking pain, but more wallet pain (RM80 for that session!) I even tried some traditional healing (think: drinking burnt paper). ANYTHING to solve this problem. Will blog about it when I have more time.

I could have taken some pics, but the ones on the Internet should suffice to make sure your feet is adequately covered when walking in a shared bathroom (swimming pools included). As for me, I now embody the saying, "Loving me, warts and all".

Day Off

I woke up at 3am with a strong desire to... diarrhea! Same thing at 5am. Now I'm a bit off the mark, and I've already taken the rest of the day off to recuperate.

Orange... Milk?

It was after lunch and I suddenly had a hankering for orange juice. So I went to the convenience store in my company (yes, it's big enough to have it's own mini mart) and got the only box of orange drink left. I've never tried this brand (Goodday) before, but it was the only one around. As I walked back to my cubicle farm I glanced through the ingredients and saw... "Susu Lembu". WTF?

I thought it was just a typo, but it was indeed mixed with diluted milk. The funny thing is, if not for the ingredients list I wouldn't have known it had milk. Sure, it looked milky but it tasted like any other artificial orange juice. I suspect this must be a conspiracy by the company to increase milk usage! Goodday sells pasteurized milk too, after all.

(I wrote this post before I bought my new phone, so no pictures of the offending item.)

Misbehaving Eyelashes

I have eyelashes that are longer than usual for men. It's not a choice, and I have been teased for having girly eyes back in primary school. I know, I know... they're just jealous.

But it comes with its downfalls. Due to it's length, it can sometimes bend down and get stuck on my eye. And oh, you don't want that to ever happen to you. I spent the better part of this morning trying to wash an irritant out of my right eye, only to discover I can't because, well, it's ATTACHED TO MY EYELID?

I had to force myself against my subconscious impulse to close my eye in order to stroke that misbehaving eyelash up to it's proper place. Ugh, if I knew which strand it was, I would have plucked it out. But I think it had CIA training and managed to blend in with the crowd. My watery eyes weren't helping at all either.

Cardio Dance Videos Part 1-4

The last two videos of the class are all ciplak from Les Mills programmes.

Track 9: Step Recovery ("Sexyback" by Justin Timberlake)

One of my favourite recovery tracks from BodyStep (since it's so easy) is set to Justin Timberlake's Sexyback. Warning: boring video, nice song.

Track 11: Pilates Core ("I'm Not Missing You" by Stacie Orrico)

This is quite a nice song from BodyBalance 36 with easy moves that most people can follow. Especially me. Even as a participant, I usually peter out during the final abs track, so it was vital I chose something easier to teach (what with all that shouting). For the next release I'll be doing something more challenging.


I guess that's it for this week! I missed out 3 videos because I didn't have enough memory cards. One was a Mixed Impact track (original choreo), the other was a Recovery/Upper Body Conditioning track (original choreo), and finally the cooldown song ("That's My Goal" from BodyAttack 54)