zumba

My sister found a fun aerobic exercise to add to our workout. It's called Zumba, a series of latin american dances. I love the music; the beats are fun and catchy. I like this better than hip hop type aerobics.

I looked it up in the net to see more feedback, turns out it has an interesting story behind it:
"As a fitness instructor in his native Cali, Colombia, the life of Zumba program's founder, Alberto "Beto" Perez, took an unexpected turn one fateful day in the mid-'90s. He darted off to teach an aerobics class and forgot his traditional aerobics music, so he improvised using his own mix of music from tapes he had in his backpack (the salsa and merengue music he grew up with). Spontaneously, he created a new kind of dance-fitness, one that focused on letting the music move you (instead of counting reps over the music). Energy electrified the room; people couldn't stop smiling. His class loved it! And on that day, a revolutionary new fitness concept was born--the Zumba Fitness-Party."
- Amazon.com, product description

Hurray for improv! Here's my favorite song from the workout:



ZUMBA!

while walking

It's a 10 minute jeepney ride from the building where I work to the shuttle terminal where I get my ride home. Sometimes, if I want to get some exercise, I skip the jeep and brisk walk. It takes me about 30 minutes, walking with my headset on, listening to the radio or happy songs on my phone. If the song is really good, I sing softly. I try different routes, I go through the malls or I just walk along the road. Instead of using escalators, I use the stairs. If there's a good movie showing I detour, I do my grocery, window shop, try on clothes and shoes, buy impulsively, do errands, run into old friends, people watch, get ideas, clear my head.

One time, I saw somebody's shoe sole stuck in the metal thing on the floor of the mall. I just had to take a picture of it, I wonder what happened.

Actually, I see a lot of soles on the way, where did people get these shoes??

Another time, I saw a poster for the most ridiculous price for a meal. Well, for me it's ridiculous. What kind of meat are they serving anyway? Hmmm..

There would even be times when I just had to walk out even if the day isn't over. I just had to get out of that office, get away from all the stress and work and expectations, everything. Then my feet would lead me to something delightful.

I didn't know there was a book shop near our office. Now, I go there if things are really crazy at work. Just smelling the books relaxes me.

6 or 7 years before I was also walking along Ayala. Fresh out of college, working at a call center and walking with my friends. We get out around 6 am and everyone's sleepy and tired from the night shift. Then, we'll see working stiffs who are just coming to work. Fresh and full of energy, wearing their suits and skirts and high heels. Now, years later, I'm one of THOSE people. Funny how your journey works out. Every morning I rush to work and then I see these young people, wearing jeans and shirt and I just smile and kind of envy them a little. I hate office clothes. It's hard to brisk walk wearing them.

When I get to the shuttle terminal, I'm happy that the walking is finally done. I was able to accomplish my little exercise routine for the day. I'd get rid of my sweaty blouse, change into a shirt and ride the shuttle. Then when I'm far enough, I'll see the city's evening skyline. It's beautiful.

a little extra

I was so busy with work and some other things these past few days, I wasn't able to post an entry last week.  Anyway, I'm just glad I'm able to find the time to write one today.


One of the things that eat up a lot of time is working out.  I'm trying to put in at least one or two hours of exercise a day, three times a week.  I have the Jillian Michaels torture video, 30 Day Shred, and I remember her saying something like, 'Don't stop when you feel your muscles are getting tired, push yourself more because when your body feels stress, that's when it adapts and it changes.'

Most of the time, I'm so tempted to just stop and move on to the next circuit but what she said really motivated and pushed me. It got me interested, I looked it up in the net and saw an article from musclegaintruth. It's a bit extreme though, the author suggests that we train to the point of muscular failure:

"The more you approach the point of muscular failure, the more drastically the body is forced to respond. This time period literally comes down to single seconds. If you release the weights 5-6 [secs] sooner than the next person (it's probably closer to 1 or 2 seconds), you will be dramatically hindering your muscle growth and you will not approach extreme muscle growth...

..It's a fact that your ability to achieve extreme muscle growth literally comes down to these short moments at the end of each set and how much you are willing to push yourself at this time."

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.  I guess that's the way it is with life as well. Sometimes, all it takes to succeed is to push yourself a little more, even if you think you've already given it your all. Those little extra seconds, going the extra mile.

Or instead of pushing, sometimes you have to hold out a little more, wait and be more patient before success comes to you. Anyone saw the marshmallow test? Very cute and funny. They say the kids that were able to control themselves did better in life later.

Lately, I've been learning how to underreact in stressful situations. I try to control myself and avoid giving any big emotional response when I hear something problematic. Just nod, think a bit and then react.  By pausing to think first, you get to see the bigger picture and you'll see more options on how to go about and deal with your problem. You'll avoid embarassment or getting someone mad (thus making them uncooperative).  It's really hard though.

However, there are times when you could go either way, act and give it your all or hold back.  How will you decide what to do?  Is it by experience?  Intuition?  Fate?  What if you reacted too late?  I guess it's also important to be prepared (as much as we can), so when those deciding moments are upon us, we'll know what to do.

seeing beauty

There's a kind of beauty that's obvious to everyone, like the beauty of a rose or the sunrise. I think it's a rare thing, because it manages to be appealing to most of us. It manages to shine through anything blurring our vision: race, culture, background, mood swings. It's plain to see, usually belonging to the most common and simple things.

I saw a documentary in Discovery channel that says we are drawn to symmetry. The more symmetrical the face, the more beautiful it is for most of us, so maybe that's the key. Then they did an interesting experiment where they took a bunch of unique faces and combined them into one composite image. The resulting image looked better than the other faces. So the more common the face, the more beautiful it is. They call it the "averageness-effect".

There's another type of beauty that can only be seen through the eyes of a select few. Members of the Padaung tribe from Myanmar find long necks attractive. Women wear neck rings that push their shoulders down and stretch their neck. In China, bound feet were considered erotic. Some tribes in Africa put on lip plates and in Mauritania, women are forced to be fat, both are a mark of beauty and status.



I don't understand how these can be beautiful. But I guess beauty is also a matter of perspective, and our perspectives can always change. I've been fat my whole life and I always saw my body as ugly. Then, while I was researching for this article, I came across the Adipositivity Project - "a visual display of fat physicality. The sort that's normally unseen." and it's amazing, the photos are gorgeous!

Finally, I think the most elusive beauty is the one that people grow into. Some people go through hardships and come out of it wiser and stronger than ever, and that makes them beautiful to everyone they meet. Or it could be that as we get to know someone more, they gradually become the loveliest people we know.

I was watching Avatar yesterday and (SPOILERS!) there was a scene in the end where the girl alien meets the human form of the guy she loves. They look at each other and they just didn't care that they were so different. I loved that moment. They're seeing it, the beauty in each of us that not everyone will catch a glimpse of.

Be that as it may, beauty will always be there.

Sources:
http://library.thinkquest.org/J0111742/neckstretching.htm
http://www.funtasticus.com/2008/10/30/african-beauty-lip-plates
http://adipositivity.my-expressions.com
http://7uncle.wordpress.com/2009/01/29/cinderella-was-born-as-yeh-hsien/