Back to Blogging...missed me?

So I took a 4 month hiatus from blogging. Let's just say I was too busy to blog. "So busy with what?" you might ask. Busy getting fitter. Hahah. While I was still working at NTU, Mabel told me that she got a flyer from this thing called the Singapore Fit Challenge. She said registration fee is only $35 and that they have Zumba. I wasn't particularly attracted to it but I joined for Zumba's sake (I like to dance) and for experience's sake. 

         My first zumba session was awesome! I was totally in love with Betty, the Zumba instructor.          She always looks like she is having so much fun while she is dancing. For anyone who does

         not know what Zumba is, it is an aerobic fitness programme featuring movements inspired by various              styles of Latin American dance and performed primarily to Latin American dance music.  But usually                nowadays we don't just use Latin American moves for Zumba. We dance to all sorts of pop  

         songs and have all sorts of dance moves. Let me share with you a Zumba video from 

         Youtube that I find pretty cool. 

         

        So I joined that fit challenge. And I got addicted to it. Someone who hated exercise all her life.

        I got addicted to the atmosphere, the coaches, the people I met there and even to the                     exercise. Hahaha. I'd really like to give a shout out to this fit challenge because I lost 9kg.               Thank you to my Coach, Liz!! I never thought I'd lose so much weight EVER.

        

        

The next thing I knew, my coach approached me to ask me if I wanted to be a coach just like her. My immediate response was to go "HUH?!" because at that time I was probably 58kg and still feeling and looking fat. But Liz told me that it's ok to be a work in progress and a coach at the same time. So because I really liked the jobscope, I got signed up. License and all. Haha. And I am currently a coach, with my own small group of clients that I am helping. I have a wide range of people that I am helping. From people my age to people in their 50s. 

This really is a fulfilling career prospect for me but at the same time I still need a degree just to be safe. I did not do really well for my A levels so I have decided to go to MDIS and have already started school there. Fingers are still crossed that NTU or SIM gets back to me though. Didn't apply to NUS or SMU. Although if miraculously I get accepted by NTU or SIM, I will miss some MDIS peeps. :(

Finally I am studying something that I like: Mass Communications. I better get all As. Cannot afford to screw up anymore. I must say that the people at MDIS are really interesting. We all come from diverse backgrounds and some of them have really interesting stories. We have people who do DJing at clubs after school, we got people who can sing, people who can dance, people who teach art, people who ran away from home...hahahah. Oh and there are a lot of foreigners! For once I am not the only one. Hahaha. And the Russian girls look like supermodels. I swear. 

OK what else? I guess I am excited for the 17th? Organising a mini outing for WellnessXperts people and some fit challengers. :D TO USS. I need my healthy adrenaline rush. Haha. Also excited cus the Herbalife Extravagenza is coming to Singapore this year!! One needs to be at least a supervisor to qualify. Which I am not. So I can't attend. So disappointed. :( 20,000 Herbalifers from around the world are coming down to Singapore for this event. Next year it will be in some other country. Missed my chance :( Hope mom lets me go next year. I will definitely be Supervisor next year. 

I see so many potential coaches in my MDIS class. And since WellnessXperts is expanding, we do need more part time coaches. Hope I can get some peeps from my class to join as part time coaches :)

I am also super grateful to find out that one of my classmates, Zahara, lives a few bus stops away from me. At first I was just like "Yay, we can go home together on the train." But turns out she drives back and forth to school. So now I get free rides. THANK GOD. I HATE TRAVELING BY TRAIN AND BUS SO MUCH. This Zahara is God-sent I swear. Hahaha. Omg and she sings damn well. Gotta learn a thing or two from her. And she is like super cool and down to Earth. :) I am going to try really hard to not post a link to her soundcloud here because I already shared it with so many people. I don't want her to kill me. Ahahahaha.

Ok in my next post I will share my Before-After picture. This is my motivation. My awesome coach.

Shall leave you all with this funny video called "You are Single for a Reason".

I think they are trying to say it's because you don't get hints. Hahaha, funny nonetheless. 

Muscle Knots:

We've all had the experience of tension in our shoulders or back only to find the tension radiating from a knot in a particular muscle. These muscle knots are painful to the touch and can feel like someone actually tied our muscles up. But what are they? Here's everything you need to know to get rid of muscle knots and prevent them from coming back:

What Causes Muscle Knots?
The medical term for muscle knots is myofascial trigger points, which is quite a mouthful for such a common problem. There is some debate among doctors about what causes muscle knots but it seems to be connected to an abnormal build up of protein after a release of lactic acid.

Muscles that form knots are muscles that have gone into a muscle spasm either due to injury, overuse, or a sedentary lifestyle, and then have remained "stuck" in that tense state. A muscle knot is your muscle remaining flexed and refusing to relax, which is a big part of the reason they can be so painful.
While many people tend to believe that a muscle knot is most likely due to a "pulled muscle" or an overuse injury, the most common cause of these muscle knots is a sedentary lifestyle containing short bursts of activity. If you sit hunched over at a computer all day, you train your muscles to behave abnormally, which will make it more difficult to prevent injury when you exercise.

How Can I Make Them Go Away?
Because muscle knots are caused by inflammation in the muscle, taking a NSAID drug like ibuprofen will help with the pain and can sometimes help with the inflammation as well. If you have only a few knots, the very best way to encourage them to go away is to massage them briefly several times a day for several days. Massaging these knots can be painful, and you should be exerting targeted force directly on the knots. However, this sort of massage over a period of days both helps the inflammation to go down and "trains" your muscles to relax. If you have numerous or very painful muscle knots, the best thing you can do is see a licensed massage therapist.

How Can I Prevent This From Happening Again? Periodic muscle knots are inevitable, but if you're getting a lot of them, there are several factors to examine. Potassium and calcium help to prevent muscle knots, and remaining hydrated can work wonders.

Become more mindful of the way you move your body. Avoid hunching over, and when you are at work or school, take frequent breaks to walk around. Stretch both before and after you exercise, and do not do exercises that are intensely painful. Pain during exercise is an indication that your muscle is too weak to perform the movement, not that you should "push through" the pain!

Courtesy of Yahoo! Voices : http://voices.yahoo.com/muscle-knots-causes-them-rid-them-6042560.html

I hope this was useful to you guys. Time to go and massage my own knots now. OUCH. 

Take the common tests for example. I took a great fall this CTs. :( MUST work harder from now on! Studied with Keith at JE library today. I think it was quite productive! :) Borrowed an aerobics workout CD from the library too! Gonna try it out this week! :D 

Recently I have started a diet. No I am not just reading diet books/tips, I am doing it. Cut down on food and been eating healthier stuff. Lots of veggies firstly. Had to cut down on caffeine too since I drink coffee mix, which has sugar in it! So far so good! I have been losing weight slowly. The process is rather slow because I don't have time to exercise, not counting PE. Thus, the aerobics workout CD. Hope it helps! *fingers crossed*