Archive for Gym-ing

Salsa Vs Capoeira

{ Tuesday October 16, 2007 @ 2 03 pm } · { Gym-ing, Wat-Nots }
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Mark Zuckerberg, FB creatorOh gees, it’s been a really long time since my last post!! I was just thinking of whether totally abandoning this blog for good since I’m still totally addicted to Facebook! Nope, I doubt there’s a cure for me. I even have a Facebook application which tracks how addicted I am to Facebook to prevent me from being in denial mode!! If it’s any consolation, some of the other bloggers are also sucked into the Facebook wormhole!! Muahahahahaa…..it is like an epidemic!!

TransformersSeeing that I have short-term plus selective memory, I shall just write the gist of my trivial pursuits over the past few weeks or whatever that I can recall. *Snigger* Let’s see, I attempted a salsa and capoeira session. The verdict? Capoeira wins over salsa of course! For those who knew me well, I’ve got 2 left feet when it comes to dancing! Or at my best, am probably dancing like some robot…well, just imagine Transformer dancing and you’ll get the picture! Not sure why…I mean I do have a sense of rhythm and used to check out the latest clubs during my younger days! But I guess it’s more of a curiosity rather than the urge to actually dance….tho’ I can head-bang in rock concerts or Hard Rock Café… *Wink*

SalsaAnyways, I dragged along 2 chums to the Salsa Social Party over at Havana Estudio in TTDI to mask my humiliation when the need arise. The salsa teacher taught some basic moves in the first half hour and thereafter, we were all left to our own devices. The dance studio offers a monthly salsa social party on the last sat of every month for their students or public to enjoy. A RM10 entrance fee includes free flow of drinks (soft drinks) and pizza and dancing! The class started off with only a handful of newbies who guffawed (esp. me!) while trying to attempt the basic salsa steps. After the initial ‘fear of humiliation’ wears off, we were kinda enjoying ourselves twirling around. Of course, being the fairer sex has its perks when it comes to dancing cos the male are the ones who have to lead their partner thru the steps.

ballroom danceNow, I have tried ballroom dancing, line dancing, belly dancing and whatnots but have never really appreciated the arts. Ballroom dancing…nah, too slow…! I tried cha cha and was yawning continuously throughout the class which was somewhat embarrassing! Line dancing….I don’t have a good memory so I can only remember part of the steps and get lost midway! No, no, no…..and I thought over in the States, it was supposed to help the elderly to help improve their memory! Err….all I can say is…I’m unique! LOL…..

belly dancingOk, belly dancing…hmmm…..I was enthralled with the way the instructor was able to gyrate effortlessly to the middle east rhythm with swaying hips and midriff…..Hah! I thought…this looks kinda easy….so I went to a couple of classes….OMG….I had abs and butt pain thereafter!!! No, it’s not as easy as it looks…and there are variations to just simply gyrating and moving your hips up, down, left, right and center whatnots!!!

capoeiraAs for Capoeira, they have classes over at my new gym. I tried the class once when I went for a trial in Celebrity Fitness and the teacher was a Brazilian. It was tough!!! The class was quite advance and the instructor didn’t really bother whether the students could follow! Midway through, he started doing cartwheels to the right and left!!!1 I just stood there gawking and finally decided to just sit down and watch!

GingaThis time, the instructor was much more patient and went thru the basic moves with all. Mostly comprise gingas and the pace is according the background music beats! We were taught to do kicks in between the gingas, mostly in counts of 3. In between, we were made to do floor exercise to strengthen our upper body muscles!! Oh gees, nearly want to pengsan! We were supposed to do the ‘wheel pose’ (upside down table on all fours) and walked backwards across the studio!! Since we were beginners, we had the option to walk backwards on the ‘triceps dips’ position! We did this floor exercise TWICE during the entire class….boy, was my arms tired!!

cartwheelsThe last floor exercise involved doing the cartwheels! Again?? Yeah, apparently, capoeira has a lot of cartwheels incorporated in it. But we were given the option of just ‘crawling’ sideways across the studio back and forth…..muahahahaha….sori unable to give an apt description of what we did! However, it was really hilarious and I laughed my head off….! Since I took my shoes off while attempting capoeira, I got a sore foot for the next few days! But still game to try it again….after all, BC has now incorporated basic gingas in it….will undoubtedly be of help when I do my BC.  

BC 33 & BS 69

{ Thursday September 13, 2007 @ 11 50 am } · { Gym-ing }
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Facebook photos

Nope, unfortunately, I still haven’t got over my Face book addiction (tho’ my deadline is over…phew!)…not helped by the fact that each time I managed to clamber out, new friends joined in and I get sucked into the black hole all over again!!! Have a throat infection right now so not much talking can be done, which is somewhat ‘uncommon’ for me seeing what a chatterbox I can be…the throat hurts like hell…I can’t even swallow my saliva without wincing in pain…thus, I’m continuously sucking on lozenges to soothe the pain. Arrggghhhhh…..

I have tons of stuff to write about but yet too lazy to…perhaps the writing trait has left me? Okie, I’ll just do a brief review on the latest LM launch, having just did it last weekend thus, is still fresh in the head (I hope). I went for BP and BS launch last sat and BC last sun. I will review BP later, when I’ve done it for the 2nd time. Right now, it’s too vague to recall much. BS 69 sucks! Period. Ohhh, those who loathe squats will hate Track 5, Fergalicious cos the entire track consists of non-stop squats.  

Now, BC, which happens to be my fave LM program. This release rocks! I lurve it. It’s been awhile since I fancy any of the newer BC releases, being trained and fed on old-school BC releases previously so naturally, I’m not very keen on the new releases. But this one, BC 33…it’s fast and furious and minus a few turkeys straddling in between the gems…on the whole, is a much better release than the previous one hands down.

Let’s start with warm-up…this is really cool. Love the song, love the combo. And during the launch with Renee and Terrence leading the team of 4, with Peggy and Jason rounding up the group, the warm-up started off with a bang! Really, really awesome! Adding to this, the theatrics and consummate presentation skills of the 2 leads made the whole thing looks very slick and smooth. Also, the Curve’s atmos have always been a lively and energetic one so the chemical reaction emanating from the whole thingy is just overwhelming and ‘in your face’ BOOM…..or perhaps I’ve been hibernating too much now! Hmmm…:P

The ginga, which has been present in the last few releases, is intro from the warm-up, matched with an exotic Middle East strain in the 2nd parter of the warm-up track. First combat track, “Everybody’s Screaming” focused on the roundhouse kick back and forth while the 2nd track, “Angel Eyes” is reminiscent of the track “I Feel Alive” (BC 24), re-visiting the 360 degrees box turn with 4 uppercuts. The song itself tho’ reminds me of “Shooting Star” with similar sounding beats. I must say, Track 4, “This Ain’t a Scene, It’s An Arms Race” is my fave evasive side-kick track to date. The combo itself is very smooth, with the e-kick matched with a back fist.  

Next is Track 5, tuned to “Girlfriends”, a catchy bubble-gum track which is all about fun, fun, fun…the combo is quite easy but somewhat confusing when it comes to the switch-over. The instructors need to have spot-on cue for this as a lot of members were confused whether it’s still the right foot or the left, esp. during the 2nd half. Ahhh, track 6…long touted as the ‘recovery track’ is no longer one. Scooter’s track “Behind the Cow” aptly titled, since it involves 2 fast back kicks brings to mind the cow looking back! Hahahahaha…..however, for those who have long legs, like moi’…balance could be a problem….the trick is to bend down lower before executing the kicks. The 2nd half is numerous gingas again, danced to the pulsating beats with echoes of “Jump, Jump, Jump” in the background…very the disco-ey trance…

Finally, we come to the muay Thai track, “Run to the Hills”…my least fave track in this release…it may be the shortest muay Thai but I reckon it’s the lousiest! The combo does not match the rhythm being super fast so it’s pretty hard to catch the movements. All I know is there are plenty of muay Thai knees involved. Track 8, “U R My Phantasy” is a gorgeous track, with hypnotic beats similar to “My Heartbeatz”. Love the combo, love the song. (2 jabs, 2 crosses, single uppercuts, double hooks)

Conditioning, “I’m a Shine” is an absolutely torture with the intro of the ‘triceps blaster’. Gosh, this is like umpteen times tougher than the usual triceps push-up. And to think we are gonna do this for the next 3 weeks? Gees….I might need to change my limbs by then….After torturing the triceps, it was back to bicycle knees, working the obliques over-run. Cool down, “Vienna” was a breezy short and sweet affair.

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