Top 5 Home (Condo-living) Work Out Essentials

We’ve all been stuck at home due to the COVID pandemic for almost a year now. Gyms, yoga studios, climbing gyms, public pools, and stadiums have been closed for so long. Many of us who have decided to keep a healthy and active lifestyle despite the lock downs, and now with the new found time-out, have resorted to working out at home.

Prior to confinement, I was never really a home work out person as I saw so many reasons why I couldn’t, and wouldn’t. As a middle class family living in the city, we can only afford to live in a 36 sqm condo unit which makes my top one reason to work out at home is just the lack of space.

Surely I am not alone in this struggle. So I thought about putting up a list of tips and my favorite workout stuff that inspires me to keep working out at home despite the lack of space.

1. It’s all in the mind! NO EXCUSES!
   
   Seriously though, it really is just in the mind. It took me a while to really absorb that it all just takes one decision. ONE DECISION to get your a#& up and get moving. The hardest part in starting something, is actually starting itself. So make that decision and strip your mind off of all the excuses.
   
   We have a saying in Tagalog which goes:
   
   “Kapag gusto, maraming paraan.
   Kapag ayaw, maraming dahilan.”
   
   Translated in English:
   “When you want it, there are a lot of ways.
   When you don’t want it, there are a lot of excuses.”
   
2. Quality Yoga Mat
   
   I cannot stress enough how important it is to have good quality equipment. Having equipment you can trust can make a big difference in your workouts. I used to use relatively cheap mats (Php500-Php1500) when I started practicing yoga and I slipped so much. Even my forearm planks were so uncomfortable. I could not focus on anything else but trying not to slip and injure myself the whole time – which really was a bummer.
   
   Working out is supposed to be something you do for YOU and must be enjoyable. It’s not a punishment!
   
   Yoga mats can be used for so many different types of exercises (yoga, Pilates, floor exercises, stretching, etc.) so having one good one can only benefit your home workout.
   
   Recommendations that are available in the Philippines include Manduka PRO mat, Manduka eKo series mats, and Natura Yoga (although I have not tried them, I have read a lot of great reviews about their mats). For a more stow-able and space saving option, do go for foldable travel mats, although cushioning and support would be way less on these lighter mat options.
   
   So there, invest in good quality equipment!
   
3. A good fitness app/a variety of fitness apps
   
   Just having one app can be quite boring. This is also why I never really liked going to the gym before. I didn’t like staying in a room and running facing a wall. I’ve invested on a few apps for strength training, HIIT, cardio, yoga, and running. Hearing a different set of voices for your instructions could really make a difference in keeping things interesting. Also, I cannot stand the bajillion ads on YouTube.
   
4. A good speaker/Bluetooth wireless earbuds
   
   Not sure how you like your audio when you’re working out but I like having my earbuds on. Silences out background noise and I can have a little bit of a focus time on myself. But if you’re the speakers person, go for it. Just make sure the connections are good because you it’s pretty damn annoying listening to choppy audio. As for earbuds, I really like the feeling of freedom from cables and the clarity of the music or instructions in my ears. I’ve tried 2 brands so far which I’ll write about on my next post.
   
5. A reliable fitness watch
   
   I must admit, my pockets are not deep enough to afford a Garmin but I think a Huawei GT2e hits all the marks I was aiming for for a fitness watch. A Huawei GT2e vs Xiaomi MiBand4 review will be coming up soon.
   
   I really think that a good sports/fitness watch is an integral tool in keeping a healthy lifestyle as it helps track your active hours. The World Health Organization recommends at least 150 active minutes per week to maintain a healthy body. The idle notification feature is also great.

Well there you go. Good luck on your fitness journey and I hope this list helped you in anyway. 😀 Cheers to a healthier year, a healthier mind, and a healthier body!

Truly Pinoy Products and Online Shops that will make you happy and your quarantine life more bearable

1. Celestea

They’re Instagram feed is just utterly beautiful.

They’re a local tea shop offering a wide variety of loose leaf teas from the basic Jasmine Green Tea to a beautiful blend of various herbs and flowers called, Mon Etoile. Their items come in Eco-friendly packaging, too. Visit their online shop here and become a full on Atea, Teato or Teata!
Celeste’s Instagram Account

2. The Eco-Shift

Screen cap of their Instagram feed.

Quality soap, shampoo and conditioner bars made and packed with Mother Nature in mind. Blissful and mild scents that will not sting your nose. Their products are worth to ditch those hard plastics in your bathroom for. Make the Eco-Shift like us now, too!
The Eco Shift on Instagram

3. Natural Balance

Screen cap of Natural Balance’s Instagram feed.

I first got them as presents for friends and family last Christmas, now they’re part of my everyday life. I tried pretty much all of their products and I will keep coming back. Their Coconut and Olive Body Oil is a personal favorite. Do check them out!
Natural Balance’s Website

4. Handcrafted by Harl’s

This is their famous Maska! Looks so bad ass.

I have had a wallet and bag made by them from about 5 years ago and they’re still alive! What’s great about them is that they employ PWDs and I am sure this has bettered their lives greatly. Now, I heard that they make masks, too! The owner, Kuya Harley, and his family are very nice so do drop them a message to get your custom leather goods made.
Handcrafted by Harls’ Website

5. Lotus Active Wear

I wear nothing but Lotus Activeawear. 😂

Lotus Active Wear was referred to me by a friend, and soon after that I pretty had at least one order per month from them. Their activeawear are made with such quality that they’ve become my everyday wear. They’re so comfortable and makes me feel really strong in my workouts. The sports bras give so much support that I have never felt so good doing high knees and burpees. You can find them here!
Lotus Active Wear Online Shop

6. The Giving Café (TGC)

Such a cozy, homey spot.

Locally sourced coffee beans
Yummy Smoothies
Rich Cakes
Shriracha Chicken Pandesal
Cheese Sticks

You can find them on both Food Panda and Grab Food. Order now, GO!

7. Charlie’s Burgers and Grill

Cheat day is Charlie’s day!

When we want to binge on food, Charlie’s is definitely our go-to choice. It is a small local chain and anyone who like their burger patty tasty, tender, and made of real meat, should have this one on his list. Their range of fries are TO. DIE. FOR. Truffle Fries and House Fries are our fave. You can find them on Food Panda and Grab Food. If you do try their burgers, do let me know what you think. 😉

What other shops do you think should be on the list?

I am enough. I am me.

Eighteen months after giving birth. This is me. Growing up in the province I’ve always been called “biik,” “taba,” “baboy” and many others. Even when I had my athlete and “starving artist” bodies with the flattest tummy, I was never …

Manduka PROlite: My break-in journey (Did it work?)

Many people who have purchased the Manduka PRO/PROlite mats have complained about how slippery the mat is even after the salt scrubs, sun baths and every day of practice. In this post I am here to either prove that true or totally debunk it, so read on!

When you get your Manduka PRO/PROlite mat, it would have instructions on the label that would say something like this.

So I followed the process, and put some more tweaks and did more repetitions. Read on to see what I did.

Day 1 (2 June 2020):
Mat received
Salt Scrub (around 1PM under the blazing tropical sun)
Left salt to sit overnight

Day 2 (3 June 2020):
Scrubbed left over salt in the morning
Topped up salt
Let sit under the sun until 1PM
Wiped off the salt with damp cloth
Let sit under the sun again to dry
Practiced on the mat
– quite slippery even if wasn’t sweating yet, I could feel micro salt granules sticking to my skin
Rolled it up and stored indoors overnight

Day 3 (4 June 2020):
Did another salt scrub first thing in the morning (under the sun)
Let sit a few hours
Scrub left over salt then hosed mat to rinse salt off
Let dry under the sun
Practiced on the mat
– the mat became so sticky! But since it’s so hot in the Philippines right now I was sweating buckets and found my hands and forearms slipping off
Laid it out under the sun right after my practice (no salt)
Rolled it up and stored indoors overnight

Day 4 (5 June 2020):
Used the mat for some HIIT exercises
– I could already notice some improvements on the grip. Forearm planks didn’t slide as much, and I only slid when I was really sweating like a faucet.
Salt scrub and left it under the sun (~12 nn)
Scrubbed remaining salt (~2PM) then hosed mat to rinse salt off
Let dry under the sun

Day 5 (6 June 2020):
Used the mat for some circuit training
Laid it out under the sun the whole day
Practiced yoga in the eve

Day 6 (7 June 2020):
Morning HIIT

Day 7 (8 June 2020):
Circuit training
Practiced yoga
– The mat starts to feel like it hugs my hands, and my feet in a nice, firm way in my poses. My knees are usually very knobby but my knees remain comfy all through out my practice.

Day 8 (9 June 2020):
Circuit training
Practiced yoga
– I got a yoga towel before practicing to try it out with the mat. I DID NOT NEED IT AT ALL.

From the days 1 to 7 I was using my mat in the province and the heat there was intense. The moment you get out of the shower, you’re already sweating. So whenever I’m doing workouts, I’m really sweating puddles. Literally. I don’t think the mat was designed for heavy sweating/hot yoga and I thought it’s just unfair to Manduka when the PRO series mats are being dissed about how slippery they get once it is drenched.

For day 8, we got back at our home in the city where I normally do my practice. I got a yoga towel (just in case) prior to practicing yoga back home for the first time with the mat but I actually did not perspire as much as when I was in the province. I did not need the towel at all! The mat is very sticky, it was nicely dense and firm so I felt very stable during my practice.

It has only been more than a week since I received my PROlite mat and I know I have a long more ways to go with this mat to fully break it in but I can already feel the difference in my practice due to the break-in methods I did coupled with the great quality and performance of the mat. I would definitely recommend this mat to anyone who’d ask just like how my yogi friends recommended it to me. I’m glad I trusted their word.

If you choose to try this method, I’d like to know if this worked for you as well. Do comment on this post and share your thoughts. 😀

Manduka PROlite: First Impressions

I have recently gotten into fitness and promised myself to have a healthier regimen. Everyday I try to hit that 30-active minutes requirement for a healthier lifestyle and it really has become a habit. I’ve gotten more interested in doing yoga a bit more seriously as well and started practicing on my Adidas training mat (6 mm) that has been with me since 2016. Although I have developed some kind of rash on my elbows from doing forearm poses and kind of associated it with my mat. I know I’ve had this mat for years now, and cleaned it regularly, but I’ve never really used it as often, pretty much daily now, unlike before wherein I only pull out the mat once or twice a month. The fact that I wanted to step up my fitness game also made me want to upgrade my equipment for the purpose and goals I wanted to achieve. Hence, I have decided to purchase a proper Yoga mat!

Prior to purchasing a new mat I’ve consulted a few of my friends who practice yoga regularly. They all recommended the Manduka Pro series and I started researching on them every down time I’d get, from videos to blogs, to reviews, to other competitor mats. Ultimately, here are the reasons why I opted for the Manduka PROlite:

1. Durability and lifetime guarantee
   • This mat is sure to outlive me. A partner for a lifetime for yoga practice. If the mat peels or tears from normal use, Manduka will replace it!
2. Stability
   • Reviews I’ve seen about the mat all talked about how stable their poses are on this mat. With my Adidas mat, it is so difficult to balance on one foot as I always feel my weight shifting due to my mat being too soft.
3. Responsible production
   • Manduka mats are manufactured emissions free!
4. Highly recommended by people I actually know
   • I know it is something to watch and read reviews but I would still trust, first hand, advice and recommendations from people I trust and know. 😀

So from all of these points, I decided to purchase (a gift from my fiance) a Manduka PROlite mat from Certified Calm. They’re the official distributor for Manduka here in the Philippines. The mat arrived this week and I was so happy! Here are my first impressions:

• It is soooooo pretty! They ran out of the colors I primarily wanted (Verve and Lotus) so my fiance let me choose from the more expensive options that had some designs on them and ended up choosing green ash. I was quite worried that the color would be too light for my liking but I fell in love with it as soon as I laid eyes on the actual mat. That shade of green is the right deep sea foamy green which I really like.
• Quality in my fingertips! Since I got the PROlite one, I knew that it would be way thinner than my current Adidas mat. The PROlite is at 4.7 mm while my Adidas one is at 6 mm. That’s still a 1.3 mm difference and I was scared for my knobby knees. Despite that, the mat felt really dense.
• I’ve never felt so stable! After unboxing, I immediately tried it out, and I thought to myself, “so this is how a quality mat actually feels like.” Basic warrior poses, downward dog and triangle poses, felt so different – they were so solid. Eagle legs and standing splits were so stable!

Many reviews about this mat talked about how slippery it is, but there are also some that said how beautifully bliss it is after the “break-in” period. I don’t think I can wait for 3 months of daily heavy practice for that so I will be opting for the salt scrub and the sun baths to speed up the process. More details about the steps I will take and the experience with the process, so stay tuned!

First Impressions: Fitique Skinny Whey Isolate with Collagen (Matcha Flavor)

Okay. This was totally not a planned purchase. I was scrolling through Instagram and saw NutriDepot PH’s posts about this and suddenly found myself ordering two tubs! Sigh. I don’t know what happened there. Haha.

Today I received my order! Kudos to NutriDepot PH’s team for a very fast turn around. I ordered two flavors, the Matcha and the Ruby Chocolate. Each tub came in with a free shaker so I got two of em too. It was recommended by NutriDepot that I try the Matcha first. I’ve seen a lot of purchase photos around with this flavor as well so okay, I gave it ago. I had it as post afternoon workout drink and I was shocked from the very first sip!

It tastes great! That, for one, is already a big win. It also doesn’t have that sandy texture because it mixed so well and it’s very very smooth. I cannot emphasise enough how smooth it is in words to be honest. You’d have to try it.

As for the effects and how my body reacts to it, we’d have to wait a bit to see how it goes. So stay tuned!

Got my tubs from Nutrition Depot Philippines. Follow this link to check them out.

Xiaomi MiBand 4 Review: Why I got it and the truth after 6 months of actual use

Originally, I was planning to get a Suunto 3 for Christmas last year and found the price too steep for a beginner in fitness tracking like me. With my day job and being a mother, my lifestyle isn’t as sporty as before wherein I was juggling 3 different sports (excluding running) so I thought it may not be worth to spend so much on my first fitness tracker. I must have gone through dozens of videos on Suunto 3 to psych me into getting it. One night my family and I had dinner with some very close friends and I noticed one of them wearing a small band, a MiBand 3. She introduced me to the world of Xiaomi MiBands and I researched further on my own about this budget friendly fitness tracker. I found out that a new model has been released, the MiBand 4. In October 2019, I purchased a pair of MiBand 4 from Shoppee for my fiancé and I.

Here are the reasons why I opted for a Xiaomi MiBand 4 over the Suunto 3:

• Price! The MiBand 4 was retailed at Php1,588.00 while the Suunto 3 was at that time retailed at around Php14,000-17,000.00 depending on the color. Just 10% of what I was originally about to spend! Additionally, if I end up not liking this fitness tracking thing, I won’t be too dismayed from having spent a lot of money for something I could not maximize. That really saved my wallet from being whacked in the face and destroyed.
• Simplicity. It looked like it was going to be easy to wear with office clothes or casual wear.
• Battery life. They advertised this watch to stay up and running for about a month before having to recharge it. This is really a perk for me as my work sometimes requires me to travel for a few days or a weeks time and it is one less of a worry to not bring an additional charger for my watch.
• 5ATM (50m) water resistance rating. Compared to the Suunto 3 which only had 3ATM (30m), I wanted to opt for something that would give me a higher depth rating as my fiancé and myself love to dive. We are both advanced divers and already dove about 32-34m and an extra 20m rating wouldn’t hurt especially for the price.

It’s been exactly six months now since I started using the MiBand 4 and to be honest it really is just okay. Well, and great at the same time. There are thibgs that I super love about this tracker and somethings that are just, meh. Here’s why:

• The screen. There’s really not much to do with a small screen. The screen is also not too visible under bright daylight. I always find myself squinting and covering the watch to try and see at least the time when I’m outdoors on a sunny day. There’s no feature to auto adjust the screen brightness and it’s just a hassle to try and adjust it manually all the time.
• Sleep tracker. This feature really is awesome in the idea itself. It works alright with my watch but I noticed that once I wake up it doesnt track anymore if I fall asleep again. Like waking up at 3am for a quick trip in the toilet and falling asleep after 20 minutes. The tracker would only record my sleep until 3am.
• Workout presets. The tracker has a very limited array of workout presets: outdoor running, treadmill, cycling, walking, freestyle and pool swimming. Out of all these, I only get to use 3. When I go rock climbing, do workout with my tension bands, or when I do yoga, I’d put the freestyle preset which pretty much just measures my heart rate throughout my workout sessions. Since the band doesn’t have a built in GPS, you really have to bring your phone with you as it bumps in with your phone’s GPS to track your walking or running course. The swimming preset makes you choose the length of the pool to track your distance. I think this feature is great but I really would’ve loved an open water feature for this. I guess that wouldn’t really work as the band does not have a built-in GPS to track open water swimming. The number of laps/total distance can be a bit off sometimes but usually only by one lap.

• I can dive with it! I’m a really big fan of G-Shock and grew up wearing this brand for almost everything and would dive with them and I get to check time underwater. Although the MiBand 4 has that 5ATM rating, once you’re underwater the screen will not work even if you tap it. That’s the downside as the rating only stands for it being able to survive that depth but not really usable. When I go swimming I also find it hard controlling the touch screen when my fingers or the band face is wet.

All good after our Balicasag Island dives.

• The pedometer is inaccurate. I noticed that when I am pushing my kid’s stroller during a walk the band doesn’t recognize my steps. The work around is to just turn on your GPS for long walks to get a more accurate distance.
• The MiFit App. The matching app is really just basic yet comprehensive enough. If you’re not someone who cares a lot about metrics this band is alright. Although I’m sure there are other third party apps you can pair with the device to get more detailed metrics.
• I really couldn’t care less about watch faces. Lol. As long as it’s showing me what I need to see then I’m satisfied. The more basic and clear the better.
• Long enough battery life. Even if they advertised for a month use prior to recharging, I found this to be not true at all. The first time I got my band I turned on all the features like the push notifications, more frequent heart rate monitoring 24/7, etc. to see how the battery performs under optimum use. I found my battery draining faster and had to recharge after 7 days. I turned off a lot of the features that I did not necessarily need. My band’s battery is at a stable 13 days before having to charge it. From what I’ve read about other trackers and smart watches, MiBands has one of the longest battery life to date and most of the others, even the big brands only last for a day (Apple watch) to 5 days.

7 days in and my band is still at 65%.

All in all, the MiBand 4 is a great starter band for a beginner in fitness tracking like me. It does not have a full smorgasbord of features, but hey, it’s only P1,588! I did not pay for it with an arm and a leg so I really cannot complain about the many limitations of this tracker. It does its job so far and I’m satisfied enough.

I hope my experience helped you decide if you’re pondering on which fitness tracker to get. If you have any further questions or have experienced using this band, feel free to share in the comments section.

Pundakit, Zambales: A quick look-book

Here’s a small collection of photos taken from our recent mini holiday at Pundakit, Zambales. The small town is located Northwest of Manila with the shoreline facing the West Philippine Sea. We took a Victory Liner bus from Monumento, Caloocan …

On their way

I am only nearing the end of my first week as a Marine Biologist at the Manila Ocean Park and things just keep getting more and more exciting. 🙂 The vet lab has been given a new breath of life and there’s just so much more coming.

Here’s a little teaser on what I’ve been up to on my first week. Fingers crossed. 🙂

Any wild guesses on what they are?

🎶 Tamagotchi, my little tama-tamagotchi 🎶

So I found this old tamagotchi of mine a few weeks ago. It has been my thing to get a tamagotchi every now and then for reasons unknown to me back then. But today, as I was looking at this little pink egg shaped gadget in my hand at 7 in the morning waiting for everyone to be ready for a trip to Tagaytay, I received the enlightenment I have been waiting for all along.

In the Information Age, it is undeniable that most of us bipeds have grown too attached to the internet. The free flow of data, faces, online friends, and all the sorts at the tap of a finger has left us quite vulnerable to a disease called boredom. On a long journey sitting inside the car, with the hot equator sun and all your companions sleeping except for the driver, I was indeed too prone to it today. And hallelujah, thank you, for the existence of the talented group of people who created that little egg pet thing, the people brought Toy Kingdom within my reach, manong driver for brining me to MOA and mother dear for the cash, in my hand is a well packaged quick remedy, the Tamagotchi.

Who won’t just love that egg shaped body with only three buttons to press?That brilliant congregation of grey pixels and the little chain to slip your fingers in or attach your keys? Who wouldn’t love the fact that you have a tiny virtual animal you can take care of and play without getting your hands dirty and your nose crinkly when it decides to create a giant mess. No barking, no furniture or shoes gnawed, no trips to the vet, no fur on the couch, and it’s so so cute! It does not need internet and to be charged every single day like everyone’s phone. Now tell me, how awesome is that?

Hah! Okay, I guess that’s enough. I’m just sharing all the good vibes from my decision to revive this little toy of mine from yeaaaars ago coz I’m definitely loving it. Haha!

Is yours still alive today?