The only time I’ve got out of bed before 5.30am before is to catch a flight.  So the idea of this being a regular thing and to go and exercise was really beyond my comprehension.  The day just does not start that early!  I originally signed up for the EVENING Fitness Challenge but then the location switched (how could you!!?) so here I am, part of the MORNING JingAn team!  And actually, the getting up at the crack of dawn is the easy part.

WEEK ONE, SESSION ONE (Big Brother stylee voice, please)

5.45am, Jing’An Park, it’s a bit rainy, it’s hot and very humid.

First up – running.  Ok, I can do this!  I used to go running, well that was about 18 months ago now.  Next - push-ups.  These I can’t do.  I have jelly instead of muscles.  Skipping – I’ve not done this since I was a kid!  Oh, not like a schoolgirl, feet together you say …I hate skipping.

Save for my previous TAEBO exercise tapes, Physical Education Arnis classes back in college, I have never tried or taken a boxing class. When I told my husband back in Manila about wanting to get back into shape and exercise out (more like annihilate!) the annoying pressure point in my shoulder trap, he suggested martial arts. I thought to myself? Me? Martial arts? Never. I mean the thought of “kicking ass” like Scarlette Johannson as BlackWidow in Iron Man 2 so rocked but my pain tolerance wasn't exactly up to par. Even just threading my eyebrows could be such an accomplishment at times.

(Sissy alert!) But after listening to my dear hubby go on about how my background in dancing would really give me an edge with coordination and it would definitely get me fit quicker and also stronger. An added bonus it would allow me to release any pent up anger or frustration. (Come on, we all have them whether from our childhood, a tyrant boss or even sometimes a rude stranger bumping you on the back with her grocery cart!)

So I finally decided to give it a go. I tried a free trial with Ramsey Dewey at Tiger Muay Thai Kung Fu Club and then did a 100 RMB trial at Oz Body Fit gym. The first one was a semi-private class with two great Dolls Selvi and Karlijn (who are always ready to spar and kick ass and are very forgiving when my arms were not strong enough to hold up the brick-like pads at Muai Thai) and the second one with a group class at Oz Bodyf Fit. Both I would have to say got me sweating and aching (in a good way)!

It’s that time of the year when most people feel super-motivated to exercise in order to lose some weight for summer. But this enthusiasm can dip occasionally. How do we stay motivated?  Here are my 10 tips to reboot your mood and keep the fitness journey on track. You don’t need to apply all the techniques listed below. Just start out with the tips you believe will have the most impact in keeping you motivated.

1. Think of all the benefits of exercise

Exercise not only helps us reach and maintain a healthy body weight, it also has a whole lot of other benefits, both physical and mental benefits. It lowers blood pressure, strengthens bones, helps battle depression, improves energy levels, increases mental focus, elevates mood, increases a sense of control over your life, improves self-esteem, reduces the chances of various diseases and slows down aging.

The more benefits you can identify with the more motivated you are to exercise.

There are two types of people in this world, the ones that like the challenge that doing fitness and being fit brings you and others (like me) who are ‘fitness challenged’.

When I arrived to Shanghai 9 months ago, I was in really bad shape (I’m sure you know the symptoms), luckily for me I met Julia Taylor (the original doll) who opposite to me really enjoys her daily doses of fitness. Long story short Julia had the great idea of starting a fitness program in the format of a ‘challenge’ to bring some of the Dolls together and help us to get in good shape for the summer.

The program is designed under the format that there are 2 competing teams (due to the location of the ‘challengers’ we had a JingAn and a Xujiahui teams) training twice a week at our local neighborhoods parks with a different trainer (10 people per team). After a period of 6 weeks both teams get together for a fun picnic day and to compete against each other (as a team) to declare a winning team of the Fitness Challenge. This fun event ends giving prices to the winning team (thanks to our generous sponsors). In addition because we truly believe that is not only important to win but also is important the effort you have put during the 6 weeks of training we gave awards to the people (in both teams) that showed the ‘most improvement’ since they started training. I’m proud to say that together with my friend Mirna we won the award for most improved for the JingAn team, I cannot tell you how much it means to a ‘fitness challenged’ person to get this kind of award. We also gave prizes in recognition to our team leaders because all the time they spent coordinating our teams, from scheduling to making sure we all got the materials we needed to work out. Our teams in addition to having the goal of getting in good shape, also had the goal of having a good time and laugh among friends that is why we decided to give the award to the laziest person in each team (by democratic vote), because you should never loose your sense of humor the winners of the ‘laziest’ person on each team received the prize of (1) one on one training session with our trainers.

In my quest to get a bikini body before summer actually hits (if it ever does with all this rain!) I started going to a woman’s only boxing class.  At first I had reservations about doing boxing as a sport for a few reasons.

1.         Isn’t Boxing is a boys sport? 2.         Do I really want to do a sport that is based on punching people? 3.         Will I be any good at it? 4.         Isn’t boxing just an arm and shoulder workout and not much fitness? 5.         Is boxing similar to Kick-Boxing, which I had tried and always felt really uncoordinated at?

I decided to give it a go, because I can’t really answer any of those questions without actually going to a class!  I was quite nervous the first time I decided to venture down to the class, because I was worried that I would look stupid and not know what I was doing, but that is what the trainers are for.

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On Saturday we had the first pole dancing class! In particular, I wanted to do it because it means I'd be 'forced' to exercise. My fitness levels are.... nonexistent. I'm generally just too lazy and love to eat, so exercise somewhat opposes that ;) So I figure, if I enroll myself into classes, and do it with friends, then I'd just HAVE to exercise, right? And obviously, pole dancing is FUN. A lot more exciting than jogging endlessly, how boring. I also like how you move to music, and it seems to me it's very similar to gymnastics/ballet.. what with the core strength and flexibility involved. So I figure, since I danced ballet for 10 years, I'd be more pre-disposed to do pole dancing than, say, rugby ;) The class was a LOT of fun, and so entertaining! It was all our 1st class ever, so it was all very beginner. We learned a lot though, and you realise how much coordination and strengh is needed for pole dancing. In fact, the next day, my muscles were so sore I couldn't stand up or sit down properly.. let alone walk without limping! My thighs were SO painful I just couldn't move them, and so were all these weird areas of my upper arms and armpits. Ouchhhhh. The pain was staggering. And all because of my zero exercise, hence none of my muscles are used to working out. Argh. Well.... hopefully now that I'm doing this, I'll get fitter and be in less pain after each class!

Lots of people always ask me when the best time of the day to exercise is and for most people the answer is whenever you can get up the motivation to do it is the best time.  When you are first starting out with an exercise regime the most important thing is to actually “do” exercise on a regular basis!  Continuous cardiovascular exercise, such as walking, jogging, stair climbing, or cycling, sustained for at least 30 minutes, will burn body fat no matter when you do it.. But saying that there is a “best time” of the day to exercise and this is what I am going to talk about and list the extra benefits of training at this time.

So if your goal is to get the maximum benefits possible from every minute of your weight loss exercise then you should consider getting up early and doing some cardio before you eat your first meal of the day.  Even if you are not a morning person you will still get the same benefits out of this type of exercise and you would be surprised how quickly you start to wake up before the alarm clock goes off each morning.

There are three advantages of early morning exercise versus doing the same later in the day.

I think there can be a big misconception about the benefits of Boot Camp or what Boot Camp actually is!  I am what you could call a Boot Camp Junkie, because I love doing this kind of activity for many reasons.  Some of them include the fact that it is by far the fastest way to get fit, toned and to look fantastic!  Also, not to mention the huge effect it has on your mood in making you enjoy life way more.  I find it really inspiring and motivating to workout with other women who have their own set of goals and see not only my progression towards the end objective, but theirs too…One of the biggest preconceptions of this type of exercise probably comes from the name – Boot Camp!  It does tend to conjure up images of a drill sergeant screaming at you to drop and give him 20, but I am here to tell you that that is definitely a false idea!  The first Boot Camp I ever worked my way through was called “Bikini Boot Camp”, funny name I know and again even that invokes images of women running around in their Bikini’s!  It was actually called that, because it was to be used as a tool to get you looking hot in a Bikini.