All About The Core

Holidays in my world don't equate piling on the pounds. In fact, holidays are perfect for getting those abs that I have neglected to maintain during the daily grind where exercise sessions are shortened in favor of work obligations or social commitments.

The man has been doing planks for years now. Never knew what the fuss is about. All my life I've done gymnastics, ballet and figure-skating, and even now in the form of parkour. My core has been built solid. I never thought about it. Over the holidays, I randomly decided to plank too. By golly, it's the most boring thing ever. To simply plank for four minutes without a distraction. No, my thoughts aren't loud enough. The next day, I took the iPad and flipped it to an article to read while I planked. Much better. To level up, instead of just lifting arms and legs or whatever, simply tweet or type emails or something.

The holidays have increased my capacity for exercises. Am back to the usual routine of alternate days of pilates and swimming. So that means a proper workout is done daily, although the intensity has increased. The one-hour stretches on the machines are upped to 90 minutes, and the slow 25 laps breast-stroke to a longer pool session by doing a fast 40 laps front crawl. That addiction to feeling the slight muscle ache after. Ahhhhh. And of course that slight thrill of completing these sessions with ease.

The man can't run (knees lah), and I really dislike running. He has taken to dragging me out at 10pm or so for walks in the neighborhood, exclaiming that he needs another 3000 steps to 'hit the quota'. Zzzz. He and the Microsoft Band. So we've been doing brisk walks lasting between 45min to an hour. Those usually give him an additional 10,000 to 12,000 steps to bust all quotas. Dohhh. I'm not as fixated on counting steps or sleep cycles. Neither piece of information appeals nor helps me in any of my fitness goals. Oof.

Still not keen on joining gyms leh. Not even Virgin Active which looks so good. Mainly because I'm not into classes of any sort. Not bothered about treadmills and such. I still prefer spending time in a pilates studio. Or get out there to walk/skate/cycle and feel the sun.