Health + Fitness
When I got back to Hong Kong, I checked out the schedule at Physical's Shatin branch, where I work out, to see if kick boxing was offered.
To my delight, I found out that it was offered. There were, in fact, kick boxing classes on weekends, and I have been regular in them ever since.
I find that I work up more of a sweat in kick boxing than in any other sport or cardo vascular activity that I have ever tried. The teacher starts by teaching us a move or a series of moves. Then we do it over and over again to the beat of disco music.
Believe me, burning calories was never this much fun!
My other passion is spinning, which is basically pedaling on stationary bicycles to the beat of disco music. Getting into a class with the right teacher is key.
Teachers with strong personalities that play the right kind of music can really motivate you, turning a tedious activity – I've never enjoyed doing cardio vascular exercises – into an exhilerating experience. The time just flies by.
Teachers with weak personalities that play the wrong kind of music, what I think of as "background music" – you pedal in spite of it rather than to it – can bore you to tears. The time just drags by. You are constantly checking the clock to see how much more time you've got left.
Trimming the Fat
As a travel writer I tend to return from trips a few pounds heavier than when I left. When staying at five star resorts, I try to do laps for an hour in the pool, but I have found that swimming does not have much of an impact on my weight.
So between trips I spend as much time as I can at the gym. And I have finally found two activities that I truly enjoy – making trips to the gym something to look foward to rather than dread.
Copyright: Michael Taylor Pictured: Hong Kong Canto Pop star and actor Aaron Kwok, poster boy for Physical Fitness & Beauty Hong Kong. Photo Courtesy of Physical Fitness & Beauty Hong Kong