Alright so i'm here to end my really bad habit of procrastinating...
you would think that i would have gotten my act together given that it's almost the end of jan already lol.
Anyway, as you guys may or may not have known, I went for a gym session at Contours Express a week or two ago.
I actually got a voucher from the samplestore back in December but was too lazy to book an appointment until one fine day in Jan.
Contours Express is a women's gym that's really accessible given that it has many locations in Singapore.
The one factor that caught my attention however is that each gym session is only "29 mins" and was claimed to provide results. Well, given my skeptical self as yall know me, I decided to give it a shot and see how this whole gym thingy actually works since my usual gym sessions are about an hour or so.
Plus they said i'll have a fitness instructor so why not??
I made the call at about 4pm and managed to book an appointment for the 8pm slot on the same day :)
As mentioned before, they have several outlets, and i went to the one nearest to my place. The gym's located in Buangkok (near hougang green).
The gym isn't exactly very big, but it is cosy and welcoming which is very different from the other gyms outside which can be a little intimidating if you're female tbh.
The first thing i noticed was that the machines are relatively smaller than outside gyms. The machines in Contours Express are tailored for women and therefore are more compact and easier to use :}
But i'll get on to that later.
Health analysis
The owners of the gym, Mr and Mrs Lam, were extremely friendly and surprise surprise, the parent of another SA student. Hahaha, which i found out while they were chatting with me.
Since it was my first time there, they helped me to do a fitness analysis to check how's my health condition etc.
clumsy han tore the paper by accident...
It started with a measurement of my height and weight, followed by some questions regarding my usual exercise routine as seen from the top part of the paper.
And then Mrs Lam suddenly took out this wand machine thingy that looked like what those slimming centers used in advertisements as seen on TV, and she scanned my arm.
Which I was pretty amazed by hahaha.
Apparently it is a fat measuring device of some sort and yeah as you can see from above, all my fats are exposed to the world now...
In all seriousness though, I was genuinely surprised that I only had 20% fats in my body and she was like gushing "that's very good!" while going through the report with me...
Which ahhem, is admittedly ego boosting.
But then again, i left out the part about me being a vegetarian sooooo i guess it shouldn't be a surprise if i'm relatively healthy.
When asking me about my fitness goals, I did however tell her that i've gained a little weight particularly after Rapture period when i stopped dancing and started mugging for As and want to lose that one kilogram or so/ get leaner.
She told me that it is possible but i have to be careful not to lose too much cause i'll be in some serious bad shape if i lost too much and my BMI goes over to the unhealthy side.
#noted.
Alright after all that jazz, I started the actual circuit training.
I did have a coach guiding me along but it wasn't a one-to-one coach as i had expected. I mean, he was around to help me through all the stations but it felt as if he was more of uhm a guide rather than an actual fitness instructor/ personalized coach if you get what i mean?
But still, he did help me a lot as I wasn't very familiar with the various machines.
The ones in normal gyms are usually intimidating and hogged by all the men so I've never quite dared to use them??
Also, the fitness instructor said i apparently have a rather small body frame (smaller bones in other words) so yeah the machines out there are scaaaaaaaaary.
But at Contours Express I can actually grasp on to the machines properly without feeling swallowed up.
The entire circuit training consists of weight training as well aerobic exercises for cardio in between.
The interesting thing is that i'll only be at each station for about a minute or less before this speaker comes on saying "change stations" and i'll move on to the next machine while someone else takes on mine.
OH and ohmygosh I know i said that the machines are tailored for women, but the weights are the same as the normal ones. I almost died doing some of the exercises.
this thing made my thighs burn so bad....
One complete circuit is approx 14.5 minutes and I did the circuit twice so the entire workout was 29 mins (:
And then there's this corner where you measure your heart rate after to see if you're exercising at the correct intensity.
Something i learnt there was that it's actually not very effective to exercise too intensely if the goal is to lose weight cause you will wind up getting lethargic quickly since your body is burning calories rather than fats during the first 25 minutes of exercise.
If you're about my age, you should be exercising at about 60-70% intensity level which is approx 23-27 heartbeats/10 seconds.
To measure your heartbeat, simply set your stopwatch for a duration of 10 seconds and feel your pulse by your neck and count.
I learnt that during the trial that day and have been using it ever since to monitor my exercise intensity.
Exercising at a moderate intensity can allow you to last longer in your exercise hence allowing your body to effectively melt away the fats.
After the 29 mins, there's an area meant for mat work and stretching and I was done!
Overall review:
Time: All it really took for the exercise itself was 29 mins and I was actually really sore after, in the "this stuff works!" way. So it really shows how time is not an issue and is a bad excuse.
"When something is important, you'll find a way. If it isn't you'll find an excuse."
Ambiance: The gym is very welcoming and is rather motivational as you see all these women of every shape and size working out and there's an actual positive vibe in the air. Perhaps because everyone is there because they actually WANT to work out or change their physique and stuff. So yes, inspiring place to be at.
Price: Is it value for money? Unless you're a working woman that is far too shy/ petite to hit the public gyms and use the facilities there, nope. It is rather costly to go to such specialized gyms in my own opinion especially since i have the option of going to the school gym/common gyms. Also, since i'm not really looking into losing much weight, i don't really need a program to help me out. However, if you're keen on losing a significant amount of weight/ dress sizes, and/or have little knowledge about fitness and exercises perhaps you can check out Contours Express and give it a go (:
As for the rest of you female population who is similar to me, I highly recommend that you head over to Contours Express for a fitness analysis and at least a consultation so that you are better educated about what kind of exercises will suit your needs when exercising independently! (:
And please men, boys, guys, don't be selfish and just use the public gym that you guys are already owning.
Mennist(s) please do not hit me for that :x *big grin*
Oh and if you go to the Buangkok outlet, tell them that I sent you yeah! (:
Also, i'm not an ambassador or whatever for them lol, one day i'll get there, but for now they asked me to help them do a little advertorial and review on my blog so here it is!
Right now that i'm done with this post, i feel very accomplished and also sleepy.
