Accepting the "Athlete"

When I think of the word "athlete," images of Olympic contenders would come to mind: lean, muscular, strong, and determined. I used to love watching all kinds of sports on TV, especially gymnastics, ice skating, tennis, and the NBA. My parents never pushed us girls toward sports, which had always been odd to me, considering how many basketball and tennis trophies my dad brought home and added to his collections stored in cabinets and displayed on our piano. It's a shame, because I was always full of energy, enjoying physical activities that not many girls in my school could relate to. 

I was the typical 90s kid who biked and rollerbladed around the village with my neighbourhood friends. I even had a street hockey phase, after The Mighty Ducks was released. I loved arm wrestling, and became embarrassingly infamous for the game called, "Mercy!" In grade school, my classmates would set up challenges for me, like pushing rows of lockers across the hall. While many dreaded PE class, I looked forward to playing Filipino games like patintero, and later on basketball, softball, and table tennis. Despite all that, I was a fat kid; and I don't mean chubby, I was obese. 

That was me at 136 lbs, and with a rat?! on my lapel

On my freshman year of high school, I was 5 feet tall and weighed 136 pounds. I used to eat plates full of rice at every meal, and snarled when told to eat less. How I eventually lost all the weight is a different story for another time, but I wanted to give a short background on why I'm so incredulous to be the "Featured Athlete" on my CrossFit gym's website this month. I never thought I'd ever be considered an athlete in this lifetime; but by definition, I guess I could credit myself with this title by the way I've been living the past year. I've been working out by lifting and doing some gymnastics at least 3 times a week, and I have a more conscious effort to eat better every day (but I have to admit, this continues to be the struggle!) I even joined a competition to experience CrossFit as a sport, which I mentioned briefly here. So while it may seem shallow to some, I'm more than tickled by this recognition. I'm proud of how actively I've reversed my health and fitness by the choices I've been making, and plan on continuing to make the right choices as I get older.

Definition from Google: proficient in (...) physical exercise

"Kaye, our morning crew resident, CrossFit choreo pioneer, and a CFGH athlete in the recent Manila Throwdown Team Qualifier scaled edition has come a long way here at CrossFit Greenhills. She’s a Speech-Language Pathologist, a performer with the Ryan Cayabyab Singers, a freelance writer, and an event host by profession. Talking about #NoExcuses with her hectic career and busy life, she’s managed to put in consistent work here at the box for over a year now! She’s definitely much stronger and fitter now than the day she first started."

Read more of my feature here.  

To anyone who is still fighting fat, I encourage you to keep on going. Start with small changes, like eating less carbs and brisk walking for 30 minutes, and you will feel the benefits of a healthier body. I'm positive you will surprise yourself, just as my own capabilities continue to surprise me!


CrossFit Greenhills 

Address: 4th Floor Intrawest Centre,
33 Annapolis, San Juan, 1504,
Metro Manila, Philippines

Landline: (02) 7289730

Mobile: (+63) 9178218848

Quit the "Versus:" Fitness is Personal

I just read something that left me feeling sore. The head of a particular gym compared his fitness program with CrossFit, in the guise of clarifying certain points on what makes the two different. He might have written this with good intentions; he even peppered his article with apologetic disclaimers, but unfortunately this came off slightly patronizing instead of sincere. While the author tried to be careful with his phrasing, he did not avoid making negative implications regarding the "competing brand."

I'm not against making comparisons, but before anyone does it and posts it on an official website, I think their opinion had better be substantiated. He kept repeating the noncommittal statement, "there are good boxes, and there are bad boxes;" but the way I read it is he made all his comparisons based on the best features of his advocated program against the most ill-rumored features of CrossFit. How can you compare something with a bad version of another? If he really meant to differentiate the two, he would've been better off presenting the definition of CrossFit and have made an easy, objective point without defaulting to his biased views.

If we're going to compare fitness programs to find out which will be better suited to our interests and goals, then by all means break down the components and find the advantages of each. Comparing fitness programs to one-up another, or to attract clientele by posting uninformed claims about the other, is not a classy move. It's definitely not befitting of the motivational community he is professing to belong to. 

The fact of the matter is we should support all sorts of fitness, if it gets more people living more active, healthier lifestyles. Fitness is personal, and something that each individual should be able to incorporate into their day-to-day. In effect, there is no hard ranking of what is better than the other, nor should that be the focus. Whether people choose boxing over HIIT, long distance running over tennis, or circuit over CrossFit -- if they love it and do it regularly, that is already better than doing nothing. 

On Top

Something miraculous happened today: the UP men's basketball team won the first two consecutive games of the season, which hasn't happened since 2005; and they beat DLSU for the first time in six years.

#UAAPSeason78 Updated Men's Srs. Basketball Team Standings pic.twitter.com/WlgqWVx8RB

— ABS-CBN Sports (@abscbnsports) September 9, 2015

This win can't just be luck, it's most definitely a combination of better coaching, individually talented individuals, teamwork, and rigorous training. It's been years, but that just goes to show that excellence isn't immediate: it's earned through hard work, one day at a time. I hope they keep up this trend; nevertheless, I'm keeping this memento of how, in my lifetime, UP was on top of the basketball leaderboards of the UAAP! ;) 

Tomorrow, I'm beginning a battle of my own.

Personal Best

I used to dread Mondays: from being the start of a school week, to the first day of the work week, it was the day that forced me to abruptly shake off the comforts of the weekend. This changed since I started doing CrossFit at CrossFit Greenhills last year, and I've actually been looking forward to Mondays, itching to get back in the box (what we call our gym) to workout. I've mandated Saturdays and Sundays for muscle recovery, so I've noticed that I generally perform better at the start of another week. 

Today was one such Monday, and I beat several personal records (PR,) with the help of tips from my coach and community!

Handstand Happiness

I actually achieved my first two handstands last week, but I wasn't sure if they were lucky attempts because they looked and felt wonky. My friend Ara, who used to be a gymnast, told me to look at my hands when springing up, instead of straight back. It diminished my uncertainty and really helped with my balance. I did several successful ones this morning.

Squat cleaned 111# today! I didn't calculate how much weight I was adding to avoid psyching myself out, and I had to remember the points of proper form (like dropping fast and turning over.) This is 16# heavier than my previous PR just last week!

After a year and a month of #CrossFit at @cfgreenhills, I finally did my first (not one, but six!) pull-ups! 😭 Tears of joy! I will now be able to save myself should I ever be dangling from the edge of a cliff! 😋

A video posted by Katherine (@kaichypoo) on Sep 6, 2015 at 8:26pm PDT

My favourite achievement of the day is my first (six) pull-ups! Not entirely sure how I went from none to six, but again, Ara's tip about lifting the hip up made a difference.

Thank you, Monday!

We Live Life By Days

I've put off doing so many things for "someday," because "someday" was always so safely vague and faraway. I set some dreams aside in this giant box of "someday," collecting them like precious artefacts, taking them out for a dusting once in a while, but mostly keeping them tucked away. I imagined, and maybe half-expected, that those dreams would naturally and eventually be fulfilled; that I would see them realized given enough time. When I got older. After I graduated from high school... no, college. When I started earning my own money, or maybe when I had my first million. When I'm ready. Only, what if it's like having a baby? My mommy-friends say, "you'll never be ready," or at least until you've given birth, then you just make yourself ready.

Suddenly, that faraway "someday" is now, staring me in the eye with a raised brow, tapping its toes impatiently. What now? I figured: either I continue curating this dream museum of mine, where my dreams are kept mint but useless, or I make myself ready to breathe life into those dreams, one day at a time. I've chosen the latter; and in this space, I hope to be reminded to continue to choose the latter by documenting how great it feels to have a dream fulfilled. I want to keep track of all the things I've done to make me proud of being me, and acknowledge even the small triumphs, like experiencing something for the first time. I want to write about the things I enjoy doing, and maybe it'll encourage other people to try them out, live their own dreams, too.

I'll have them good, and I'll roll through the bad; but one thing's for sure, we live life by days.