Category: Shape Up

TEXT: YASMEEN HAMEED-CHAN
PHOTOS: 123RF.COM/ SURFSET FITNESS/ FITNESSFIRST

Don’t spend all your time pumping iron or hitting the treadmill. Switch it up with these enjoyable exercises and work your muscles in ways they have never been worked before!

Pilates combined with boxing gives you piloxing. This high energy interval training uses various items like weighted gloves and pilates blocks, and gives you a cardio and toning fix all in one. The workout also strengthens your core and improves flexibility while minimising damage to the joints. Expect to burn up to 1,200 calories during a one-hour workout.

GYM: HomeTeamNS Balestier Clubhouse
CLASS NAME: Piloxing
www.hometeamns.sg/regular-courses

There’s nothing quite like bouncing around on a trampoline to whizz you back to your childhood days. But take a trampoline class today and you’ll realise it isn’t exactly child’s play. Designed to provide an intense workout with zero impact on your joints, trampolining on a small rebounder enhances your coordination and balance, and improves your lymphatic system to aid toxin release. All this in addition to the usual cardio burn and weight loss.

GYM: True Fitness
CLASS NAME: U-Bound® class
www.truefitness.com.sg

With Surfset classes, you mimic surfing movements, just without the water. It’s not just all posing on theunstable Ripsurfer X board, though. Yoga, pilates and traditional gym exercises are also performed on it, and this is a great way to improve your balance, coordination and focus. Surfset’s advanced classes focus on endurance and strength training, and a typical class could involve interval training, resistance training and circuit training.

GYM: Surfset Fitness
CLASS NAME: Surfset
www.surfset.sg

Just in case you haven’t had enough of training as an NSman, you can check out the Hero Class at Fitness First. It is inspired by the physical tasks that the men and women of the civil defence forces perform. Yes, that means lifting and pulling training dummies, and climbing up and down a 3.7m-tall Throwdown structure to simulate search and rescue drills.

GYM: Fitness First Bugis Junction
CLASS NAME: Hero Class
www.fitnessfirst.com.sg

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TEXT: JARED LEE
ILLUSTRATIONS: ERNEST NG

EXERCISE 1

ROCKET JUMPS

Feet hip-width apart, legs bent in squat position.2 Jump explosively, lengthening body and arms into the air.3 Land softly, adjust your position and repeat.

EXERCISE 2

PUSH-UPS
Get in a push-up position with wrists directly under shoulders and feet slightly apart. Bend left arm to bring the forearm on the mat, followed by the right arm.2 Straighten your left arm, then right arm, to return to starting push-up position.3 Repeat, alternating starting arm.

EXERCISE 3

LATERAL LUNGE WITH TORSO TWIST

1. Stand with feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart, chest up, arms extended in front.
2. Bend right knee and sit back as if doing a squat, and turn your
   torso towards the right. Maintain upright chest and forward-facing hips as you do this.
3. Repeat on left side.

EXERCISE 4

MOUNTAIN CLIMBERS

1. Get in a push-up position with wrists directly under shoulders, legs straight
   and feet apart.
2. Lift right foot and bring knee towards left shoulder.
3. Return the leg to starting position, then bring the left leg towards the right shoulder.
4. Alternate legs.

EXERCISE 5

BURPEES

1. Drop into a squat with hands on the ground. Kick back legs into pushup position.
2. Jump feet back towards arms to squat position and explosively
   jump up, with arms straightened overhead.

EXERCISE 6

JUMPING LUNGES

1. Start in a lunge position with right foot in front and left foot behind, with your left knee around 2cm from the floor.
2. Jump straight up out of the lunge, switch your legs in mid-air, and land softly on your toes.
3. Keep your front knee at a 90-degree angle. Try not to let it go past your toes as you repeat the move.

TRAIN AT FITNESS WORKZ GYMS

Get in shape at our gyms with personal instructors to help you correct your form and challenge your fitness level.

For more information, email us at: fitness_workz@HomeTeamNS.sg or give us a ring at: 6705-9473.

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SHOULDERS

These must be relaxed and in front of the bar during set-up. This puts your shoulder blades above the mid-foot and bar, which prevent your knees from knocking the bar on your way up. Remember not to squeeze your shoulder blades; contract your lats instead – pretend you are squeezing oranges under your armpits.

ARMS

Must be shoulder-width, vertical to the floor when looking from the front and inclined when looking from the side. Keep arms straight, and never pull with bent arms or you might risk injury to the biceps and elbows. Use a low-hand grip by holding the bar closer to your fingers, not in the middle of your palm, to reduce pain in the hands.

SHINS

The bar must stay in contact with your legs when you lift, to protect your lower back. The bar should start against your shins during the set-up, and then almost be rolling over the shins and thighs to the top. Wear long socks to protect the shins

NECK

Deadlift with your neck neutral. Do not look up or at your feet. Look at a point on the floor in front of you instead, so that you’ll have a straight line from the top of your head to your hips throughout the movement.

BACK

No overarching or bending to prevent injury. If you tend to over-arch, contract your abs to maintain a neutral spine. Remember: Your back doesn’t lift the weight; it just keeps your spine neutral while your legs do the work.

HIPS

Set up with the bar over your mid-foot, arms straight with a low-hand grip, knees bent until your shins touch the bar. Raise your chest in this position and your hips will be exactly where they should be. When doing the move, raise your hips and chest at the same time by pushing your feet through the floor.

FEET

Must be hip-width apart. Set up with the bar over the middle of your feet for better balance when you pull the weight up. Keep toes pointing about 15 degrees out. This makes it easier to push your knees out, which helps in engaging your groin muscles to deadlift more weight.

TRAIN AT FITNESS WORKZ GYMS

Perfect your deadlift and train with personal instructors who can work with you to achieve your training goals.

For more information, email us at: fitness_workz@HomeTeamNS.sg or give us a ring at: 6705-9473.

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