Gyms in Manila?

James and I depart for Manila on Saturday 7 July. My first ever visit... finally! I've been wanting to go there since I was 17. It only took me 8 years to finally get around to it.

We'll be there until 24 July. Which means that if you are reading this and you know your way around Manila, you can help me. Is there a local gym you can recommend I check out whilst I'm there? I'd just love to see how another country does stuff and how it differs from Australia.

Gosh... if I have to, I might even pop into a Fitness First. But what I'd really prefer is a true blue Filipino-branded gym, if indeed this does exist.

If you currently live in Manila, any chance you can find out whether your local gym accepts day visits or guest passes (e.g. do they sell a one or two week guest pass)?

Get it right... please!

I have been spending every spare moment of my time studying, studying, studying to get this Certificate III & IV done once and for all. My final exam is booked for Tuesday 26 June ~ I can't wait til it's all over and I can be let loose to blast the fat of Australia out of bodies and into oblivion.

Which leads me on to a minor... complaint, if that's what you want to call it.

There have been errors scattered throughout some the text books I've been studying. Typos I can handle. Even the occasional incorrectly spelled word that is clearly not a typo. The odd wrong formatting... pushing it, but still bearable.

But incorrect usage of words? Forget it. It peeves me that whoever wrote the texts cannot tell the difference between AFFECT and EFFECT.

A child's development is not effected by their participation in physical ability, it is AFFECTED!

Affect is a verb, effect is a noun. Learn the difference and get it right... please!

Once in a while I see this misuse and I can let it go, but it's been sprinkled so liberally throughout my texts that I just had to vent and let it out somewhere.

Am I the only person in the world who has issues with stuff like this?

Currently Loving...

*Being a Personal Trainer!!!
*Smith machines, single leg dead lifts, swiss ball pikes and L sits
*Going to the gym on Tuesdays (props to Shane & Dave)
*Vanilla Creme Protein Supreme, flax seed oil, Donna's vanilla cherry power shakes, Emma's 'legal' muesli, raw nuts & winter-warming soups
*My new boots and my new pyjama pants (but not worn together!) and my new lip gloss (finally found the perfect colour!)
*Big Girls Don't Cry by Fergie (hear it on my MySpace profile) and Leave Me Alone (I'm Lonely) by Pink
*The electric blanket on my bed

Always aim for the moon...

...you may not make it, but you just might grab a star on the way by!

I love this quote. I love that recently, despite my own fears and self-doubts, I aimed for the moon. That I had friends and a husband who encouraged me to go for it, reminding me I had nothing to lose.

I am into week 3 of my job. I think it's my dream job, I really do. I wanted to work as a personal trainer, and I am being given the opportunity to. I wanted to be in a place where I could learn, learn, learn... this is the place for me.

I have learnt a lot in the short two and a half weeks that I've been at the studio, and what excites me is that I know there is so much more to learn!

New stuff that I am intrigued by:
- Single leg dead lifts using a Smith machine
- L sits
- Swiss ball pikes
- Swiss ball ab braces with the added challenge of touching my knees to the ball

Favourite Gym Equipment

Currently, my favourite piece of equipment is the Smith Machine. It's so versatile! So much so that James and I have plans to purchase one. Admittedly, it's a cheap version from Kmart but we tested it out tonight and it does the job okay, i.e. it won't kill us by unexpectedly dropping a heavy weight on our necks.

Looks like the "Poker Room" might be transformed into a mini home gym before the month is out.

Now all I want to do is get my hands on a Gymstick!

Trapeze Workshop

I'm a trapeze artist! Okay, not quite ~ I don't think professional trapeze artists actually squeal whilst they're swinging on the trapeze.

At my new job (which I love... lots!), every Friday afternoon we are invited to participate in something educational as part of an informal staff learning & development program. Today's activity ~ trapeze lessons! I asked if I could bring James along because there were extra spaces available in the class, which my boss kindly agreed to.

James pretty much nailed his challenges first time through everything, which makes for impressive but not necessarily funny videos. Mine are a bit funnier. Unfortunately we didn't catch some of our funniest moments on video, but here are a selection of some of our antics.

Video #1 - my first ever swing on a trapeze:


Video #2 - my first attempt at somersaulting off a trapeze:


Video #3 - a catch! Got it on my second attempt:
(James nailed it on his first attempt, of course)

For more videos, click here to go to my Trapeze playlist on YouTube. The above 3 videos are showcased there, as are 4 more, including several of James in action, and they are listed in chronological order.

P.S. James did so well that my workmates were asking me if by any chance I found him in a circus. I thought that was pretty funny.

P.P.S. Apologies to those of you with terrible bandwidth and can't watch the videos, we tried to take photos but they are all way too blurry to be worth posting!