The story unfolds

(Please turn on your speakers)

There is a need in town...








The studio is ready but we need a GXC...
From a land far, far away, "HE" is summoned...












And "HE" answers the call!







(Oops, wrong picture!)








And so, the transformation begins... from Customer Service Representative...








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He becomes the NEW Group Exercise Coordinator
for Fitness First Damansara Uptown!!!

What is going to happen to the gym? Will our hero make a mess of things? Will the traffic woes in MRR2 be a thing of the past? Stay tuned as we witness together...



THE NEW ADVENTURES OF THE PERSPIRING FITNESS INSTRUCTOR!

My blog looks like this

It's NOT dying of neglect! I am not carelessly allowing my blog to wither from lack of care and tenderness. So happy!

OK, this is sort of a parody of Hui Li's blog(is that how you spell your name?) but anyhow, I' ve been rather consistent in spite of work(workload has increased drastically since Dec 2005). Then again, I'm still bored here in the office... So, definitely no lalang here.

However, with some new responsibilities coming in April, I wonder how long I can prevent this garden from becoming "an old cluttered garden shed". Should that happen, maybe I too will join the league of blog squatters.

So, no guarantee for what the future of this blog will become. Anyhow, I shall divulge what's coming tomorrow. Since 1 April is a Saturday, tomorrow's entry will also serve as a pre-April Fool's parody entry. I've already got in mind what I want to do- hopefully it will work:-/


today's entry was brought to you by:


IT'S SO NEAR!!!

Something's coming

Looks familiar?


Just borrowed the poster of certain individual to just let you know something is coming very soon. Actually not much of a "return" but more of the completion of a transformation that started a year ago.

You've had your chances
You've tried your best
But let me tell ya
Guess who's next
I'm going for it
Ain't no stopping me now
As the transformation completes
Never wonder how

Step by step
Bit by bit
I'm here to tell you
I'm gonna make it
Doubt no more
It's my time now
I'm gonna make it work
And that's my vow!

~shades, March 2006

Keep an eye on the cocoon, will ya?

Today's entry was brought to you by:

Angelic devil on the bike

Have you ever seen a girl and you think to yourself, "That's such a sweet pleasant girl! Gosh... I wish I could get her name and number..." That was my first impression of Ping(minus the name and phone number part-lah) when I first met her last year in FF Wisma Consplant. At that time, she was only teaching BODYBALANCE®.

Ping is one of the many instructors who have roots in Penang(like FCI, Tian Jin #1, etc). Currently still studying in a college in Subang Jaya, she only takes a handful of classes. Around middle of last year, I found out that she was going for the RPM® training with Tracy Minnoch-Nuku & Wes Carter. My first reaction was, "So sweet girl how to teach RPM?"


Anyway, she passed the training and one day, she asked if she could teach RPM® with me. Since I always want to take things easy in class, I figured she could teach a few tracks for me while I slack off a wee bit-lah Since I have been there before as a new instructor who's eager to learn and practise on stage, how could I refuse her?

Anyhow, I asked her what her training track was and it was then RPM® 27 track 5 "Shock to the system". So I started the class and then I passed the mic to her to teach "Shock to the system".... and it was certainly a shock to my system, and some of the regulars too got a shock. This sweet young thing suddenly turned from a soft spoken girl to a drill sergeant, yelling and screaming like a woman in labour... no more friendly face but a mean mad lady on a bike.

Since then, she's accumulated a couple of nicknames. Wes calls her "Sarge" while I described her as one who "looks like an angel, but rides like a devil". With that, it reminds me of this old Elvis number. Please try to sing along, though I've changed the words slightly:

You look like an angel (look like an angel)
Walk like an angel (walk like an angel)
Talk like an angel
But I got wise

You're the devil on the bike
Oh yes you are
The devil on the bike

I thought that I was in heaven
But I was sure surprised
Heaven help me, I didn't see
The devil on the bike

(sung to the tune of "Devil in disguise")

Looks can be so deceiving, hor.... She sort of reminds me of another lady who looks so gentle and graceful,...... until she gets on the bike.

Who am I talking about? My boss lor..




Just like the name, Grace is very approachable and gentle when she talks. You can never imagine how much powder power she has untill you see her doing RPM® or BODYPUMP®.

Anyway, Ping mentioned that members who attend her RPM® classes were mostly males. Is that surprising? Imagine a male member, upon seeing Ping, "Wow... leng lui teaching RPM wor... sure won't be hard wan lah... just sit there and look at her can already..." Not realising, he has already fallen into a deadly RPM® trap laid by Ping's demure appearance!

I told Ping yesterday, how both she and Grace would make a good team to do a class, with themes like "angelic speed demons" "angel & devil RPM®", etc. Ping too, is quite eager to teach with Grace. So this is an open suggestion to the GXCs of FF: Maybe can have a special "sweet girls mean riders" RPM® in one of the gyms... No?

Update:

She'll be teaching regularly in Axis and Summit, so here's something to plug it:



This entry was brought to you by:

Fan-atic Tribute: Peter Chang

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This is a tribute by gym member yhsmom to one of the most amazing instructors in FF
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I would like to pay tribute to the Peter in FF's Peter Jackson, Peter Chang! I have known him for 4 years and it's been great to see how he has blossomed from the time I first knew him as a new instructor to the Legend that he is now!

Peter chose to abandon a boring 9 to 5 white collar job to pursue his passion in fitness fulltime 3 years ago. Trained in 6 Les Mills programs, he is currently teaching Body Step, Body Pump, Body Jam and Body Attack. However, being a gentle, peace loving individual, Body Combat is completely out of the question as far as he is concerned. Peter is also well known for his freestyle Step and Hi Lo classes which are notoriously challenging and definitely not for novices.

Besides Peter's trademark cheerfulness and enthusiasm that is shown in all the classes that he conducts, as Shades has mentioned in a previous post, this guy is really something else! He is a living phenomenon. In fact I sometimes wonder whether he is part Superhero. His stamina is incredible and he puts instructors half his age to shame.



Peter holds the record for teaching the most number of classes a month in FF and definitely deserves a mention in the Malaysian Book of Records!

Tall and lanky with a pair of Supermodel legs, affable Peter is much loved wherever he teaches. His fan club of adoring members stretches from Subang to Cheras! He is very touched by the tokens of appreciation that they show him, normally in the form of food!


In the FF family, Peter is generally regarded as the "Gor Gor" (elder brother). He can always be relied on for sound advice and is most supportive of new instructors.

An interesting fact about Peter is he has only driven once after passing his driving test! He goes everywhere by public transport, occasionally on foot or by hitching rides from benevolent friends! Proof of his dedication to his craft is that despite the hardship he has to endure to get to his destination, he is almost always on time!

Again, to quote Shades where can you find Peter Chang?



Exclusively in Fitness First, of course!


This entry was brought to you by:

This is no happy blogging

I sometimes wonder how your brain works. U think you're funny with your sarcastic remarks tonight with the restaurant captain and about me not treating you before. WIth your dead pan look, you sounded like one who has no respect for the captain. AND you sure sounded like you have no respect for me as a person at all.

How many times you asked me to buy burger... and how many times did I ever ASK you to pay? There were times I said it wasn't necessary and you insisted on paying. At times I just buy the food and leave it on the table, not expecting anything but the next morning you left the money there.

Me being calculative? You(or could be Eric, I'm not too sure) wanted to go for dinner together so 3 of us sat down and ate. The bill came and you took the bill and paid the waiter... and then divided the bill among us. What the...???

U think it's easy to have 2 jobs at the same time? U think I always come home full of energy and follow your OCD pattern to clean the rooms? I'd like to see you follow me around the gyms for 1 week and see how "OCD clean" you can maintain the apartment.

Sis said she saw a wardrobe which cost about rm200 and you commented the quality is not good and no point getting it... HELLO, unless you are planning to buy the wardrobe for me to keep my stuff, please keep your opinion to yourself.

I wish I could move out and we don't have to have this occassional episodes. I know you are used to staying alone and having someone intruding your privacy is something you're not used to. I sure hope I could be getting my own place by next year so everything will always be good between us.

Overall, you are an ok brother but for the time being, you are such a pig.


(My apologies to my Muslim readers)

The only constant is change

Nothing lasts forever, they say... take a look:


The late Gregory Peck, in his prime, is HOT. How more manly can you get right? If looks could kill, he's it! But in his 80s...


Another fine example, is Angela Lansbury. Quite Desirable in the 40s-50s era.



By the time she got her second wind in "Murder She Wrote"...



Of course there are those who seem to age, yet still maintain a certain good look. Our very first James Bond Sir Sean Connery, for example.



I don't mind looking like him in my 60s or 70s. With his white hair and greyish goatee, he's still oozing with machismo. Unfortunately, I can't grow a goatee...



Finally we have Cher. Here's a picture of her in the 70s.



Here's how she looks now...











Jokes aside, it's amazing how fast things can change. Before you know it, 1 quarter of 2006 is almost over. April will be another quarter and it brings another challenge...

Today's entry was brought to you by:

Major spring cleaning due

My cubicle's a mess. I need to clean up again next week...*sigh* lazy lah...

Slept around 10.30pm yesterday, which is EXTREMELY early for a creature of the night like moi. Why? Got nothing to do I guess. I finished class at 7.20pm and by 8pm I was already at the mamak near my home having dinner. Gone are the days when I have cell group meetings at 8.30pm...

Speaking of cell groups, since the departure of Pastor Daniel, our regular cell group was homeless and had to be "absorbed" by another cell group which meets on Friday nights in Ampang. At the moment it is kinda impossible for me to join because of my commitment to Manulife RB's BODYPUMP® & BODYCOMBAT®.

So what's going to happen next month is I'm dropping the MRB classes and taking up 2 slots in Cheras Leisure Mall. Kinda odd, considering that last year I was trying so hard to get 2 Friday slots in MJH(now MRB of course)... *sigh*

Anyhow, orgininally I was only taking Leisure Mall's 7.00pm RPM® but last week Eric asked if I could take over Grace's 5.30pm BODYPUMP® as well. Since I'm always deprived of BODYPUMP® slots, of course I agreed lah.

Here's a picture of Eric with his masterpiece. He did a brilliant work with the launch deco.


Besides MRB, I'm also rearranging the entire schedule for the next quarter- more details next Friday. Looking at my new schedule, I'm going to be deprived of BODYCOMBAT® & BODYATTACK® and over-RPM®ed...

As usual, today's entry was brought to you by the number:

Learning BODYATTACK® 52

Now that launch is over, I guess I should be starting to learn the new BODYATTACK® choreography, but I don't have the motivation to really push myself to learn- after all, I don't have any class to teach for the time being. Besides I'm more into learning the old releases since not everyone has them.

During the last quarterly, not only I bought the new releases, I also order 2 old ones - BODYATTACK® 42 and 44- and I simply dig some of the songs there!



Really have to thank LawRah, a fellow instructor from Australia for the recommendations. There are a couple of gems inside and so far I've done 3 tracks from 42- Crocodile Rock, Dreamer, Chihuahua- on 8 March in Axis with Jeremy and leng lui.

My next BODYATTACK® opportunity will be on Tuesday 11 Apr(public holiday) in Wisma SPK at 2.30pm. I'll be mixing songs from BODYATTACK® 42, 44, 50 & maybe 52... Then again, it all depends on whether I can manage to learn the choreography.

This Friday where I will be teaching BODYPUMP® 57 for the first time in Manulife RB. Hopefully no screw ups...

Today's entry was brought to you by the number:

End of launch

Finally my involvement with the new launch is over, although today we still have our final launch in Menara Axis.

Since I have no class in Axis due to the launch, I'll be heading to Wisma Consplant Subang Jaya to cover Tianjin #1's class. Will be doing a mixture of old releases as tomorrow only we're allowed to teach the new release everywhere in FF.

Had to wake up early today because I need to send sister to Sentral(She came back on Friday)- she's flying to Bangkok for some official functions. Feeling kinda sleepy coz I didn't sleep that well.

Ooh, sky's getting pretty dark... a storm is coming?

Today's entry was brought to you by the number:

Birthday

Dad would've been 73 today.

Happy Birthday.

Peter Jackson spotted in Fitness First

This time, we are so fortunate to have Peter Jackon launch BODYSTEP®.

No, not him...


You would think that he lost weight because of BODYSTEP® but nah...


Here's the REAL PETER JACKSON...



Besides BODYSTEP®, Peter and Jackson also teach BODYJAM®, BODYPUMP®, BODYATTACK®...

End of instructor period

After 3 weeks, it's finally over.

The new Les Mills launch started on Friday 17 March and will end tomorrow 21 March.

Can't really blog everything because there are just too many to blog. So just a bit of what I did.

I started on Friday with the RPM® launch with Eric Chin in Subang Jaya.


(the star on my shoulder was actually a sticker on the mirror)


It was a hot class! Didn't really think RPM® 30 was going be that tough...

Saturday it was like having Les Mills for meals: I launch BODYCOMBAT® 27 in the morning and RPM® 30(both in Cheras Leisure Mall) and again BODYCOMBAT® 27 in the evening at Manulife RB.

With Renee, as street thugs.


Lynn and I on the bike(we launched RPM® again on Sunday at FF Damansara Uptown)


Double F's in Manulife RB.


So far I totally dig BODYCOMBAT® 27, RPM® 30 and BODYPUMP® 57 music. It's not often that I enjoy all the music of the 3 new releases. As for BODYATTACK® 52, it's quite tough and since I've not really listened to all the music, I can't say much.

As soon as the launch is over, all instructors can teach the new releases starting 22 March Wednesday.

Finally, a picture with some Les Mills fans...


Tonight is my last launch in The Curve with Mr. Carter...

Today's entry was brought to you by the number: