Health & Fitness
Moderately Thin or Absolutely Thin?
By Teresa Cheong, Lifebridges Communications. The writer muses on her current keep fit craze and the modern obsession with being thin.
A fortnight ago, I fought my first sparring match. With feet hip width apart, fists clenched close to my chest, and body turned sideways to the right, I gently rocked myself back and forth until the balls of my feet began to bounce to a natural rhythm, like a nimble-footed Muay Thai boxer performing a dance ritual before a fight. Together with 24 others in an air-conditioned dance studio, I waited for the signal to prime my first attack.
Voted "Best Workout" by New York and Shape magazine
As soon as the wall clock struck 4.30, the syncopated rhythm of the latest electronic dance music by American artiste, DJ Godfather exploded from the hi-fi speakers. The studio trembled under the pulsating beat. A hip young man with a woollen cap pulled over his ears jumped to the raised platform in one leap, and stepped nimbly into position. He adjusted the hands free microphone and rasped in a hoarse voice barely audible above the blasting music, “All right, ladies let’s roll.”
Kickboxing is my latest sparring tool against weight gain. The gym brochure describes the exercise as “a high intensity workout that draws inspiration from martial arts.” It goes further to say that a regular aerobic workout burns only 500 calories in an hour; an aerobic kickboxing workout burns 800 calories. To shed the extra 300 calories, I would need an hour on the treadmill. Kickboxing’s high efficiency quotient was thus, simply irresistible. Imagine burning almost three times more calories in one hour than treadmill. It makes running like crazy hamsters on a treadmill seem like a stroll in the Botanical Gardens.
I have to try it. More
Copyright 2009 Teresa Cheong. All rights reserved.
Not to be reprinted without written permission.
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