Brief Background
I was obese in my teen years; until my parents decided to enroll me and my siblings to a Milo summer badminton clinic at Camp Crame when I was 13. Since then I got hooked on badminton and started to love anything related to sports and working out. I pursued badminton during college while taking up Bachelor of Science Major in Advertising Management at De La Sale University – Manila in which I was granted 100% scholarship for being part of the Badminton Varsity Team where me and my sister were the top doubles players. Our team won the championship title for UAAP seasons 65, 67 and 68 (2002, 2004 and 2005). Midway thru my college years, I also joined the Philippine Badminton National Team, I was with them for 2 years, but didn’t pursue it because in my time there wasn’t enough support or funds. Outside of UAAP and the National team, me and my sister won numerous badminton competitions in the Philippines. In December of 2010 I started playing ultimate frisbee and eventually started joining competitions where I have received a couple of MVP and Mythical Seven awards.
Presently, I’m working as a 3D artist, and making assets for gaming consoles. In my spare time I still train and compete in ultimate frisbee, play badminton from time to time and my new found sport which is CrossFit. In my 5 months at CrossFit Ortigas, I’m happy to have achieved PRs for Back Squat, Front Squat, Deadlift and Snatch; and hopefully I can raise these PRs some more.
1.) How did you find out about CrossFit and when exactly did you start?
I usually surf and read on the internet for anything sports or fitness related, then i came read about CrossFit. I later won a gift certificate from a frisbee league for 1-month unlimited at CFMNL Libis a few years back, attended a few sessions but stopped, I guess I got intimidated at that time. I would say that I officially started CrossFit last year, September 2014 and loving it.
2.) What made working out with the coaches at CrossFit Ortigas different from working out by yourself?
It is important to workout with coaches at CrossFit Ortigas, because from them I’ve learned the proper form in executing movements in CrossFit, and working out by yourself is sometimes the cause of injuries especially if you aren’t sure with the form and movement, and you will develop bad habits that would be hard to correct. With the coaches i get to ask them the correct way to do a movement or if I’m doing it correctly.
3.) What were your fitness goals when you started at CF Ortigas? Has it changed as time went on?
Total body conditioning and muscle strength, I would say that it hasn’t changed but I added another fitness goal for myself and that would be to EAT RIGHT!!!!
4.) What would have to be the most memorable experience you’ve had in CF Ortigas?
Joining the CFO “Battle for the Box” event, I got to experience how competing in CrossFit feels like and how fun and motivating the CFO community is.
5.) What would have to be the hardest CrossFit movements you tried?
3 things comes to my mind and those are the toes to bar, kipping pull-ups and snatch.
6.) What would you say to someone starting CrossFit for the first time?
Never get intimidated, we all start from somewhere and work our way up to those intense workouts you see or hear CrosFit people do. And even if you don’t have a sports background or you don’t workout at all and decided to start a healthy lifestyle, don’t get discouraged. You can definitely start at a low intensity workout and work your way up, just have some discipline, motivation and patience.
7.) How has CrossFit Ortigas helped you in terms of reaching your fitness goal/s?
Because of CrossFit Ortigas’ skills and strength training cycles and constantly changing WODs, my body has improved in terms of strength and conditioning.
8.) Has CrossFit helped you become better at sports?
A big YES!!! I definitely felt it during my ultimate frisbee competitions, we do a lot of runs, sprints and stops and I can say that my legs got stronger and don’t tire that easily compared to before. Same goes with Badminton, playing this sport entails whole body movements and I can definitely say that my whole body is more conditioned. Training at CrossFit Ortigas definitely is starting to payoff.
