Completed Coffee Lam’s beginner level workout challenge

Small achievement today — I have completed Coffee Lam’s Workout Plan for beginner level! Coffee Lam is my favourite online fitness instructor and she has changed my perspective on workout. During my teenage years, I deemed exercising as a crucial self torturing activity to take off weight and maintain a lean body shape. However, Coffee Lam’s sharing of her body transformation experience has taught me that exercise isn’t meant to fix imperfections. Workout could be one of the best self care gifts to ourselves which leads to a more disciplined, healthier and happier life. 

I started home workout since MCO 1.0 and I usually picked the workout videos myself instead of adhering to a workout plan. Back then, picking up home workout as new habit was still an thrilling idea. A day without hearing Coffee Lam’s voice or touching the yoga mat would make me feel uneasy. My home workout routine was disrupted after I embarked upon my working adult journey. Working became the best excuse to skip workout — there are more relaxing and interesting pass time alternatives, especially when we were allowed to get out of our home! 

To stay active, I resorted to walking around my neighbourhood or park. Being outdoor is a more pleasant experience — I could enjoy fresh air, leafy park, breathtaking sky and the warmth of sunlight on my face. I never felt so alive and relaxing during the pandemic. I even participated in my firm’s KakiJalan contest to motivate myself to walk more!

However, the spiking Malaysia’s COVID cases had made appearing at public spaces a high risk activity, albeit the intention of me leaving my home is to exercise and build a healthy lifestyle. As we are back to a new version of lockdown (MCO has a new brother — FMCO!), home workout happens to be the best method to stay physically active. I reckon following a workout plan would be more motivating this round as I’m always overwhelmed by reluctance to workout when I was choosing workout video. Besides, a well structured training plan works out our different body parts on different day to avoid overtraining and provide better rest for our muscle. I’m used to incline to emphasise on full body and leg workout, which could be exhausting and demotivating if I am planning to incorporate  home workout into my routine. 

Hence, I decided to take Coffee Lam’s 2021 workout plan as a challenge during this FMCO. Her workout plan consists of 3 levels — beginner, intermediate and advanced. I kick started with the beginner level as I recognise that start small is the correct technique to build habit (Just like how I recently started writing short Chinese blog posts to resume blogging). In fact, the beginner level workout isn’t as easy as it sounds and has indeed made me sweat like crazy! 

In comparison with the other workout videos, the beginner level is less intense, involves lesser jumping and more detailed guidance (the more she explains, the more rest tome you get!). I have taken this opportunity to improve my breathing and correct my posture during exercise. Proper breathing and posture sound uncomplicated but they are actually essential in minimising injuries and muscle strains. Hopefully this helps when I challenge the advanced level. 

So new start for tomorrow — intermediate level! Never give up!