- This topic is empty.
-
Posts
-
Bangkok is a city on the go; it’s active and vibrant and so are its inhabitants. There’s plenty here to raise your heart rate and if you’re looking for something to get the endorphins pumping, you’re in the right place, because this week we’re talking about where you can get in shape.
Before it was cool, Thais were incorporating health and wellbeing into their lives and you can still roll up to Lumphini park first thing in the morning or just as dusk falls and join a free, public step aerobics class, or catch the mature but spry ladies practising their Tai Chi.
Standard stuff
Meanwhile, the fitness industry has taken Bangkok by storm in the past few years, and Bangkok is, of course, at the epicentre. Almost every mall doubles as an outpost of a big-name fitness chain, from the Virgin Active at Empire Tower, to the Fitness First branches at Terminal 21 and Siam Paragon. Many of these run group exercise classes and offer personal training as well as the full range of cardio equipment and weights. But if you want to keep it simple, it’s worth remembering that many condo buildings have relatively well-equipped gyms on-site, so check yours out before you sign up for membership elsewhere.
Lifting, fighting, running and jumping
The Cross Fit craze likewise has not passed the city by, with gyms from Sathorn to Ari and as far as Phra Khanong. Here, in their giant shell of a warehouse, the team at Training Ground bring Cross Fitters together, not just for classes but also for international competitions where ripped individuals from all over Asia compete against one another at picking up heavy things and putting them down again. Training Ground also shares its space with Fight Lab Bangkok, where you can try out a range of fighting styles from Muay Thai to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and MMA. Unsurprisingly for a country so famous for its indigenous boxing, fighting is a popular way to get fit in Thailand and Muay Thai-specific gyms abound, from RSM Muay Thai Academy in Thong Lo to F.A Group Muay Thai in Chatuchak.
Over on Sukhumvit Soi 31, you can let loose in the fitness playground that is The LAB, where they use TRX systems, kettlebells and countless other props and equipment to create tailored fitness programmes. They also have specialised classes for pre and post pregnancy, injury rehabilitation and olympic lifting.
For further examples of ‘functional exercise’ disciplines, Active Parc on the ground floor of Amarin Plaza mall at Chid Lom is home to Twist Fitness and Asia Parkour. The latter offers targeted and comprehensive parkour training for adults and kids. Most classes are inside Active Parc but once a week they hit the streets for an all-terrain outdoor experience.
Stretching, strengthening and strutting
Meanwhile, back indoors at Amarin, you can stretch and tone and work your core at Absolute Pilates and Yoga or boogie your behind off at RumPuree dance studio. With specialist classes including ballroom and social dance styles, not to mention pole and belly dancing, there’s bound to be something to get your toes a-tapping here.
Another hotspot to strut your stuff is Studio Zoom which has a comprehensive schedule of classes. Get lean and flexible with ballet and contemporary or flex your urban style with hip hop and street dance.
Whatever your fitness level and interest, there’s something in Bangkok to quicken your pulse; so what are you waiting for? As they say in Thai, ‘su suu, na!’
Bangkok is a city on the go; it’s active and vibrant and so are its inhabitants. There’s plenty here to raise your heart rate and if you’re looking for something to get the endorphins pumping, you’re in the right place, because this week we’re talking about where you can get in shape.
Before it was cool, Thais were incorporating health and wellbeing into their lives and you can still roll up to Lumphini park first thing in the morning or just as dusk falls and join a free, public step aerobics class, or catch the mature but spry ladies practising their Tai Chi.
Standard stuff
Meanwhile, the fitness industry has taken Bangkok by storm in the past few years, and Bangkok is, of course, at the epicentre. Almost every mall doubles as an outpost of a big-name fitness chain, from the Virgin Active at Empire Tower, to the Fitness First branches at Terminal 21 and Siam Paragon. Many of these run group exercise classes and offer personal training as well as the full range of cardio equipment and weights. But if you want to keep it simple, it’s worth remembering that many condo buildings have relatively well-equipped gyms on-site, so check yours out before you sign up for membership elsewhere.
Lifting, fighting, running and jumping
The Cross Fit craze likewise has not passed the city by, with gyms from Sathorn to Ari and as far as Phra Khanong. Here, in their giant shell of a warehouse, the team at Training Ground bring Cross Fitters together, not just for classes but also for international competitions where ripped individuals from all over Asia compete against one another at picking up heavy things and putting them down again. Training Ground also shares its space with Fight Lab Bangkok, where you can try out a range of fighting styles from Muay Thai to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and MMA. Unsurprisingly for a country so famous for its indigenous boxing, fighting is a popular way to get fit in Thailand and Muay Thai-specific gyms abound, from RSM Muay Thai Academy in Thong Lo to F.A Group Muay Thai in Chatuchak.
Over on Sukhumvit Soi 31, you can let loose in the fitness playground that is The LAB, where they use TRX systems, kettlebells and countless other props and equipment to create tailored fitness programmes. They also have specialised classes for pre and post pregnancy, injury rehabilitation and olympic lifting.
For further examples of ‘functional exercise’ disciplines, Active Parc on the ground floor of Amarin Plaza mall at Chid Lom is home to Twist Fitness and Asia Parkour. The latter offers targeted and comprehensive parkour training for adults and kids. Most classes are inside Active Parc but once a week they hit the streets for an all-terrain outdoor experience.
Stretching, strengthening and strutting
Meanwhile, back indoors at Amarin, you can stretch and tone and work your core at Absolute Pilates and Yoga or boogie your behind off at RumPuree dance studio. With specialist classes including ballroom and social dance styles, not to mention pole and belly dancing, there’s bound to be something to get your toes a-tapping here.
Another hotspot to strut your stuff is Studio Zoom which has a comprehensive schedule of classes. Get lean and flexible with ballet and contemporary or flex your urban style with hip hop and street dance.
Whatever your fitness level and interest, there’s something in Bangkok to quicken your pulse; so what are you waiting for? As they say in Thai, ‘su suu, na!’
For expats, keeping fit in Thailand is about the same as in the country they came from. However, the distinct advantage is that most of the country enjoys warm weather year-round and the northern parts are relatively mild as far as cold weather is concerned. With all of the delicious food in this country, keeping fit is crucial to preventing weight gain and other negative effects from lack of exercise. Here are some fitness options for you as an expat living in Thailand.
Fun Runs in Bangkok
In cities such as Bangkok, there are organizations that sponsor marathon, walk-a-thon, and other “fun run” types of events. For example, a company known as Jog and Joy Thailand sponsors these types of events and they have a website where you can get all the latest information on those upcoming.
General Running in Bangkok
You will find that unless you go to a park with a running path, jogging in a city such as Bangkok will be quite difficult. The sidewalks are uneven and you are at great risk for twisting your ankle. Basically, you have to search a little harder for good places to run. Lumpini Park near Bangkok’s Silom Financial District is one such park with an excellent running path and there are others. You should never attempt to run in the streets because of the many motorcycles that crowd them.
Fitness Centers in Bangkok
Fitness centers can either be expensive or bare-bones yet effective for keeping fit in Thailand. For example, in Bangkok, there is the Racquet Club on Sukhumvit 49. This is one of the long-time popular gyms among both Thais and foreigners alike but it is quite pricey. Do some shopping around as you can find places with promotions or back-street gyms in some narrow Bangkok alley. Places like Pattaya and Phuket also have gyms that are affordable and sometimes run by retired foreigners. It just takes some shopping around.
One service that you will find in many of these fitness centers is the trainer service. You can hire a personal trainer who will call you up on the phone and motivate you to show up for a session and then work you hard when you get there. Many of these trainers are fitness certified. Some can be rather pricey as well so, here again, it takes a little shopping around.
Protecting against the Thai Heat
Some like to go running in the tropical heat of Thailand. It depends on your condition but if you are a beginner at this then beware. It is best to go running early in the morning. When you run, you should take care to replenish your water supply frequently. Wear a cap while running to avoid the direct rays of the sun. Dehydration is your worst enemy here.
Aerobics at the Corner
Thai people like keeping fit in Thailand. One activity you will see in cities such as Bangkok is the aerobic session at the street corner of a busy shopping center and sometimes even in the shopping center itself. For example, in the car park at the Lotus Tesco Center at the corner of Sukhumvit 50 and Sukhumvit in Bangkok, a group of aerobic enthusiasts meets and an instructor leads them from a stage. They meet every weekday at 6:00 P.M. You won’t see many foreigners in these groups and the instructor leads in Thai but everyone will warmly welcome you. You will get quite a workout as well.
Walking in Bangkok
Many senior expats in Thailand are retirees and some should exercise caution when doing intense high-impact workouts for keeping fit in Thailand. This is mainly because of the knees. Keep in mind that once you get a knee injury, it can take what seems like forever to heal. This is why for seniors, walking is the best activity because it is easy on the knees yet keeps the blood flowing and promotes cardiovascular health. There are many interesting sights in Thailand which makes walking a lot of fun. Walking is great for keeping blood pressure in check as well.
Cycling in Bangkok
Unfortunately, the cities in Thailand have not put a lot of development effort into creating bicycle paths such as you have in the country where you came from. While you will see the occasional bicyclist on the busy streets, it is not recommended. There are too many cars and motorcycles and this activity is dangerous on city thoroughfares.
Swimming in Bangkok
Another way of keeping fit in Thailand that is easy on the knees is just walking up and down the length of a pool. The resistance of the water and your attempt to maintain balance provide a good workout. The nice thing about the southern parts of Thailand is that you can go into an outdoor pool year-round.
Dieting in Bangkok
Exercise without the proper diet is futile. One advantage that you have living in Thailand is that there are many Thai dishes that are filled with vegetables. Just take it easy on the rice. You can order vegetable dishes with or without rice in just about every eating venue. In fact, Thailand would rather that you not waste the rice if you are not going to eat it. Therefore, a food vendor will ask the question “laad keow?” which means do you want the dish on rice or not. All you have to say is “Mai ao keow, ka/khrup” which means no rice (ka is the polite ending for females and khrup is the polite ending for males).
It is too easy to fall into the pub trap here in Thailand. The pub trap, that many a foreign expat has fallen victim to, is to spend numerous leisure hours sitting and drinking beer while eating fried foods. Don’t let this happen to you because there are so many opportunities for keeping fit in Thailand.
Yew Chung International School – Shanghai (YCIS – Shanghai) which was founded in September 1993, is part of the Yew Chung Education Foundation.
The first Yew Chung School was established in 1932 in Hong Kong by Madam Tsang Chor Hang. Her daughter, Dr. Betty Chan Po-King is the current Director of the Foundation and supervises a network of schools in Hong Kong (
, Shanghai (3), Beijing (1), Chongqing (1) and the USA (1).
YCIS – Shanghai consists of three campuses: Puxi Hong Qiao Campus (1-5 years old), Puxi Gubei Campus (6–18 years old) and Pudong Campus (1-10 years old). Boarding facilities are available for boys and girls aged 7–18 at the Pudong Campus.
YCIS – Shanghai has students from over 40 countries and offers a unique educational philosophy that integrates the best elements of both Eastern and Western cultures. This educational approach ensures that students will enter the 21st century as “world citizens”, fluent in at least two major world languages (English and Chinese) and highly skilled in Information Technology.
At YCIS – Shanghai, every class (up to Year 6) is staffed with two fully qualified teachers, one native English speaker and one native Chinese speaker, who contribute to the multicultural environment SIS offers. Both co-operate to provide the students with excellent academic training, critical thinking skills and respect for all cultures. Furthermore, students are educated from a global perspective and with moral and spiritual values affirming the worth and dignity of each individual.
Yew Chung offers an International Curriculum based on the national Curriculum of England, taught in English, with daily Mandarin Chinese lessons (1 hour a day) and weekly Chinese culture classes. Violin classes are part of the curriculum for 4-7 years old children and optional piano lessons during school hours are also available. YCIS – Shanghai offers special language assistance in ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) and EAL (English as Additional Language) for students with very limited English (aimed at upper primary and Years 7 and
.
School hours are 08:00 till 15:30. After school, students can take part in one or more of the extra-curricular activities offered (approx. 50), ranging from cooking classes, flower arrangement and Wushu to a multitude of sports activities. Year 11 students (16 years old) have the opportunity to sit for the Cambridge University Local Examination’s Syndicate IGCSE exam (International General Certificate of Secondary Education).
Year 13 students take Advanced “A” Level also offered by Cambridge University. This certificate allows an international access to tertiary education institutions all over the world. All Year 7 to Year 13 students (12-18 years old) have the opportunity to take a school trip abroad as part of our World Classroom programme.
Yew Chung requires the students to wear school uniforms. Five sets of uniforms (autumn, spring and summer uniform and summer physical education uniform) will be given to each student throughout the school year free of charge. Additional uniforms can be purchased at the school. Optional school bus/lunch services are available at an extra cost.
YCIS – Shanghai is licensed to accept expatriate pupils from any country and of any nationality, and caters to children from 1 to 18 years old. The Yew Chung Education Foundation is currently applying for full accreditation for all its international schools.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
