As the story has it, one day I headed to the opposite side of the globe – the Flipside. I arrived in Korea February 16th, 2005 and thought I’d do a year, then leave. I was wrong. I stayed, launched my first company, Flipside Fitness, and then opened Korea's largest boxing club, Hulk's Boxing (now called Hulk's Club).

After 11.5yrs in Korea, I then picked up one day and returned to Toronto, Canada. But then I left again.

Now I live in the Philippines where I am the CEO and head coach of Empowered Clubhouse, the Philippines' first and only boxing clubhouse exclusively just for women. I also am the founder of the Lil' Sistas Project, CEO and designer of Slay Gear and Baa Baa Black Sheep .Ph.

Saturday, October 28, 2017

Trying to Change Their Thinking... Saturday, October 28

My boot camp list of participants went from 5 to 3 last night, 3 to 2 this morning, and then 2 to 1 upon the start of it. I had lugged 3 people's worth of boxing gear to Ayala Triangle, hoping that either some would show up unexpectantly or I'd randomly let onlookers join. No such luck but it worked out really well because the lady that I did have come for training is no stranger to boxing. She showed up with boxing gloves, ready to box, so I gave her an intense but very catered-to-her boxing workout. I think I actually prefer one-to-one training when it comes to the boot camps that I focus on boxing. I feel like those I'm training get a much more beneficial wok out because I'm able to narrow in on their weaknesses and focus longer on helping them on the specifics of it. It also makes a huge difference when I'm coaching a class that has super green boxers in it mixed with those not-so-green boxers. Pad work because I little more challenging when trying to handle a small group. I try to pair them up for that but when working one-to-one or even with just 2 participants, I'm able to personally do the pad work with both of them together. 

It's disappointing to have some of the ladies cancel last minute but it is what it is. I still get paid regardless but that's totally not the point.  The point is I really want to train them, I really want to help them.  I know life happens but when it's continual cancellations I get concerned. I'll be the first to say I don't think a one hour commitment once a week is too much to ask for when I consider how much of my time commitment my coach requires from me. Of course training is not their job but I often question if their health and wellbeing is even a priority of some of them. I do what I do, I coach, because it's something I love and what I love is health and fitness and helping others to become more healthy and more fit. I just want to help them. I want to help them see that being physically active can be fun and it can be something you do on the daily, like taking the stairs as oppose to always the elevator. I want them to see that they can be in charge of their health and being healthy isn't just about training hard and staying active but also eating healthy, lowering stress levels, getting adequate sleep, and surrounding yourself with positive-minded people. I think the ladies that have been coming out to my boot camps are awesome. They always bring such positive energy and they're always super supportive of each other. Sometimes the exercises and workouts are harder than the others but they always get through it because they always encourage each other and we have fun with it. 

Today I only trained one of my Empowered Sisters but it was a good session and I know I taught her some useful drills to bring to her boxing club next time she trains. I know she benefitted from it and had fun.  I had a lot of fun, too.

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