Second to none
> Sandra Woo seeks a fresh take on fitness to keep her game sharp
better, faster and stronger you will get.
"But my measure of success doesn't lie in deliberately breaking my personal records all the time. I get that there are some days you don't feel up to it, I get that there are some days you will perform better than you would expect and surprise yourself, and I get that there are some days you just don't want to do it at all. That is just being human and that is fine," she confessed.
As a fitness professional, she can afford to eat what she wants as she does a lot of cardio and hence tends to burn more calories, but it is not so much about working out to eat whatever you want. The general rule is to keep your fibre and protein intake higher and cut down on sugar.
"I don't eat chicken because I feel it is pretty toxic to your body because of the way it is raised, cultivated, slaughtered and distributed. I just don't feel it is a very healthy meat to consume often. I will eat red meat maybe once or twice a week and then there are other meats here and there. The way I do it is I will have meat for one meal in one or two days, and the rest is plant based," she added.
As a Spin Instructor at FlyCycle, her music is what draws people to her classes. Growing up with music, she listens to everything from rock, pop, funk, house, disco, indie, broadway and even classical and her feeling at the time really influences her choice in music for her class. She believes the vibe, energy and ideology that she brings to class is something people can relate to and gain a fresh perspective from.
"Besides getting on the bike and driving ourselves to the ground, I like to to do a threegratitude practice where you think about three things that have happened to you throughout the day that you can be grateful about. It can be any three things that pop into your head and it doesn't need to be a big thing. It could be little things that could lift your mood.
"That is where I try not to only be an instructor on a bike. I try to inject these little values and practices into your daily life. We are all human and we experience things at different points of our lives. I don't want to just narrow things down to just on a bike. If you are able to take away that little value and apply it to your own issues, I feel I have done a good job," she said.
So what's in it for the 26-year-old? "A lot of people ask me this question but I am extremely horrible with commitments, and if anyone asks me if I have a five-year plan, I will tell you I still write my three-month plan in pencil. But for the near future, I definitely see myself travelling a bit more and trying new things."
"I think a very important part of my job requires me to explore different markets of fitness around the globe, especially in major cities. In any business nowadays, you need to have a fresh take on it and for me to keep my game sharp, I need to have a fresh take too.
"I need to find a mentor who will teach me new things, sharpen my skills and teach me to do better so I will able to share that with others.
"Right now I am still very happy with what I am able to do. The progression of that will be how to be a better teacher at the end of the day," she declared.