The first week of April, I attended the Active Fitness Retreat at the Balesin Island Club organized by Balesin Sports Camp together with One of A Kind Marketing and ActiveHealth. It’s a gathering of a handful of fitness enthusiasts, athletes & media with the objective of encouraging more people to lead an active lifestyle.
Balesin Sports Camp together with One of A Kind Marketing and ActiveHealth staged the Active Fitness Retreat at the Balesin Island Club. From April 2-4, 2019, participants from the media and active community were given a taste of the active lifestyle at the island. They enjoyed the lush tropical island paradise, its villas and state-of-the-art wellness facilities. Several activities and wellness sessions were conducted throughout the event. No less than Ironman Championship participant Ani de Leon Brown and esteemed coach and Ironman finisher Dan Brown led swim and run clinics. A nutrition talk was also held to reinforce proper nutrition and recovery. The group was also introduced to Pound, a full body cardio-jam session inspired by the infectious, energizing and sweat-dripping fun of playing the drums.
It was my first time in Balesin and from what I’ve heard this island is indeed beautiful. It did not disappoint!
Here’s a look at the villa in Balesin Village where I stayed. The room was spacious as well as the bathroom.
There had been some issues with the availability of the plane and so not everyone was able to fly. It was just me, Jeff of Pinoy Fitness, Pound instructor Marge Camcho, Power couple Coach Dan & Ani Brown and Isa Marfori of Active Health. So all the activities during that day were pushed back the following day which means we had a free day.
After lunch, we took a nap and then stayed out at the beach and enjoyed the sunset. It was definitely a relaxing time for us.
Isa Marfori, Jeff Lo and I during golden hour captured by Jeff’s drone. And Ganda ng Balesin huhuhu. I wanna retire and live an island life!
Sunset at Balesin. What. A Beauty.
We had dinner at Costa Del Sol. I had truffle pasta and shared a salad ans four kinds of pizza with the group.
And you’d think we’re all fitness junkies that we’d give up on dessert? Big NOPE. We each had our pick of gelato. Mine was mocha and it was good.
I woke up early the next day to enjoy some down time before a full day of actives. The beach front of Balesin Village is immaculately clean. The water’s clear and the sand’s fine.
ActiveHealth care package: ActiveHealth SKINPRO Sunscreen spray, After-Sun Soothing Gel, and Anti-Chafe Cream.
Spotted this Balesin local walking by the shore. Battlecrate’s caretaker was kind enough to offer me a ride. Though I am kinda intimidate by animals like horse, I willingly obliged. Heehee.
The morning was spent at Aegle Wellness Center where we had our Thalassotherapy and learned about body composition analysis.
Ready and excited to visit the Aegle Wellness Center.
OOTD: Ivy Park body suit, Zara shorts, Havainas slippers, Komono shades, and Wenya tote bag.
Thalassotherapy, from the Greek word for “sea,” makes use of the components of seawater for medical treatments including weight loss, detoxification, anti-ageing, and regeneration; these components include the seawater itself, mud and silt, algae, and seaweed, as well as coralline minerals.
Thalassotherapy uses warm sea water with jets that target different areas of your body.
Meet the first six.
Clockwise: Coach Ani & Dan Brown, yours truly, Isa Marfori, Jeff Lo and Marge Camacho.
After 30 minutes of doing Thalassotherapy using their indoor pool, we went to the roof deck to try different other Thalassotherapy pools each having their own purpose.
HEAL
HEAL thalassopool utilizes natural seaweed antibacterials and helps regenerate external tissue.
DETOX
DETOX thalassopool is chemically treated to draw out toxins from the bloodstream and replace them with essential minerals and elements.
SOOTHE
SOOTHE thalassopool is medicated for anti-inflammatory purposes, mainly for musculoskeletal conditions such as arthritis and sprains and strains.
ENERGIZE
Our ENERGIZE thalassopool stimulates the natural production of endorphins.
RELAX
RELAX thalassopool helps bring down stress-induced neurotransmitters to calmer levels.
BALANCE
BALANCE thalassopool aims to regain the body’s natural electrolyte balance through osmosis.
I tried the Balance thalassopool. It’s recommended to stay for at least 15-30 minutes.
After doing Thalassotherapy, we had our body composition analysis. Though this is something we’ve been familiar with, Dr. Jayson of Aegle Wellness Center discussed some important things to look at with one’s body analysis.
According to Dr. Jayson, most people tend to focus on BMI when it’s not really one should be focusing. Two persons can have the same BMI but different muscle and fat percentage. It’s better to check on muscle & fat percentage if you want to lose weight, lose fat or gain muscles. When aiming for weight loss, it’s also important to know that you should aim to lose fat and not lean mass. How do you achieve this? It’s better to have a consolation.
Dr. Jayson recommended that you should sit down with a nutritionist who would create a program for you and at the same time would recommend a coach who can help create a muscle-resistance training.
For Aegle Wellness Center, they offer a one day wellness program that may includes the ff: body composition analysis, stress measurement, hyperbaric oxygen treatment, and blood chemistry. This is a good way to kickstart on a wellness program. If you’re starting, this is highly recommended because it’ll guide you no what you need to do to reach your goals.
The enlightening morning got me really excited to continue the retreat come afternoon. After lunch, we had enough time to enjoy the beach. Shortly after we’re getting ready to change in our running gear as we learn from Coach Ani & Dan.
The running clinic headed by ActiveHealth’s coaches and National Elite coach Dan Brown and Ani de Leon-Brown was all about breaking down running into basic drills that highlighted proper breathing, stride economy and good running posture. We did the same drills taught to national athletes that compete in short and long distances for running and such as Triathlon. So feel na feel ko paging athlete ko that afternoon. Hahahaha.
Coach Ani & Coach Dan also emphasized the importance of using products like ActiveHealth when it comes to training. This doesn’t only apply to athletes or fitness enthusiast. As long as one is exposed in the sun, one should apply sunscreen as well as after-sun soothing gel. And if you’re doing sports like biking, badminton or even activities that require you to wear active wear, anti-chafe cream is recommended to use.
Here are some of my key takeaways:
POSTURE
Run tall. Your tallest height possible. Don’t look down so you won’t lose your alignment. Always engage your core.
BREATHING
Short and fast can make the heart rate fast while long and slow breathing can make the heart rate slow. Try also to economize your breathing. You can try different variations: 2 breaths out & 1 breath in, 3 breaths in & 2 breaths out, and 4-5 breaths in & 4-5 breaths out. Economizing your breathing will help you run more efficiently. You can use both nose and mouth to breathe. One other tip Coach Ani mentioned is how you should look when you’re at the starting line: be aware of your facial muscles. It should be relaxed. It’ll help you pace out your race and economize you’re breathing. If you’re too gigil at the starting line, you’ll end up dispensing more energy.
RUNNING STRIDE
There is no right way to run. It’s okay whether you’re a heel striker or a forefoot striker. What’s important is to land beneath your body.
ARMS
What your legs are doing, your arms are copying and vice versa. Always keep your arms on a 90 degree angle. If it’s too low you’re carrying the weight of your arms. If it’s too bent it won’t give you enough drive to move forward.
But my favorite key take away from the talk Coach Ani & Coach Dan gave was that learning anything above 800m is considered long distance. So my measly 5 kilometer maintenance run is considered long distance na papa. Yay! Heeheehee.
Post run glow. Finally our group is complete!
After our run we cooled down by doing yoga under the sky. It was such a lovely practice headed by Elle Adda.
Stretching after working out is a MUST. Decompressing my back is always my fave.
Sarap to stretch under a sky full of stars. Thanks Elle for the wonderful workout.
Capped off a full day with dinner at Costa Del Sol with everyone.
Started our last day on the island early. Woke up to catch the sunrise.
One of the best pandesals I’ve ever had–Balesin’s tastes so good! I can’t remember how many I’ve had.
Fitness people eat you know ? hashtag this is why we workout. ?
Enjoyed the few hours left of our stay.
First group that arrived, first group that left. It was such a fun retreat that I wish there’s another one!
The Balesin Active Fitness retreat was presented by One of A Kind Marketing, powered by ActiveHealth & Balesin Sports Camp, supported by Oakley and Aegle Wellness. The event was also made possible with the support of Mike Asperin, CEO of Balesin who initiates the Balesin Sports Camp as they also launch it this April w the top caliber sports personalities and countries’s premier coaches. To know more visit https://www.balesinsportscamps.com
Thank you ActiveHealth for such an encouraging and informative wellness retreat! ?
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