March is usually the time when our resolutions fizzle out, but even for busybodies, fitness can be integrated into the day to day.
An unrealistic body goal, an unrealistic diet are often geared to selling a product. Netizens who are professional nutritionists and coaches have become sort of a counter-trend, using data and sass to debunk fitness myths.
For those of us whose day jobs aren’t in the national team, with families to care for and households to run, the question of keeping fit takes a new dimension.
People get active for different reasons—to look good, to prevent illness or injury, to tick off bucket list items, or simply to be stronger.
The reasons for starting may be varied, but there’s a common thread for those who’ve stuck to it: Fitness hasn’t only changed their bodies but also their priorities. For some, a career or side hustle has opened up. And for most, that holy grail of the 21st century—work-life balance—no longer seems so elusive.
Meet three regular women with regular jobs who have found their lives enriched by realistic fitness journeys.
Dream job
In mid-2020, yogi Eugenie Huibonhoa almost quit her dream job. After years of working in the private sector, the now-senate staffer found herself bombarded almost daily with the work required to monitor the office’s health status.
A confessed workaholic before the pandemic, she realized that her burnout wasn’t normal. Now in 2022, she’s come to realize that burnout isn’t so much being tired from work as it is thinking about work out of office hours.
Meanwhile, multisport athlete Cathy Chico, who’s been in the tech industry for four years, remembers single-mindedly gunning for a score during one quarterly evaluation. Her aspiration fell flat when, after days of sleeping late in the early pandemic to go above and beyond the basic work requirements, she was denied the evaluation she worked for.
Before she got into running, Jess Lina, who works full-time as an Asia-Pacific region lead in EU-based solutions firm AMS, recalls that she gained so much weight in her first years out of college. She attributes it to hours seated in traffic, then hours on a desk.
Today all three, currently in their mid to late 20s, realize that in making room for fitness in their lives, they counterintuitively have had more time not only for themselves but also to grow their careers.
The thing is, Cathy and Jess were never really athletic. All three prioritized academics back in college. Cathy had been a self-confessed nerd since grade school and Jess had been a dean’s lister after “taking the years before college too easy.” Eugenie, meanwhile, headed many co-curricular projects. She was in the fencing varsity team.
But if what you give up gives back, then weight isn’t the only thing lost, literally and figuratively.
Late but blooming
In late 2021, Cathy finished Top 20 in her first Spartan Obstacle Course Race, a nationwide multi-sport trail run. Eugenie no longer does fencing but teaches yoga, trained by the original founders of Beyond Yoga studio. And Jess placed fourth in a joint Ayala-Philippine Track and Field Association meet, competing side by side with Milo Marathon veterans and national athletes in Baguio in preparation for the next SEA Games.
Interestingly, all three only started in their chosen sports in early 2021.
Cathy confesses that she always wanted to partake of extra-curriculars, but she was so focused on studying. It took the rejection at work to make her realize that “I’ve been putting my dreams off for the longest time.” At that time, she was in her home province with her lola, and Cathy realized that despite her age, lola could garden, clean the roof if needed, all while wearing bikinis at the beach. Thinking in terms of decades, Cathy saw #LolaGoals. She then chose running as it only required a pair of shoes but through sessions at the UP Oval, she eventually met and befriended national and weekend athletes whose lifestyles influenced her to take up cycling, mountaineering, and rock climbing.
Jess, on the other hand, glanced at the mirror in late 2019 and decided to take fitness seriously. She signed up for a cycling studio near her BGC workplace. She recalls feeling intimated by the other women there, opting instead for the comfort of a baggy shirt.
Looking back, she started mainly for “aesthetic reasons,” but now her goals have changed. From wanting to look good, she wants to glow having finished major marathons in Berlin, Tokyo, perhaps Boston. She’s currently part of the We Ken Run community.
From means to end
“Before,” Jess’ eyes beam behind her face mask, “I ran to get fit, now, I get fit to run.” After work, she lifts some weights, having run earlier in the morning. While she was in high school track and field, it was mainly to avoid doing PE.
Eugenie recalls a similar experience, as yoga wasn’t new to her. She was after all required to do it as part of her training as a student-athlete, but she didn’t pursue it as avidly as she does now. Nonetheless, she has always had an affinity for healing and integrative practices and Eastern traditions and philosophy. When her dad told her to slow down, telling her that he was proud of her work but worried that she was losing sight of her life outside of it, she decided, like Cathy, to free herself up for things she always wanted to try. Now, health is “not just a box to tick,” but an integral part of her life. “Health is freedom. If you’re healthy, you’re free to pursue the things you love,” she says.
Looking back at her Top 20 finish, Cathy asserts, “You see all these Instagram influencers. You don’t have to be them. Do it in your own way.” She also consciously slows down in the midst of work, taking breaks every hour or half.
Jess still gets to enjoy the occasional chicken-and-waffles and nightcap with friends, asking “is it really a good diet if you cut something out completely?” It’s mainly about the contents of one’s plate.
Jess no longer has time to watch movies, and Cathy can’t attend all social engagements other friends ask her to, especially those that make her sleep too late. Meanwhile, Eugenie has asked to be transferred to a less hectic post.
But if what you give up gives back, then weight isn’t the only thing lost, literally and figuratively. Random people message Jess telling her that she has inspired them to start getting fit, an experience which also surprises Cathy while warming her heart, all this, despite both getting injured here and there from training. Eugenie teaches yoga with a group of teachers called The Little Yoga Club, which operates on a donation basis. Recently, they raised funds to help typhoon relief efforts.