Tiana has been a client for about a year and a half, and runs a cool health and wellness website, Tayste.sg, that showcases gut-friendly, gluten-, nut- and dairy-free, real, affordable eats and recipes for people with food intolerances or allergies. In this post, she talks about her inspiring journey to vibrant health. Enjoy!

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Patience, perseverance, endurance – those are three qualities I’ve never had especially when it comes to exercise. With exercise, I’ve mostly been a “let’s try something out for a few months”, or “let’s do that once or twice a week and see” type person – I was what you’d call a non-committal exerciser. This type of mentality about exercise never actually bore any fruit or brought any real results for me. So, when my husband lost a whopping six kilograms after his first year at Ritual (20 mins per workout, 3 times a week), I was stunned. Did he do anything extra? Was his diet plan sensible? All I knew was that Ritual was the only gym he was going to, and that he had one of their meal replacement shakes after each session.

Given the yo-yo type of exerciser I was, I thought perhaps Ritual was going to be the game changer I had been looking for. At that point, I was really out of shape, my second baby had just turned one and I was still trying to lose that last 5 kilograms that wouldn’t budge (I was using some cardiovascular workout videos and doing some Zumba on and off during this time). Mostly, I didn’t feel connected to the body I had. Emotionally, the pregnancy was difficult and I had gained a substantial amount of weight (over 20 kilograms!). I managed to lose most of it with diet plans, but I was unsure if I would ever see a remotely toned belly ever again.

And so my journey began. The plan was simple – go to Ritual 3 times a week. No procrastination, no excuses, rain or shine. As prepared as I was mentally for my body to obey my will, the going was tough! Ritual welcomed me to the world of burpees, mountain climbers, squats, and deadlifts. Every squat hurt. Each burpee wasn’t properly executed. Deadlifts – completely new territory. And the sets were often fast-paced and high intensity! I was hardly ever even a low intensity kind of girl, and I’m now doing high intensity stuff!? I struggled with every session at the start.

That being said, Ritual is the place where when you struggle, you get even more support from the coaches. You get taught the right ways to go about doing the exercises, especially when you’re struggling. Soon, you start to realise some of the benefits to training at a high intensity: it’s mind-clearing, stress-relieving and leaves you winded enough so you can’t think about anything else while you’re doing it!

 

I carried on this way for a while, tolerating the burn from week to week, and then one day, 8 months into having made Ritual a habit, I found that my muscles and body had finally gotten more used to the burn, and the sessions started to feel easier! Hurray, it was the first time I felt I had reached some kind of milestone and that in itself was a reward! It was at that point that I realised my transformation had really begun, because the thing that made me so uncomfortable from the outset, I really began to love – my Ritual workouts.

My focus shifted from my weight to my health and my personal best. Ritual became a cheerleader for my fitness goals, and a place where I found community, friends, inspiration, support and so much more.

Now, 1.5 years into my Ritual journey – I know my health and fitness is a constant work in progress. There aren’t any shortcuts. I’ve lost the weight I set out to lose, but now instead of focusing on the scale I’m more interested in how well my body functions, what kind of exercises will make me stronger, and what other things I can do with my health that will keep me around for my family for a long, long time. Ritual got my fitness sorted and showed me what my body was capable of doing, and that changed my mind about how I felt about my body. I just wished this could have happened to me earlier in my life, so thank you Ritual for giving me a new lease of energy, reviving my once tired spirit and body, so I can now go pursue all the other things I enjoy!

Be Brave,

Tiana