From my conversations with the guides, there were about 120 of us attempting summit climb today and the snaking long line of climbers show how popular this trek is. Everyone of us had the same goal: To reach Sayat-Sayat Hut which is the final checkpoint before the cutoff time of 4.30am. Fail to do so and you would not be allowed to proceed to the summit. Sayat-Sayat is the highest hut on the mountain at 3,668m. The path leading to the hut involves lots of wooden steps, with varying widths. Miss a step and the result would be exceptionally traumatic. You had to concentrate on each step, one at a time and not let fatigue nor fear set in.

The trek began with the pickup from the accommodation at Kota Kinabalu at 6.15am. It took about 2 hrs to reach Kinabalu park which was where we did our registration and meeting the guide. We were then transferred by van to the starting point and that's when we started our accent via Timpohon Gate at around 9.15am. about 300m into the trek, you would see a waterfall to your left, the first of many majestic sights. It is important that a steady pace is kept. Keeping intensity to nasal breathing, the heart rate zone should never reach the red zone if not pace would not be sustainable. At each hut, we took 5 mins of break, hydrating and replacing calories with snacks that were brought. Keeping to the pace, without rushing, you get to enjoy the surroundings at your own time. At 11.30am, we reached the Layang Layang hut which was also our lunch stop. Lunch provided included roasted vegetables and a huge portion of grilled chicken. Other trekkers had chicken curry served in a plastic bag.

I am writing this article wearing compression socks for recovery for aching muscles after 2 days and 1 night of the famous Mt Kinabalu trek. In this 3-part series, I will be sharing my experience and lessons learned so here’s the first part of the journey.

Have you been bingeing on the Netflix series Physical 100? The latest Korean reality TV show is the physical version of Squid Game, beginning with 100 participants from various experts in their field with gradual elimination until we are left with one winner who walks away with 300 million Korean wonThe difference is they don’t die when they get eliminated. Their quest to find the best human physique based on various physical tests. Spoiler alert! - if you have not finished watching the series, please do so before reading as there are spoilers throughout this article. Here are some lessons I've learnt from the show.

There are many weight loss programs in the market ranging from exercises programs, diet plans to aesthetic centres claiming to “zap fats away”. But do any of them work? We aren't just talking about short term results but long term outcomes that go one year or more beyond the conclusion of any program.

The holiday season is upon us and there is not doubt that there will be feasting involved. Year end parties, Christmas parties, New Year parties are all within weeks, additionally, we have Chinese New Year coming up. All these festive holidays put together may bring upon overindulgence leading to potentially negative consequences to our health. Here’s a guide on how we can prevent this.

While we know that exercising is good, “Too much of something is bad enough,” Spice Girls. When we do not recover sufficiently and go too hard for each and every workout, there is a threshold beyond which our bodies are not able to handle that physical stress, leading to negative effects. The following are some signs to know you are exercising too much.

The holiday season is upon us and I bet many of you are in the midst of planning one. Be it a winter holiday to a ski resort or a summer beach holiday to the southern hemisphere, holidays are meant for us to break the monotony of our stressful lives to experience a different way of living for a while and to decompress. It is a chance to build good memories, to shift your paradigm, to have adventures and to collect stories to share and pass down. Did you know that holidays are associated with a reduction of metabolic syndrome and symptoms ( Hruska et al, 2020), reduced stress and ambulatory heart rate. Yes, holidays can be good for health. But it can also turn into a disaster adding more stress to our lives. In this blog, we will discuss the ways to prevent this.