#TeamToughAsia dropped by The Kettlebowl’s 2nd Birthday Bash recently for a celebration of Food, Fitness & Community – THE KETTLEBOWL STYLE!
Held at the hip & trendy APW Bangsar in KL, we knew we were in for a treat, with a full-day fitness festival featuring back-to-back fitness classes, a food and lifestyle market and a wide range of activities and performances suitable for all ages and fitness levels, powered by Sun Life Malaysia.
Immediately, we decided on workout before reward lest we get tempted and never make it to our classes, so we dove right into to Tissie Chan’s Yoga & A Subtle Breath class. Tissie is a CrossFitter who also teaches yoga, so she can tell you how she enjoys the best of both worlds.
Indeed, breathing is very important as it can calm you down before you focus on your movements. It also allows beginners to yoga, to focus more on the breathing rather than get caught up on perfecting the pose. We found ourselves truly in a zen moment, and was more relaxed after facing a busy day before we had arrived, and reenergized to tackle the rest of the day head on.
Hansen Lee’s Movement class inspired by Ido Portal caught our interest, as he incorporates very simple movement that we tend to neglect in our daily lives, and combines it into a fun session. Fitness doesn’t have to be measured by lifting weights, running, nor fancy gymnastics, but it’s about how well you move.
Starting off with the basic Asian squat which we mimic best on the traditional squat toilets, we noticed many people failed to sit comfortably in this position. Hansen then got the class moving in all sorts of positions, incorporating multiple movements and most importantly, putting a smile on everyone’s faces. The class then realised they had been doing some very simple contact and non-contact movements, yet were already sweating buckets and having a really good time.
In the Zen Archer session, where the aim was to move to avoid impending contact, some took to mimic movements from Matrix, the movie or other fancy Kung Fu moves.
Thereafter, we rewarded ourselves at the Makan Zone and Lifestyle Zone, featuring an array of #proudlymalaysian food vendors or for a dose of shopping from workout attire to personal care products. We couldn’t wait to dig into an acai bowl adorned with Kettlebowl’s granola, nachos with melted cheese, pulled lamb and many more.
There were many other sessions in both the Sweat and Zen zone featuring cycling, capoeira, dance, boxing, pilates and booty barre, and a party that ran late into the night.
The Kettlebowl founders Janell Tan and Nicholas See affectionately known as Nick and Nell, a pair of avid CrossFitters also organises frequent The Kettlebowl Sweat Sessions and collaborations with the fitness community. If you haven’t gotten your hands on their multiple granola flavours, be sure to check them out and deck your breakfast, yogurts or even ice cream with them!
View more photos on ToughAsia’s Facebook album.
For more info, follow The Kettlebowl on Facebook here.
