Fitness Tips & Articles

Age Is Not The Enemy Ageing is a universal phenomenon that affects us all.  To many, the word “ageing” is synonymous with low physical energy, no muscle tone, slowed thinking, fragile bones, stooped posture, debilitating disease…in short, decline. You don’t have to...

Rice is an integral part of our diet in this part of the world. We often refer having a meal as “吃饭” in mandarin, literally translated as “eat rice”. Rice, is one of the most important food crops in the world, is consumed daily by more than half of the world’s...

  What is Visceral Fat? Visceral fat is the excess intra-abdominal apidose tissue accumulation, also known as the “deep fat”. It’s a form of gel-like fat stored within the abdominal cavity that wraps around the major organs including liver, pancreas and kidneys. It is...

Are people who have strong emotional reactions to stress more susceptible to inflammatory disease-including heart disease-if stress is frequent occurrence? A study conducted at the University of Pittsburgh suggests the answer is yes. Subjects who reported high levels...

Pneumonia is an inflammation of the lungs usually caused by an infection. Pneumonia is a serious medical condition and potentially a life-threatening illness. It can result from a variety of causes such as infection (i.e. bacteria, viruses, fungi, or parasites),...

Berries being credited with reducing certain kinds of cancers, sharpening memory and improving version, strawberries, blueberries and their berry cousins are now being linked to decreasing your chances of developing Parkinson’s disease, say scientists at the Harvard...

The rotator cuff comprises a group of 4 muscles that function to stabilise and move our shoulders. Though the rotator cuff muscles are extremely important structures in the shoulder, they are also prone to tears and weakening. A rotator cuff injury, which is fairly...

Lipid disorders are a group of medical conditions which refer to excessive levels of fatty substances in the bloodstream. These fatty substances include cholesterol and triglycerides. An excess of bad cholesterol increases your risk of heart disease and stroke. Types...

Recent Research led by professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health adds to the growing evidence that sugary drinks are detrimental to cardiovascular health. Men who drank a 12 ounce sugar sweetened beverage every day had a 20% higher...

What is IBS Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a disorder that affects the large intestine (colon). IBS is a functional disorder, meaning that the bowel does not work, or function as per normal. It more commonly affects women than men.   Causes & risk factors The exact...

It is the time of the year when those unwanted calories seem to be all around you: cakes in the office pantry, cookies from your neighbours, chocolates stuffed in your stockings on the Christmas tree etc. Nibble here and there, by New Year’s Day you will weigh 2-3 kgs...

Each day, 36 people are told that they have cancer. Cancer remains the No.1 principal cause of death in Singapore for past few years and it remains the top cause of death with one in three dying of cancer. There has been a worrying rise in the country’s top killer...

What is Pneumonia? Pneumonia is an inflammation in one or more parts of your lungs. Pneumonia may be caused by either a bacteria or virus and it affects people differently depending on age, general health, and the type of bacteria or virus. The symptoms will depend on...

Based on a press report in October 2015,, almost 1 in 3 deaths in Singapore in the year 2014 was because of cardiovascular disease, including heart disease and stroke. According to the Singapore Heart Foundation, high blood pressure is known as the “silent killer” as...

We have heard over and over again, that by not smoking it will lower our risk of many cancers. If we are to avoid excessive alcohol intake it will also lower our risk of liver cancer. Now, it is also affirmed that eating a healthy diet along WITH regular exercise will...

Life after Stroke: Back to the Gym to help to restore the body function   “Stroke is Singapore’s fourth leading cause of death, comprising 10–12% of all deaths. Its prevalence is estimated at 3.65% for adults > 50 years of age. Approximately three quarters of strokes...

Snacking as part of a healthy diet or weight-loss plan is possible and it can help you lose weight. However, uncontrolled and spontaneous craving-based snacking simply adds empty calories which leads to weight gain. While eating more frequently may boost your...

What is it? CoQ10 is a vitamin-like compound that is fat soluble, and it functions in all cells of the body serving as a coenzyme for several key enzymatic steps, and doubles up as an antioxidant. It helps to destroy free radicals before they can cause damage to the...

Do you feel that your metabolism goes into hibernation sometimes? The key to a supercharged metabolism is stoking the metabolic engine with exercise, food and lifestyle habits that boost energy expenditure. Metabolism, the process of converting food into fuel, is a...

When you're retraining your brain - trying to acquire a new habit or pick up a new skill - you'd be surprised by the little things that can have a big impact on your brain's overall health and function. One of the most important things you can do for your brain's...

  The more muscle mass older Americans have, the less likely they are to die prematurely, new research shows. The findings add to the growing evidence that overall body composition -- and not the widely used body mass index, or BMI -- is a better predictor of...

Impress and amaze your friends and colleagues with these 10 fascinating "brain facts"! The average brain, which weighs about 3 pounds, has approximately 100 billion neurons.   There are about 100,000 miles of blood vessels in the brain.   You continue to make new...

We are constantly receiving loads of fitness and nutrition information everyday, especially now that we are almost always connected through the Internet. As consumers we need to determine the authenticity of the information that is available online, and is the claim...

Although some old fitness fictions, such as "no pain, no gain" and "spot reducing" are fading fast, plenty of other exercise misconceptions still exist. Here are some of the very common exercise myths as well as the not-so-common facts based on current exercise...

We’re firmly established in the new year, and so are some of the food and nutrition trends that experts are predicting will unfold this year. Here is a quick roundup from various sources on what we can expect, for your reading pleasure: Give it a lemon squeeze! Lemon...

Revised: August 2017 It is common that clients tend to judge fitness professionals by the intensity of their classes or sessions. It’s even a compliment to say an instructor teaches really hard workouts. A “brutal” workout equals a good workout. Must it always be this...

Over the past few years we have seen the increased attention to the benefits of exercise on our brain function. This does not apply only on the ageing population but it applies to all of us. In the book "Spark" by John Ratey discusses how children who exercises often...

Foods that amino acid Arginine, from which NO is produced, should be part of your regular diet, such as beans, soy, almonds, oats, cold water fish like salmon, tuna and mackerel. Last month we discussed about what exactly is cholesterol and what it does for our body....

Flexibility improves range of motion and reduces wear on soft and hard tissue. Much research has emerged touting various best practices to improve flexibility. A study presented recently at the American College of Sports Medicine's 57th Annual Meeting in Baltimore...

We have heard it many times, "What goes up must come down". In the case of high cholesterol, you must bring the level down if you want to reduce your risk of heart attack and stroke. The big question is, how to bring it down? Unfortunately, gravity is not going to...

A very common believe that people have is that low intensity exercise is the best way to lose body weight, especially body fat. The misconception is in fact because of the energy exchange ratio (RER), whereby below the value of 0.86, a higher percentage of fat is...

We know that too much fat in our daily diet has a negative impact on our health and our waistlines, however we also need to know that there are fatty acids that our body needs and they are known to be "essential fatty acids", also commonly termed as "good fats"....

To reduce their cardiovascular risk, people with type 2 diabetes should do at least two-and-a-half hours per week of moderate-intensity or one-and-a-half hours per week of vigorous-intensity aerobic exercises, plus some weight training, according to an American Heart...

Largely thought of as a female disease, osteoporosis currently affects 2 million men in the United States. According to the National Osteoporosis Foundation (NOF), an estimated 12 million more are at risk. Despite the large number affected, the NOF reports that...

We make our way to the supermarkets weekly to pick up our supplies for the week, and each time we are faced with thousands of options and aisles of products. With our day already packed with other errands to run, we simply cannot calculate the calories of each food...

Researcher from Duke University, Medical Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, gave 2818 heart disease patients a coronary angiography to evaluate blood flow in the heart. Patients were then tracked for approximately 15 years to determine whether outlook had an...

What is Dengue Fever? Dengue fever is caused by a virus which is transmitted by an infected Aedes mosquito - Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus. Mosquitoes become infected when they bite infected humans, and later transmit infection to other people they bite. The...

A report from Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology suggesting that exercise is associated with feelings of excitement and enthusiasm. For the study, 190 university students maintained daily journals that provided details on their physical activity, sleep, stress and...

Carpal tunnel syndrome is a condition in which there is pressure on the median nerve -- the nerve in the wrist that supplies feeling and movement to parts of the hand. It can lead to numbness, tingling, weakness, or muscle damage in the hand and fingers. The median...

New clinical evidence shows that drinking water prior to eating can be an effective weight loss tool. The researchers had found in earlier studies that middle-aged and older people who drank 2 cups of water right before a meal ate 75-90 fewer calories during that...

A hip fracture is a serious injury, particularly if you're older, and complications can be life-threatening. Most hip fractures occur in people older than 65, with the risk increasing most rapidly after age 80. Older people are at higher risk of hip fracture because...

The secret to happiness may be in your next meal. According to findings from studies that have examined the connection between food and mood, what you eat plays a role in how content you feel. For example, protein-rich foods affect alertness and that carbohydrate-rich...

People may experience anxiety when they attending a job interview, doing something new or when confronted with something they are scared of. Whilst anxiety is an emotion that we all experience, for some, anxiety is felt at an intensity and duration that significantly...

Finds from researchers at McMaster University in Hamilton, showed that after a session of heavy, whole-body resistance training, fat-free milk was more effective in good muscle accretion and strength gains. Thus in turn can lead to fat loss and a possible reduction in...

Deep vein thrombosis (thrombus means blood clot) is the condition where a blood clot forms in one of the deep veins, usually in a person's thigh or calf veins. The blood clot may either block the vein completely or partially. It is more common in the elderly and the...

What is Diabetes? Diabetes Mellitus, commonly referred to as diabetes, is a long-term illness characterised by a high sugar (or glucose) level in the blood. Someone with diabetes is either producing too little insulin or is unable to respond well to the insulin...

What is binge drinking? Binge drinking refers to excessive consumption of alcohol over a short period of time. That is equivalent to about five or more standard drinks for a male adult, and, four or more drinks for females, within one drinking session. The more...

Stress is the response we experience when we are faced with a range of demands that may seem overwhelming or be difficult to manage. It is how we react to and cope with these demands or challenges. Most people think about stress as something bad that happens to them,...

Most people are aware that fiber is good for overall digestive health but in the online edition of Archives Internal Medicine suggest that fiber can actually add years to your life. It has been examined that dietary fiber can reduce the risk of coronary heart disease,...

1)  Nasi Lemak  - Calories 494 The rice is cooked with coconut milk and has a nice tantalizing smell. Nasi Lemak consists of rice, fried fish or chicken, anchovies with peanuts and sambal, which is a chili paste. The traditional Nasi Lemak comes in a nicely packed...

Eating healthy all the time during the festive period is highly unlikely.  However, if you use some of the tips in this article and make a few key food substitutions you can avoid piling on the Christmas pounds. 1) Roasted Ham (3oz): 250 Calories While ham may taste...

Beginning a workout fully hydrated before a workout can delay dehydration during exercise, maintain exercise performance and decrease the risk of heat-related illnesses. Pre-exercise fluid intake can enhances your ability to control body temperature and increases...

More people now work in desk-bound office jobs than in more active and movable posts. Sitting in an office chair for prolonged periods of time can definitely cause low back pain or worsen an existing back or neck problem. The main reason behind this is that sitting,...

Conquering a 10 km event is something you can really be proud of. It takes real dedication to condition your body to keep going for an hour or more. With the upcoming annual Standard Chartered Marathon on 4th Dec 2011, let us look at the 10 km programme for beginner...

Couch potatoes beware: exercise may not be enough to overcome the adverse effects of prolonged sitting. Getting 4 or more hours a day of leisure TV time significantly raises the risk of mortality or coronary problems, according to the researchers from department of...

Our lives are filled with decisions, and we make decisions everyday, many of which is related to FOOD. Just as insignificant as one single choice may seem, but if made over and over, it can have a major impact on your health and your life. Our Fitness Tips & Articles...