Exercise as a Habit

Since 2014, when I saw myself in a mirror and I don’t like what I saw (like 75 Kilos in a person not taller than 165cms), the decision was made: a change is necessary. During that time I was living in Caracas, near to my beloved Avila Mountain, so the decision was to hike the mountain, like 3 to 4 mornings per week and some biking on Sundays. That decision helps me to see some physical changes in my body but, at certain point we moved to another apartment in Caracas, not so near to the Avila, and some weight returned back. New decision was to enter to a gym. I am not a “gym guy” so I decided to work with a coach and by chance a very talented one. He pushed me to do more and more, and changes again started to appear, not only in my body but also in my mind. At that moment, doing exercises becomes an important activity to be done almost daily.

Avila mountain from my office

Sunrise seen from the Avila while trekking

2018 arrives and another change with it: we moved to The Philippines. During the adaptation period my exercises were on pause, and again, some weight came back (71Kg). At certain period of 2019, I started my exercise routine, and something changed: the mindset I felt before returned, but stronger I would say. That mindset of trying to exercise everyday regardless of the quantity of work, meetings, responsibilities and pendings at home. Exercise ceased to be an activity to be done when there is time, to be an activity that have to be done in the same way I eat, brush my teeth, or kiss and hug my family: an habit that I should do almost daily (Sundays for me are rest days).

It was not an easy task but something I found in my experience is that every time I skip exercising because a lot of work, the next day I have the same amount of work (or more), and my mood was not good. At that moment a new intention was defined: not to skip exercising regardless of the amount of work and the result was interesting: Exercising bring me not only the moment to stop thinking about work, but also the time to make a pause on what I was doing and then maybe to reconsider another ways to do it. Since then I decided to do my best in order to do exercise daily, specially when a lot of work is in the agenda.  

My curiosity begun to ask to myself why exercise helps me and I found that at least I have read the answers, but I didn’t learned it. For instance, there is a very well-known book that you have read, or at least you know and is in the list of books you want to read: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. In this book, a business bestseller, the author mentions how important is exercising. He consider it as part of the 7^th habit, Sharpen the saw: we cannot work to death, we need time to recuperate and recharge physically, mentally and spiritually, and exercising is just one of the 3 dimensions he mentioned.

Exercising could help in several ways, and here I share only some more, but you can do your own research:

• Have better sleep: let's be honest, exercise tires us, and we need to recover for it. Doing exercise will help us to go to bed earlier and sleep better.
• Illness risk reduction: It is known that sedentarism is dangerous and it is related to certain types of illness and diseases like diabetes obesity heart disease and hypertension. Regular exercise can help to reduce the risk of having this illnesses, because your blood system is “doing exercise”
• Helps mind and body to handle stressful situations: During high intense exercise you have to tolerate certain “symptoms” like sweating, rapid heart rate and rapid breathing. It seems those are also symptoms related to anxiety and stress and researches believe that the body and the mind progressively learn these symptoms are not dangerous. In a way, you increase your tolerance to them. In addition to this, your blood flows faster and bring more oxygen and glucose to your brain which are just the perfect ingredients for your mind to work better and generate more endorphins, so you also feel better. It seems that exercise also helps to remove the cholesterol excess caused by stress situations

Since the enhance community quarantine started due to the Covid19, people is working from home, and we are struggling against that balance between, work hard, be good parents and “teachers”, take care of the responsibilities related to our home, buying groceries and of course having some “me time”. I cannot tell you is easy, each one of us is different and the challenges we are facing might be different if you compare yours with mine (maybe you have 3 kids, or you also have a pet, or maybe you are in a country where the quarantine is more strict, so the scenario is different making your challenge more difficult compared with mines). But in general terms we could agree we have some new challenges due to the new situation, some of them easier to handle, some of them harder. 

I cannot tell you that it will be easy to add to your new challenge list, the new one to “exercise regularly” (or to maintain your exercise routine but now from home) but what I can tell you is that it will bring you benefits as the ones mentioned before, so if you want to try, here you have also some recommendations:

• You don’t need to exercise a lot in terms of time: You can start with 15 minutes training and then increase that time a little and then a little bit more. It is recommended to do at least 30 minutes exercise daily, so try to begin with certain amount of time you consider good to invest. If you starting point is less than 30 minutes, try to increase it up to the 30 minutes mark, at least.
• Some days is better than nothing: As mentioned before is good to exercise in a daily basis, however you don’t need to start doing exercise every day. You can choose something like 3 days per week and then, when you create the habit, you can increase to 4, 5 and even 6. 7 days a week? You can but remember that is also recommended to have a resting time, so again, be aware about the balance and the goals you want to achieve.
• Yes, there are those days: Too much work, too tired, long day, long queue to buy groceries, there are certain days that you will feel too tired to exercise, and it’s ok. Evaluate your own energy level and decide, but in general, try to make sure this is an exception and not your daily excuse.
• Every day is a good day to start: How many times do you say to yourself “I will start on Monday” and then Monday ends and you didn’t start (not only applicable to exercise). Make the decision to start and start, even if today is Sunday.
• Is not always an extra cost: For sure, there are 1000 ways to train from home, online trainers, online coaches, routines using regular elements to be found at home, some of them are free and for sure some of them are not. Look for the ones that are free and try them. if you are just starting, free options will be enough.You can google routines to be done at home, or IG accounts that will share some interesting daily routines, especially now in this situation. For sure there are paid options but I would recommend to start with the free options and then, depending on your progress and goals, to evaluate other options.  
• Exercise is not less important: How important is your life? How long do you want to live? Do you think you will live longer if you don’t care about yourself? There are people that smoke and live longer than people that exercise, yes there are but statistics shows the opposite, healthier ways to live, are related to longer life. So if you want to live longer, you have to manage how to do it, you cannot avoid a car accident of a flight accident that are not under your control but you can do things under your influence to try to reach your target and exercise is one (as well as some others like a healthy diet or meditation)

Results after the 8 week challenge with F45 BGC (October to December 2019)

I won’t lie to you, starting doing exercise regularly, is not as my elder daughter say: easy peasy lemon squeezy. At the beginning, as in every beginning this is hard. After your first workout, it will be painful, and the second day, every part of your body will hurt, but if you don’t do exercise again it will be worst the next day. During the first week and maybe during the second, it will be the same painful thing, I know it, it happens to me. But it won’t be worst than that. At certain point you won’t feel so painful, and at certain point you will see your progress, either at the mirror, either in the time invested, either in the frequency or in all mentioned. And at that moment you will figure out that your daily exercise is now a new habit you created.

I am not an expert in exercise, I am not a coach, I am not a trainer, I am not a sport public figure nor an influencer, and my body is not in perfect shape,  but I believe I learned something since my journey started, and what I learned might help you in your own journey, if so here you have it.

Working from home

If you go to google and try to find recommendations to work from home, you are going to find a lot of articles that will help you. In this one I will share with you, the ones that I implemented, especially now due to the corona virus situation.

Something that I consider important to have in mind while you read, is my family “configuration” because recommendations are somehow related to it. I am married and I have 2 beautiful daughters (almost 6 years old, and 3 years old). We live in an apartment that has 3 rooms and one of them is an studio/deposit. Internet is not good in every corner of the apartment and the service has been affected due to the current situation (corona virus March 2020). So this is my experience so far:

Office space: All articles related to work from home recommendations, usually explain how important is to set up your space for work in order to have the “work mindset” once you are in that space, however in my case this is not as simple as “setup the office at home”. In our family both my wife and I work, and the studio is either for her or for me to work because is not big enough. Our normal situation is that both need to work at the same time, so, what we implemented is to prioritize the studio for the person that need to have a meeting so the “family noise” will less affect it. The plan B for the one not using the studio is to use the table we have in our living room. At the moment I am writing these recommendations, my wife is in a meeting and I am at the living room.

My second monitor: For me is a must to work with a second monitor and I have one, but in my office, so in order to have a second monitor at home, I have 2 different configurations:

• At the studio: We have a small TV with HDMI port, so when I am there, I use that TV as my second monitor.

• At the living room: For those that have a tablet, what I did was to download an app that allow me to connect my tablet as a second monitor. For sure there are several apps to do this, but I can only share with you the one I choose. The name of the app is duet, is not free, I am using it in my iPad and you can connect to a laptop running either Microsoft Windows or IOS (499 PHP or around 10US$)

My internet: I believe several people are having problems now with the internet. Due to the situation we all are working from home and the service is on “high demand”, so the speed/quality is not the best. In order to try to minimize problems with the service, we define a rule at home: If mommy and/or daddy have a meeting, kids cannot watch Netflix or YouTube Kids. Instead they can watch cable (not related to internet), where they can watch kids channels. Is not as simple as setup the rule, but so far, is working. When possible, we also try to avoid having meetings both at the same time. In the meetings we prioritize audio and “share screens” over the video of ourselves, and if we are not talking, we are on mute.

My way to avoid distractions at the living room: Not an easy task because my daughters will be around, however there are several things I do. 

• One is to talk with the kids for them to know that I will be working, that believe it or not, it helps. They are now more conscious about what is working so they will be more focus on the TV or the worksheets we bring them. they also play to work.
• Other one is to put my headphones and to listen some music that will isolate (somehow) the “family noise”. I don’t have any special headphones and the ones that I have are working well.

Rules during the meetings: additional to the one mentioned about no Netflix/Youtube for the kids, I am also following certain rules like:

• If I am in a meeting:
• Headphones is a must.
• Explaining the team at the meeting about the “family noise” is helping a lot. A certain level of empathy is generated when you say it, and in fact other people also share their challenges for the call (pets, bad connection, no headphones, etc)
• Try to be effective during the call so I can go back to my family and bring them attention

• If mi wife is in a meeting (and I am not):
• Try to avoid the kids going inside the studio: At the beginning we started closing the door but as soon as we did it the kids started knocking the door because the want to see me/her. Now, understanding they don’t like the door closed we have the door partially open so they can enter, however is the mission of the other parent to either try to avoid they enter or to try to convince them to go to the living room and leave the studio. In order to do this, we have some special tools to use, like games (snake and ladders) or special activities like camping at the leaving room

I cannot tell you that is easy for me to work from home, and that everything is smooth, in fact there are several factors that are affecting my effectiveness, however, I am still learning how to improve. Only for you to have an idea of the challenges that are still to be improved:

• Working hours: Certain days, family wants more attention and I try to bring the attention they need but “overtime” is also happening. Balance is the key, the idea is to find it.
• Exercising: My first week was a complete disaster in terms of exercise, I only exercise twice. Knowing I decide to improve my exercise frequency, now I am more conscious about the options so depending on the quantity of work and the meetings, I try to select the best schedule to exercise, either before lunch or before dinner.
• Focus: Especially when I need to read important documents. Music usually distract me from reading, but without music the “noise cancellation” is also unavailable, so is quite a challenge.
• Meetings conflict: when we are both in meetings, kids are under “no rules” and this is usually a problem for us to have full attention to the call.

So far this is my experience in working from home. I hope some of the recommendations here can help you, and if you have any additional recommendations, please share it, we are in the same boat so we can learn from each other.

Samanta y Tatiana Presentando a Venezuela

En este video podrán apreciar a Samanta y Tatiana hablando acerca de Venezuela. Esta presentación se realizó en Agosto del año 2019 en Filipinas

Que lo disfruten...

Ciudadano del mundo?

Ya ha pasado poco mas de un año desde que tomamos aquel avión en Maiquetía con destino final Manila, y desde ese momento hasta hoy los sentimientos y pensamientos son como una montaña rusa, muchos de ellos relacionados con la oportunidad que nos ha dado Filipinas y otros tantos con lo que hemos dejado atrás, para bien o para mal.

Creo que a nadie le debo explicar cuánto se extraña la tierra en la que naciste cuando ya no vives en ella, si hoy esa es tu situación, no hay nada que yo deba agregar, tu también lo sientes. Hay quienes la extrañan desde países mas cercanos, hay quienes la extrañamos desde el otro lado del mundo pero la distancia no lo hace ni más ni menos difícil. Tampoco es distinto si eres de un país u otro, aunque quien escribe lo hace extrañando a Venezuela. Lo que quizás lo puede hacer diferente, es qué tantas buenas experiencias u oportunidades has tenido en el país en el que hoy estas. Tal vez y solo tal vez ésta, entre otras variables, es una de las que si hacen determinante que sea diferente la experiencia. Por qué? En mi opinión, porque en la medida en que mejor estés donde estás, es probable que agradezcas más por la oportunidades que has tenido y aunque la nostalgia siempre estará allí, pienses menos en lo que te pone triste, y aun así solo es una teoría que se basa en como lo he sentido y vivido hasta ahora. Esto me hizo preguntarme, es eso bueno o malo? Es mejor extrañar mas? Es malo extrañar menos? Es bueno que te guste el nuevo sitio en el que estás? La respuesta a la que he llegado es igual de ambivalente: no sé si es bueno pero no creo que sea malo. Y eso es solo la simplificación de una respuesta un poco más larga y complicada:

Soy de los que cree que, como seres humanos, estamos en una constante búsqueda, buscamos eso que llamamos felicidad, sea ésta un viaje o un destino, buscamos ser mejores cada día, buscamos crecer personal y/o profesionalmente, buscamos entender por que estamos aquí, y nuestra misión de vida y creo que en ninguna parte está escrito que esas cosas que buscamos las encontraremos únicamente en la tierra donde nacimos (aunque confieso que para mi era tácito que sería en Venezuela). Por eso es que es difícil, después de este gran cambio de paradigma, no sentir tanto agradecimiento a esta tierra que hoy me ha brindado esta nueva oportunidad sin a la vez sentir tanta nostalgia por la Venezuela que dejé hace un año atrás. Esa ambivalencia es extraña, o al menos lo es para mi, y es quizás por eso que agradezco casi a diario las oportunidades que se me han dado aquí en Filipinas, así como casi con la misma frecuencia pienso con nostalgia en la tierra que me vio nacer, preguntándome cuando y como cambiará su suerte.

Estar viviendo en este país me he dado la oportunidad de aprender nuevas cosas propias de esta cultura, de este idioma, de su gente, de su forma de ser, de sus costumbres y lejos de comparar, he aprendido a apreciar las diferencias. No significa con esto que todas las cosas que he visto me gustan, pero si me gustan todas las oportunidades que he tenido de conocer cosas nuevas y diferentes que antes ni siquiera sabia que existían. También en ese aprendizaje me he dado cuenta de las muchas cosas que son tan comunes en ambos países a pesar de la distancia que hay entre ellos, y que de una manera u otra me hacen pensar en nosotros más como seres humanos de un mismo mundo, que como ciudadanos de distintos países.

No se si lo que estoy viviendo es parecido al efecto que algunos astronautas han experimentado al estar en órbita y ver el mundo desde una posición tan privilegiada, ese “overview effect”, que genera un cambio de paradigma radical en el que afirman que al apreciar el mundo desde el espacio, las fronteras desaparecen, los conflictos que nos dividen no parecen ser importantes, y que lo que realmente parece ser lo mas importante y obvio es crear una sociedad planetaria con el objetivo común de proteger nuestro único planeta... Será que empiezo a ser un venezolano que, sin olvidar sus raíces, ahora también tiene conciencia que es ciudadano del mundo? Y que aunque siempre lo he sido, sólo ahora es que esa conciencia ha despertado? Supongo que ese es uno de los despertares que me ha traído esta experiencia, y hoy, eso también lo agradezco... 

My first two international summits (English Version)

First Part, every adventure has a pre-begining

The adventure began with the search for a destination and get some guide or tourist operator that would allow me to reach the chosen destination.

Searching between different places to visit in this country, I got the option to meet the oldest ancestral tattoo artist in the Philippines, but by the time the trip would be made I still did not have my Filipino papers, without them, I preferred not to leave the capital. The trip could not be given although one of my first two objectives had already been achieved: I got a tour guide, and with it I started to agree to other destinations.

Weeks later, finally, my papers arrived and I contacted the guide to validate what was available tour in his agenda. The trip was to go to the mountains of Timbak (9th highest in the Philippines) and Tabayok (6th or 7th highest in this country [still in discussion]). It sounded interesting but because most of my camping gear stayed in Venezuela, I had to check what was available and what was the minimum that I should take to the trip. Luckily the most essential was a sleeping bag and although it took me several days, I got a moderately good and not so expensive one, plus another pair of accessories to make the trip more comfortable.

Once the implements were obtained, I decided to confirm my assistance to the trip only 4 days before. Unfortunately I would not go with anyone I knew, but I was still prepared to attend this adventure with an unknown group, and also somehow alone.

Second part, from Manila to the first mountain and from there to the base camp

Friday night and the journey began ... After finishing work, I walk home to dress me properly, grab my "cachachás" and take a taxi to the bus station, where the meeting point was defined, to meet the guide and the rest of the adventurers

The terminal, full of people, but finally I got the travelers. They gave me a tent and the bus ticket. Departure time: 9:30 pm, destination Baguio. The trip there, like anyone on a bus. The arrival was at 3:00 am.

Already with our backpacks, we walked only a few meters in the cold city of Baguio to get us with our second transport, a Jeepney that would take us the rest of the way to the base camp. We assembled the backpacks on the roof, we tied them up and from there, we went to a local market to do the shopping that would allow us to cook the planned menu.

We then left to the place where we would have breakfast. I must accept that, due to the cultural difference, I knew that the food could be a bit complicated, however, I was also aware that this would also be part of the adventure. Maybe the best way to describe my breakfast is through this photo.

After a champions' breakfast and two cups of coffee, the destination was to reach a tourist stop, the highest point of the country's road system. A couple of photos, and now towards the first mountain.

The mountain is right next to the road, so we parked and started the hiking, a very short one without any difficulty. In spite of being the 9th. Highest mountain in the Philippines, reaching its summit only takes about 20 minutes, because you start very close to the top. The guide told us that this was just a warm-up for the next summit, the serious one...

Once we were at the top, we took pictures and a walk around, then started the descent and continue to our final destination, still on wheels, the base camp of Tabayoc.

This part of the trip was something exciting, I was invited to ride the jeepney (go on the roof), with the backpacks and the thing was exciting ... imagine the trip on mountain routes, cement or dirt, at the roof of a truck ...


Finally around 11.00 am on Saturday we were arriving at the base camp.

Third part, a walk through the lakes

After setting up camp and lunch, we received recommendations from the park rangers, the truth is that I understood almost nothing in what refers to the uses of specific words because the message was in the local language, however I understood the general message: take care, protect, do not dirty, respect, be careful in the walks and have a positive attitude. I did not expect less from those people who decide to live so close to the mountains.

We started our route to the lakes and almost at the beginning of the walk, the rain also wanted to welcome us, which made it a little more "fun". The cold embrace the road, as well as mud and fog. Despite this, we managed to complete the trip and to visit the 3 lakes. Over the 3 of them, only one is like what we are used to, the other two were actually underground and walking "over them" was an experience similar to walking on those old water beds (know you may know my age hehehe).

About two hours after the walk started, we were back at our base camp, soaked, cold and full of mud. The spirits of some had declined, others were the feeling that the mountain had already welcomed and baptized us.

The guides set out to make dinner and while we waited, some miraculous coffee cups appeared to warm the mood. After the coffee I started to prepare my backpack for the summit of the next day, and after that, I talked with the guides while they were cooking.

An important dinner, full of mixed flavors but very tasty (masarap in local language), was the end of the night and then we retired to sleep, because the attack of the summit would start at 4:00 in the morning.

Fourth part, Summit of the Tabayac

At 3.50 in the morning I feel like the tent is moving and although whatever they told me was in Tagalog (local language) the message was very clear, time to wake up. I got up, I had the first coffee of the day and after brushing my teeth, i start my fight to deal with what is always the worst moment for me on these trips ... to dress my cold/wet clothes from the previous day's. For my luck the pants were only cold but quite dry, unlike the socks and shoes.

4:30 am would begin the attack on the summit, but first a prayer lead by the park rangers. I don't know if it was either a Catholic prayer, or to the gods of the mountain or to some other deity, but in either case I took the opportunity to do the same under my own beliefs.

Ready to go, we walked to the mountain with the route illuminated by our lanterns. Few steps after started, we were full of mud again, which was expected based on the rain of the previous day. Thus we were advancing, step by step along a path that became steeper and steeper. My pace was not what I would have loved to have, but despite the "rust" I was still at a good pace. We made several stops to rest and re-group. whereas we advanced, the path became clearer because of the sunrise.

The first important stop, the window, a place where the wooded rise left a free space to contemplate the view at that height. From there we could see the base camp and everything that we had left behind.

We went on, until we finally reached the summit (7.30am), one that for me was very particular. Unlike other summits, it was full of trees around and if it had not been for the guides, I would never have imagined that we had arrived. The people from the area created in this place a rudimentary staircase to overcome the wooded summit and above the trees placed a kind of platform that allows visitors to contemplate the view from the highest point of this mountain.

We enjoyed the summit, the photos, the stories of the path, we filled ourselves with energy and after an hour, we started our way back, which was less physically demanding but more delicate because now the descent, in addition to steep was also slippery

At the window, we took the opportunity to take a breath and rest a bit before continuing the descent.

At about 10.30am we were back to the base camp, ready to rest and eat our well-deserved brunch, and then to pack our stuffs, and return to the city.

An interesting adventure where the common and uncommon elements were mixed within the adventure, an experience so similar to other peaks and as unique as each of them, that I allowed myself to enjoy as part of this new stage that I now am living and reminds me that, despite all the circumstances, despite how far the summit is seen, despite the cultural differences, in spite of everything, the road to success will always be accompanied by challenges, but also by friendly people who will help us to achieve the goal you have set for yourself.