Jan.17, 2011. Australian Open officially starts from today. So from now on, I know where I am going to be at night and what I am going to do.

I began to notice more about Ana Ivanovic from Hopman Cup a couple of weeks ago. She is youthful, happy and always with a smile on her face. She also played very well, only because she hurt the ankle again, Serbia lost the chance of winning the Cup. I really hope that she would get better for AO.  By the way, I bought the exact tennis dress that she wore in the game, quite cute, love it!

Watched a few games tonight, paid special attention on how they dressed and of course their play.  Tennis is a beautiful sports, elegant and cultured. Everyone also uses this opportunity to showcase their fashion style.

Checked AO website to see all players’ photos (not because i am bored),  Honestly among all the female players, not so many use glamorous shot; and among the limited numbers, Ana stand out easily.  She is absolutely a model, but still pure, down to earth and genuine.

Ok, another observation— all the players have very good body condition, tall and good shape of muscle, yes, because they practice almost every day, and their skin condition is good too. Can I say that  it proved that exercise is great for skin? I think that’s a definite ‘yes’.  Sweat, drink a lot of water, have a sauna after, your skin will go through a very thorough detox process,  no wonder  you can’t see any dark or uneven complexion on the athletics’ face…

Enjoy the games!!!

I went to Fitness First in the morning. After dancing class, I took shower & walked into the steam room for a 5-min relaxation. There was this girl, lying on the bench, with all her cosmetic, skin care stuff around, looks like she had been there a while. After a few mins, she got up, went outside get some drinking water back, drank the water and lie down again, during the whole time, she was massaging her body and even did some small sit-ups.

I didn’t stay long, only 5 mins, I retreated.

But I googled and want to talk about the benefit of doing exercise and having sauna or steaming (depends on if you like dry or wet). Exercises are good for body circulation, during exercise; the heat relaxes your muscles throughout your entire body.  So after a bit of exercise, then sit in the FIR Sauna or steaming room, the heat from Sauna and steaming room will open up your pores, and the steam acts as a natural care treatment to purify and cleanse the skin. You will sweat profusely, it helps purify and detoxify the body. Hence it is helpful in the treatment of skin conditions such as acne and eczema.

What you should do if you don’t do exercises before you jump into Sauna or steaming room.  Actually, like that girl I saw, when you do some light exercise in a sauna, you get the benefits of the heat and circulation amplified many fold. By light exercise and heat at the same time, you are giving your body a wonderful treat— you can massage gently as you stretch and roll your arms around; you can caress your body as you massage your head, arms and legs.

I believe that’s where hot yoga originated—some friends endorsed that they lost weight and skin got much smoother. (I didn’t personally try that since it obey my rule of yoga which has to be practised in a natural environment.    )

However, be careful — Pregnant women and people who suffer from high blood pressure should not sit in a sauna for long. You should drink water before sitting in a sauna and immediately leave if you feel dizziness or nausea.

Enjoy the heat!

Saturday! Yeah! But since we booked tennis, I had to get up at 8:30am (haha, not too early, but it’s Saturday). Anyway, my bf was smart, he had a few crackers and a small can of tuna before tennis, I didn’t have anything since I was afraid that I might get stomach cramp due to exercise.  But 30 mins later, I regret for not having any food— hungry!

Later I turned to Google to check if having a bit food before exercise in the morning is good or not. To my surprise, some information I got changed my old perception. To help to metabolism waking up in the morning, the earlier you have breakfast, the better. So even you exercise in the morning, better have something small before, then formal brekkie after. Hmmm, have my bf read about this?  I don’t think he is that attentive, his practice only relies on his natural body needs, but he is absolutely correct on this point.

A lot of my colleagues only have breakfast after they get to work.  That will be about 1.5-2 hours after you wake up & getting close to lunch. So the suggestion is: taking some small thing with you, like a banana or yoghurt to eat on the way.  And have more things when you reach the office.

This way will help you keep weight balance and good for skin as well.  Win-win!