Incongruent
Experimental podcast edited by Stephen King, senior lecturer in media at Middlesex University Dubai.
Correspondence email: stevekingindxb@gmail.com or s.king@mdx.ac.ae.
Incongruent
Episode 1 - Fitness
Spill the tea - we want to hear from you!
In this, the inaugural episode of Incongruent, the team discuss their favourite sports classes that are now being delivered online via a variety of different media including IGTV and YouTube. We share some of the best live and recorded classes, and also offer hacks for making your own fitness equipment.
Okay everyone so welcome to the first issue of Incongruent and today we will be discussing the various online fitness classes that are available for us here during the quarantine period. We'll be specifically focusing on a number of UAE businesses and our own coach Sasa go WeAreMDX. I'm happy to be joined here by my class of journalism students. I've got Arjun, Hashim, Zainab, Dhan, Imnahaa, Areeba, Samira Angelica and Mabel. So today we're going to be talking about something really cool. It's physical fitness, because when it comes to mental health, the three different things you have to look at one is your emotional state. One is your mental state. And third bit is your physical state how well you're you're keeping your your body in shape. So to address that issue, we are going to be looking at all kinds of fitness training, which is taking place online, whether it's on Instagram, live YouTube, or whatever platform it might be. And so I'm joined here with my class are going to share with me some of their points and who has to start Okay, so Arjun...
Arjun :Ah, like I'm the normal Normally I'm a person who do workouts. So I just discovered that sporting companies such as Nike and Adidas have their own training applications, which is free of cost. And like, if you like it, you can go for the advanced version. So what is pretty interesting is like every workout, you will be shown a video saying that okay, like this like, it's supposed to do like a lunge or if I have to do a jumping squats. Then it will just show like how it's done so that you can try it out. And again, after every workout, it basically asks how Is the intensity, whether it's on a higher level or if it's on the lower level? Um, so in that case, yeah. So now like,
Stephen King :Remind me, which channel were you looking at again?
Arjun :I experienced Nike.
Stephen King :That's really interesting. So did anyone else? Look at a sports brands? silence Okay. All right, well, so Hashim, tell me, what have you been doing this week?
Hashim :Hello, I'm Hashim. I found a one of my marathon groups. It's a group that runs at 5:30am. And they do like marathons every week or every two weeks. And I used to be very active with them pre quarantine, but they started doing online classes now. So they and it's a public group. Anybody can join this group. It's called 530 Run. Today they have a yoga class at 8pm. And last week, they had a an at home marathon, you could actually run like 20 kilometres in your house or five kilometres depending on how big your house is or, how busy you want to get. So they're doing these exercises online, and it's all on chat. So it's so it's an hour of people talking while exercising.
Stephen King :Do we have any footage of you like running around in a circle at all?
Hashim :Oh, some, but nah, it's not that fascinating.
Stephen King :Right is thank you Hashim. Is anyone else doing any? Imnah, yes, tell me.
Imnah :I look that an Instagram account called Berries. And they do these live breakout sessions and they also post stuff on their feed. And they have these different personal training kind of people coming in. So people that are already experienced in the field of fitness and they just do these short, like, few minute IGTV videos to help people work out with them. I watched it. I was very intimidated. I decided that I would not do it.
Stephen King :And what was the tag of the account again?
Imnah :Barry's BARRY apostrophe S.
Dhan :Dan, you're the last person on the line there. Tell me what's your experience? What do you been up to? Um, well, so I looked at the Instagram account called walk at home, and it's taken by Leslie Sandstone. So she has this video that's a three mile walk and in that it notices your heart rate the beat and I've done it twice or thrice when I was small and I did as well now and it is tiring. But it was fun.
Stephen King :How do you walk at home? I mean, what do you do?
Dhan :It's, it's for your heart rate. Mainly. It is working at home. There's there's a there's a video called the three mile walk. You can check it out. It's pretty good.
Stephen King :Arjun wants to come back in. Okay, so come on Arjun tell us what you got.
Arjun :So yeah Steve I have been doing this for past one month. Ah, this stuff this, walk for a mile. So it's like a 15 minute video which basically will be like, as now Dhan said like it's not even though it's power walking but I can say it's like a slightly inclined to Zuma because they're like some particular moves which must be done so like it's even though you're doing a power walk you're you're moving like left right straight down now those stuff so it's pretty much not only with the power walk it's also a bit inclinded to Zumba.
Stephen King :Going on to Zumba which is something which I've been trying
Zainab :Steve can I say something, Zainab.
Stephen King :Yes. What What do you want to say?
Zainab :Um, I didn't do something sporty enough, but it's athletic, it's considered to be athletic. It's dancing. So I watch this Indian channel of two girls who started dance workshops and everything in Mumbai. It's called Team Notch. They do these choreographies and so cool. So, I mean, it's it's physical fitness at the end of the day and you know, they motivate these young girls to dance and you know, stay athletic fit in shape. They have influencers on their channel YouTubers. So I think it's really cool. I thought I just mentioned it.
Stephen King :Yeah, it's relevant. I mean, Zumba is a dancing exercise. It's been around for a very brief time. And some people might say that Indian dancing has been a much much longer but Zumba has has become much more commercial. So, yes, I think I think that's a really good one to think about. I mean, I was trying, it's Zumba, I was using the Fitness First app, and they have these dancing classes. And we're also trying to use YouTube to find videos of the online gaming dance "Dance Off" or whatever, whatever it's called. And so that was that was a lot of fun. So think dancing is a really, really good fitness class to be to be doing at this time. And maybe it's definitely a little bit more fun than power walking in your house. I think that's a very good one. Zainab. So thank you very much. So who's next? Who wants to go next to Areeba, Samira. Angelica, Angelica tell us what's the latest trends in Filipino fitness.
Angelica :I haven't been following Filipino fitness. But what I did come across just yesterday, at Fitness First. They had this total body workout thing. So, it was something that I chose to do since, um, my lungs are weak, so I can't really do intense, intense work out. And yeah, that's it. I just really, I really appreciate like, um, these fitness videos online since I guess insecurity is part of a problem when when you work out in groups or in public.
Stephen King :I can see that and you think that this period is providing more content for people like you who perhaps are more self conscious about going to the gym, it's giving you more opportunities to participate in sports that you wouldn't otherwise have done so. So in a positive way, it's providing access to sport and getting teaching that you wouldn't have access to before. Is there any sport that you have thought, Hey, I really want to try and do that. But you weren't able to before but you are able to explore during this quarantine period.
Angelica :I'm kind of interested in volleyball and badminton since I don't think I can do badminton at home. But I guess there are ways to play volleyball at home with your wall I guess yeah.
Stephen King :Well that's great volleyball is great. I was watching the Final Cut on Netflix where they have the the stars, were practising fencing with the swords. And I think that that could be something you could do at home as well. I suppose. I'd love to see some classes on that we can get the wooden spoons and spatulas out to have a little competition up and down the corridors. I think that would work quite nicely. Samira, you've been very quiet and Areba. Come on, tell me something. What have you been experiencing this past week?
Samira :Hi. Well, someone I decided to check out was Lily Sabri. She's a fitness influencer with quite a significant following and she conducted "lives" on YouTube for people stay at home. And they were just 15 minute long workouts but and she's also a chartered physiotherapist. So she is trustworthy. And she's really good at explaining how to do things right, especially because she can't exactly see us while we're doing it. But what I loved about her workouts was that it was not only accessible due to it being on a very accessible platform, one that's really easy to use. But she had a feature where, right at the bottom of the screen, you could actually see easier variations, more simpler variations of the exercises she was showing in the workout. And so I think that helps because most of the time, or at least her audience, not everyone is obviously as experienced as she is. And it was just nice to have something to look Yeah. But she's also starting.. sorry. She's also starting a 14 day workout programme on YouTube as well and it's for free. It's called 14 days for a healthier you at home. And so this will be a two week long 45 minute workout programme for every day. So quarantine little plan.
Stephen King :I do like the options in classes. I'm not the most flexible person and I do some of the Body Balance and some pilates and yoga type of stuff. And I do appreciate the fact that you know, not everyone can do every single move as good as the coaches. So it's really good to have these options. I think I did a little video a couple of weeks ago when I was trying to impress by doing lunges up and down the balcony outside and that was a bit much for me and unable to walk for a couple of days. So yes, I think this does, it's really useful to have have this senate does set the bar, from the from the premium coaches, to to everybody else to have to have that. So, to have that functionality and moving on, I was thinking everybody, did you try coach Sasa's session from Middlesex university?
Areeba :Yes, I was about to mention that but that is the one that I actually have been following the most because he has the level the level of like beginner intermediate and then advanced. So for me when because I've never actually worked out I do follow I've done two videos of his from where I followed like the beginner level ones, but I was actually hoping that by the end of it, you know, I can at least get to the advanced level, no intermediate level. And then other than that, like as a family because we like to spend time together we play table tennis and badminton to keep ourselves active. Or we do a brisk walk like across our roof because we have quite a lot of space that we do like a 30 minute walk. And yeah, other than that, though, I've been following the Walk at Home I follow this one particular video with my mom which is fast walking in 30 minutes. So it's a 30 minute programme and it's got warm up and then many different kinds of like walking in case you don't have enough space to move around very much. So it's actually really helpful. It helps keep us active. And you know, it's not dangerous, we're not going to hurt ourselves, at least.
Stephen King :When it comes to the social media channels. We've talked about quite a few times about Instagram Live, we've talked about YouTube talked about some of these private channels that people have which do you find it's been the most effective for working out. So what Samira was talking about must have been using something a bit more advanced because of showing different options at the bottom of the screen. And I know that there's a gym that I've been to requite regulary is Real Boxing Only gym, and they're doing specific classes, where they have a similar setup to what we have here for a distance learning and you have to get invited by a link to participate in the class. It's not just open on an Instagram channel. So going back to the group, what do you think is the which is your preferred...
Hashim :I think live is better because you have that sense of accountability, like okay, they're doing it now. Why shouldn't I do it now? So you're not being lazy to just follow through saliva. I think live is more effective.
Stephen King :Arjun wants to say something go,
Arjun :I think recorded would do better. Because if it's recorded according to our convenience, we can do it. It's not that once they are going on, like, it's not possible, like we have to also be convenient in that time. So because a best example, last Tuesday, when coach sasa live was there on Instagram. I couldn't attend, because I was busy with my work. Whereas if I'm, if it was a recorded session, I could have done that later on. But later on, yeah, the Instagram story has been shared, the live has been checked, so I could do that. So technically, live would be much more better according to me...
Stephen King :You started off by saying recorded is better than you went into live is better. Which do you mean?
Arjun :No, sorry. My bad, the recorded is better, my bad, my bad My bad. Sorry,
Stephen King :Now on Instagram story, I put a picture of my cable for my microphones. And I challenge everyone to imagine what that could be used for, as a hack, a fitness hack. And it's actually long enough and heavy enough to be a very effective skipping rope. So very happy on that. Has anyone else come up with any interesting hacks for helping fitness in the home when we don't actually have access to the equipment?
Areeba :Yes, so while my dad he used to gym quite a lot, but because he couldn't he actually did use the water bottles thing. And so he's gotten my brother in on it and so he started with like half water bottles and then he started filling them up slowly. So that's really helpful. And then you know, the bench exercises. So like the step up ones, step a bench one so we obviously don't have stairs around here so he actually took my brother to the stairs of our building. So they do it there. So but before you do that, make sure you like, clean them. sanitise them as much as possible. Or do like if you have a couch the where the cushions can come off, you can use that as well if it's low enough. So that's just something and then my dad got that up and he ordered weights online, but that's what we were doing for a while. So it's easier for us because we're the only ones who use the stairs. So you know, my mom like sanitises them as much as she can, and then we just use them. But yeah, obviously, if you live in like a different kind of situation, it would be a little bit difficult.
Stephen King :So that's great. Is there anyone else with thoughts? Yes, Samira?
Samira :Well, something that we probably all have at home, linen or towels, or even pillowcases if you tied them up into a knot. They're a great substitute for resistance bonds and another one that you - but isn't that common brooms so broomsticks, they're great for leverage. When you're doing exercises like hip hinges or just anything targeting your core, you can get as creative as you'd like. You you've got something that a little bit more extreme. I understand.
Dhan :Yeah, well so for me, what I do is i'm since I do kickboxing, and I've seen a lot of people know how to do boxing yet so I don't have the equipment and nor do I have a punching bag but I do have the gloves. And as a substitute what I use is usually pillows or the stools like the the suits that have certain materials on it. I removed the the cushioning, and I asked my dad to hold it and I punch it with my with boxing gloves that I have you put that on.
Stephen King :I was gonna suggest that you don't have a brother or sister to to fight with.
Dhan :Yeah, I do not have siblings. I mean, no, because my dad and I usually spar with each other. And he tries. He tries to box me whereas I have to try to like dodge. I have got hit quite a while but yeah, since I have I've been kickboxing for two three years now. I still love it. I just want a boxing bag. I'd be happy to punch things.
Stephen King :that's that's that's that's really good. Thank you very much for that.
Dhan :Oh, wait, yeah, I actually had I actually had an another one. So when you do crunches, you have certain equipments to come your core, or like to strengthen your core and if you don't have that you can use either footballs or basketballs and ask someone to hold it on your stomach. Before you you do you do continue So is it the strengthens your core
Stephen King :Anyone else? Hashim, tell me what what's in your head?
Hashim :Yeah. The examples I heard are really, really innovative. I am lucky enough to have a pool in my house. So I use, Yeah. I use that it's water to do like the normal cardio exercises but it's a higher level because you know how it's harder for you to run than water or to train in water. So I just get into like, even like knee level of water, you can do this in your bathtub I try to. So you can go into like knee level of water and you can do the exercises. So it's, it's a higher level of intensity. So try to do like crunches even like running in your place in the water. It's really really effective.
Stephen King :That's very innovative Hashem, I've got this imagination in my head of walking into those walk in showers, sealing up the interior and letting the water flood in. That comes up to your knees or maybe up to your chest creating a floatation tank. Is that the kind of thing that you're doing?
Hashim :Yeah. Or if you have a bathtub, you know, like all the way. Yeah. Yeah.
Stephen King :So we're coming to the end now. And I just wanted just to go back again, if Angelica raised this great point earlier about being able to try new sports, because people are sharing more content online on different different activities. If there's one thing that you would like to do that you haven't done before, and you want to experience online during the quarantine, what would it be?
Dhan :Taekwondo?
Stephen King :Any I can see you laughing there? Come on, let him know. What's your option was your option? Yeah. laughing so much. You know, maybe you want to try laughing yoga. That's a thing. Yeah.
Imnah :Laughing is my exercise
Stephen King :That's brilliant. So on that positive note, I'm going to bring to the end, our first episode of Incongruent, like thank all of you for being here today. And let's have a big cheer. And that was the first episode of Incongruent I hope you all enjoyed it if you did, please click below and and followers and subscribe. I'm sure we will produce another episode soon. And thank you everyone for joining us.