24 | December 2011 | woman this month Showcase The Total Experience THE DIPLOMAT RADISSON BLU HOTEL, RESIDENCE & SPA Natasha Bird heads down to the Diplomat’s gym and spa to check out their programme for getting you fit and healthy this winter. You might not imagine the winter to be an ideal time to begin a health and fitness regime. Christmas and New Year are just around the corner and with them beckons the temptation to gorge yourself on sumptuous food and get in a last hurrah before embarking on New Year’s resolutions. However, you’d be wrong. In Bahrain, the winter months are the ideal time to get into gear. The weather has cooled, which makes running and exercising outside so much more pleasant. It is also extremely valuable to set yourself goals and to get into a pattern of exercise and dieting in the lead up to the end of the year’s festivities, because this means that your body will not receive so much of a shock when you want to burn all the eggnog off come the New Year. In light of this idea, I headed down to the Diplomat to check out their facilities and to experience a complimentary, tailor made exercise routine from one of their qualified fitness professionals. Upon entering their mixed gymnasium I was greeted by Nestor, an instructor with over six years of experience in the Philippines and the Gulf. He completed a thorough fitness assessment, which took into account both my body mass in relation to my height and my body fat percentage, from which he was able to gauge what sort of workout would suit me, in view of my particular goals. We decided that I really needed to improve my muscle tone, so we got to work on a routine that combined interval training with some cardio in order to get my blood pumping and to make my muscles feel the burn at the same time. The interval training consisted of sets of three exercises, each repeated a number of times with pauses between each and I have to say that this was the perfect workout for me. I felt like my muscles were working, but without being over strained. I could tell that my heart rate was being kept up, without feeling drained, weak or out of breath. It is definitely something I can see myself continuing to do every time I go to the gym. Happily, after my session with Nestor, the Diplomat treated me to one of their full-body sports massages in the ladies only spa. The spa is a wonderfully tranquil place, with a whole host of individual treatment and relaxation rooms and a beautiful Japanese pool complete with wooden bridge. Krittika’s massage was both thorough and relaxing. She managed to massage my whole body, whilst at the same time concentrating on the particular muscle groups that needed more attention. I thoroughly recommend the whole experience! Call 17 525-237 (SPA), or 17 531-666 (Hotel).
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