Continuing on our series of mindfulness, we now have some great options to practice mindfulness in Shanghai. One of them that I’ll be sharing with you about is floating. Floating is the act of letting your body float on a saline solution in a float tank that can either be enclosed or open. How is this related to mindfulness you ask? Good question! We’ve talked about meditation and how that can help train up your
Read more0
It's never too late to start a fitness program. Read Jacky Dror's inspiring tale on how exercise has changed her life. Read Jacky Dror's answer to How will my life be different if I go to the gym every day? on Quora Please reach out to us if you need a kick-start. We are here to
Read more0
Why You Shouldn’t Always Believe What You Read - Even From Perceived Reputable Sources As I’ve mentioned before on this blog, the stated mission is, as I modestly put it in the first entry “to be a shining beacon of truth in a sea of bullsh*t about health and fitness”. Now the readership may be small (but growing!) but I like to think that if I can help a few hundred, or hopefully even
Read more0
The fourth segment of my five-part series on mental toughness is one that is probably most relevant to you as it is one of the biggest reasons why so many people don’t want to train or do high intensity training. Pain tolerance. Of course the kind of pain I’m referring to is the good kind of pain and not the pain that is associated with muscle tears or joint pain. That is bad pain and
Read more0
Don't want to build muscle? This is a very common question that I get asked especially by women when I suggest that they add some strength training into their routine. From my experience, it’s very hard to convince many women to build muscle. This may be related to a mild stigma in society against women building muscle for fear of looking “butch”. But another reason many women hesitate
Read more0
Coming just out of the Asia Wellness Summit held this past Saturday, I was prompted numerous times about the state-of-affairs on the gym scene here in Shanghai. People in general seem to have similar feedback when talking about the big box commercial gyms. Since, I also used to train out of these gyms (prior to opening Olive Branch), I not only understand but have witnessed these grievances in the gym. So here is a
Read more2
Do you like living in Shanghai? This blog post is actually taken from an earlier post I sent out earlier before I really began blogging on my site so if you think you’ve read this before, it’s because you have (and good on you for reading my emails)! I feel that this is a good time to resurrect it as I’ve edited some parts in it and well, the timing is just good. Now
Read more2
Welcome to the first entry of the Olive Branch Blog on Health and Fitness. “That sounds like a pretty boring blog” you may think. “Why should I spend my valuable time reading it?” you may ask. Well, fair point. Allow me to spend this first post justifying the existence of our health and fitness blog. Our modest aspiration: to be a shining beacon of truth in a sea of bulls**t about health and fitness I
Read more0