I have found a new love in calisthenics.
Considering all the sports I am drawn to, I'm surprised that I hadn't sought out this community sooner. Back in Manila, you all know that I found a home in Calibarzz. Now an official member of the group (YEY!) I've made it a point to discover new places to hang and flip and crawl, whenever I visit a new city.
During my last trip I booked a class at Pilates Plus, a calisthenics and pilates studio located near the Chinatown area in Singapore. I took the train and got off at Outram Park station. It was a short scenic walk from there, since the studio is located along one of the protected heritage streets of the city. All the buildings on this street look the same. So it's important to keep an eye out for the sign.
Upstairs I was greeted by owner and head coach Michel Velasco. He's been staying in Singapore for quite some time now, but I was delighted to discover that Coach Michel is a native of Cebu, a city in the Philippines. This is where he first discovered his love for movement. After several certifications in HongKong, he took his passion to the next level by putting up a studio in Singapore where he now resides with his family.
Pilates Plus is well equipped. Complete with stall bars, gymnastic rings, parallettes, and many other interesting contraptions. Their Calisthenics Level 1 class may not sound intense, but let me tell you, you're in for one tough workout.
After a nice warm up, we started off the class with mobility work. Using our hands and feet, Coach Michel went over the basics of doing an ape walk, a bear crawl and a lizard crawl. At the end of the session, I was dubbed as the strongest lizard he has ever met. To be quite honest, I have never been called that in my life, but sure, I'll take it as a compliment!
We also did a few drills on the stall bars. It was a circuit type of workout which included hollow body work, weights, and shoulder strength work on the bars. As a parting gift, he taught me a few conditioning exercises to prep me for the flag on parallel bars (loosely translates to an Iron X in pole speak) which I am currently working on.
Here's how to reach them:
Pilates Classes & Fitness Singapore
PilatesPlus #03-01, 35 Kreta Ayer Rd
Singapore, 089000
Singapore
+65 62211845
info@pilatesplus.sg
www.pilatesplus.sg