[Fitness] Country Club Fitness FTX Launches Its First Fitness Centre in Malaysia - Bukit Bintang

With the popularity of hashtags such as #bbg #fitness #weightloss and the likes growing everyday, it is no surprise that the demand for fitness centres continue to grow as well. The latest fitness centre to hit Malaysia is Country Club Fitness FTX which just opened its doors here in Bukit Bintang on 3 February 2016. 

Mr Rana Daggubati, Mr Y Varun Reddy, Datuk M. Saravanan, and Mr Y Rajeev Reddy sharing a light moment with the media at the launch

The brand that originates from Hyderabad, India aims to get Malaysians to be fit and healthy, with their unique technology from Australia, and a 45-minute functional training exercise for optimal benefits. To demonstrate this, Rana Daggubati the current sensation and heart throb - of the highly acclaimed Bahubali movie fame was invited to launch the event alongside Datuk M. Saravanan, Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports, Y. Rajeev Reddy, Chairman and Managing Director, Country Club Group and Y. Varun Reddy, Chief Operating Officer, Country Club Group. 

Rana, the spokesperson and ambassador of the brand who sported a well-toned body with very defined six packs, delighted over 200 fitness fans who came to meet him at the Country Club Fitness’ 45-minute HIIT workout demonstration at the launch. “I am glad to be here in Malaysia to witness the launch of this fitness centre, as well as to share my workout demonstration with all of you. Maintaining my body figure is part of my job. Because of my time limitations, I am very glad to have discovered this 45-minute functional training, which can give great results while make the most out of my time in the gym,” said the actor voted as #1 Most Desirable Man in 2014 by Hyderabad Times.

During his speech, Mr. Y Rajeev Reddy, Chairman and Managing Director, Country Club Group described his first visit outside India which was to Malaysia at the age of 20 as love at first sight! "Malaysia and India historically have shared strong trade relations and similar socio-economic values and cultures. Thus, it gives me great pleasure and happiness to be back in Malaysia! Country Club, today, has over 475,000 members across India and the rest of the world. We are the pioneers in the field of specialty services including holiday destinations, clubbing, social events, health and fitness. Our footprint spans over 50 cities across India and over 25 destinations internationally,” he added.

Datuk M. Saravanan, Mr Rana Daggubati, and Mr Y Varun Reddy were demonstrating the proper workout method during the ceremony.

According to Mr. Reddy, the high level of awareness of the FTX Fitness brand and the excellence that the brand delivers is reflected by industry accolades that they have received such as being one of the 30 brands recognized by Pacesetters in the UAE for achievements, contributions, and excellence in entrepreneurship and named as one of the Top 50 inspiring entrepreneurs by The Economic Times of India.

Mr. Reddy, who is confident that everyone will love the FTX Fitness centre which is strategically located in the city, thanked Datuk Saravanan for gracing the occasion and hopes to forge stronger ties with Malaysia and its government.

So, what can we expect from this gym or rather how does it differentiate itself from the rest? According to Mr. Reddy, Country Club Fitness FTX is the first exclusive functional training studio in  Kuala Lumpur which offers a radically different fitness method to burn high calories, cut fat rapidly, build stamina and endurance, improve body balance, enhance joint mobility, tone your muscles, and to shape a person’s body in an efficient manner. This functional studio is the first of its kind and combines technology with HIIT – Hi Interval Intense Training. 


Country Club Fitness FTX is located at 
4th Floor, Patent House, Jalan Bukit Bintang
55100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Country Club Fitness FTX Contact Number
60 3-2110 3823

Website
www.countryclubmalaysia.com/
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About The Country Club Hospitality and Holidays Limited 
Country Club Hospitality and Holidays is a 25-year-old India-based company operating primarily in the Middle East and in India with presence in Europe and Asia. Listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange, the club currently has over 475,000 members. Country Club owns and operates over 100 properties comprising of clubs, hotels, resorts, and fitness centres. Their unique family membership offers members access to all its hospitality verticals. 

Country Club has its own mobile application, which can be downloaded from the Google play store and the Apple app store - however it is NOT a fitness app.  The app allows users to browse and locate updated Country Club properties and events (Resorts, Hotels, Clubs and Fitness centers) all across the globe.

About Country Club Fitness FTX Sdn Bhd 
Country Club Sdn Bhd was established in 2015 to set up, grow, and manage the Country Club Fitness FTX in Malaysia.

Celebrity Fitness Malaysia throws workout party to raise awareness of World AIDS Day

Participants gathered as early as 8am to dance and spin to the first workout of the day, Zumba

What better way to end the year than to support a good cause? On the 20th of December, Themodelmom together with 200 other Malaysians gathered to raise awareness for AIDS through a three hour workout party titled Move for WAD organised by Celebrity Fitness Malaysia, 

Azura having fun with BodyCombat

Many local celebrities, namely Yasmin Hani, Azura, Sha'rin Mohd Razali, Anthena Tan and Angeline Ooi stepped forward to lend their name to the event and sweat it out together with other participants.

#MoveForWAD T-shirt

Celebrities and participants alike dressed in a special T-shirt designed for the event to show solidity with the world wide movement. 

Yasmin Hani sweating it out with other participants

This year the theme was 'Getting to Zero' which symbolizes zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths.

Themodelmom caught in the act

I thoroughly enjoyed the 3 hour workout that was held on the Sky Park at Nu Sentral but was pleasantly exhausted lol. The three hour workout started with Zumba, followed by 2 Les Mills programmes; SH'BAM and BODYCOMBAT. It was the first time for me trying any of these.

For those of you who are not familiar let me break it down for you:

Zumba = an aerobic workout with various styles of latin dance moves usually to latin or latin inspired music.

SH'BAM = fun, addictive, dance workout to club & hip hop chart topping hits.

BodyCombat =  a high-energy martial arts-inspired workout that is totally non-contact with moves from Karate, Taekwondo, Boxing, Muay Thai, Capoeira and Kung Fu. 

Ryan Cheal, Vice President of Celebrity Fitness Malaysia hands over a mock cheque to Fahrin Ahmad, Malaysian AIDS Foundation Red Ribbon Celebrity Supporter Red Ribbon Celebrity Supporter, who accepted on behalf of Malaysian AIDS Foundation

The event started with a cheque presentation of RM15,000 from Celebrity Fitness Malaysia to Fahrin Ahmad, Red Ribbon and Celebrity Supporter of Malaysian AIDS Foundation. In his speech, Ryan Cheal, the Vice President of Celebrity Fitness Malaysia who presented the cheque said "There are more than 6,200 new infections of HIV a year, adding to the total number of 100,000 Malaysians living with HIV. Despite this, HIV and AIDs remain a sensitive issue in Malaysia, and the social stigma surrounding the disease makes it difficult for patients to reach for the help they need,”

Celebrity Fitness Superstar Instructors lead the crowd in heartpumping rounds of Sh'Bam.

Speaking on behalf of Celebrity Fitness Malaysia, Ryan Cheal elaborated that Celebrity Fitness Malaysia hopes to empower patients and encourage healthy conversation around HIV and AIDS among the public, ultimately creating a supportive community for all.

To do my part, I will share with you some more facts that I gathered from the World AIDS Day Official Website

THINK POSITIVE: RETHINK HIV

Did You Know?

Effective treatment can mean that people living with HIV are no longer infectious.

People living with HIV can have a normal life span if diagnosed and treated in time.

People living with HIV are able to become parents of a HIV-negative child.

There is no job someone can’t do specifically because they have HIV.

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Move for WAD was made possible with the support of NU Sentral, Bean & Beans, L'Oreal Malaysia and 7UP Revive.

For more information on Celebrity Fitness and for more exciting activities, log onto www.celebrityfitness.com or http://www.facebook.com/CelebrityFitnessMalaysia.

Celebrity Fitness - 20th Club Launch with 20 Celebrities doing a 20 min Workout

3 November 2015, Celebrity Fitness proudly opened it's 20th club in Malaysia and this time in Quill City Mall. What better way to celebrate the opening then to invite 20 celebrities and media and challenge them in a 20 minute Celebrity Fast Fit workout?!

I need to tone up. My goal is Victoria Secret Model body hehe

I was very excited to get invited and at the same time a bit nervous. Nervous because I wasn't sure if I will make it through the challenge but I gave myself a pep talk and told my self that I'm gonna win it! Yes, I am!

Killer motivation

I set out early as hadn't been to this mall before. It was actually pretty easy to get to and located in the heart of Kuala Lumpur's business district. I suppose it is very convenient for those who want to work out before and after office. There are also 'ladies parking' bays with guards constantly walking about, so although I reached early it did feel safe.

PT Area - Set Up and ready for the Fast Fit Challenge to begin

Once I reached the centre which is located on the 4th floor, I had to chill out for a bit while I waited for the others to arrive. I silently wished in my heart they would give me a prize for being early =p

I was then handed a white t-shirt with the hashtag #everydayIgetBETTER which somehow made me feel better already. As I sat there waiting eagerly, I watched the trainers setting up the Fast Fit stations for the challenge that included Dynamax Ball Burpee, the Kettlebell Swing, the classic RMT Squat among others.

Hooi Mei Sim on Bosu Lateral Plyo Jump

Once everyone arrived the highly qualified and experienced abang sado instructors and personal trainers were at hand to guide us. We got to try out, practice and ask questions about Fast Fit. I learned that Fast Fit is a full-body functional training workout that improves stamina, muscle strength and helps to tone. That means it makes sure you use every function that your body was designed to do. Meaning as a human you were designed to more that just walk or do jumping jacks right? So through this training you will work every muscle in your body.

Frederick Lee doing the RMT Squat

We then gathered back for the official launch by Celebrity Fitness Vice President, Ryan Cheal. “Celebrity Fitness constantly works to improve our quality of services, in line with our philosophy #everydayIgetBETTER,” said Ryan. “This year, we had the founder of ViPR, Michol Dalcourt and  MMA champion, Martjin de Jong visit us to share their fitness knowledge and expertise with our Celebrity Fitness trainers. November is also a month with much to rejoice as we are celebrating the 11^th anniversary of Celebrity Fitness’s first club in Malaysia at 1 Utama on 11 November as well as the anniversaries of three other clubs, Celebrity Fitness, Nu Sentral, Celebrity Fitness, Wangsa Walk and Celebrity Fitness, Endah Parade.”

The humble and friendly Amaris on ViPR Ice Skater

We were divided to 2 groups for the challenge and took turns to have a go at the stations. Before that we did a group warm up session. One of the trainers by the name of Ratnam gave me a very good analogy about warming up before a workout. He described the body like pasta, "cooked pasta is very flexible whilst uncooked pasta easily snaps," he said while holding out his hand in two fists and mimicking pasta snapping.

Vinodh and Yours Truly doing the Kettlebell Swing

Fast Fit is actually quite fun, especially if you have a short attention span and despise doing the same action over and over again for a long time. Through the Fast Fit workout, your body continues to burn fat even the day after! So running on the treadmill for hours on end is quite a waste of time if your goal is weight loss.

Themodelmom doing the Dynamax Ball Burpee. Honestly the reason why the instructor is doing it with me is because he was motivating me to do it as I really sucked at it haha

The challenge that was judged based on form, technique and performance was won by Hansen Lee who is no noob to fitness (he even has his own workout TV show) and blogger Elana Khong who really stood out among the girls and was better then some of the guys too! 

Hansen Lee, Challenge Winner - Male

Selfie with Female Challenge Winner - Elana Khong

If you are interested to try out this workout or get Celebrity treatment checkout the centre in Quill City Mall or log on to www.celebrityfitness.com or http://facebook.com/CelebrityFitnessMalaysia.

Since we all shed sweat and tears and completed the challenge, we are all winners! Yeay!

Malaysia Urban Retreat Festival - 13 to 15 November 2015

Are you a Fitness Freak? Do you Eat Clean? Do you like to Dance? How about some Music? Yes to any one of those? MURFEST may pique your interest.

BREATHE.CONNECT.MOVE

MURFEST is the first Malaysian Wellness Festival and pegged to be Top 5 in South East Asia. Over the span of 3 days, there will be more than 80 classes and workshops to choose from. Among which are yoga, aqua yoga, zumba, capoeira, motivational speakers, sound healers. 

Get Jiggy to the beat!

Learn to Sway your Hips

Hop on one foot on a tight rope?

According to Festival Founder & Director Shobie Malani, "The main aim of MURFEST is to educate the young and invigorate the souls of our seniors to embrace a wellness or fitness practice that they can adapt into their lifestyles." She acknowledges that most people have been exposed to at least one of these workshops. MURFEST aims to bring communities together to gain knowledge, change mindsets whilst cultivating a mindful and healthy society.

Simon Borg Olivier in his element

Yoga enthusiast? You will be thrilled to know that Simon Borg Olivier, Melissa Smith and Kosta Miachin are part of the line up along side our very own Singing Tinkerbell cum Yoga Fairy, Ms. Atilia Haron who is also the ambassador of MURFEST.

Atilia Haron - MURFEST Ambassador

The newly launched JUST BE Market sounds quite interesting too. Apparently it is a niche place where communities get to connect and network with wellness experts and artisans from all walks of life. Expect to be sipping on organic coffee, meet natural healers and check out semi-precious healing jewels. You can also look forward to getting pampered with an Ayurvedic massage, sample essential oils, explore raw food delicacies, cool off with cold pressed organic juices and shop for unique trinkets and brick a bracts. 

The URBANITE Concert is for all ages and all walks of life

The signature event of MURFEST is the URBANITE Concert that will be happening on 13 November 2015 at the Grand Ballroom, Hotel Pulman Kuala Lumpur. It aims to bring people together with the power of music and dance. Expect to be moved by Artists & Bands performing world music, reggae and fusion while sitting on sustainable up-cycled furniture and bean bags, Expect relaxed, traditional and healing music while you mingle with others.

Bhangra Workshop - No wonder Bollywood actors are so fit ey?

Move to the pumping beat

Some Interesting Workshops I extracted from the 3 Day Schedule:

- Active Movements From Your Core: How to get in to a Posture 

- Masala Bhangra Dance Workout 

- Everything You Need to Know about going Vegan

- Qi Qong Therapy

- Constellation Workshop

- Capoeira

- Living Your Dreams

- Bellydance

- Raggeathon

- How to Speak and Understand "Man Language" (For WOMEN ONLY)

You can see the full schedule here. Seriously! It's packed with awesome workshops and can be so much fun for the family or like minded friends.The cool thing about the schedule on their website is you can bookmark your favorites and sync them to your phone or calendar.That's neat!

Excited yet? Here are the deets:

Venue : Pullman Hotel, Kuala Lumpur - Bangsar

Date : 13 to 15 November 2015

Website : www.murfest.com

BREATHE.CONNECT.MOVE

UPDATE

From left to right : Shobie (Director of MURFEST), me, Atilia Haron (Ambassador of MURFEST), Jojo Struys (Ambassador of MURFEST)

I attended the Press Conference on 16 October and found out a few new things:

- This festival is an ideal Urban Retreat. To fully enjoy the workshops and concert, you can book yourself in at Hotel Pullman Kuala Lumpur where all events will be held or other nearby hotels (5 to 10 mins away) at special negotiated rates. Checkout their website for special packages,

- If you can't find a baby sitter don't worry as there are many activities for the kids as well. In fact you can even bring them to the Urbanite Concert! It will make a great family outing.

- Expect a very relaxed atmosphere and positive vibes during the Urbanite Concert where everyone is encouraged to dress in something white and comfy.

- Aseana Percussion Unit is definitely not to be missed!

- This festival is for anyone and everyone regardless of fitness level.