RelaxLah Wellness

14/11/2025

I will always be grateful for this view! 🥰

Early morning runs along the Han River are especially wonderful during the seasons that are not winter. 🤣

TBH, I have so many excuses not to go running in the morning. It takes me 10 minutes to walk to the running trail; I have exercise-induced asthma and pollution is almost always bad in Seoul; with perimenopause I have joint pain, plantar fasciitis, and hypertension, and it takes up too much time, etc.

BUT these are all just excuses. Once I get up and go out and start moving, I begin to feel better with each step.

Back in Fairfax, my view wasn’t as great, but I did find little pockets of beauty AND also imagined I was running by the Han River with my Kpop playlist.

You don’t need a great view or much time to exercise. Even a brisk 2-3 km walk in the morning can be enough! 💖

18/09/2025

Out of curiosity, I went and got some laser “toning” on my face. To make sure my skin heals well I can’t exert myself too much. And I look hideous, so no gym for me. 😩

But I can’t not workout either! So here’s my slightly heart rate raising routine that has gotten me through the past couple of days. Works great as a travel/hotel room routine too if there’s no gym. 💓

NO EQUIPMENT NEEDED.
“DANCE” MUSIC RECOMMENDED.

Note: If the descriptions sound cheesy it’s because I’m testing out AI 🫣

11/09/2025

Here’s an interesting study on how high intensity exercise can save your life!

Exercise may not only help prevent cancer but also could fight it at a cellular level.

01/09/2025

This past year in Korea, I’ve been studying both Eastern and Western exercise science material relating to perimenopause/menopause.

The etiology of one of the symptoms, hot flashes, is still a mystery. But most researchers agree that estrogen decline contributes most significantly to vasomotor symptoms.

Western medicine prescribes hormonal drug interventions and both aerobic and resistance exercise, with compelling findings that resistance exercise is the best treatment.

Eastern medicine treats menopause-related symptoms a little more holistically, by viewing an individual’s yin or yang deficiencies, mainly in the kidneys. Qi being the primary source of life, one exercise prescription for hot flashes is the practice of qigong.

Armed with this info, I plan to pursue a combination of both approaches in an experiment to see which works better. Or perhaps, the answer lies in a combination of the two.

I’ll keep you posted!

27/03/2025

I stumbled upon this article in IG and thought it was worth sharing. Not everyone can be a marathon runner at any age really, but I loved one thing that she said.

“… she added that she regularly runs with friends who are 40-50 years old. “I forget how old I am, because physically, I can keep up with that,” she said.”

Aside from her amazing VO2Max and other factors, this is probably one of the strongest explanations for her remarkable ability - the refusal to accept that “aging” means giving up or not trying hard at exercising because we’re “too old”!

Rice, who ran a world record in the marathon in the 75-79 age group last year, has an incredibly high V02 max.

20/03/2025

Judging by the number of elderly folk who shove me aside vigorously on the subway train, I totally believe this study! 😏🫣🤭

(Half) Kidding aside, evidence of this healthy aging appears everywhere in Seoul - the elderly are walking quickly up subway stairs and/or hiking briskly up mountains; they cook and eat fresh vegetables bought from the traditional markets, and get rid of their stress by just speaking their minds. I often see them at the gym too.

What would it take for the many older folks elsewhere who are sedentary to start moving more?

The physical health of Koreans in their 70s in 2023 was similar to that of people in their mid-60s 12 years ago, according to a study by a Korean medical expert released Tuesday. Lee Yun-hwan, a professor of preventive medicine and public health at Ajou University School of Medicine, presented his s...

10/03/2025

On International Women’s Day, I heard and read a few laments from women around my age about the difficulty of weight loss. We exercise, eat well, but nothing budges on that scale.

⏸️ Indeed, anyone going through perimenopause or menopause knows of these weighty struggles. 😏

⚠️ But maybe we need to think a bit more about WHY we want this weight loss.

❓Is it so that we can look better? Or feel healthier?

✅ If the latter, then we should be working on building our overall physical and mental strength.

💡Because once you start becoming healthier, you WILL begin to look better.

🔎 Some questions to ask ourselves:
* Are you really eating enough protein?
* When counting your calories from carbs, are you including those from alcoholic beverages?
* Are you getting enough sleep?
* Are you feeling stressed out all the time?
* Are you getting in at least either 90 mins of vigorous exercise or 150 minutes of moderate exercise each week?

➕➖ALL these factors and many more affect our “weight” (and of course genetics but that’s out of our control).

💗 Mindfully ask yourself these questions each week. And take care. As the Koreans say, Hwaiting! 💪🏽

01/02/2025

❗️The path to Gujo Hachiman Castle (Japan) was a winding uphill trail that was preceded by a lot of stone stairs. We had 10 minutes to complete a normally 20-minute hike. Thanks to having consistent cardio workouts, I was able to jog up that hill and not die 😂

✅ Once again, it really hit home the importance of keeping up with regular cardiorespiratory exercise!

⏯️ I know I haven’t been too active here but I’ll be posting more soon. It’s been challenging trying to figure out the next move while living in Seoul, but I’m looking forward to enjoying a fun, active 2025 with you! Happy Lunar/Lunisolar New Year!

19/10/2024

I can’t believe that 3 months have already flown by since we moved to Seoul. I now know for sure that, truly, a cardio-resistance-balance-mobility training regimen is so important! Helps prevent falls!

Even with a pretty nasty respiratory virus, I was able to walk up a steep hill pretty easily. I’m glad I’ve included daily cardio workouts no matter how much I’ve wanted to quit (or not even start).

There are just soooo many stairs and hills in this city so well-conditioned cardio and strength ability helps one move effortlessly. And you often have nothing to hold on to on the subway so having good balance is essential. 🏄🏻‍♀️😂

But even if you live in a relatively flat town or city, trying to get in 10-20,000 steps a day with a few stairs thrown in can really help you build up a strong cardiovascular base. Plus it will really help you get better sleep at night.

04/08/2024

Am taking a hiatus from running the biz since I moved to Seoul and am busy climbing emotional and psychological mountains while settling in. I also lacked access to a gym for 3 weeks! But this doesn’t mean I stopped exercising.

I have a basic “travel” routine that I do every day to maintain my strength and mobility. I also try to walk about 15K to 25K steps a day. On the weekends, I go for hikes or run up stairs when it’s too hot out. It really feels good to keep up the cardio and muscular power for lifting heavy boxes of furniture and dodging the crowds on the subway😂

I can’t wait to get settled so I can offer a new and improved program from this dynamic and exciting city!

20/05/2024

I’ve been seeing lots of posts from 40+ year olds, especially women, wanting their 20/25/30 year old bodies back. I get it. We all want to relive and bask in the attractiveness of our slender, youthful selves.

But to be honest, I appreciate this latest version of me the most. I was definitely not as strong in my 20s nor 30s. More active and agile with fewer aches and pains, maybe, but certainly not as strong.

Back then, I couldn’t deadlift more than my body weight. I can now. And back then I couldn’t do chest presses with 28-33 lb weights in each hand, lift heavy sandbags with glute bridges, or do many single arm slider push ups. I can now. At 50, my hips are wider, my torso is thicker and I’m heavier too. But I love my muscles, power, and mobility, and I feel healthier and calmer as well.

Perhaps you were stronger than I was and am in your younger days. But that means you have the capacity to be stronger than me now too!

So let’s look forward to aging healthily together. We can feel grateful for our past selves but let’s let her/him go and seek to be even better versions of ourselves now. 💪🏽🦾🦵🏽🦿

15/04/2024

Lately, I've been hearing about an alarming number of severe injuries encountered by my friends. The most common complaints involve the following body parts: lower back, Achilles tendon, ACL, rotator cuff. Some of these injuries were obtained as a result of falling.

Unfortunately, the aging process negatively affects our joints, muscles, and sense of balance. Just because you were amazing at basketball, tennis, etc. 20 years ago doesn't mean you can pick it right back up and do it easily again if you haven't been playing that sport or even just exercising (properly) regularly.

This is why, even if you don't do cardio or resistance workouts, it's so important to start doing mobility and balance exercises every day. You don't have to perform an entire routine. I'll be posting examples of some useful exercises to do. But in the meantime, remember to keep moving!

Anyway, I asked AI to create me a cartoon of an old woman with back pain and I got this grammatically questionable nonsense 🤣