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Pink and healthy after the workout. (Photo:Firdaus Khan)
On a sunny Saturday morning when many would be nursing a hangover or sleeping in, approximately 4000 women in pink congregated outside Ngee Ann City, not for shopping but to exercise for a cause.
Back in town for the 7th time, the Amore Women’s Day Out (AWDO) 2010- the country’s largest women-only aerobic-based event-was held in conjunction with International Women’s Day (March 8) on Saturday, March 6. Organised by the Singapore Sports Council, AWDO encourages women of all ages to lead a sporting lifestyle by motivating and inspiring women to look good, feel empowered and connect with friends through sports.
It is said that shopping helps to burn calories but the women that attended this event opted for a different workout that didn’t include digging deep into their pockets. Mrs Aisha attended the event with her 15 year old daughter, Nabilah, for the third time mentioned with a laugh, “This is better than shopping with my daughter. It’s less stressful on my pocket and we do not argue because we have different taste! It’s a very good activity for us, as it helps us build a stronger mother-daughter bond with one another through healthy means”
One could certainly feel the oestrogen in the air as there were no men allowed within the work out area. Mothers, daughters, sisters and friends were sweating it out in the name of girl power.
Present right upfront near the exercise stage was a group of women from SSC Hougang, who were shimmering their hips gleefully to Arabic beats during the BellyBlitz® Trial segment of the event. Juliana Oei, a member of the group said, “This (event) creates awareness for women to be healthy and be more confident. It actually brings out the shy people to exercise together in a group. Some of us were so excited that they couldn’t sleep!”
One such mother who shared these sentiments was Mrs. Kelly who attended the event for the first time with her husband and two young daughters, Polly and Jessica. They took part in the Power of 2 categories. This category allowed mothers and their children to participate in high-low impact aerobics using moves from Kick-boxing.
“Events like this are very important to me and my girls; I really like it. It teaches my girls about healthy lifestyle and allows me to distress. I will come back next year definitely, I can see my girls having more confidence now, they used to be very afraid, but this event allowed them to overcome their stage fright and now after the event they say they want to perform again! I’m really happy to see this makes them feel good and makes me feel good as well,” said Mrs Kelly.
So women, the next time you intend to burn calories through shopping, try exercising, which is not only healthy for your mind, body and soul but for your pockets as well.
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