Planking is one of the Everyday Workouts.

Every morning at 6am sharp, members of this running group will receive a wake-up call through Whatsapp to tell them to exercise.

And if they fail to report that they have done the workout during the course of the the day, their trainer, Lexxus Tan, will constantly “bug” them until they do so.

Said Tan, “I will ‘kick’ them (through sending repeated messages) and give them a warning (that they will be cancelled from the group) if they are too quiet on the Whatsapp group.”

Everyday Workouts for the Mizuno CBD Runners

Tan, 42 is the trainer for the Mizuno Central Business District (CBD) Run exercise group, which meets regularly every Wednesday. He sends out a morning exercise call to all the members of this running group.

The exercises that Tan requires his runners to do daily, are typically core body workouts including crunches, sit-ups, push-ups, planking, jumping jacks, burpees to many other types.

Mizuno CBD Run is held every Wednesday

The training sessions are in the form of an interval and circuit training based workout, to help runners to improve their speed , endurance and overall body strength.

So what do we do now, Coach?

The Mizuno CBD Run is held every Wednesday evening for runners of all abilities to join. This run includes the Everyday workout exercises.

Runners must turn up in person once a month

Runners in the Mizuno Everyday Workouts whatsapp group are required to turn up for the free Mizuno CBD Run at least once a month on Wednesdays – to learn the correct techniques of the exercises and have any mistakes corrected.

More motivating way of doing a workout

Said Tan, “The Everyday Workouts in the Mizuno CBD Run is a much more systematic way of doing a workout. Usually running sessions conducted by other groups are just a single session and not every runner will follow up after meeting up on the day.

So he came up with the “Everyday Workouts” in addition to the weekly run, in June this year, to help his runners to maintain their fitness levels even when they are not training with him.

Runners are hard at work with the Everyday Workouts.

Tan explained, “The regularity of these workouts will help everyone to achieve their goals, be it weight loss or to improve their overall body strength on their runs. It is also an on-going thing and I hope that as many people as possible can benefit from them.

“The body also cannot lapse for more than three days without exercising – otherwise it will go back into a lazy mode and this would defeat the purpose of a once-off workout. So the purpose of the Everyday Workouts prevents the runner from going back into a lazy mode and only exercising once a week with the Mizuno CBD Run group,” he added.

Changes the exercises on a weekly basis

To prevent runners from getting too bored with the exercises, Tan changes them on a regular basis. Altogether, Tan has more than 100 different exercises in his to-do list – with several different versions of the more common ones, such as push-ups and planking.

Said Tan, “The workouts change every week. It is a series of ten exercises and we give them strict instructions for the number of reps and counts to complete each time. Every day, the counts increase for that week.

Doing drills with Lexxus.

“I find that it’s a really good platform because A will motivate B as they have to report to me (on the whatsapp group thread) when they have completed each day’s workout.”

He added that runners do the workouts at any time of the day. For example, some runners wake up even before Tan himself has sent the wake-up call – to do the exercises. Others work out in the wee hours of the night.

“So those people who slack will see their phone notification and get a shock by the number of people who have done the workouts,” Tan said. And he added that this in turn, would certainly motivate them to complete their “homework.”

Runners have seen some progress

By diligently doing the workouts each day as well as turning up for the weekly Mizuno CBD Run sessions, some runners have already seen progress in their running.

Said Lim Kim Soon, a 43-year-old programme manager, “It is really good encouragement for me to see people signing in to say they have done the workouts. It may be pretty tough to squeeze in the time, but it is definitely motivating for me to see everyone doing the exercises. So I do them too.”

Ouch! When can I stop?

Agreed 50-year-old Lynn Yap, a personal assistant, “The workouts have definitely motivated me. I do the workouts diligently every morning and I sweat like anything. My husband is also surprised that I’m up and exercising so early!”

Running times have already fallen

Lynn, whose goal is to do well in her 50km The North Face (TNF) trail race, has already seen her running times fall, in the three weeks that she has been with the Mizuno CBD Runners and a member of Tan’s Whatsapp group.

“I took two hours to complete the 15km Mizuno Wave Run a couple of Sundays ago. For last year’s SingTel Race Against Cancer (same distance run), I took two hours and 20 minutes,” she said.

Yet Lynn tries to remain modest about her achievements, saying that she is just an “ordinary” runner compared to Lexxus Tan himself, who had won the same Mizuno Wave Run in a mere 58 minutes.

Banker Amanda Tan, who is in her 40s, has also seen her running times improving by leaps and bounds. She initially joined the Mizuno CBD Run platform in January last year.

Totally exhausted.

And in the year that she has been a part of it, Amanda has since seen her marathon personal best times rapidly improve from 6 hours and 5 minutes, to the 4 hours and 18 minutes, she achieved at the Tokyo Marathon in February this year.

Said Amanda, “This platform helps me to sustain my speed for a longer time. I used to run very fast for my races at the start – and then slow right down.

“I was also a lazy runner – I didn’t lift my legs! But through this entire Mizuno CBD Run platform, Lexxus ran beside me and corrected my form. He taught me to lift my legs. I think the butt kicks and high knee lift drills are very good. It took me half a year to perfect those exercises.”

Now Amanda is hoping to break the four-hour barrier next year, and she is targeting the Paris Marathon to do so.

Mizuno CBD Run platform has helped him tremendously

Fellow runner Indra Julie, a 41-year-old financial advisor, also agrees that the Mizuno CBD Run platform has helped him tremendously.

He said, “My first half marathon about two years ago was 2 hours and 14 minutes. At this year’s recent 2XU Half Marathon, I ran it in 1 hour and 51 minutes.” So he is definitely happy with his progress.

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