Chameleon

Louie Angsico is a fitness professional. A degree holder in Human Kinetics from the University of the Philippines, he has racked up medals in various sports held nationally and internationally. He is a practitioner of martial arts and also a student of dance.

I fortunately got the chance to meet this well-rounded gentleman when he guested in my Unang Hirit fitness segment.

Louie is of average in height, is fit, and has mestizo features. We shook hands while I was still half awake (nakakahiya!) and quickly proceeded taping our five episodes for the day. We did hi-low aerobics, Latin aerobics, partner stretching, and many more. It was during our breaks that I discovered the many things he is into. He teaches gymnastics-based movement classes for kids and is going to conduct a seminar on being Fit and Fabulous, a program PSI Asia is offering.

Fit and Fabulous is designed to get employees "kick started." It combines basic fitness training, nutritional guidance and image enhancement to help them look better quickly and get on the road to healthier minds and bodies. Fit and Fabulous will teach people how to stay fit and how to workout by themselves.

Louie says Fit and Fabulous is "fitness from within. How you train is how you live. You have to have focus. It has to come from the heart."

From the heart. Very true. That is something I believe in. When I trained for the Great Bodies competition, everything I did was from my heart. And it was so nice to meet someone else who believed in what I did.

Louie was asthmatic as a child. He was also hyperactive. His love for sports helped rid him of his asthma. He played basketball during his elementary days. In high school, he played soccer, table tennis, and got involved in the martial arts–kung-fu and karate for two years. In college, he joined the swimming team.

When he was 24, Louie trained for gymnastics. His friends told him matanda na daw siya for the sport. He took it as a challenge. After a year, he competed and won third overall. He joined Palarong Pambansa in 1995 and proved his friends wrong. As I always say, it’s not one’s age but one’s focus and determination that count. Louie also got into powerlifting and won in 1991–Novice National Champion.

How Louie got into aerobics is another story. In 1992, he injured his back because of powerlifting and had to rest from that sport. While at the Sweat Shop gym in Katipunan, an elderly lady approached him, prodding him to join the aerobics class. He didn’t want to but was convinced to try. He finished the class with great difficulty. Hapong hapo daw siya because of his size.

Again, he took it as a challenge. He started attending aerobics classes under Lalaine Suarez who helped him become an instructor. After a year, he was teaching three classes a day. At that time, he also trained with a friend, Jerome Dimalanta and then later on with Cesar Mateo.

They kept on training, helping each other become stronger and better equipped for the sport. One day, sabi nila, why don’t they make a routine and join the Luzon Aerobics Championships? It started as katuwaan but they won! That was in 1993. Then, they took it a step further. They trained to compete in the nationals and they made it. That, too, was in 1993. Then, they became part of the First National Team that was sent to Las Vegas where they competed.

Louie didn’t stop there. He also became a personal trainer. His first client was singer Louie Heredia. He also got into ballroom dancing, taekwondo, boxing, arnis, ballet and jujitsu. In taekwondo, he won gold. In boxing, he was lucky to be trained at the L and M gym, where the likes of boxer Manny Pacquiao were trained.

Everything Louie got himself into somehow complemented each other. For instance, the hip movement in ballet helped him in his taekwondo kicks. His ballet cleaned up his gymnastics. Boxing helped him in his arnis. He said that changing sports made him more excited and enthusiastic about training as a whole.

Louie now teaches gymnastics-based movement classes for kids at Young learner’s Collaborative, Live and Learn and Learning Tree.

He considers teaching kids most fulfilling. It’s so wonderful to start them right; watching them learn and improve is the most fulfilling part, he says.

Louie and partner Delby Bragais, a well-known fashion designer and image enhancement expert, were approached by PSI Asia, a basic leadership seminar. They wanted a program that would provide tools and techniques needed to develop physical fitness and enhance self-expression. And that was how Fit and Fabulous was born.

The seminar uses lectures, experiential exercises and demonstrations to bring the principles of fitness and image enhancement to life. Fit and Fabulous covers Body Type Analysis; Visual Poise; Skin and Hair Care; Relaxation Techniques; Fitness Fundamentals (stretching, firming, strengthening); Nutritional Guidance; Principles of Grooming; Accessorizing; and Power Dressing and Creating Personal Impact.

The seminar starts today and the second will be on Sunday, Aug. 11 at the Astoria Plaza Hotel, Ortigas from 9 to 5 p.m. PSI Asia will also offer three other programs aimed at getting employees up and moving.

Louie got into many sports and gave to each 100 percent of himself. To each passion, it was all or nothing. For me, that’s the only way to go. You only get out what you give in, and I believe that is why he has gotten so much in return.

Louie equips himself with the needed knowledge from everything he gets himself into, and all these have contributed to who he is now– an effective teacher, personal trainer, fitness instructor and leader.

It’s so wonderful to meet someone who is so passionate about life and what it has to offer. Someone who is always eager to learn, to better himself and embrace everything that comes his way. This man knows what it means to live because he experiences it. I’ve seen in him the willingness to share what he has learned and making people’s lives more meaningful. If only for that, he has done his job.

I am quite new in the field of fitness but meeting someone like Louie has inspired me to continue my mission of encouraging others in any way I can. As he says, you have to have focus and determination. And like him, I, too, believe it has to come from one’s heart.

(For inquiries on Fit and Fabulous, call tel. nos. 813-1188 or 813-1208. You can also e-mail info@psi-asis.org or visit http//www.psi-asia.org. E-mail me at babyjackster@yahoo.com)