Namita Nayyar:
What exercises comprise your fitness regime or workout routine that you may like to share?
Cynthia Kaye McWilliams:
I love weightlifting, it makes me feel strong! Dead-lifting or bench press but only under the supervision of my trainer, Harris Martin. He tends to focus on upper body one day, lower the next, with a little cardio and abs sprinkled in. When I work out solo, I just listen to my body. If I feel like my core is getting flabby I do some high intensity cardio and hit the floor for ab work afterward. If I feel like my legs have been burned out, I focus on upper body or vice versa. If I feel like I’ve over done it this week then maybe I just stretch. Sometimes after a vacation where I ate too much and worked out too little, I know I need to give myself a week to focus on consistency and getting back into a habit instead of focusing on intensity.
5 travel tips on exercise:
Do it! When you travel, it’s so tempting to avoid your workout, but it will be so much harder when you get back, so just do it!
- Try to incorporate your workout into your vacation. Run on the beach, do an excursion that involves physical activity, take a class if the hotel or resort offers that, make a trip to the gym a part of exploring your hotel, etc…
- Don’t let excuses win. So you forgot your tennis shoes, so what? Maybe that’s an excuse to try a different kind of workout, maybe try yoga or pilates on this vacation or something else that doesn’t require sneakers.
- If you don’t feel like leaving the room, that’s okay too! There are plenty of workouts you can do right from your hotel room or air bnb that don’t require any weights or equipment. Check your hotel tv guide, many hotels even offer a workout channel right there. If not do a quick internet search or check out womenfitness.net and you will find plenty of options!
- Set yourself up for success! Anticipate your workout while packing. Bring something easy like bands, bring your favorite sneakers and a bright colored workout top or outfit, something that will make you feel like you want to workout.
- Make a great playlist before you travel, make sure it’s downloaded so you’re not stuck with whatever music they are playing in the hotel gym. Motivate yourself!!!
Namita Nayyar:
Do you take some special diet or have a strict menu that you follow to remain healthy and physically fit?
Cynthia Kaye McWilliams:
No, not really. I’ve honestly always struggled with my diet and I try not to think of my relationship to food as one of rules and sacrifice. I love eating, cooking and sharing meals with friends. I love exploring other food cultures when I travel. And I don’t really want to give that up. But obviously a healthy diet requires some sacrifice, it can’t be all indulgence all the time. So I don’t restrict, I just try to balance. I try to eat less (in both portion size and frequency) of things that I know will make me feel heavy or slow. And I try to balance out heavy eating days by making them high activity days as well.
Diet tips to follow before retiring? I try to not eat directly before going to bed. If I start feeling snacky late at night I find that having one bite of a salty thing, one bite of a sweet thing and then drinking a full glass of water can curb a craving and hunger at the same time.
Namita Nayyar:
You also thoroughly enjoy lending your voiceover for multiple characters and shows on Cartoon Network, animated feature film, Bilal and several video games. How did this idea land in your lap?
Cynthia Kaye McWilliams:
When I was in college, we had a voiceover course, it interested me then, but I had an instructor who told me that I probably wouldn’t do very well in voiceover because my voice was so raspy. Commercials at that time favored light, crisp clean voices, I guess. Well, in the end it just motivated me to pursue it more. I like a challenge 😉 What I discovered was that voiceover, particularly in the arena of animation and video games is much more about creating character and communicating their motives, backstory, current action, etc…not so much about the vocal quality. There are as many voices as there are people, there is no “bad” voice, there is only how you use your voice to communicate a story. That was my focus and it has led me to voice characters in games like Halo 5, Cyberpunk 2077, State of Decay, FarCry, League of Legends and many more.
Disclaimer
The Content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
