Sticking To The Fitness Cue

Li Si Yang and her Fitness Cue. Nathalie Walker photo nwalker@midweek.com

Personal trainer Li Si Yang has created a new exercise tool called the Fitness Cue aimed to improve your posture, increase your flexibility and improve your balance.

“I’m always looking for unique, fun stuff to work out with,” says Yang. “I went to a martial arts store, found this 5-foot stick and used it for stretching, but then I started playing around with it and thought, wow, I can do certain exercises with this to loosen up my shoulders.

The Fitness Cue weighs 3 1/2 to 4 pounds, depending on the stick, which is made of wood, and has a special patented deep groove with hand-gripping slides. It also can come apart to fit in an easy-to-carry, portable case.

It costs $300 and comes with a foam roller and two DVDs (one with more than 80 exercises to do with the Fitness Cue, and the other with more than 30 exercises to do with the foam roller).

A former bodybuilding and fitness competitor, Yang moved to Hawaii from Canton, China, when she was 8 years old. She won the first contest she entered, the 2001 Miss Student Body at the University of Hawaii, and also took first place at the 2003 Miss Hawaiian Island NPC, and was the overall winner in the 2003 Miss Aloha Muscle NPC.

“I specialize in the ABCs of exercise which is posture, flexibility, breathing, core and mind-muscle connection,” notes Yang. “Once all five of those key principals work together like an orchestra, then all your movements become effortless and strong.”

Yang introduced the Fitness Cue last week at the Honolulu Marathon Expo and will show it again at the Honolulu Gift Fair Dec. 14 to 16 at Neal Blaisdell Center Exhibition Hall.

She also will teach Fitness Cue classes at the Still & Moving Center Wednesdays at 6:45 p.m. starting Jan. 9, and is available at her studio Journey to Fitness located at 3410 Campbell Ave. near Kapahulu. For details, visit journeytofitness.com or call 226-4653.