The last edition of online BLEND, published on February 15, was about self-connection. In this magazine, several articles were written about self-connection in your physical health, mental health, and about how to improve these aspects of self-connection. To find out how working out could contribute to this and the connection with others, we interviewed Sies de Witte, director of BRESS. Jenna Claassens published BRESS: Working out for connections with others and yourself part 1 last week. In that part, Sies de Witte introduces himself. It is discussed how sports make the connection with yourself stronger, what the best sport is to push your boundary, and tips for beginners are shared. This article follows on from last week's article, talking about physical health and what BRESS is offering.

How long does it take before seeing a difference in your physical health?

"Around six weeks, you will notice a difference. The first month is for nothing because your body is still recovering. You don't use your muscles 100 percent yet. When you don't do sport, you are only using 60 percent of your muscles, and when you start working out, you build this up to 80 percent. So, you will get stronger in those first weeks, but there won't be a difference in appearance. If you are starting to work out because you want to change your appearance, don't go for the short-term, like half a year, but for structural. Fitness is a way of life!"

You have a lot of sports available at BRESS. Which sports are more popular than others?

"If you look at the top 10 sports in the Netherlands, then BRESS is very similar to that. Fitness is number one because it's very nice in terms of time. You can do it individually, and there are no set times for when you can do it. The less popular sports are the ones of the cooperation partners, such as diving or roller derby, because the price is not 100 percent included in the membership, and they are less-known sports." For example, Roller Derby is a team sport in which two teams of 5 members all skate in the same direction. One player from each team (the jammer) tries to score by passing players from the other team. Both teams do their best to help their own jammer as much as possible and hinder the other team's jammer.

Want to see more about roller derby? Check out this video.

There is a fitness app available. How can you see your progress in this app with, for example, sports such as volleyball?

"You can fill in several measurements such as weight, length, and body fat percentage. If you keep track of that, the app will indicate whether you are making progress with a curve. You can have your instructor measure this every month and keep track of it that way. So, it has more to do with your physical condition."

Is there anything else you would like to add to this interview that we haven't asked yet?

Sies de Witte mentions: "The emotion that is released is the cool thing about sports. The loss you take as a team or the victory you take as a team, in fitness when you step over the line, that emotion is released, and that creates a bond with your fellow athletes. Maybe that's the best part. That creates an impact."

Especially during the COVID-19 era, sports are in high demand because many students feel lonely. BRESS always enjoys welcoming new people. "If you feel lonely, come and play sports once and you will really be included in a team. Go for a team sport and not for fitness, because then you'll automatically be included in the sport."

BRESS represents fit-fun-&-friends, which refers to sports' physical, social, and mental aspects. Therefore, they find it very important to provide activities with a special touch and constantly seek ways to bring these three aspects together in their sports. By putting an instructor in the room, who has a specific task for the members, makes a conversation, pairs up people who are on the same level and are training alone, BRESS tries to provide guidance on fun-&-friends.

If you are interested in working out or feeling lonely and want to connect with others or yourself. Then you should check out BRESS! Click here to visit the site and have a nice experience.

Also check out Jenna’s article BRESS: Working out for connections with others and yourself part 1 last week.