Now meet the “Pinoy Dream Academy Teachers,” their insights, why they took the job and what are they looking for. Gretchen Malalad: Fitness expert

The scholars’ fitness class during their stay at the Pinoy Dream Academy will be on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 8 .m. to 9 a.m. every week. And their teacher is no other than karate expert Gretchen Malalad. I’m not just there to teach them how to look good but to help them with their voice. They need a strong cardiovascular system for them to sing well. And in dancing, the core body is important so core training is important and I’ll work on that,” she explained.

She stressed though that it is not the academy’s aim to make the students lose weight. Rather, for them to have more stamina and energy to get them through the day and most especially get them through their concerts. She believes that having a healthy body will make it easier for them to attend their classes and meet the taxing requirements as scholars. She also pointed out that she’ll be advising them on proper nutrition and the right food to eat and it will depend on them whether they follow her or not.

“Kasama rin sa cardio class ang martial arts, boxing, core training. Since I’m an athlete and have been training abroad, I’m bringing to PDA the technology I learned. I applied it to my curriculum,” she remarked. When she was still in the military (she was an Airwoman 1st Class before she got discharged), she was the Taebo instructor of the soldiers every morning. At the moment she has opened her own karate school, the Karate Development of Arts and Sports at Greenwood Village in Pasig. She’s still a member of the Karate Philippine Team.

For the 26-year-old fitness expert, an important ingredient in becoming a total performer would be conditioning and this is what she hopes the scholars would accomplish with her at PDA’s fitness helm!