Miss Hawaii Allison Chu makes sure fitness is fun and accessible fit her busy schedule

Allison Chu, the newly crowned Miss Hawaii 2016, keeps a bike, surfboard, skateboard, volleyball and a pair of heels in her car to stay ready for whatever activities the day might bring. She keeps them handy in case — “on a whim” — she decides to go surfing or skateboarding in between work and school.

“I try to incorporate different activities into my lifestyle,” she said.

The 22-year-old Chu was crowned June 11, about a month after graduating summa cum laude from the University of Hawaii with a degree in psychology. She said she was “more of a theater kid” in high school and never set foot in a gym until she was 19, but spent the last few months working out regularly at 24 Hour Fitness in Hawaii Kai in preparation for the Miss Hawaii pageant.

“I’m naturally lean, but I wanted to get more toned,” she said. “The pageant motivated me to work out because I wanted to look good and feel confident on stage. It gave me a goal to look forward to.”

Chu went to the gym at least three times a week in preparation for the pageant, but said it was hard to find time between school and her job as a wedding singer at 53 by the Sea, a restaurant in Kakaako that regularly hosts extravagant weddings.

“I was taking 21 credits at the time, so I could only go to the gym every once in a while,” she said. “But in between classes I would go running or skateboard, just something to get moving.” She added, “I go surfing in the morning, too, if I have time.”

The Miss Hawaii pageant increased Chu’s interest in fitness, but she said she mostly prefers hiking or surfing with friends and trying different fitness activities around the island. She recently tried a “really tough” CrossFit program that opened in her area as well as yoga classes, including a hot-yoga class which she said made her feel like she had shed a layer of skin in the heat.

Smiley and energetic, Chu described herself as a “naturally antsy person who couldn’t sit inside all day and be OK with it.” She often plays volleyball and basketball with friends and runs through her Hawaii Kai neighborhood every other day. Chu’s friends also taught her how to surf at their favorite surf spot, Baby Makapuu near Sea Life Park.

“Going out with friends is the best because then I’m not thinking about working out, I’m just going surfing because it’s fun or hiking because it’s pretty outside today,” she said.

Chu won the swimsuit category in last month’s pageant but said looking good wasn’t her main focus in preparation for the pageant because the bikini body score is worth only 10 percent. “The judges really want to focus on who you are” instead of how you look, she said.

Chu has been a singer and entertainer since her youth, discovering her passion for opera when she was 5. She performed in musical theater productions in high school, and her confidence on stage no doubt helped her win the talent category with her performance of a song from the 1918 comic opera “Gianni Schicchi.”

She’s also worked as a professional model, which was an eye-opening experience. After graduating from Kalani High School in 2012, Chu took UH classes online and spent a few years modeling and acting in Los Angeles and New York where some of the friends and roommates she worked with were “crazy about working out” and “always worried about their bodies.”

“With modeling it’s easy to be insecure and feel like you’re not good enough,” said Chu, who never felt that. “Even today’s social media can make you feel that way because of the models you see there.”

Chu said she hasn’t begun working out for the Miss America pageant yet, which will be held Sept. 6-11 in Atlantic City, N.J., but plans on going to the gym soon and getting a personal trainer as well as cleaning up her diet and getting more rest. For now she continues to enjoy outdoor activities with friends.

“Hawaii allows you to be so active and do things that are fun and free,” Chu said. “To me, being healthy is really about learning to accept your body and being able to live a healthy lifestyle.”

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