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Singapore Personal Trainer - Fat loss, muscle building, performing better - Who wants to be average?

When first time visitors come to my gym, they often have similar goals. Fat loss, muscle gain, better performance, better health etc.

One of the questions they often ask is "what are the average results that people get".

That is a fair question. But not a very good one.

I'm not looking for people who want to be average! The commitment, time, energy, and money that you would spend on good coaching, should not leave you with an "average" experience, or average results.

Ask me "what is the BEST result you have ever seen" - and aim to be even better!

Signapore Fitness Coach - Sleep & Fat Loss Results

A short video clip as I share about how sleep affects fat loss.

Singapore Fitness Coach: Running - Really you don't need to do much of jogging

One of the best sayings is that "you don't run to get fit", you "get fit to run". Today one of my personal training clients experienced it first hand. Before joining the gym he had been running/jogging recreationally around his home. His usual route took him 25 mins.

After 2 months training with us, he tried the route just for fun and it took - 17 mins. This is a 8 minute improvment! 30% improvement! Outstanding.

He has gotten alot stronger in training and it is carrying over to running. Do you think, that even with 2 months of running training he could improve 8mins? I think not!

Just another example of running not being the best way to improve running...

Read more about why joggers need strength training here!

Singapore Fitness Coaching: Trans Fat - This comes as no suprise...

Trans fat is everywhere and you know its bad for you. Not even a gram is acceptable because your body can't process it.

Scary thought is that the FDA doesn't require food manufacturers to declare trans fat less than 0.5g per serving. So if you eat 10 servings of 0.4g of trans fat foods, you will get 4g of trans fat while "thinking" you get 0.

Another scary thing is that trans fat is VERY close (several molecules away) from PLASTIC. That makes the story above not a surprise at all.

If you eat trans fat foods - you might as well the plastic packaging as well!

cakes, cookies, crackers, pies, bread, potato chips, corn chips, popcorn, margarine, french fries... you get the idea!

Singapore Corporate Fitness: Real Life Lies and Misconceptions

The false stuff is still out there...

I was having lunch with some friends in the finance industry.

These are smart educated people who earn good money. But they still had some sommon misconceptions about fitness and how to get more of it.

But, they were open to learning and thats great news!

Here are some of the issues that came up:

Core stability? How do you train it? - Stability exercises not sit-ups

Nutrition basics - whoa! a calories is NOT a calorie... the Quality of calories matters alot!

Isolations, slow, machine exercises - Oops, those combine the 3 LEAST effective types into one time wasting program!

Jogging - dangerous and unproductive

Eating more often makes me... LEANER?

It's too big of a job to clear up all these misconceptions one by one. Good thing we have the internet and I have a website and newsletter (subscribe at the bottom of the blog page) that can help spread the news!

Singapore Fitness: What we do at the gym...

Here is a video of some of our coaches and clients in action!


Different clients are at differnt stages of progression. Eventually everybody gets to their goals.

Coach Jonathan Wong: Father's Day 2008

Dad And I in Doha, Qatar

My father lives 6000km away from me. He works in a bank in the middle east. But that is what success as a parent is right... leaving your kids with the confidence that they are prepared for whatever the world throws at them!

My dad set all of us kids up for success by providing a stable and loving family environment. Thats way more important that any material provision.

My dad really has been "teaching" me to fish rather than giving me the fish and making it too easy.

Even really simple but important stuff like valuing money so that I don't waste it...

Nowdays, lots of kids have fancy shoes and clothes. While I did not really desire those things I did notice that many of my primary school classmates had them while I did not. I know that my dad was not poor so it was not about the cost of the items.

It was about the fact that my feet were growing and I would waste shoes by not using them to their full potential.

Simple stuff like that goes a long way in teaching wisdom... and thats just a small example

Thanks dad! Happy fathers day 2008.

Sinapore Fitness Coach: If you haven't read the full article on my site yet... - EPOC

Yesteday I got another bunch of emails asking me cardio questions and all the time I tell them that interval training is the best way to do it. This can come in an form. Swimming, sprining, skipping rope, lifitng weights etc... It is because of Excess Post Exercise Oxygen Consumtion (EPOC). This burns calories for DAYS after the training ends.

The body needs to get back to "normal" after such hard training... so many things need to be done "inside" that take up extra calories and burn more fat!

Restore ATP-PC: replenish energy
Restore Oxygen Stores: increase blood oxygen
Restore Heart and Breathing Rates to Normal: This takes time and energy
Restore Hormone Levels: there is a chemical pump that works hard to get the hormones back in order
Restore Body Temperature: each degree above normal takes 13-15% increase in calorie burning
Remove Lactate: This byproduct also takes energy to remove

All the programs at Genesis Health & Performance take advantage of these facts to keep you burning fat 24/7

Singapore Fitness Coach: Veggie Omelette

This recipie is probably not going to make waves like the 0 carb bread will... but its still a good way to get veggies into your meals. Veggies are important due to their many nutrients and their alkalinity (explained here).

• Mixed veggies of your liking: Broccoli, peppers, onions, cucumbers, cherry tomattoes... whatever
• Mushrooms
• Cheese
• Eggs

Pan fry or microwave till the chesse melts.

Singapore Personal Trainer: Zero Carb Bread Update

Some people on forums have tried the 0 carb bread with nuts crushed and mixed in. Thats a good idea! I'm gonna give it a shot soon.

Singapore Fitness Coach: Zero Carb Bread - Thanks to Chef Dawn for the idea

Ingredients can be any amount but keep the ratios about:
1 scoop protein powder : 0.75 egg : 1 tbs water

Mix it up and fry in a non stick/buttered up pan. Flip it over when one side browns. After flipping, leave on a low flame till it rises. Then its done!

It tastes like bread, rises in the pan like bread.

Post workout, add some fruit or jam.

Rest of the day add some natural peanut butter.

This recipe is going to save alot of dieters alot of suffering. At first I couldn't beleive it myself but it really is bread!

Singapore Personal Trainer: Supplement Update

Well so far... I can't exactly tell if I'm digesting better, but there are some indications that I am. I seem to be sleeping deeper which is good for stress levels, recovery and health in general. I suspect the HCL helps me digest magnesium better and that mineral helps sleep.

Singapore Fitness Coach: Supplement Update

I have just started taking a old fashioned supplement. It used to be sold in Singapore, but its cheap and I think the profit margins are low so the local supplement distributors don't carry it.

I first read about it on Charles Poliquin's site, and how it will help digestion and absorbtion of food. So that the nutritious food and good supplements which I am already eating, can be properly absorbed and not go to waste (literally down the toilet).

It is Hydrochloric acid. Good for dissolving metals...and good for digesting food.

(don't worry, our stomach linings protect us from it while still allowing digestion to go on inside the stomach... yet another brillitantly designed piece of body machinery)

So far from the tests I have done, I think I was quite defficient in this stomach acid.

I suspect many other people are deficient too.

Singapore Personal Trainer: Food Acidity

Here is a PDF of the acidity/alkalinity of some common foods. Make sure you get a balance of both so that you maintain good health. (Right click to download). -ve means alkaline, +ve means acidic.

Buy why are veggies important? (the alkaline stuff)

One of their key benefits (besides anti-oxidants, fiber, micronutrietnts etc...) is that they are alkaline. compared to most carbs and protein sources which are acidic.

If we eat too much acidic stuff without enough veggies,, our body will actually take minerals from our muscles and bones to balance out our blood acidity. That means weaker muscles and bones. bad Bad BAD.

Singpaore Fitness Trainer: The Focus Issue

As a Fitness Coach here in Singapore, I know that many clients want it all and they want it now. Thats good! And as a coach and as a fitness professional my staff and I keep up to date on the latest in science and practice so that we can deliver results!

But in fitness, just like in many things, focus is critial. You can'l lose fat really fast and gain muscle really fast at the same time! You can't improve your vertical jump and your 10km run time fast at the same time... and so the list goes on...

I like the saying of Dr George Washington Carver (not the US president). He was a scientist who discovered more than 300 uses of the peanut and these uses made peanut production popular and made his state of Alabama rich.

He was wondering what to research on and realized that he needed to "Decrease the EXTENT and increase the INTENT" thus he ended up focusing on just 1 thing... the peanut! HE got great results.

Part of coaching is helping clients to focus on one thing at a time so that they get consistent results. Too much extent with too little intent = nothing!

Dr. Carver Showing some intense intent with his peanut research

Singapore Sports: Coaching Team Singapore Silat

The Senior Instructor of Genesis Health & Performance, Coach Edwin Chew just wrote his first article! woohoo. This one is about his experiences coaching the National Singapore Silat team as their strength and conditioning coach. Read it here!

Singapore Fitness Coach: The best physique improvement tool ever

• Better than the best training program
• Better than the best nutrition plan
• Certainly better than any slimming center or other "easy way out" fad
• Better than the best coaching (gasp!)

It is a strong and positive community giving each other social support.

You are the average of the 5 people you hang around most with!

That is why Genesis Health & Performance clients train in groups. Social support is critical to success in fitness. It is VERY rare for people to succede alone. That is why I am so proud of our coaches and clients and the community we have.

Singapore Corporate Fitness: Workplace Health Grant

I am giving a talk about fat loss to Texas Instruments tomorrow. They are the first of my corporate clients to take advantage of the health promotion board's workplace fitness grant.

For every dollar the company spends, the government will give them 1 more! So if they spend $10000 on health services, they get $10000 more from the government!

If health really matters when it comes to productivity (and IT DOES) then everybody should be taking up this great offer! Free money to get healthy? Uh... there are no disadvantages.

Singapore Fitness Coach: Is it possible to get a Degree (reach your short term goals) without getting an Education (life long learning)

I was thinking about this recently. Most of us have degrees/diplomas/certifications in many things. But when it comes to the true value of education, I find many people lacking. The love for life long learning is WAY more important than the degrees we hold. Nothing wrong with having degrees! In fact many of my best friends have PhDs to their name. But don't lose sight of the journey that gets us to the degree.

The education where correct habits and character are learnt is more important and ensures more success in life than the degree itself.

Same thing with fitness. Im proud of the clients who lose 17kg a month (he was very overweight or else this would not be safe!), jump 50cm more in their broad jump after training with us for a few months, lose inches in weeks and fix their posture and movement problems quickly with the right corrective exercsises.

But those are "degrees" short term results. Important yes, but not as important as the life and habits that they find.

I'm far more interested in education. The love for learning can be grown with the right coaching and the right environment. So can the love for makign wise and healthy choices in life!

Singapore Fitness Coach: Fat loss- The discouraging moments

One of my clients was recently feeling "down". She has been training with us for a month and has been pretty good sticking to a fat loss kind of diet plan. She lost 2kg in the first 2 weeks but for the next 2 she didn't lose any weight.

Sure some of it was muscle gain, but we also know that muscle gain is not a fast process and you can only gain (if EVERYTHING is correct and you are NOT on drugs) about 0.5kg per week.

My advice was to "stick with it". Because fat loss doesn't seem to be linear.

We measured again this week and she lost another 3kg... yeah!

While we are not overly concerned with weight loss and rather prefer fat loss, this client started quite overweight so weight loss is a good way to gague progress for now.

Singapore Personal Trainer: I eat too much!

If you have heard me talk about my previous (i.e. fat boy) life, you will know that I like eating! My favorite "sinful" food is ice cream and warm chocolate cake - the one with the oozing liquid chocolate in the middle. Yummy.

While I don't eat sinful foods often - 1 or 2 times a month. And I do have healthy habits 90% of the time or more... I have trouble getting REALLY lean, not just visible abs (which for me is now normal because if the good habits) but really really lean.

I simply eat too much!

I eat healthy food but I eat it in unlimited amounts.

Now I'm going to eat them in limited amounts. Even good stuff like fruits and lean meat will be limited. The only unlimited things will be green veggies!

Singapore Personal Trainer: What If I trained, but ate anything I want?

If you are trying to lose fat, exercise without proper nutrition will not work.

You will gain the health benefits, and you will "feel" better than not doing anything at all. BUT if you want the visible changes, you will need to change your diet and nutrition as well.

But a recent study by one of my fellow fitness professionals in the US came to a pretty shocking (but very commonly observed) result. A group of sedentary people with high body fat (which is most people nowdays!) did 12 weeks of hard training - 3 hours/week of weights and 2 hours/week of cardio and did not have any dietary control.

Their average results:
Gain 1kg muscle, lost 1/2kg fat, change in fat percentage -1%... which is VERY discouraging for that amount of exercise which is more than most people do anyway.

I cannot overstate the fact that dietary changes are super important!

Good diet is a big part of the reason our clients get results:

• A very overweight client dropped 17kg in 1 month of training
• Another large client dropped 9kg of weight, lost 12kg of fat and gained 3 kg of muscle in 2 months
• Yet another lost 10cm on his waist in just 5 weeks

This happens when the "switch" goes off and says... wow I better not be eating so much crap!

Singapore Fitness Coach: Mother's Day

Mom and I on the Nile river

Mother day! Yeah... my mom is great and her encouragement and love is a big reason that I feel like I can accomplish anything. Happy mother's day 2008!

Mom showing pretty good form on the single leg dead lift

Singapore Fitness Coach: Research Is a bit behind - Benefits of Jump Training

Jump Training - Men & Women, Boys and Girls, all our training programs have some form of reactive training

Part of any good training program (if you have no pre-existing medical problems) is "reactive" kind of training. That means jumping and bouncing stuff.

Besides being really good for fat-loss (try 25 burpees with a jump and see how your heart rate is!) they have an especially good other benefit, they improve bone density and mineral content. So ladies, say Bye Bye osteoporosis! And the good news is that the benefits last a long time. In the study, the benefits lasted more than 24 weeks after training stopped (and no... you shouldn't stop training).

But the results are clear (altho the study was done initially on rats...) reactive training has so many benefits, that if it is well coached and taught, it's a great addition to any training program.

Singapore Fitness Coach: This is madness - stop whining!

I heard this story on the radio on my away to work today. It's nonsense. This prisoner in the USA filed a prisoner civil rights lawsuit against the government. Why? because hes losing weight in prison where is is charged with murder!

He lost more than 80kg from 180+ to 140kg... and hes complaining? He should be thankful.

Singapore Personal Trainer: Obesity, Greater girth, shortened life

No shock here. Being obese, tubby or just plain fat not only makes you more likely to be dumber in your later years, it makes your later years lesser as well (i.e. you die younger). While this is no surprise...

It is something to worry about because this is probably the first time in recent history where the life expectancy is dropping!

Yes. The cigarette manufacturers are selling you the sticks of death...

Yes. The food manufacturers are selling you food that has nitrates, trans-fats and environmental toxins that kill ya...

Yes. We live in stressful Singapore where work hours are long and time is short...

But No that doesn't mean that we can forget about taking care of ourselves. We can always make the hard choices that lead to better health. We can't take care of our families or loved ones if we don't.

I don't think of time/money invested training and eating as "spent". I think of it as "saved"... saved on medical bills, and saved on a future low quality life!

Singapore Fitness Coach: Mental Toughness

I like competing and coaching sport. The MOST frustrating thing is mental weakness. Letting emotions determine play, fearing the opponent and the situation, getting affected by poor officiating, negative communication between teamates or between players and coach... all these are signs of mental weakness.

As a fitness professional I see the same things in clients. As coaches at my company Genesis Health & Performance, we help people overcome these mental and attitude difficulties as well as their physical ones!

Stuff like:
"I have to eat what my grandmother cooks" - and it's oily starchy food
"I don't have time to eat regular meals" - because my work is so stressful
"Training is tough!" - but you have to make up for the next 47 hours where you will be sitting at a desk!
AND SO on and on...

But there is nothing wrong with that. All top performers have coaches. Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, etc. Having coaching is just a means to the correct end. Just like a good pair of running shoes or a better tennis racket.

How's your mental toughness?

Singapore Fitness Coach: Persistance (Green Eggs and Ham)

You know, part of being a coach is helping people push through tough times. Helping them to persevere and to be persistent.

Just like the Dr Seuss Book about green eggs and ham. "Sam I am" tells his friend all about green eggs and ham and how wonderful they are and asks his friend to eat them.

Over

and Over

and Over

and Over again...

16 times to be exact...

and finally his friend gives in!

How persistent are you with your fitness goals? A minor injury set you back? The diet didn't get you as lean as you had hoped? Your co workers are not supportive of your healthy eating?

16 times!

And you can even get somebody to eat green eggs.

Something to think about huh!

Singapore Performance Coach: Hamstring Injuries

I like American football. In fact I went to play with a group this past weekend. 2 of them were nursing hamstring injuries. This is common in sports where there is a lot of sprinting. But why do they happen?

Remember that my philosophy on injury prevention is that all non-contact injuries are preventable. That means that if you hurt your hamstring running, it can be prevented.

Sure, you need to train your hamstrings both as hip extensors (dead-lift type movements) as well as knee flexors (I like slide board leg curls, or leg curls on a ball).

But I believe that if your hamstrings are weak, they are not that likely to be injured. You just won't be fast!

However, it is you gluteals that prevent hamstring injury. Most athletes have terrible gluteal function. One of my most gifted basketball guys this year is an awesome player but with bad glute function. Thats what makes him injury prone!

Both the glutes and the hamstrings do similar things in movement. And if the glutes are weak, the hamstrings take over and do more work than they can. Then you get a pull. So get those glutes functioning and your hamstrings will thank you for it.

Read about glute function at my latest articles. Part 1, Part 2

Singapore Fitness Coach: Observation - Start Health with younger population

sI am very grateful that my company and I appeared in the March 2008 edition of Pioneer Magazine. The reason I managed to get that publicity is because of my free ippt-website that helps all national servicemen of all ages and fitness levels do well in their IPPT test.

But I was thinking that I could do even better (always trying to do better!) and my next project will be a NAPFA website for youth fitness. I myself had big NAPFA problems in the past. Especially for the 2.4km run as well as the sit and reach. I'm gonna build this site so I can help young people do well in this test.

Learning how to train correctly and effectively at a young age builds confidence and competence. Confidence and competence build compliance. And that leads to long term health.

Singapore Personal Trainer: Individual Needs Met in a group setting

The whole idea of "personal training" means that its... ahem personal. That is why we do assessments, and individual program design. But think about it, do karate instructors train mostly in groups or as individuals? Groups! What about swimming, groups, what about sports teams even at international levels? They do their conditioning in groups!

Groups allow me to keep costs down yet within our groups we meet individual needs to correct imbalances, as well as fix posture and movement problems. This seems to be a win win for everybody.

The best part is the social support. Remember that we are the average of the 5 people we spend the most time with, so spending time consistently with a group of people who are going to do the right thing for their future and their health is going to be good for you.

As opposed to going it alone...

Our group classes are affordable and effective. Click here up for a free consult to see if our groups can meet your fitness and performance needs.

Singapore Personal Trainer: Obesity and Brain Function

Yeah as a personal trainer and fitness coach here in Singapore, its my job to tell people exactly how bad obesity is. It leads to more sick days and costs employers money. So its bad for the country and the economy.

If you don't care about your boss and how much he earns... you should at least care about your brain because nobody's responsible for that except you.

New research shows obesity linked to increased chance of dementia in old age! Ugh. thats SCARY!

Like just about every major illness in developed countries, it goes away with diet and exercise... no surprises there!

Singapore Personal Trainer: Observation - Beware what you buy

One of my clients missed 2 training sessions this week. He is one of the most dedicated guys who has gotten some of the best results of any client! But why miss training?

Stomach viral flu thats why. Constant toilet trips for 3 days, and a trip to the hospital for an IV drip. He lost 3kg in 3 days.

He got dehydrated, weaker and less healthy.

Hes back now but it will take about a week or so of proper eating and training to get back to pre-sickness levels.

But hey isn't that what some places in Singapore that specialize in weight loss do?

Wrap a client up in cling wrap and stay in a heated room to lose "weight"... or some injections that cause your body to cleanse itself?

I think I have found the perfect analogy.

Those therapies have no scientific backing (and those centers will not be able to provide any...).
They are dangerous

They work as well as...

A Stomach Flu Virus

Same mechanism - you lose water, go toilet more...

Same results - you lose health

NOT A VALID WEIGHT LOSS METHOD

Singapore Fitness Coach: What Motivates You?

As a fitness coach, I know that everybody knows the benefits of proper exercise.

• Improved Blood Profile - nice but I'm busy
• Lower Blood Pressure - nice but I'm tired every day
• Reduced Risk Of Heart Disease - nice but I'm just changed jobs, got to please the boss
• Reduced Chance of Disease (cancer, diabetes, etc) - nice but I'm lazy
• Increase sense of well being - nice but I'm happy being average
• Healthy bones, joints, muscles - nice but I'm ok with a bit of pain after all isn't it just aging?

Makes you look good! And feel good about yourself!- Ah ha!

Hit the nail on the head.

Different people are motivated by different things, but even high level athletes are motivated at least somewhat by the way exercise makes them look. So enjoy the way your training makes you look and feel! There is nothing wrong with that!

Singapore Fitness Coaching: Corrective Exercise

This class of exercise requires a good assessment and then a good application of exercises that correct the problems found in the assessment.

My company is offering a new Corrective Exercise and Fat Loss Class in April. Check it out, I think it will help many people who feel they may not be getting as much out of exercise as they would like to.

There is a special price for this round because this is a new class! Go and check it out.

Singapore Personal Trainer: The 80-20 rule in training

Use Of Time: The difference between success and failure!

I know that many other personal trainers, fitness professionals and fitness coaches in Singapore and around the world use this rule in their training, coaching, and program design. I'll just give some examples here of how this rule is used in some sample programs for my clients.

The general idea of this rule is the 80% of your results come from 20% of your efforts.

That is very true. But I would like to look at it from the perspective of our most important asset.

Time

I often have clients who have to cut short training because of urgent work or family commitments. This is not their fault.

Here is where the 80-20 rule makes it's presence most obvious in the training program.

Our training programs for the majority of clients include individualized Self massage, corrective training (for posture/movement dysfucntion) warmup, core training and static stretching.

Followed by strength training and then metabolic training/cardio

This usually takes 55-70mins

But what if I had 25 mins?

PRIORITIZE

I would first cut out the self massage with rollers/tennis balls - yes its important, but people have gotten good results injury free before this came onto the fitness scene. skipping a session of this is not the worst thing in the world. And most of my clients buy a foam roller for home use anyway so its not a big deal (in the grand scheme of things) self massage does not fall into the critical 20%

Then I would cut out the cardio at the end. This is used to burn extra fat calories at the end of a workout when fat stores are most easily burned. It's good for fat loss but its not critical compared to maintaining lean muscle mass. Again, not part of the critical 20%.

Then I would cut out the corrective training, yes its important, but the benefits are felt long term and not over a single session. Again, not part of the 20%.

That leaves warmup (5 mins), strength training (15mins) and metabolic conditioning - burpee variations, bodyweight circuits, Kettlebell swings etc...(5-10 mins)

A total of 25 mins.

In fact for the strength training, I am cutting out probably everything ecept a superset that includes a compound lower body exercise like a deadlift, and a big upper body exercise like a chinup.

Will a client on such a program get fat after such a short session. No. In fact some people are over trained and such a program will actually boost results.

As long as nutrition is ok, this top 20% of critical time usage will just about ensure that even busy clients get awesome results.

Singapore Fitness Coach Talk: Agility - For athletes and everybody else too!

I recall a story about Paula Abdul and how she hurt herself pretty badly trying to avoid stepping on her dog. While I don't mean to laugh or poke fun at the misfortune of others, there is a point we can learn here.

Agility is not just for professional athletes.

Paula tore some cartilage, and had bruises all over. It could happen to anybody. But with the correct amounts of strength, coordination and balance, the chances of you or I hurting ourselves is FAR less.

As a fitness and sports performance coach in Singapore, I experience situations like this in real life too.

I have a client who blew out a knee ligament avoiding a person who accidentally stepped into his way. This is unfortunate! Now we have to spend months building back his pre injury strength levels. It's not the end of the world, but it is unfortunate.

My philosophy in injury is that all non-contact injury is preventable. If you get injured without somebody hitting, kicking, tackling or assaulting you, that injury can be prevented with correct training and recovery methods.

That is why my website says "Athletic fitness for all" because that I what I want to give my clients.

We train like athletes (of course adjusting to each individuals current fitness and ability) so we don't just look good, we can also avoid our dogs or other small animals that get in our way without hurting ourselves or the small animals in question! What a wonderful Win-Win situation.

I train people so we don't hurt you

Singapore Fitness Coach Talk: Rehab - Adductor/Groin Strains

More than 1 year ago I had an adductor/Groin Strain. I am not even sure how I got it, but groin strains are part of playing sports where change of direction and quick acceleration and deceleration are common. Basketball, soccer, rugby etc.

As a fitness coach and sports performance coach in Singapore I deal with groin strains quite often.

The first thing about rehab is to train around the injury. NOT rest at home.

"Oh I'm injured, I'll lie in bed" is a wrong mindset for training with an injury. In general I recommend training stuff that does not hurt.

The limit is "dull pain for a few seconds after the exercise is over".

So sharp pain means stop immediately and so does dull pain that lasts a long time.

This recommendation helps blood flow to the area which boosts recovery, at the same time it is pretty sure not to re-injure that area.

Also, continuing training makes you feel empowered and it maintains strength in the rest of your body.

For adductor/groin strains, the exercises you choose should be of 2 kinds. As you can see in the video.

• Wide Stance
  
• Single Leg

Doing more of these also help prevent groin injuries (as well as a good warm-up and good movement mechanics).

Since then, my groin has been bullet proof! Yay!

Singapore Fitness Coach Talk: Rehab - Anterior Hip Pain

If this is you, read on!

I recently had a personal training client who was having pain in her hip. The pain comes at the top portion of a squat or dead lift movement.

Any time there is a pain in the front of the hip (anterior hip pain), don't forget to consider "femoral anterior glide syndrome" as a possible cause.

The pain seems to be at the front of the hip joint and does not seem to come from a muscle or ligament.

SOLUTION: Think about how the femur (thigh bone) is made secure in the hip socket. It is held tight and back in the socket by the function of the glute muscles. That means your buttocks have to work well to keep the bone in place.

So, during your warm up, do more glute activation (you can even do these between sets as I instructed my client to do) and during exercises like squats, lunges, or pulls, remember to focus on a contraction of the buttock muscles to keep the femur tight in the socket and avoid it slipping forward and causing pain. Go to my forum for some glute activation exercises you can do. (Check out the "quadruped hip extension" and the "cook hip lift")

Singapore Personal Trainer: Nutrition Observation

I was recently walking past a famous hawker stall that is known for its wanton noodles. There was a massive line waiting to buy the noodles. I suspect it's a 30-40min wait!

Think about it for a moment, this is a massive waste. You wait a long time wasting time which is our most un-renewable resource.

Then you eat food that shortens life and reduces the quality of life. Another priceless thing.

What a bad use of an afternoon. Think about it...

We need to disconnect emotions from food.

"Oh I feel stressed" becomes "I need a sweet desert now"... that is an emotional linkage to food and it gets us fat and weak.

Singapore Sports Performance: Young Athletes

Working with young athletes to build up their injury prevention and sports performance is fun. I work with athletes age 13-18 from my former school. Here are some pictures of us in training. I wrote a short article about them on my site as well.

Singapore Sports Performance: Track Speed

Ok, I'm no track coach (although I have read almost all of Charlie Francis' work which I consider some of the best sprinting stuff out there) but I do like speed!

Speed is the dominating factor not just in track and field but in just about every real sport (no, bowling doesn't count).

Now I'm training for it.

By the end of 2008 I want to run the 100m dash in under 100 seconds. This is hard for a guy with no coaching and no track background. And I think in Singapore there are less than 10 guys who can do it at any one point in time.

But why not me?!

I have given some details about my training program in my forum and will be updating it as I go.

Singapore Personal Trainer: Nutrition Thoughts

No matter who it is, personal training clients, athletes, group training clients - Everybody needs to think about what they eat. I have had many guilt looks when I ask my clients what they had for lunch. It takes time to wean yourself off bad foods.

I just read an interesting article in TIME magazine. About "Why we eat so much". Sure to us in the fitness industry those things should be common sense but it was an interesting read with nice pictures of food.

The main point I took away form it is that food is mental. It is a habit. And to achieve great health and a great physique, you need to break the bad ones and build great new ones.

I always talk to my clients about the "rubber band" that is the 28 days it takes to build new habits. If you just do 1 week (which is how many "quick fix" solutions work") you are just stretching the rubber band a bit but then it returns to normal and there are no long lasting effects.

When you push through and build great habits for 28 days or more, the rubber band is broken and you are free to live your improved life. That is what I work a lot with my clients on.

That is one reason I recommender T-nation's Velocity Diet. It is mostly a supplement only diet for 1 month. It is safe and it is effective. But most of all, it drastically reduces cravings for evil food.

You can get similar effects on other strict diets which are made from health foods. But I have not witnessed as much of a taste bud change as from the velocity diet.

My results and the results of my client Annie are here in the forum.

Annie and I, check out her results here.
She started out at 64kg (before even starting training) and now is a nice lean 51kg:) 25 inch waist and visible abs at 16-17% fat - which is AWESOME for a lady!

Singapore Personal Trainer - Teaching Exercise Technique

One of the key roles of a trainer is to teach exercise technique. This is actually not a "difficult" thing to do.

As a personal trainer or coach (fitness coach, sports coach, pretty much any coach at all) we have to believe that there is a correct way to do things.

A correct way to run, jump, land, change direction, turn, squat, lift, press etc.

These have been covered many times in magazines and videos and DVD's and websites.

The problem occurs when we are forced to adjust to individual differences. This is where a coach earn his/her money when it comes to teaching technique.

people differ in:

• height
• shoulder width,
• hip width
• angles at the knees and ankles
• natural flexibility
• muscle imbalances
• ratios of arm length to height
• ratio of leg length to height
• ratio of upper arm/leg to lower arm/leg

all these things mean minor adjustment in technique and leverage to perform exercises safely and effectively.

With serious imbalances or postural issues, this also means adjustment to loading and finally to exercise selection.

Some general guidelines:

Thickly build people tend to have shorter legs and logner torsos. They are good at squatting and squat with near perfect form with just a bit on careful instruction. However they need modifications to their dead lift technique to make it more effective.

For the upper body these guys excel as well in pulling and pressing movements because the total distance lifted is less and thus they can handle more weight.

Longer limbed people need more help with squatting sometimes going wider and opening up the hips more. They also will likely not lift as much as the stoutly build thicker people. however these long limbed guys will usually excel at dead lifting because their long arms and short torsos give excellent mechanics for good pulling.

Longer limbed people tend to do better in ball sports because they have more reach and have long limbs that can, with proper training be put in good control.

Even among Singaporeans who are all supposed to be of Asian descent, there is a huge variance in body types. But rest assured with the correct training, anybody can achieve an awesome physique that is aesthetically magnificent, and performs just as well as it looks.

Built to Squat and Press Weights overhead!

Built for ball games

World class physiques come in all shapes and sizes. And they do need modifications in training to help them reach their potential!

Singapore Fitness Coach Talk: My Dream Gym

I love the gym that I own now. It's has everything we need to get great results for clients. Barbells, dumbells, kettlebells, bikes, slide board, and a bunch of other stuff.

But as a Personal trainer and fitness coach in Singapore, I am facing the same challenge that all businesses in Singapore face. Space.

Singapore space is a t a premium and so is its price! Ouch. We can either go super cheap (but super far away!) or expensive in the town area. The problem is that there isn't that much inbetween these 2 extremes (that I have found suitable!).

One day I want to own a large warehouse type building in a fairly accessible place. Then we can build a gym that has space so that my staff and I can help more people! I want space for running drills, an short indoor track, a place to throw medicine balls and stuff like that too. Yummy.

Something like this...less boxes, more training space and equipment!

That is why I'm building Genesis Health & Performance. Client by client I want to make them all successful so that when we do build a big place one day, it won't be a white elephant, but rather a place which will be filled every day with a great community of people who are transforming their health, their performance levels and their lives.

Singapore Fitness Coach Talk: Athletes...Are you leaking energy?

One of the more interesting ways of looking at the way athletes move and perform I first read about from therapist Gray Cook.

He has the theory of "energy leaks" in movement. I like this way of looking at things. More importantly it is a way that I can easily communicate the importance of movement training to athletes.

If you have an imbalance, if you are tight, if you are inflexible, if you have scar tissue from a previous injury, if you have trigger points, if you have a lack of mobility in a joint, if you are not strong enough, if you are not skillful enough... energy leaks from your performance.

Wow thats a long list to fix, but thats why we do screening and testing of athletes so we can figure out exactly where they are leaking energy and not maximizing performance.

This is why I find it good to read widely from sources in fitness, sports performance, rehab guys, psychologists etc... anything that helps me and my staff coach our clients better!

Singapore Fitness Coach Talk: How come fitness truth is so rare!

Unfortunately there is money to be made in the Singapore fitness industry (or just about anywhere, but in Singapore it is not a very regulated industry).

Nothing wrong with that!

I do make a living helping people of all ages achieve their health, fitness, performance and appearance goals.

But if only there was more truth being spread, there would be far more people getting excellent results form their fitness program.

I was at a lunch with some of my father's friends. Because of my experiences as a personal trainer and sports performance professional, I got asked many health, sports and fitness related questions.

Sad to say, I feel that we (myself included) as fitness professionals in Singapore, have not done that great a job so fat at spreading the word about what are the truths and what are the lies that will affect the average person who wants to maintain their health and quality of life.

My dad's friends were educated professionals in the finance industry but they had many of the same misconceptions that happen on internet forums filled with 14 year old kids.

Some of their misconceptions:

• Back health and core training - more crunches for you? NO!
  
• The basics of good nutrition - is a calorie a calorie? NO!
  
• What should a training program look like? - From warmup to program design...
  
• Jogging, thats what keeps me in shape - If you like it and have good running mechanics sure, but for most people, that isn't the case (and it isn't the best use of your time)
  
• More food makes me fat - More food makes you leaner! Unless its BAD food.
  

Not everybody once thought that the earth was round. Clearing up misconceptions takes time. Good thing we have the internet and since I can't speak to everybody person to person, I can do my part by writing good articles that can hopefully save you time, money and injury! My free e-book is also available for download at my homepage.

I recommend a large serving of TRUTH to help you reach your fitness, performance and appearance goals!

Singapore Fitness Coach Talk: Back Pain a Reality

The research statistics are pretty scary. During our life we have about a 80% chance of having back pain. Sure its not a Singaporean study but I see no reason to think that we are different. After taking a look at some of the ways "real life" people I know in Singapore that have hurt their backs...it's something that we as personal trainers and fitness professionals MUST take note of and prevent. Here are some of the ways that people I know have been hurt.

1. Back pain after Sneezing (this one was a slipped disc that required long term medical care)
   
2. Back pain after helping an old lady carry her shipping.
   
3. Back pain while slipping on a moist badminton court
   
4. Back pain while helping a friend shift furniture

As usual I'm a "be a part of the solution" kind of guy, and actually I wrote a lot about core training to prevent back pain in my IPPT-Training website and all the exercises are demoed on my forum. Just sign up on the forum to take a look at all the videos under the "core" section of the exercise index.

Back pain is frustrating because it makes us feel old and immobile and i dare say helpless! It is only responsible for fitness and performance professionals to help people avoid it!

Singapore Fitness Coach Talk: Observations

Here are some my observations about the way us Singaporeans approach their health and exercise.

• We DO have the time - If only we watched less TV and played less World of Warcraft
• We can achieve great health with only 3 hours of proper training per week - If we are eating the correct foods as I wrote about here.
• Cardio is NOT bad for health - It is good to stay healthy
• Cardio is BAD for fat loss - especially if we have limited time
• Women are motivated by encouragement - in general
• Men are motivated by challenge - in general
• Many people have poor hip function and mobility - leading to knee and back problems
• Many people have poor upper back posture - leading to shoulder and neck problems
• Barefoot training is really helping my clients with their foot/ankle health as well as their balance
• Warming up is very important - so is static stretching during the end of the day

Singapore Fitness Coach Talk: Training for Singapore Women

Women are special. They are different, they think and act differently from men and they are important. If Singapore did not have women, no doubt our country would be a testosterone fueled mess.

But as a fitness coach in Singapore providing fitness and personal training services to both men and women, I'll tell it to you straight.

There are differences when it comes to how women and men should approach fitness and exercise. Women:

• Have less muscle mass (especially in the upper body)
• Are more suited to endurance activity (which explains all the "cardio only" women, we tend to do what we like to do and are good at)
• Have different hormonal levels (which is why it's close to impossible for a woman on a good nutrition and training plan to get "HUGE")
• Are usually motivated differently (which is where the "art" of coaching meets the "science" of exercise)

However some things cannot change.

• Women's muscles are the same as men's, they respond to stress the same way (but not in the same magnitude),
• Women's muscles are as strong as men's (per unit volume/area),
• Muscles look nice on both men and women (in a figure skater, athletic kind of way)

This means that all of the fundamentals movements and all of the principles of exercise are the same for both men and women.

My lady clients all do total body movements and challenging training (relative to their fitness level of coruse). They also eat similar awesome, nutritious foods, and they all try to improve their performance in training each and every session.

Sticking to these basics for both men and women allows both genders to get consistent, measurable, and yes, impressive results.

Yes women should use chalk to lift safely (chalk absorbs sweat so you don't lose your grip easily) thats why we use it at our gym.
Un-Supported Single Leg training benefits ladies too thats why we do it. As we improve balance and function, good looks just follow along!

Singapore Fitness Coach Talk: Setting and achieving goals

As a fitness and sports performance coach, getting athletes to set goals is critical. A person needs to see in the "mind's eye" what he/she is to become before it can be accomplished. I choose to see each and every client as being great. Sometimes better than even they see themselves.

How many people do you know (gym or otherwise) who constantly set, and peruse goals? I suspect that those who you know who do that are really successful.

This is the same for physical goals.

For the year 2008, one of mine is to dunk a basketball 2 handed. For that I will need to jump about 15cm more than I do now. (I can currently dunk a soccer ball 1 handed).

Let the training begin.

Here are some jump lunges

Singapore Fitness Company - Genesis Health & Performance

Thats my fitness company logo. I wanted something "active" looking, not just those "one bicep and a dumb bell" kind of logos.

It really is a symbol of the way I feel fitness should be. Not just the muscles, or the leanness or the small waistline, but rather athletic fitness that improves all areas of life and makes daily living a joy.

One of my favorite sayings is that "the body is made for movement" and thats the way my clients and I train.

How Important Nutrition Is - Now I have something to tell my clients

My first taste of what good nutrition is was many years ago when I realized that it was not good enough just to be large and strong. I was carrying excess fat.

I did not look obese but I know that I could have been quicker and leaner.

I decided to go on the first "diet" of my life! Well actually it was just cleaning up my nutrition habits.

• Eating often keeps metabolism high
  
• Eating no starchy stuff unless after training (replenish glycogen stores, after training starches don't make us fat).
• Eating more fruits and vegetables (I'm starting to really like some veges, broccoli, spinach:) hehe never thought id see the day!).
• Drinking only water and green tea.
• Eating more protein with each meal.
• Eating healthy fats from nuts and fish.
• Eating un-processed foods. (best foods are from their natural packaging, things in pretty packages with shiny wrappers are usually 99% of the time BAD for us)
• 3 months later I was down 10kg and looking alot better!

I did NOT count calories, weight food or starve myself. I simply trained hard and made good food choice.

For history's sake, here are the before and after pics from that diet many years ago.

92KG Before

82kg After

Singapore Health, Fitness and Qualty of life - It is much cheaper to "save" than to "borrow"

I would like to think of myself as a fairly wise investor. I am no Warren Buffet of course but I do save as much as I can, and I do treat money with respect because it is an important thing. One of the main things about saving is compound interest. It makes saving one of the smartest things we can do.

A financial example I read recently: If I start saving for my future children's college education (yeah, its a while away and yes, I'm working on the children part) now, and I save $200 per month for 10 years in a decent fund with 6.8% returns, I will end up with about $34400. Enough for local tertiary education. No problem at all.

But if I borrow that amount and pay it back over 10 years at the same 6.8% interest, I pay back $400 per month! Thats DOUBLE!!!

Not smart at all.

But this is exactly what people do with health isn't it? No resources (time, money, brain power etc) spent spent on health and fitness most of their life, but then 1 sudden illness or surgery and ugh the payback is really high. Not just financially but also emotionally

I really encourage all the people around me to invest in health. Because there is no real way to "pay it back" later. Anyway it only takes 3 hours of proper exercise per week to maintain health! That's less than most people watch TV per day!

Ohoh, future health problems coming...

As a Personal Trainer - Associating with Professionals

Do people doubt Doctors? Lawyers? Dentists? Engineers?

In general, they don't.

That is because most of these professionals have a strong governing body that guarantees the quality of the training of these guys. They are highly paid and rightfully so! They have high standards expected of them and by and large, they deliver consistent results.

But the fitness industry (perhaps even more so in Singapore than in the western countries) is very un-regulated.

Becoming a "personal trainer" in Singapore is almost absurdly easy. The Basic exercise course is extremely easy to pass. After that you have the "qualifications" to work in any gym.

A medical doctor takes 6-10 years of intense study to be work with a patient's body, but a personal trainer only needs 3 days and is also expected to perform preventive medical care (which is what good health is isn't it...) on a client.

Yup it doesn't make much sense.

But I'm not the whining sort. I want to be part of the solution not part of the problem. I do not believe that there is a certification at the moment that fully covers all you will need to know to become a personal trainer.

To be technically excellent a personal trainer will need to have good understanding of:

• Biomechanics (how the body moves in space)
• Kinesiology (how the joints move etc)
• Nutrition
• Endocionology (hormonal system)
• Manual Therapy (massage, rehab, trigger point work etc)
• Injury Prevention
• Performance Enhancement

And I'll probably think of more if I really sat down to do it. The body is such an awesome piece of creation that we will probably never get to the end of it.

Oh yeah, don't forget that it's not just good enough to know. A personal trainer must distill out the important points and teach/coach them to a client.

I believe all this is too much to teach in any reasonable amount of time. It needs to be learnt over years of consistent study and practice. This cannot be driven by any certification. It has to come from an intrinsic sense of excellence. Being the very best that you can be.

I know I'm not perfect but I do want to make the best use of whatever God given ability I have. If that means spending several hundred bucks a month on books, dvds, seminars etc. So be it.

"Who we are is God's gift to us, who we become is our gift to God" so we might as well be the best we can be!

Maybe one day personal training will be a professional qualification. That will be a happy day for the fitness industry.

Personal Trainer In Singapore - Choosing one! (Part 4)

In the final part we shall talk about guarantees. Yes nothing in life is guaranteed. BUT there should be some buyer security when it comes to something as important as your body. Come on even your MP3 Player has a 1 year guarantee (with reasonable conditions).

All fitness places and personal trainers in Singapore that are serious about the results of their clients will have a guarantee. It's not a "oh just do what you feel and anytime you can get your money back" kind. Rather it's in the sign-up contract.

If you:

• Train the way we ask you to
• Modify your diet the way we ask you to
• Rest and recover the right way

And this doesn't work - It's MY fault! you deserve a refund! I can't pay a person's time but the least I can do as a professional is to return their money.

On the other side of a coin, a client who just comes in to fool around (I have never had one like that but in theory its possible) I reserve the right to release.

Personal Trainer In Singapore - Choosing one! (Part 3)

Ok lets say you have no serious medical conditions, and you have found a nice training community. Whats next? The next thing is not usually budget. It is time. I believe that most people are not as worried about spending money as they are about wasting time. Thats the most scary thing. Time is our only non-renewable resource.

So. Saving time means you need to have the most time effective forms of training and nutrition.

These are the fundamentals of ANY proper training program for general fitness. If they are violated, you are probably wasting both money and time.

A good coach should (baring any pre-existing medical conditions) have you doing:

• Assessment - If you are not assessing, you are just guessing. There has to be continual assessment and adjustment to get you to your goals. It's like a guided missile. You start off in the general direction but you need mid-course guidance to hit your fitness targets.
• Free Weights - Machines indicate either a lack of care for you, or a lack of coaching ability
• Total Body Movements (mostly done standing up) - These movements use your whole body. Stuff like squatting, picking objects off the floor, chinups (and its variations if you aren't able to do a chinup yet, pushups. Stuff like that.
• Moderate to high intensity cardiovascular exercise. Low intensity stuff (walking on a treadmill/slow bike etc) is a waste of time (results wise) and a waste of money (you shouldn't need to pay anybody to watch you walk.

All clients from national level athletes, to regular working professionals of age 7-77 do total body exercises!

Personal Trainer In Singapore - Choosing one! (Part 2)

As you continue on your thought process to choosing a personal trainer in Singapore, the next thing to think about is the training environment.

This comprises of several things. The trainer (and his staff if he is more established and owns a private gym), the other members of the gym, and you yourself.

When these 3 groups of people come together its truly a beautiful thing. Why? not just because you get results, but because you KEEP the results.

You see, in the process of changing a life (which is what we are doing when a training company like Genesis Health & Performance works with a client) from old ways and habits to new ones, there are 3 stages.

Stage 1 is Awareness: I am aware that I am out of shape, or that I can't run fast enough, or that my pants no longer fit...That is when I may call in the services of a professional to help me form my situation

Stage 2 is Intervention: This is where My staff and I come in. We teach, motivate, assess, adjust, guide, encourage, whatever it takes to get each of our clients consistently good results. After an adjustment period, they end up doing well. BUT...

Stage 3 is Sustenance: This is where the true quality of the fitness service can be seen. This is where the quality of the coaching as well as the quality of the community is important. A good fitness company can provide the coaching. But what I tried to do to make our place special is the community. Not just the coaches but every single person in the company. From each staff member, to each gym member.

No random cursing, no gossip, no slander. Only positive words and actions. This builds a community that is like a 3rd home (yeah I'm borrowing the Starbucks idea) Work, home, then GYM!

This is the culture that I as the owner do my very best to set.

Part of Our Training Community Here at Genesis Health And Performance

Personal Trainer In Singapore - Choosing one! (Part 1)

There are several things to look out for when choosing a personal trainer whether in Singapore or elsewhere. There is the good, the bad and the unspeakable but in general there are several categories of personal trainer.

Here is the thought process that you need to go through when deciding:

Your current medical status.

A personal trainer is not a medical professional. That means that if you have a clinical problem or pathology he/she (Myself included!) is not the person to look for. It is perhaps even irresponsible for me as a personal trainer to take on a client who is having a serious medical condition or joint problem. If you fall into this category you need a therapy guy (chiro, osteopath, body worker, physio etc). Get well before you decide to get fit

If your problem is not acute (sharp pain all day!) then its possible that you have an inefficiency. This is not as "bad" as a pathology. A really good trainer can help you with this. That guy usually has a strong knowledge of bio mechanics and kniesology (how the body and joints move). And has in his "toolbox" an assortment of assessment and corrective training tools to get you both a corrective training effect as well as a fitness training effect. I.E. you get fixed and fit at the same time.

There is no "clear" line between these 2 medical states. But use a bit of wisdom to figure out which side you are on. A responsible professional will do what is best for you. Either refer you out or take you on as a client.

This is one reason I work closely with medical professionals (Orthopedic Doctors, Physios, etc) because its best for our clients to have a network of integrated services (personal trainers, medical, manual therapy etc) to meet any of their needs.

If this is you...you need a surgeon, not a personal trainer...

Singapore Personal Trainer - Updated Website & New Blog

I have updated my website to a nicer design and will be starting to blog here on blogger. I just find it easier to use than Wordpress. Stay Tuned

Coach Jonathan Wong