Personal training sessions are specially designed training programmes aimed at helping you attain your fitness goals. Personal training goals may include weight loss, toning, muscle development or simply a healthier lifestyle.

Typically, a personal trainer starts off a training session by discussing with you your specific requirements, measurement of your body fat, before developing an individualised plan specially for you. As each plan is uniquely for you, there is room for flexibility.  You can also choose to do the sessions with a friend or have it done one-to-one, or you can choose to train at your condo gym, or at one of our affiliated gyms without having to pay for membership fees, admin fees etc.

What are the benefits of a private personal trainer?

Some benefits of engaging a private personal trainer are:

1. The personal trainer will motivate and encourage you to reach your fitness goals. In the presence of others, most of us will work harder. Having a trainer by your side will help you overcome all the excuses that you may be using to skip your exercises. If you know someone is waiting for you for your training, it’s much more difficult to skip it.
2. Your private personal trainer can help you take the guesswork out of your exercise routine so that you can achieve your fitness goals more effectively. We are living in an age of Too Much Information and it can be confusing to be fit – Eat this, don’t eat that. Do this, don’t do that. Your private trainer has the knowledge to maximise your fitness routine and make it much more efficient.
3. A personal trainer can help you avoid unnecessary injuries. If you’re new to training or find certain movements painful, it’s worth having a personal trainer next to you to show you the right posture and technique, and maximise your exercise outcomes while preventing injuries.
4. A personal trainer is equipped with the knowledge to help you achieve your fitness goals. Whether you are training for a sports event or getting ready to climb a mountain, your personal trainer can tailor your fitness plan to match your current fitness level and meet your objectives. This also means that you are more likely to stick to the fitness programme and see the outcomes.
5. A personal trainer knows when it’s time to change your fitness routine. As you age, your body will see changes and your personal trainer can identify them and adapt your programme accordingly, allowing you to retain functionality and strength.
6. A personal trainer is your exercise buddy! A good private personal trainer can make training both fun and efficient.

Who might benefit from personal training?

Everyone!

Whether you are training for a marathon, hoping to lose a few more kilograms, or want to strengthen your body after an injury, the individualised nature of personal training makes it suitable for everyone. Moreover, each session is tailored to suit your pace so it is likely that you will stick to the fitness programme. Every fitness objective will be realistic so you get to attain your goals in a safe manner.

To maximise the outcomes of your personal training sessions, you got to feel comfortable with your personal trainer. In Singapore, you can find both male and female personal trainers and many of them list their profiles and specialty areas online. You can choose from trainers who specialise in sports performance, muscle development, fat loss, toning and much more.

I have an injury (or health problem), would I still be able to receive exercise sessions from a personal trainer?

Absolutely! Exercise is important for everyone and it is particularly beneficial for people with pre-existing or chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and hypertension.

However, if you have an existing medical condition, you need to take additional precautions. Without the right knowledge, you risk putting your body under even more stress. An experienced personal trainer is able to design a programme that takes in account your existing medical condition, thus decreasing the risk of injury when you perform exercises.

For instance, if you have an existing mild knee injury and wants to train for a run, your exercise routine should be different from someone who doesn’t have an injury. You will need specific exercises to strengthen the muscles around your knees instead of immediately training for the run like an athlete. This is where your personal trainer can make a significant difference.

What are the differences between exercising on my own and with a personal trainer?

Be it losing weight, building cheese grater abs or acquiring Hulk-like strength, everyone wants to accomplish their objectives immediately. However, these are not always achievable, and they may be discouraged and backslided if they don’t hit them.

A personal trainer will help you set realistic goals, adjust your goals as you progress and keep you on track to achieve those goals. For instance, if you want to achieve a ‘ bikini body,’ it’s not just about doing 100 crunches a day for a month. It is also about changing your diet, acquiring good lifestyle habits, combining cardio and weights to work the right muscles, and setting a realistic timeframe for achieving this.

How is UAF programmes different from other personal training programmes?

Many personal trainers in Singapore stop at exercise. The personal training programme at UAF doesn’t just start and end with an hour in the gym. The programme at UAF is a holistic one because attaining fitness is not just about working out. Fitness is a lifestyle, and hence the personal training session at UAF also includes:

– devising a diet plan that revolves around your lifestyle

– an add-on chaperon grocery shopping service to guide you on reading nutrition labels and selecting healthy foods

– an exercise programme for you when you are overseas to ensure sustained progression

– follow-ups for non-training days

 UAF personal trainers are also able to conduct your training session at or near your home. Personal training sessions can be held either at your condominium gym or a gym nearest to you.

Along the way, i realized fitness gave me purpose, clarity, a direction in life, helped me to channel my anger & developed a beneficial way to improve my life experience through discipline and vision. Train your mind and your body, sculpting a balanced aesthetic muscular, powerful physique has a lot of benefits individually. Fast forward 8 years later, in constant pursuit of a better physique for myself and taking part in physique competitions along the way. I realized there is a better purpose than competing for that 1 minute on stage. Fitness has a purpose & function for everyone. Got into the deep dive of nutrition and training while exploring various hobbies such as parkour, calisthenics, golf, and surfing.

Took up advanced courses in which consists of anatomy, biomechanics, nutrition & program design, also sleep and digestion optimization & too soon to be an MNU certified nutritionist. I feel you can never stop learning; the correct knowledge you possess will benefit yourself greatly! I aspire to be one of the best personal trainers in Singapore. Found my calling which is to help and serve people with integrity and professionalism in fitness, be it nutrition, wellness, health or a better physique, etc. I challenge myself daily to use the knowledge and skills i have acquired to serve my clients better, fast forward a friend got me in touch with UAF which is run by Jovin, i appreciated his ideas and vision for changing the fitness industry here for better standards and i am part of the UAF team now! Fitness is a personal journey to improve yourself & level up. Be it building muscles, better nutritional habits, or losing weight or getting stronger and improving your posture. I am here to help you achieve these goals!

I leave with you 5 tips for your fitness and life!!

1)Health is wealth 

2)Take it as a learning process for yourself!

3)Don’t beat yourself up if you don’t know, go and get professional help

4)Do it with friends and family if you can!

5)It will help you be a better individual emotionally, mentally, physically wise!

From a young age, I’ve always been interested in martial arts but didn’t exactly know which one I wanted to try until the TV series, “The Contender Asia” came on. It was only then that I knew I had to sign up for Muay Thai lessons at the Community Centre. I practiced it for about a year and gave it up after some bad decisions I’ve made in dating. A year into the relationship, I realized that I had given up too much and decided that I’d be better off if I had ended it. While it was easy to get rid of the emotional baggage, I was still plagued by the physical one – the massive amount of weight that I had put on during the relationship. (how many of you experience this?) I really wanted to get back in shape and get back into Muay Thai again. Muay Thai training was different this time as I gradually started training for fights. On top of the usual pad work, I was introduced to strength training and a bit of cross-fit. The change in my own physique planted a seed of interest in personal training, but I didn’t do anything with that thought at that time as I was busy with my final year in school.

Stepping into the working world, I stopped Muay Thai training because of time, work was an entire different level of stress. I depended solely on Muay Thai to keep my weight in check and because I stopped it, my weight went back up. I did not watch my diet AT ALL. I was overeating and going for fast food at least once a week and my concept of sugar intake was misconstrued. I had stopped the fizzies and went for the supposedly “healthier option” of green tea (with sugar) and carton fruit juices. At 70kg, this was the heaviest I’ve ever been and I never thought of doing anything about it until I started experiencing chest pains for about 2 weeks. Back then, I was assisting doctors in the hospital with their research on coronary stents and seeing scans of patients with clogged arteries made me wonder how bad were mine. I was eventually admitted to the A&E while I was at work. Fortunately, it was a false alarm, but I recognized that if I had continued living like that, coupled with the fact that I had a borderline high cholesterol panel, I would definitely end up with a real one in time to come.

That pushed me to take my first steps in diet adjustments. Drinks with hidden sugars were the first to go. I reduced my fast food intake to once a month, stopped snacking and began controlling my carb intake (I was a very hungry person and always went for at least 2 servings of carbs to keep me full). I started counting my calories and swapped carbs for protein. I wasn’t exercising at that time and despite that, I lost about 5kg in 3 months. Soon after, a friend of mine invited me to do a half-marathon with her in Gold Coast, Australia. Running 21km was a huge feat for me as I never liked running. I trained 3 times a week, and because of that, my weight decreased even further. In a year, I had lost 13kg. My cholesterol panel reversed to the healthy ranges and clothes shopping actually became enjoyable.

Through my personal experience, I was convinced that I didn’t have to spend ridiculous amounts of money on things that do not work – slimming pills, creams, wraps, diet plans that are not sustainable etc. Very often, people don’t know where to start or what to do because they are misled by hearsay, the things they read online or guaranteed solutions to weight loss offered by Product X that promises minimal effort on one’s own part. I really wanted to show the misguided that weight loss is possible and sustainable through lifestyle changes. My interest in becoming a personal trainer grew, but I couldn’t get started as I was in the middle of a career transition and I wasn’t sure if I could commit to a 3-month long course.

The new job that I landed myself in was a demanding one. I hardly had time to work out, let alone sleep. Sleeping anywhere above 5 hours was a bonus as the nature of the job required me to work round the clock. I was extremely depressed when the hard work I had put in to keep the weight off crept back in. On some days, I went without food during the day as I didn’t have the appetite to eat and it pretty much messed up my metabolism. All the important things I needed to stay healthy – sleep, exercise, proper diet wasn’t even in place. I even contemplated the purpose of my existence as I didn’t feel like I was living at all. Finally, I decided to resign and sought a job that gave me time to live the way I wanted.

Thankfully, I was blessed enough to find a job that gave me personal time after work. The colleagues there were also a positive influence as they believed in the importance of an active lifestyle. We would sometimes go to the gym together, and there was a form of unspoken accountability to make sure that I was hitting the gym weekly. After shelving my plans of attending the ACE-CPT course for 4 years (or more), I finally got started on it. Mid-way through the course, a friend introduced me to Jovin, founder of Urban Active Fitness, who gave me the opportunity to work as a personal trainer.  Together with the other experienced trainers, they have helped me in preparation for my ACE-CPT exam as I sought guidance with practice questions I had doubts with. I worked hard at it for 3 months, attended evening lessons at the International Sports Academy (ISA) 2 to 3 times a week, and revised the content on days when there were no lessons. The hard work paid off; I not only passed but was also one of the top scorers in the class.

After attending the ACE-CPT course, I wasn’t only interested in weight loss. I wanted to build muscle not just for aesthetics reasons but for functional ones as well.  During the course, the tutor’s sharing on how physically inactive people start to lose muscle mass past the age of 30 at a rate of 3 to 5% per decade left a very deep impression. Before, I’ve always thought that the loss of muscle mass is part of the aging process and there’s nothing that can be done to stop it. It wasn’t until the course that I realized that strength training can prevent muscle imbalances that are commonly associated with aging (i.e. backaches) and that it can play a big role in preventing falls and the many secondary complications resulting from it.

Yes, so this is my story. I hope you’ve managed to stick around, and no I don’t blame you if you’ve decided to skip through the chunk of it to read just the last paragraph. To sum it all up, I’ve taken many detours and trial and error to know what works and what doesn’t to end up where I am today. This is what I’ve learnt so far from my fitness journey:

1. Walk away from people who force you to give up on your interests and compromise way too much on your beliefs.
2. Always prioritize your health. You’re nothing without it.
3. You are responsible for your own happiness. Not happy with the way things are? Do something different to experience changes. It may not always be the right decision, but at least you’ll have a clearer idea of what you want or do not want in your life.
4. There are no short cuts to weight loss. Sustainable weight loss involves effort and discipline but it can be done without starving yourself.
5. Learn to enjoy the process. Be patient and track your progress as you go along. When you don’t get the result you want, be honest and ask yourself what exactly is it that you have not done right? Is it your diet? Are you under training or over training? Are you getting enough rest?
6. Plan ahead. Invest in yourself today by living healthily. Watch your diet and be active. Your future self will thank you for it.

Want to have personal training done at the convenience of your home, or Condo gym? Engage Samantha toady for an awesome Muaythai or Kickboxing session! https://urbanactivefitness.sg/free-trial/

Motivation has always been a factor in which startles the individual at every beginning of any process. The harder the challenge, the less confident they are, hence breaks the morale and intentional purpose of why they are doing it. Or could it be the other way, the harder the challenge, the more value and purpose are created through the hardships giving them self-actualization to go even further. Well, it falters between the two depending on a few aspects: Consistency, Commitment and Drive. Take habits for instance, we all delve into certain habits that make us consistent at it because its comforting and there is satisfaction. When those are in place, over the long term the chances of committing are much higher because there’s value to the consistent efforts placed in the habits you have already started with. Then this value comes with the drive. Drive comes from passion and love without even knowing that you will become that much successful in the process because you put your mind and heart in this. This reaches to the ultimate level to motivation why people do what they love and stick to it then influence others positively through the skills acquired. Overall, it starts with habitual things, small things which are impactful allowing individuals to invest more in the process. Then motivation will come naturally to which applies to many other things in life such as work, relationships, personal development, exercise, the list goes on.

When it comes to goals, there’s a focus in place. Goals are extremely important because it allows you to set targets and meet them to your expectations for growth and milestones. When you have a goal in place, you would want to know realistically how you can get there. By narrowing the pathway to what your goals are, consider the SMART goals as part of a business model to help you achieve attainably, clearly as well as strategically in regards to the subject matter. Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-Bound – SMART. I believe most of you who studied business or marketing understands the rationale behind this so I will not go into too much detail on this. The point is that by narrowing in details such as the above (highlighted in bold), it allows you to see the big picture where you would see yourself in this. An example, if one would want to lose weight would not be a good reason because it’s too generalized. Perhaps if we rephrase and specify to:

Specific: I will decrease my bodyfat percentage to 10% by working on a variety of exercises using cardiovascular equipment and bodyweight exercises.

Measurable: I will record tests and results from beginning to end of my training regime.

Attainable: I will reach my goal of 10% by doing cardiovascular exercises 3 times a week and bodyweight exercises every other day.

Realistic: I will make amends to the reps and sets as my bodyfat drops.

Time Bound: I will achieve this goal by 31^st December 2019.

Overall, by combining some of the motivational and goal oriented techniques mentioned, the tendency of success rate is greater and the chance of staying on course will be longer allowing you to reap the benefits from the outcomes.

The last topic will be on a basic understanding of fat loss and ways to implement this in fitness training. By far, Fat loss and weight management are one of the more common reasons why people look for personal trainers and group classes at the gym to get them in shape, look good and become healthier overall. Importantly, how do we lose weight, specifically fat? Of course the main variable is your lifestyle. But in fitness training that skyrocketed at most gyms now is Metabolic Conditioning or HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training).

HIIT was first used for MMA fighters and Cross fitters to keep the body burning calories through short periods of rest. These intervals allow them to push their bodies to building the strength and endurance needed for the sport. These kinds of exercises range from Weight Training, Bodyweight Functional Training, and even Agility Training. Recently more gyms and fitness centers are utilizing this method efficiently to clients through regressed exercises and longer rest periods first. Until their bodies are slowly conditioned through the rigors of exercise sessions allows them to progress into more advanced exercises with shorter rest periods. This in turn maximizes the calorie burn while muscles being used get its tone and shape from this training method. With the cardiovascular aspects of shorter rests, HIIT proves to be a “2 birds killed with 1 stone” analogy because of it’s multi-purpose functions of all relations to fitness training such as power, strength, endurance and speed. In implementation, an example of a simple HIIT/Metabolic Conditioning program would be the following:

Here’s my gift to you

 11 Exercises. Complete each exercise for 45 seconds.

Rest for 10 seconds in between each exercise

Complete 3 rounds to finish the workout.

1. Squats
2. Planks
3. Jumping Jacks
4. Push Ups
5. Sit Ups
6. Burpees
7. Wall Sit
8. Side Plank
9. Tricep Dips
10. Mountain Climbers
11. Leg Raises        

The example above is a very simple method of what HIIT/Metabolic Conditioning represents. The bout of Work to Rest Ratio are usually 2: 1. 1min Work, 30sec Rest. But that could vary depending on the fitness level of the individual as well as how challenging you want to make out of training. To conclude, these topics flow smoothly from getting the motivation through small habits that turns into a healthy investment. Then the goals with SMART goals is another example that will help identify and narrow down your focus on what, where, when, why and how to get there be it in fitness and beyond. Finally, a basic understanding of how HIIT/Metabolic Conditioning will aid in Fat Loss and Muscle Tone then to implement them with exercises that goes back to back with minimal rest for maximum results in shorter periods of time compared to a traditional weight training program that may take longer for those who would only have small amounts of time to spare.

If you like my personal training style, click here and request to sign up with me! https://urbanactivefitness.sg/free-trial/

• Your legs are thick and covered in cellulite, your booty is flat, what’s the best solution to fixing this up? Train the booty, the right way!
• A well-structured “booty workout” will help to tone up your glutes, improve your overall confident as a woman and more! Creating that aesthetic, narrow waist and fuller butt silhouette

Woman & Weights are a thing now

We can’t deny it; perky butt is in trend now. You find countless (& growing) number of women in the gym dedicating themselves to weights – specifically, booty days.

“Skinny” is no longer sexy, women want to develop a shapely butt, tone up their legs and remove stubborn cellulite. Squatting with weights, leg pressing on the big scary machine used to be intimidating and completely avoided by most women becomes women’s’ object of adoration.

“Fit” has become the new sexy.

Problem

Butt, there is a huge and concealed misconception; leg training does not always lead to a well-shaped bum. *whuuuut?

For many women, exercises such as: (squats, deadlifts, lunges) only increases the size of their quads, thicken waist area, and hamstrings without having any significant effect on their glutes.
Excuse me, glutes? Yes, that G-spot is the much-neglected muscle not within our periphery, which is most important to attain that booty of your dreams.

Quads, hamstrings, and torso area are easier to “activate” hypertrophy (grow bigger) during the workout while the glutes are not fully triggered. Hence, the more training you do, the stronger the quads, lower back and hamstrings become, and this eventually cause a huge disproportion.

One might argue it is a different story when with a good lifting form and technique when performing the above exercises. I hate to break it to you, it may still not be the optimal way to develop the glutes. As the legs become dominant, the glutes continue to take the back sit and stay less activated and thus development (of the glutes) does not occur.

Squats are the best for developing your butt?

Yes, we have all heard of squats. The ultimate go-to when all fails. Butt, are squats necessarily the queen exercise for building a well-shaped bum? No.

Everyone is of different genetic, anatomy structure, and biomechanics.
What works for she-hulk may not work for Maryjane or Kate Ashley and vice versa. Instead of developing the glutes, they develop She-hulk legs.

Wonder why your glutes look flat despite all the squatting, lunging, and deadlifting?
Squats is multi-joint movement that activate 1) Quads 2) Glutes 3) Hamstrings 4) Lower back 5) Core 6) Upper back.
For somebody who is inexperienced, squatting may be too complicated for them to focus on activating the glutes. It may also result in injury if not done befittingly. As such, squats are not the absolute when it comes to building your glutes.
If Not Squats, Then What? – The Solution.

Here we include the top 3 most efficient exercises for your tushie.

Exercise 1: Hip Thrust with weights

The objective of this exercise is to create the mind and muscle connection you need for the subsequent bum exercises.

2 Warm up sets, 12-15 repetitions

3 Working sets, 8-10 repetitions

Rest time: 45secs max

Exercise 2: Single-Leg Deadlifts (SLDL) Superset with Single-Leg Squats (SLS)

The objective of this exercise is to stretch your leg muscle fibres and contract it so hard that the glutes are forced to engage as blood rushes in.

*superset: no rest, right after each set of SLDL, move on to SLS. Yes, scream in pain dear cellulite. Scream.

Start off with the working set, 10 repetitions per leg for SLDL.
Quickly move on to 10 repetitions for SLS

Rest time: 90secs max

Repeat 2 more times.

Exercise 3: Lunges (special technique) Bending forward

The objective of this exercise is to simply throw in cardiovascular impact, on top of *slaying your glutes completely.

3 working sets

12 repetitions per leg

Additional (She-Hulk level) – Squeeze yourrrr Glutes in between sets  

In between every working set, (during rest time) focus on contracting your glutes to force more blood flow into your bum.

Squeeze your glutes together for a duration of 15-20 second in between every single set mentioned above, example:

Lunges: 12 repetitions per leg, once 24 reps are done, (immediately squeeze your glutes for 15-20 seconds before resting for 60 secs)

Do that twice a week, and see the change in your bum after 5-6 weeks of progression.

Top 3 things you should not do

• Long distance running.

Thinking that long distance running can burn away the size of your legs, this would lead to loss of muscle, as your leg muscle becomes weaker, your joints (knee and ankle) take more damage when you run, eventually your will suffer injuries and the inability to train. As well as your more dominant muscles such as quads, calves, hams, lower back will work harder and has no significant effect to your glutes development. Muscles will be burn away leaving you with thin flabby legs and saggy butt.

• You go online and articles suggest to you that high repetitions and light weight help with shaping of the legs, while heavy weight and low repetitions makes it bigger. The difference between doing 500 lunges and squats blindly, means you will still be activating other muscles on your legs more than your glutes. As well as your body getting used to these exercises and doing more will have zero effect on your legs and glutes

• You go on a weight loss diet that you found via the internet, you start eating lesser, probably no carbs, plus an apple a day, does that help? No, although you may find yourself losing weight, but you will probably hit a plateau in about 3 weeks’ time and weigh loss is going to stagnate. While your entire body goes into catabolic state for eating so little, you start losing muscles, and becomes skinnier, your glutes will still be flat. The lack of nutrition will not aid butt development. You want to lose bodyfat% not weight, refer to my previous article on burning bodyfat effectively and efficiently.

How Our Body Process Food

To understand that, we must understand what happens in your body when you eat food.

Step 1: Body digest and breaks down the food into (amino acids, glucose, and fatty acids)
Step 2: The small intestine absorbs these nutrients into the blood
Step 3: It usually takes about 2-4 hours to be in complete fasted state (that also depends on the size of the meal)
Step 4: Fed vs Fasted Cardio:

Cardio done while the body is still processing the food = Normal/Fed cardio.
Cardio done when your body is no longer processing food = Fasted cardio.
The best time to do Fasted cardio? No brownie points for this – first thing in the morning before breakfast.

It’s No Secret.

Basically, it “teaches” your body to burn fats more effectively in the long run.
How? Fasted cardio converts your body into a fat burning machine and it increases your metabolic rate.
Fasted cardio elevates the growth hormone levels which aids fat loss. In addition, it decreases post workout appetite which prevents overeating.

Those “stubborn” fats which is the bane of your existence? Those will be eliminated.
If you are a woman reading this, hear hear.
Hips, thighs, and butt are probably the most challenging to tone and shape up when you are trying to lose weight.

If you are a guy, don’t think you are getting off easy. Your abdominal muscles, obliques, and lower back are usually the stubborn parts.
Fasted Cardio done with the intention to bring blood circulation to these areas will help these stubborn areas tone up faster.

Not Just a Theory

As it turns out, exercise plays a HUGE part in effective fat loss. However as with everything, T&C applies – exercise done at a certain time and under certain conditions can produce the most desirable outcome. That’s our cheat code.

Recently, scientific research shows that fasted exercise:

Step 1: Body digest and breaks down the food into (amino acids, glucose, and fatty acids)
Step 2: The small intestine absorbs these nutrients into the blood
Step 3: It usually takes about 2-4 hours to be in complete fasted state (that also depends on the size of the meal)
Step 4: Fed vs Fasted Cardio:

Applying this theory – While calories deprivation remains as the best way to purge body fat, fasted exercise is done first thing in the morning and could possibly turn on various genes that affect the fat burning process.

Cheers to Burn Fats – A Beginner Fasted Cardio Solution

Our advice – An early morning jog, bike ride or a session on the treadmill or elliptical does not only burn fat, but sets you up on becoming more effectively at burning fat. Which would make dieting presumably less painful.

Try the below & thank us after.

Monday: Fasted walking for 20mins + 4 sets of bodyweight Squats x 20 reps
Tuesday: Fasted brisk walking for 30mins + Legs are at work + 4 sets of bodyweight Squats x 20 reps
Wednesday: Fasted cycling for 30mins + 4 sets of Abdominal crunches x 20 reps
Thursday: Fasted brisk walking for 35mins + 4 sets of Abdominal crunches x 20 reps
Friday: Fasted slow jog for 20mins + 4 sets of Leg raises x 15 reps
Saturday: REST
Sunday: Fasted jog for 30mins + 4 sets of Lunges x 15 reps per leg

Apply this program into your daily life and see the change.