Fitness experts from the best gyms in Singapore, plus Pilates studios and bootcamps, share advice on top workouts, getting fit and sticking with it to get the desired results, in the gym or online at home.
Singapore gym – Ultimate Performance Singapore
What it offers: This gym in Singapore is known for its no-nonsense approach to personal training (in-gym and online). It’s for those who mean business about getting fit and want to achieve serious, hard-evidence results. From advice on diet and supplements to travel health, and stress and sleep tips, U.P. offers a holistic approach, customising realistic solutions for each client’s lifestyle, ability and goals. (It’s also the winner of the Best Gym in Singapore from our Readers’ Choice Awards!)
Chris Richards, Managing Director of APAC and Middle East
What are your tips for getting started and motivated?
• Ask yourself, “What is the one thing that I can focus on that would make the biggest positive impact on my health and take me closer to my goals?” Focus on making a positive habit change in this area and, as you gain momentum and confidence, you can build from there.
• Regardless of the time of year, it’s important to think about the “why” behind the intention of getting fit. Is there a time-bound goal (for instance, a birthday or wedding) that you’re working toward? Or, is it health related, where you understand you must make a change so that you can be the best version of yourself for your children?
Where do people normally slip up?
An extreme change from “feast to famine” over the holiday period, when people decide to go on a New Year detox, can be unsustainable. Instead, the key to success is focusing on making healthy changes, understanding that you still need to fuel your body to perform optimally day to day and in the gym, and planning ahead.
Additionally, if you go “too hard, too soon”, it’s likely that you will bounce back negatively when you fall off the wagon. Therefore, mapping out a clear plan and having guidance and support in your journey to getting fit can result in a much more favourable outcome.
How can U.P. help?
U.P.’s dedicated and professional trainers offer tailored support and accountability based on your individual goals, the time frame you’re working toward, and with a focus on education and developing positive habits that are sustainable, so you will be empowered to lead a healthier lifestyle with confidence.
Manulife Tower, 8 Cross Street 6536 8649 | upfitness.com.sg
Singapore gym – UFIT
What it offers: A holistic approach to health and fitness, with personal training, on-site nutritionists, physiotherapists, osteopaths and rehab specialists at its hubs around town (locations at Club Street, One-North and Orchard). UFIT also recently launched a fourth Singapore gym location at Fairmont Hotel, Raffles City; the new venue offers private and group classes, personal training and sports programmes.
As one of the largest health and fitness communities in Singapore for over a decade now, UFIT is also known for its outdoor group class offerings. These popular group classes take place across nine locations islandwide, including Fort Canning, Bukit Timah, East Coast and Sentosa. From HIIT sessions and fast-paced Metcon at Tanglin Rugby Club, to tennis at UFIT’s Savitar Tennis Centre at the Fairmont Hotel, and outdoor yoga in the Botanic Gardens, there’s really something for everyone.
Phil Snowden, Personal Trainer
What are your tips for getting started and motivated?
Firstly, work out what you actually want to achieve. Ask yourself the Spice Girls’ question: “Tell me what you want, what you really-really want.” You may have to dig deep for this answer. “I want to lose weight and get fitter” and “I want my clothes to fit better to increase my confidence at work so that people take me more seriously” are examples.
Next, if you hate the gym, figure out how you can incorporate something you do like. For example, listening to music that you love while cycling on the bike, which you don’t like.
Where do people normally slip up?
In terms of weight loss, people slip up on the weekends. They think they’ve burnt off enough calories and have reduced their calorie intake enough during the week without realising how many excess calories they’re consuming Friday through Sunday. Drinking and eating loads counteracts the deficit they created in the previous week!
How can UFIT help?
We take out the “thinking” for you. At this gym in Singapore, you can turn up without worrying about not knowing what to do. We’ll help find ways to create better lifestyle habits outside of the gym. Plus, our training environment is top notch and fun.
Singapore gym and virtual personal training – ATP Fitness
What it offers: This gym in Singapore takes a holistic, collaborative approach to ensure that change is truly sustainable. To achieve this, ATP Personal Training combines cutting-edge science with time-proven coaching strategies, along with a big dose of accountability! They’ll audit every part of your current lifestyle – from work, sleep and downtime patterns to overall activity, dietary habits and any pre-existing health conditions – to ensure that any potential limiting factors are addressed (and removed).
The professional coaches at this gym in Singapore work together with clients to set clear, realistic goals that can help each individual build healthy habits and routines that support proper nutrition and exercise. If this type of total transformation is what you’re after, you’ll want to check out the gym’s recently launched Sustainable Transformation Challenge – a focused 12-week plan designed to help you get into the best shape of your life, and for the rest of your life.
Peter Fisher, Director
What are your tips for getting started and motivated?
• The first thing is to just start. You can’t improve on nothing. Get the ball rolling in the smallest way possible. And, once you’ve started, make sure you are measuring both the process and progress.
• It’s important that you know why you’re training and what you’re committing to. Then, you can accurately measure the return on investment of time, energy and resources. This doesn’t mean that you need to research endlessly before you begin – that’s a form of procrastination. There is no perfect diet, or perfect programme; your approach will change with you.
• Pick two to three measures to track consistently. I would also suggest adding in daily steps as an easy marker for general activity, and tracking food intake in a way that works for you. And, if weight loss is the goal, morning body weight is a non-negotiable, as you’ll collect valuable data that allows you to make informed decisions. Whatever approach you take, the key is to adjust based on the feedback.
Where do people normally slip up?
People put too much pressure on themselves to see immediate results without actually putting measures in place to accurately gauge the outcome of the interventions. Eyeballing progress in the mirror won’t cut it; measuring progress gamifies the experience and greatly increases your chances of success when it come to getting fit. Also, most people don’t spend enough time on establishing their goals properly. The more vague the goal, the harder it is to measure progress
How can ATP Fitness help?
We help clients gain clarity around their goals. We work with them to engineer a strategy that is realistic, but ambitious. Most people are full of good intentions, and we help to transform vague intentions into disciplined execution.
#01-01 The Octagon, 105 Cecil Street 8189 1789 | atp.fitness
Pilates – The VIVA Group Pilates & Wellness
What it offers: Group, private and duet Reformer Pilates classes (from 6am to 9pm daily) using Pilates Reformer, Cadillac, Stability Chair, Barre and Mat. The Keppel Bay studio location has even got a detox juice bar, and a beautiful nail and hair salon that uses only vegan and non-toxic nail products, and sustainable and sulphate-free hair products.
Vivian Twiss, Founder and Instructor
What are your tips for getting started and motivated?
• Set a main goal. Having a clear “end of the road” makes it easier to stick to the process of getting fit. For example, set a date for a family photo shoot, where you will want to look your best, or book a holiday or a staycation, where you know you will spend 80 percent of your time in swimwear.
• Get fit with friends! Starting a fitness regime with friends will help you stay on track and help hold each other accountable.
Where do people normally slip up?
Anything that disrupts your routine is bound to make you slip up from achieving your goal of getting fit.
How can The VIVA Group Wellness & Pilates help?
To create consistency and maintain your routine to maximise your goals, VIVA offers memberships of one, two or three classes a week. The memberships offer highly discounted prices – a major bonus!
There are seven different types of group classes running daily in both studio locations. Classes can be catered to all levels – from those who are starting their journey to seasoned practitioners – and are taught by our team of highly qualified instructors.
#01-23 Quayside Isle, Sentosa Cove (31 Ocean Way)
#02-02/02-02A Marina at Keppel Bay (2 Keppel Bay Vista)
9186 0716 | thevivagroup.com
Online or in-person training – Fitness Functions
What it offers: Online and in-person training programmes for all ages and fitness levels. Specialising in weight loss, toning, fat percent reduction, core stability, flexibility, rehabilitation, stamina building, youth training and nutritional guidance, the trainers at Fitness Functions are certified and equipped with the knowledge and experience to guide clients through their journeys of getting fit – whether it be at the client’s home gym or via Skype.
If you opt for the popular online training programme, they’ll even provide you with the equipment to use at home!
Ivan McCall, Director
What’s your top tip for getting started and motivated?
Setting and achieving a fitness goal is the ultimate prize but setting and conquering small goals along the way is vital. To do this, aim to set daily goals; for example, completing three sets of planks a day. Then, set a weekly goal, like completing three hours of training. Additionally, set a month-end goal, like clocking 12 hours of training time overall. You’ll gain confidence and motivation when you achieve the small goals, and a habit will form from there.
Where do people normally slip up?
Without setting the small targets, many people lose focus and motivation, as the main goal can seem far away and take longer to achieve. If you conquer goals one by one, you’ll see that, like a jigsaw puzzle, it forms the bigger picture.
How can Fitness Functions help?
We specialise in setting achievable, realistic targets and building sustainable lifestyle changes for our clients. Achieving your end goal is your target, and helping you achieve and sustain that lifestyle change is ours.
To kick off 2021, Expat Living readers can enjoy their first 24 sessions online with Fitness Functions (worth $1,680) at a discounted rate of $1,200! This includes training videos tailored especially to you and training equipment sent to your home, plus nutrition guidance and training regimes for the days you’re not working with your personal trainer.
9654 7064 | fitness-functions.com
Pilates studio – Options Pilates
What it offers: A variety of private and group Pilates classes. This includes pre- and postnatal classes, post rehab-focused sessions and dedicated classes for older adults. The studio also offers Gyrotonic for flexibility, strength and functional movement, and Jungle Sports Suspension training for body conditioning.
Joe Halstead, Founder
What are your tips for getting started and motivated?
• Break your New Year’s resolution into a series of realistic smaller goals. If you want to be healthy for life (a big goal!) maybe you can start by strengthening your posture so that your neck pain disappears and you can be more active (a small goal).
• Make sure you are accountable to someone for your goals. This might be yourself, your partner, a personal trainer or even your kids! Somebody who will not be afraid to remind you of your goal – and what it takes to get there – will help you immensely when it comes to seeing things through.
• Take some time to find what works for you or what you enjoy. If you hate running, don’t try getting fit that way! If you feel like giving up because you don’t feel comfortable in the gym, then try something more private like following YouTube workouts at home, or working out in a small studio.
Where do people normally slip up?
Many people slip up because they set vague New Year’s resolutions for themselves instead of clear, achievable goals. For instance, “I want to be healthy” should become “I want to learn what it takes to eat healthier in a way that fits my lifestyle”, and “I want to look better” should start out as “I want to make sure I exercise at least three times a week every week.” That way, you won’t feel like you’ve failed just because you slip up once in a while, and you can get back on track instead of giving up.
How can Options Pilates help?
Options Pilates will guide you safely and effectively towards your goal – whether it’s short-term or long-term. A short-term goal many of our clients have is building a stronger core in order to live pain-free. For the long-term, some of our decade long clients want to ensure that their muscles and bones are in top shape as they get older. Either way, we keep clients on track and make sure they keep exercising their way to a healthy lifestyle.
Locations at Orchard Road (International Building), Oxley Rise (One Oxley Rise) and Bukit Timah (Sime Darby Centre)
9739 7085 | optionspilatesstudio.com
Singapore gym and personal training – Meta Performance
This boutique gym in Singapore specialises in body and lifestyle transformations, offering one-on-one personal training and small group classes in the CBD. With its Meta Training System, training is tailor-made to reach each and every client’s specific goals, and the team is there to guide you along the way.
Sebastian Eio (Director) and Brendan Ong (Director)
What are your tips for getting started?
- There needs to be a very strong “Why”. Think about why you started this in the first place and keep the “”why” the goal. That is what is going to keep you going.
- Also, seeing your body and health physically and progressively change for the better will keep you motivated!
- Always remember to celebrate the little victories in life, as they build up to the big victories! Trust the plan and be patient.
Where do people normally slip up?
Most people set unhealthy goals and often get impatient when they see slow results. They forget that training, like life itself, is a marathon and not a sprint. Also, some people have an all or nothing mind-set and, when they do not set healthy, progressive goals or deadlines, it usually leads to them abandoning the training plan.
How can Meta Performance help?
Not only will Meta Performance’s trainers tailor an individual workout for you, they’ll also set realistic deadlines for your goals, educate you and keep you accountable every step of the way. Their end goal, after all, is to see a happy client who can be independent in both their training and nutrition selection process. So, clients can expect daily emails and messages from their trainers to make sure they’re staying on track – and on the way to becoming the best versions of themselves.
55 Market Street, #02-01
8218 8489 | metaperformance.sg
Outdoor and online fitness – Better Bodies Boot Camp
What it offers: Bootcamp workout classes for all fitness levels and ages, at various outdoor locations including Singapore Botanic Gardens and Evans Road. The one hour workouts will test you with speed and agility drills, core conditioning, walking and jogging, strength training and obstacle courses. The Booty Camp class, in particular, is a long-time favourite for women who want to target their lower-body to get firmer thighs, abs and glutes. There are online classes available, too, if you’d like to work on getting fit from afar!
What’s more, Better Bodies Boot Camp recently started offering complimentary services to those under stay-at-home-notice at hotels here in Singapore – a huge relief to quarantined guests, as exercise has been proven to help reduce stress and anxiety, and improve sleep.
Toni Finan, Founder
What are your tips for getting started and motivated?
• Be okay with starting small, and tell yourself that if you do too much too quickly, you will burn out. For example, going to the gym every day, cutting out carbs and giving up drinking are three huge goals all at once; space them out over the first couple of months of the year, and tackle them one goal at a time.
• Track your progress! I have had many great results with my clients using the free app, My Fitness Pal.
• Train with a friend or a group of like-minded people who are also serious about getting fit. A bootcamp class is a great way to do this!
Where do people normally slip up?
I think the biggest mistake people make when creating New Year’s fitness resolution is setting unrealistic goals – “I want to get in shape this year, so I’m going to work out every day starting from January.” They force themselves to commit to this for the first two weeks, then easily fall off the wagon.
Developing good health habits is just as difficult as getting rid of bad ones. In each case, you will need to start small and build yourself up.
How can Better Bodies Boot Camp help?
We are excited to start 2021 feeling amazing, with goal-smashing workouts, and great nutrition, motivation and mind-set classes to keep us on track with balanced, healthy lifestyle habits.
Fitness and Pilates studio – Fitnut Loft
What it offers: This boutique Pilates studio and gym in Singapore specialises in reversing ageing for women in their 40s and 50s, and transforming them into more confident, stronger women. The Bukit Timah-based studio offers personal training sessions, 12-week body transformation programmes, small group training classes and virtual classes. The signature class is Strong and Lean, which combines weights and Pilates for maximum results. Other classes include Reformer, suspension training based Jungle, and CardioTramp, a circuit-style class that combines cardio-trampolining on the reformer with upper-body exercises.
Aly Khairuddin, Owner, personal trainer, STOTT-Pilates instructor and Amazing 12 coach and nutrition coach
What are your tips for getting started and motivated?
• There is never a perfect time to start working out. Start now, not when everything is “perfect”.
• Consistency beats big workouts. You’re better off consistently working out three times a week for even as little as 10 minutes (as a start), rather than trying to hit the gym for an hour workout every day.
• Mark your workouts in your calendar; make a habit of checking the day before, and preparing your workout gear and any meals for the following day.
• Track your changes with photos. Visually seeing positive changes will spur you on to keep going, especially when you feel like giving up.
Where do people normally slip up?
While you may start with a goal – for instance, losing 10kg – it’s best to change your intention and instead think of a change in behaviour; for example, eating smaller portions or aiming to walk 20 minutes a day. Choose two to three behaviours, write them down and make sure you are doing them with 90 to 100 percent consistency before adding on other behaviour changes. If you focus on the goal, you can get frustrated that you aren’t achieving it. So, focus instead on behaviours, and you will hit your goals.
How can FitNut Loft help?
This Singapore gym combines weight and strength training with Pilates, mindfulness and nutrition. It’s all about helping women ditch the dieting mentality for good, and getting fit, healthier and happier through nutritious eating and exercise.
New at FitNut Loft: The popular 12-week programme Amazing 12 (A12) is now available at the studio. “It’s the world’s number one body transformation programme that delivers unprecedented body transformations in shockingly short periods of time, no matter your age, condition or genetics,” says Aly, who is the only certified A12 coach in Singapore.
Additionally, she’s offering 21-day programmes for anyone who wants to jumpstart their fitness regime.
2 Pandan Valley, #01-201
8686 8299 | fitnutloft.com
This article first appeared in the January 2020 edition of Expat Living. You can purchase the latest issue or subscribe, so you never miss a copy!
