Together with Tini, a mother of 1 and a Personal Trainer in our team, discuss how women and mothers can leverage the tips and tricks we discussed in this talk show podcast for their weight loss journey.

If you are a woman, and you always give yourself excuses for not being able to work out, keep yourself healthy and work. This episode is for you. Bego is a mother of 3. She is also a personal trainer, achieved many in her life, yet she can spend quality time with her 3 girls. 

If you have been following my podcast, you will realize that I’ve not been recording for months. That is because, I have a newborn and every night when I am trying to record something, halfway through my baby girl crying will come into the background. I’ve been trying to catch the right time so she will not interrupt during my recording but it still failed.

And by now, you should also realize my audio isn’t as good as it was, that is because i am recording through my phone without any mic and filter. I was thinking if I have to set up and find the best time to record, It will never happen for a while.

So in this episode, I just want to be transparent to you guys that I am having a really hard time juggling my work, sleep, family, workout and podcast.

In the near future, my recording might be shorter but I promise to make the best out of it and I hope for your understanding and thank you so much for listening. 

When it comes to getting in shape, losing weight, and gaining muscle, the first thing we thought about is training. And this can be frustrating when you think you already did everything you could in the gym and still not getting the result you want. 

Yes, getting a coach will help you achieve your goal faster, but some people don’t like to be told what to do, and even if they listen to the coach, there are micro things you might not know that will give your result a speed boost. 

Have you heard of this quote, “abs are built in the kitchen?” Yes, and it applies to losing fats too.  Losing fats is not just about all the hard training, it is about what you do outside the gym to help supplement what you did in the gym.

You might think, yeah yeah, we know it is about the diet. No! It is not just about the diet. 

Let me share with you some secrets of mine you might already know or you might not. Besides just training, these rituals are the ones I’ve been doing to recover my body faster, look young, minimize the chances of falling sick and burn more fats.

ARE YOU READY? 

Number one. Drink one liter of lukewarm water with a few slices of lemon before any food or coffee in the morning. If you usually don’t have the habit of drinking a lot of water in the morning, then start with 500ml. If you have a stomach acidic problem, then don’t add lemon.

Why I suggest lemon is because lemon helps aid digestion. It also helps prevent constipation,that is why when you drink warm or hot lemon water when you wake up in the morning it may help you get your digestive system moving.

Number two. Have a very healthy breakfast. Filling and nutritious breakfast will help to kick start your day. Breakfast is often called “the most important meal of the day” by many generations. And why is it so? Breakfast breaks the overnight fasting time frame and it helps replenish your supply of glucose to boost your energy levels and alertness and provide essential nutrients for good health.

But if you are doing long hours of fasting and happen to break your fast only after breakfast, then you can skip it on the day when you are doing Intermittent-Fasting.

When you have a good and healthy breakfast that includes fiber, the tendency you have a heavy lunch or snack on something sweet in between your breakfast and lunch is slim, and that will help you to cut down unnecessary calories.

Number three. Cold Shower. Showering cold in the morning does more good than bad. In the old days, where parents told you not to shower cold in the morning after you wake up, if not you might catch a cold, it is over. Much research has proven, showering in the morning helps you to wake up and improves blood circulation. The cold and warm stimuli constrict and dilate your blood vessels, which will help strengthen your immune system.  Coldwater also helps reduce sore muscles and supports recovery after a workout or sports.

And if you are able to recover faster, you can hit the gym again to burn more fats and build muscle faster.

Number four. Drink warm Chinese tea every day. Naturally, teas have a type of flavonoid called catechins that may help boost metabolism and help your body break down fats more quickly. Like coffee, teas also have caffeine that will increase your energy use, causing your body to burn more calories.

But why specifically Chinese teas? Tea leaves like Pu-Er, Tie Guan Yin, or Oolong, already have a long history of helping people to clear the excessive oil from the food you eat out of your body system. That’s why I believe in Chinese teas.

Number five. If you work out that day, take ZMA supplements before sleep. ZMA stands for zinc, magnesium, and aspartate, aspartate in short, they are Vitamin B6. They are a popular supplement among athletes, bodybuilders. These three combinations help to boost muscle growth and strength and improve endurance, recovery, and sleep quality. And when you have good sleep quality, it will help you lose fats faster.

Last but not least, number 6. Before bedtime, meditate. Why is meditation good for you? Meditation does not help you to lose weight like how workout does but it is part of the plan.  If you meditate long enough, over time, it can help you to make lasting changes, like eating habits or the mind power to continue with your weight loss goal.

Suppose you can follow all that I mentioned above. You are already halfway there to achieve a total body and mind transformation. You can also start feeling different in a month. I’ve tried it myself when I need to lose some fats after the holiday and during the covid lockdown period. During that time, gyms are all closed, all that I could do was a home workouts and the rituals I mentioned. And it does help me to drop fats percentage from 16% back to 13%

I took a while to come out with these few ways that work hand in hand with training and diet. These are some things you won't get to hear or see very often when reading or getting advice from someone. Diet, workout, or taking slimming pills are more of the common ways people will advise you to do.

The conclusion is to set your mind right and follow the blueprint I have just told you. Sometimes you need to try an error to know your body better. Don’t be afraid to look at yourself in the mirror, and measure your body fat percentage to analyze your result every 3-4 weeks.

I have been training people for almost 13 years. I have worked with a few mega gyms, one of which is a ladies' specialized gym. I’ve seen many success stories along the way.

Have you wondered why certain people got great results and transformation when they decided to start their fitness journey, and some didn’t? 

I agree, with some people with health conditions, they might have difficulties achieving their goals. Let’s just put this group of people aside. Mental strength is the main drive to help every individual achieve their fitness goal. Discipline, Determination, and Self-conscious are a few main keys to achieving a goal. 

Of course, fitness goals can be very subjective to individuals. But I’m talking about losing fats, getting lean and toned, and increasing strength. One that doesn’t look frail or always seems tired. 

You might find it challenging to maintain a specific body shape or lifestyle you have been following, and that’s because IT IS difficult. Nothing is easy. But what if I tell you, If there is a system that not only helps you achieve your goal, it can also change your mindset and habits on how you can maintain your fitness and body shape throughout your journey?

It might sound too good to be true. It is true it might sound too good to be true IF you attempt to try it all by yourself with no proper help or system to follow. Everyone needs a system to follow. When you are trying to learn from youtube, it is a form of system. When you try to learn from books or magazines, it is a form of system. When you try to learn from what you saw in the gym, that is also a system.

But are those the correct ones you are following? Are you getting results from that system? Do you understand what you are doing with the system? Following blindly can result in injuries or getting your body confused about what you really want to achieve and end up losing all the motivation to train.

I can totally understand all this frustration because I've been there myself.  It took me 13 years to create The “LUMIX” system. I’ve been talking about it on my Instagram in my last few posts.

Today I’m not going to dive in too much about my program, but I’m going to tell you the top 3 qualities I find in my most successful clients.

Number one. They Believe and accept that we all have our expertise, and I’m the coach to help them achieve their goal. Instead of spending their own valuable time trying out all sorts of funny ideas and ending up, they could have used their time in a better way.  I have many clients who are working in a very stressful environment, every day, they need to deal with hundreds of people and still need to manage their work. The last thing they want is to come to the gym, instead of releasing their stress and focusing on getting their body in shape, they need to think of HOW they can build their body. Smart people know how to dedicate work to specific people who are good at what they are doing. 

Number 2. They listen instead of fighting it. When they decided to invest in me, they wanted to achieve their goal. And they don’t want to waste their money and time for not listening to what I advised them to do and end up not getting what they want. This point can be related to the first point I have just mentioned.  When they just do what they are told, there is no stress about it, they just have to do it. They don’t find excuses not to do what I’ve told them to do, because it will only waste their energy. They believe in the system, they do it and they succeed. That’s so simple.

Number 3.  They believe in consistency and the trainer they choose. They continue training with me because they continuously learn something new and see results instead of stopping training when they see a little development and assume they know it all. They also believe I can lead them to a better lifestyle. 

With all due respect, I know there are some clients who want to learn some basic skills from the coach, and the moment they see some results, they stop training. I respect that, I respect every client's decision, but one must remember, even all the coaches that have been training for many years, still they are learning. Training is not as easy as you think it is.

I’ve seen many CEOS and Directors of big companies hire fitness trainers or martial art artists for themselves, not because they merely just want to achieve their fitness goal, they also want to sharpen their mental strength, discipline, endurance, and patience. 

And last but not least, number 4. Discipline. They already have a certain level of discipline in them. They know in order to achieve their goal, they need to come training regularly without fail, not unless they are sick. They know training without cardio and diet is not going to help them, so they follow the way it should be and without whining and complaining. 

With those four qualities, I see success in my clients. We all have the qualities to succeed, we all have them in us, we just need someone to help us sharpen it. 

I’ve heard this beautiful quote from somebody, it says “ time is the mightiest force in the world, or even in the universe. Why would you ever choose to fight time when you could have time on your side. Who wouldn’t want to harness the great river of time, that flows through all of life? Why wouldn’t you want to use the power of time to generate power in every area of your existence.”

It is not easy, but it is always possible.

If today, after listening to this podcast, you find it makes sense, then stop procrastinating and wasting your precious time on figuring out how to. Hire a coach and let them help you. Discuss with them your goal and concern, make a plan with them, and then set your fitness journey to autopilot. You just have to do what you are told. 

I hope that will help you and good luck!

When it comes to “no pain, no gain,” you might think “siao ah,” meaning crazy. Why would I want to go gym and torture myself? Who the hell will go to the gym and do something that feels painful? And then you saw those motivational speeches or videos of how others trained; you suddenly felt motivated but had the mental block to push yourself to that pain level where many call it “suffering.” 

I do feel the same way sometimes. I love training so much and I am a coach myself, I should be able to push myself, but I am human too. Sometimes, I am afraid of the pain too, I will lose motivation or inspiration to push myself. And then I will find ways to spark that fire in me again. I know deep inside me, I would love to do it, I just need the spark.

Pain doesn’t mean the pain we feel when we cut ourselves or the pain we got from falling. The pain is a mental challenge. The challenge of pushing one more rep, one more set, or you can say pushing through that, you call it the “sour feeling.” the (Lactic acid-forming) inside your muscle. 

Meaning your muscle is lacking oxygen, and it is very normal during muscle fatigue. It will usually result in muscle soreness and cramps. But you know when you start feeling that, your muscles will only grow.

If you decide to do it, you do your best. Why would you want to go to the gym and do half-fu*k? You will be wasting your own time. The next time you need that mental push, I’ve three pieces of advice for you. 

Advice 1. Find a buddy that has a high discipline and knows what he is doing to push you. You definitely want someone who knows what he is doing and knows how to work out in order to push you that extra rep. The last thing you want is your best buddy or spotter to injure you and you never want to come back to the gym anymore.

I had a very bad experience with a spotter just two years ago.  I want to do a 55kgs dumbbell chest press on a bench, and all my colleague was engaged with their clients, I know I won't be able to push that alone, so I went to the front desk and ask this big size guy who did some carry himself to spot me, spot meaning standing behind me and support me by gripping my wrist or putting his hand under my arms, just in case I couldn’t push, he could give me a hand.

And that was when the accident happened, true enough, I couldn't push the weight when I reached the 3 reps and he didn't push me on time, so I had a partial tear right chest muscle, and luckily I was quick enough and did a safe landing, the dumbbell didn't hit my face.

So, I asked him why he didn’t support me well, and he replied, “I thought you could.” Just because of his inexperience, I almost lost my job and am not able to lift anymore.

Advice 2. Play a piece of a song that you will be highly motivated for, and try to push it. *(With the proper form, of course.) You might think, how can music help with the workout? ​​Studies have shown that faster-paced music tends to help improve athletic performance when a person engages in low-to-moderate level exercise, either by increasing distance traveled, pace, or repetitions completed. 

For example, a 2006 study that looked at the effect of music on the selection of treadmill speed found that while listening to fast-paced music, participants increased their pace and distance traveled without becoming more tired. Other studies drew similar conclusions, suggesting that listening to music with more beats per minute can enhance physical performance during low-to-moderate level exercise.

I have had experience in some gyms allowing the trainers to play their own playlist and someone played some oldies and slow songs, not lying, someone actually loves it but that will never help to push you for another repetition or set because the beat won’t help to motivate you. 

Advice 3. The most traditional and safest way is to hire a coach. With the extra push, you will make a big difference from how you think you can turn out to be. I've gone through competition, and I had a coach to push me. I was at the next level than I had ever been in my life.

I can totally understand, it is hard to invest that amount of money to hire a coach. Coaches, Trainers, Teachers, they are all expensive, why? Because they have put their life with all they do the best for many years, they invested a lot on courses to enhance their skills, in order to coach, they trade their time to coach you and teach you. They hold the responsibility to make sure you succeed. 

There are also coaches outside that are affordable. They are newly certified and willing to take any clients. If you have a budget, you can always hire them to learn the basics first before you upgrade to elite trainers.

So, if you have been thinking to transform but have been procrastinating, meaning, you need someone to push your ass hard. Usually, this type of pushing yourself to leave your comfort zone is the pain that we are talking about. The pain is when you are willing to do something you are uncomfortable about, then you will grow!

Whatever that I had mentioned, those are based on my experience and what I've seen throughout my coaching years. Those will bring you pain but they will definitely bring you to the next level. 

Now, the conclusion is, whatever you do in life, regardless outside the gym or in the gym, there is nothing comes to great when we don’t put in the effort. And effort usually comes with “pain”, no pain, no gain. I want to challenge you, try one thing this month, one thing you know if you step out of the comfort zone and feel that “pain” you know, you will be better than who you are now. 

I hope my two cents of advice help you on your fitness journey. Good luck!

Welcome to Awaken The Warrior In you. This is your host, Edison Ho

In this episode, I will be sharing with you, “My love story with my wife”

Story 1

Before I got to know my wife, I was just like any other ordinary man, going to the club every weekend to pick up girls and also trying to date nice ladies from dating apps. And through one dating app, that was where I met my wife, “Nica.”

In the beginning, we just exchanged a few words from the app and ex changed our number, but we did not maintain the connection or stay in touch. And you won’t believe it, after 2 years, we met again in the same app! The conversation started with “I think I know you.” And that was how everything started.

We started to go out for coffee.

One day, my good best friend asked me, do I have any nice lady to introduce to him, and I was thinking, he is much older than me and he really needs to get a girlfriend. So I decided to introduce Nica, to match them up by setting up a dinner together.

Do you believe in fate? That day, when she came to meet us, she didn’t want to sit beside my friend, she sat beside me. So we started to introduce each other. The whole time, I can tell she is not interested in him at all. It was a flop.

Story 2

We started to go out more often as friends, meet up for movies and coffee. I wasn’t serious at all, I was just being playful and needed more female friends instead of my good friend.

6 years back, during New Year countdown, she asked me if I have any plan, I told her I am going club with my group of friends for a countdown, So she kind of sadly nodded (I can sense it), But hey, I don’t consider myself attached at that moment, I still wanna hang out and enjoy my freedom.

That night, after the countdown, I was a little tipsy and I couldn’t get a cab home, everyone was calling for a cab. It was already 1am! So I tried my luck, I texted Nica to ask if she was already asleep, I wanted her to take a cab from Hougang to Clarke Quay and get me out of here. HONESTLY, I didn’t expect she would agree, who would?

Unexpectedly she agreed! And my heart SANK. That moment, I told myself, I am a total asshole. How could I do that to her?

And after that day, everything changed. The way I looked at her was different. I will never meet another girl who will do the same thing for me, I’ve never met a woman in my life that treated me as a priority, I needed to give this relationship a chance to blossom!

We started to date seriously, at least for me, I was treating it seriously. I also moved out from my parents place to live with her in a rented room for 3 years.

Story 3

In those 3 years, we traveled to many places together. We went to Boracay, Manila, Krabi, Bangkok, Japan, Geneva, New Zealand and Bali. We enjoyed it as much as we could, while the relationship lasted, maybe deep inside us, we weren't sure if this relationship was going anywhere even though we were close.

But during our trip to New Zealand, I decided I want to propose to her. We had known each other for 5 years, she had spent most of her time with me and gave up her dream of going to Switzerland to meet her mum and further her studies.

I mean, I am not a womanizer, but I had more than enough experience to say who is the one for me and loves me, has been there for me throughout my ups and down and so selfless about herself when it comes to me.

And so, during the middle of the trip at the national park, west central, south island, “Mount Cook”, I proposed to her kneeling, in front of all these beautiful mountains and clouds floating around us. It was so beautiful.

At that moment, when she said yes, with tears coming down her face, I knew, this was the moment we both have been waiting for. I wore the ring for her, holded each other's hand so tight and walked down that mountain. I said to her, one day we will bring our kids here and tell them, this is the exact location papa proposed to your mum.

So this is how Nica became my wife. Very quickly within a month, we prepared for the wedding ceremony at Royal Plaza on Scotts. We wanted a more modern wedding ceremony, so we didn’t invite a lot of people, just our close friends and family. We say our vows in front of all our loved ones and the journey of husband and wife begins.

Many newly married couples wanted to take a few years' honeymoon before having a child, but for us it was different, we had traveled a few, we wanted to become young parents and be able to do more things with them, so we decided to have our first child during our first year of marriage. We got a very handsome son, “Jacob.” We were so fonder over him, although he had quite a severe eczema, we really had a hard time with it. Nica even cried during certain occasions. This was our first challenge as husband and wife. Sometimes we got frustrated with different opinions on how we are going to help him, spending lots of time sending him to doctors which affected our career.

Despite all these challenges, we stuck together and got stronger as a couple. We understand each other's emotions more and how to deal with each other under the pressure of external stress.

As Jacob grows, we want him to have companionship beside only us. We are animal lovers but not so much pet lovers, so we decided to give Jacob another sibling! When Jacob turns two, we have one baby girl, a baby sister for Jacob.

It was another most beautiful moment when I saw my daughter, Gia, first arrive from Nica. The first cry, it was precious, just the same as when I saw Jacob. The feeling of waiting in the room for the nurses to push my wife and my daughter back to meet me was so exciting, you can never buy this experience, unless you go through it yourself.

Now having two kids at home, my wife and I agreed that our lifestyle has to change, for good. To many couples, this is a big sacrifice, but to us, seeing them happy, makes us even more happy. Sometimes I wonder, how should I describe this sort of feeling? Because this is beyond just merely happy. This is a calling within one self, when you are ready to become a parent or willing to sacrifice part of your life and re-build another, you will know, ok, this is time to let go of the past.

2-3 take away

Looking back now when I decided to get married, I did not regret it at all. Yes, we all might come to some point of life, thinking back if we made the right choice, especially when things get tough, kids issue, financial or social temptation, but if you are happy most of the time, then do not look back anymore, because life will still goes on, whether or not you made the right choice.

And I was glad that we dated and got to know each other for a while before we got married. The key point here is, get to know each other well before getting married. Go travel together, and you will kind of know if this person is the one you can live with. Traveling together needs a lot of compromise between each other, so that will be your best way to test the relationship. Or another way is to move in together for a year or so. Living together for a few days might seem fun but living for a long period of time will be a different game.

Conclusion

If you are single and looking for a partner, never rush into one because marriage is a big decision in life. And if you are already married, never make hurtful decisions when you are u...

Hi. This is your host, Edison Ho

In this episode, I will be sharing with you, “Being Discipline”

For many of you who struggle with becoming more disciplined and determined, this is not a one day hit the spot thing. I totally understand how hard it is, especially some of us already wired and programmed to do what we always do for the past, like what.. years? or even 10 over years. I get it. Nobody here can help you if you do not set your mind and tell yourself this is enough! I need a change and a total makeover, I am enough of this routine that has stopped me from doing and wanting what I always wanted to do.

Over the years, I have helped many clients achieve their goal because they decided to be disciplined, they decided to put their trust in me, they decided to be determined with what their heart has told them and they decided to do it or never.

Also I have encountered prospects stating their excuses not to train, NOT to me, but to themselves. Without them realize,, these are all the excuses that stop them all these freaking years not to start.  

No time, too far, no motivation, don’t know how, no money, I have kids, don’t have to be fit, lazy, I don’t want to get uncomfortable or for no reason but like to DRAG.. maybe later, maybe next year.

Does that sound familiar? or even resonate with what you are thinking right now? If yes, I want to share with you a story, one of my stories about taking actions and bringing my discipline to the next level. A story of me going for my first bodybuilding competition in 2015 that needed tons of discipline, determination, drive, motivation and training to be able to stand on the stage to compete against MYSELF.

I remember, my best friend and also a coach to me during my competing year in 2015, he asked me if I want to compete? “WHAT COMPETITION?” I asked, he told me, it is like bodybuilding but more for Aesthetic physique, beach boy look kind of thing. Why me? He told me, I have what it takes but am I READY to take it to the next level? I took almost a week to answer him because I know to stand on that stage, you need ain’t some courage but discipline. 

I was young, I wanted something for myself, so I decided to take that challenge!

So I started training twice a day, and seven days a week. So during these seven days, you might think that training is very tough, because you have not done that before. Of course, the seven days, I have plenty to do and plan according to what I plan to do that day, Or you could do more on the stretching and cardio part. And then the rest of the time, you will train your body part by part. Right, so I have to be very, very disciplined. 

And what really helped push me to go forward was my coach, he is a very good friend of mine, and always jokes with me saying, “come on.. haha is that the best you can do lady?” haha! trust me, that joke and the friendship I had with him, keep me going and of course, his physique was better than mine, he was my role model too.

During that period, I stopped going out at night, stop eating outside. And of course, people will ask me does that affect my lifestyle, like, for example, does your wife get angry about you. Does your friend get mad about you? Does it affect your life or your work?

And, of course, I will say that more or less, it does affect a little bit, but it comes down to how you plan your time, how you plan your personal life. If you have a goal, a vision, you have to plan for it. So my first point is to be disciplined, you have to PLAN

So, another thing is the diet, so when you are going for a competition, dieting is very important, which you need to do in terms of cutting carbs, and taking higher protein.

And you have to hit your calories a day; for example, you have to increase your calories intake more during the first few months, and then you start to cut down on your calories. The food macro has to be precise. For example, the hardest thing I found was the coffee, because last time,  I loved to drink coffee with milk, sugar or latte, stuff like that, but when you are going through the competition, you cannot drink coffee with milk or sugar, it has to be black coffee. 

I told myself, why do I need coffee? That was my first question in order to curb my craving for milk and sugar, AND that’s because I just needed sugar and milk but my goal and vision was to be my best on the stage! So I convinced myself just to drink black bit by bit every single day. FOR MY GOAL. You might not be able to take it all in a single day, and no one has to start being perfect from day 1. Try drinking ¼ first then ½ then full, take the time you need to get used to it.

Right. You have to know that IF you want to be leaner. You NEED to eat like chicken breast or fish. You can eat chicken thigh, but you can only eat for the first few months only; after that, when you are on the cutting phase, you have to start eating chicken breasts, you have to start eating fish because they have lesser fats for meat, no processed food is allowed because you are in the phase where food is very very important, that will impact the whole performance on the stage, how you go into the loop 

So the discipline of doing all these is very important because without discipline, without consistency. You might not be able to do it right. Sometimes you might see people eating fast food in front of you, your family member, your friend, and when you go out with them and then they will say hey Edison, or whoever. Why are you not eating this and that? So you have to be very disciplined, you must know what you are up to and RESIST yourself from all these foods. So the second point is you have to RESIST.

The third action I took was to drink more water. So, most of us drink water a day. We don't even count how much, maybe three-cup to five cups. But drinking a lot of water helps me to prepare for the competition. For example, I have to start with, let's say, two-liter a day, followed by a three-liter, and then followed by four-liter.

My coach told me, during training, I need a lot of water. I will lose a lot of water during the training. Also, I need to flush out the excess water that is retained by the salt in my body. Right, the last thing you want on the stage is your body to have water retention. You want that physique to be as dry as possible. And when the date was near, I started to do the cutting down phase for the water. In short, I had to follow the strategy of how it worked and the instructions given by my coach. 

If you are listening right now, tell me, Who has that freaking time to do that?  Do you have the guts to face your own responsibility for what you had planned? Do you have the discipline to manage your training and your life? Do you have the willpower to finish the race?  I did. That’s because I already promised to do this competition, I need to take all the actions needed to accomplish my goal.

Towards the end, to be honest with you, my mind was fried. Discipline, Determination, Pride were the only substances that kept me going to be on the stage.

In the end, Although I did not win the competition, what I got was the experience. 

And what I learned was, ONCE you have set your goal, your vision, you have to take the steps. Discipline is the responsibility for what you have set for. Discipline and training is essential. 

And you have to:

PLAN y...

Hi.  This is your host, Edison Ho

In this episode, I will be sharing with you, “Power Of Change”

How many of you have experienced the Power Of Change in your life? A small or big change that shifts the way you look at your world. Your life just felt so different. 

There were so many choices that I made that changed my life. And today I would like to share with you a story during my time in primary school. A small change that shifted the whole paradigm.

Most of the people who know me now won’t believe a man with a hunky body, looking like a bad boy with tattoos around my entire body, was just a skinny little boy who was always being picked on, because of my size.

I believe everyone, in a lifetime, definitely encountered someone who tried to bully you, hurt you, or even humiliate you. 

During primary 2, I remembered clearly, there was once a spelling session in my English lesson. 

I studied hard for this, but eventually, I forgot one spelling to get full marks. Sitting beside me, a girl wanted to help me and asked me to copy hers. 

And when I did that, she raised her hand and told the teacher I copied her. That was really hilarious.

So, in the end, my form teacher had to call my parents, and my mum got so upset about the situation and requested a retest to prove her son was capable of the test. 

I mean, whose mum won’t do that if their son was innocent and being set up? 

And that was not the end. After my mum also confronted her mum about the incident, her daughter continued to set me up the second time during a recess.

She knows that I love flag erasers because she saw me playing with the boys in class. 

And that day, I was standing near a bookshop waiting to end the recess so that I could go straight to the parade square for assembly.

She came running, standing right in front of me. She was one head taller. She asked, 

if I want some flag eraser? At that moment, for 5 seconds I looked her in the eyes and didn’t know what to answer, and she said, “I know you want it, just stand outside and wait for me.”

I remembered clearly that the shop window was wide open. I saw her going in and grabbing lots of erasers and shaft them into her pocket. I guess you know what happens next. She got caught. When the aunty asked her why she did that, she pointed at me, saying I was the one who asked her to steal it. I was LUCKY, aunty didn’t believe her. And I walked away. 

At that moment, you might think that I was so cool, but honestly, I almost pee my pants. I got a shiver down my spine. I asked myself, “why would someone do that to me?

After all those incidents, I asked myself, am I too stupid? or I'm not more competent than my peers. Why dId I always get set up or be bullied? I went home crying, telling my mum and dad about it, and they told me I need to be strong. 

They told me their stories and how they overcome being bullied. Being strong is one, deciding what to do next is what I should really do. Am I going to just do nothing and continue to let this happen or plan what is my next move to stop her from bullying me.

But telling myself to be strong is pointless, I thought to myself. What should I do which will help me to stop being bullied or picked on. What do I need to do instantly to change the whole situation? 

I thought really hard, but nothing came to my mind. So I decided to avoid her. I requested to change my seat. Every time she comes talking to me, I walk away. After a while, I realized it works! She stopped pestering me, she stopped talking to me.

From there on, I learned something! Sometimes no plan is a plan. And no plan was a decision I made to change the entire game. 

Can you tell, making a decision is such a powerful act to do? Every action I choose to take in my life is a change I want to make. 

Let me share with you another true story. Few years back, I met one guy walking his dog outside his condo while I was waiting for my client. We started talking, and back then, he was chucky and also carrying a stomach like he was pregnant. I ask if he goes to the gym or does he have a coach. And he told me, he used to have, but because he injured his back, he stopped training.

No way I said, how can you stop training completely just because you injured your back? He was being careful I can completely understand but as a coach, this is just my job to push an individual mindset.

After I evaluated his condition, he could walk, he could run and he could drive. So there is no reason for him not to even start something light or simple routine to prevent him from getting obese or hear disease. 

And so after a few months, he called me, he told me, he is ready to start. I asked him why. He told me, I managed to convince him to start training. He wants to take a step forward to make a change. I said “GOOD!, you cannot just believe that you are injured and just stop training for the rest of your life.” You need to start taking baby steps.

And because he took that step, today, he has his six packed and a very strong body! Not going to lie, during the whole process, there are many setbacks. For instance, he felt his back was weird, so he went to the chiropractor for adjustment in order to continue training. His diet was bad, so I monitored his diet daily and with the help of his nutritionist, he managed to follow and keep to his healthy diet. And because he was a heavy smoker, recovering from this training was affected but he quitted smoking in order to fulfill what he started.

I have to give respect to him. The changes he made were what only superman could do. Even though I was there to guide him, coach him, push him and give him motivation, in the end, he needs to first set his mind right and then believe that he can change! The drive he had was totally whole new level.

He can easily just blame his back for stopping him to even start training. He can find excuses for not quitting smoking, he could blame his environment for not being able to keep up with his diet. He could blame his dogs for taking up his time and not being able to go to the gym.

But he did not, that’s why he made it!

So that’s it! This is how “The Power Of Change” can shift your paradigm, and makes you look at your world differently. 

If you are one who gets stuck with excuses and reasons you give yourself not to start making a change, no one is going to come and fix it for you. You are going to fix it yourself.

I’ve seen so much through my 13 years of coaching clients, I’ve seen the change in so many ways. And usually one leads to another. First you decided to make a change to yourself, then because you committed to change, so you decided to change your lifestyle habit, and because of that, your health became better, when your health becomes better, your recovery from training becomes faster, and you grow stronger and as you grow stronger, you impact  how people look and treat you. 

Does that sound agreeable to you ? Do you think you are ready to make that change in your life? Or are you in the process of making a change already?

No matter which point you are at right now, the world will not wait for you. The only thing...