The secrets to balancing work and fitness
No time to go to the gym after work? Two of our BMT-ers are here to tell you otherwise!
Getting to the gym after a long day of work can be difficult. There are a million excuses that you can come up with to avoid the gym. But Joe Yap and Calvin Wong are ready to tell you to shove those excuses back where they came from.
Joe Yap - Having a strong will
Some of my friends tell me, "My work is taking its toll on me, where got time to workout?! Don't even have time to poop!" or "I'm too old to work out already". All I hear are excuses.
Exercise does require you to sacrifice some time and put in extra effort, especially if you have a full time 9-6 corporate job. Quite frankly, it was and is never easy for me too. I work in Sepang, which means I spend an average of 2-3 hours commuting to and fro work everyday. Put in my work and my family into the equation, I had no time.
Before my job at Sepang, I used to work out regularly, but because commuting to and fro took so much time, I lost motivation. All I did was go home and binge-watch movies and TV series with my favourite snacks in one hand.
Few months down the road, I stood on the weighing scale and saw the numbers rise. I realized I could not focus at work. I didn't realize how serious the direct correlation between physical exercise and job performance was!
That's when I stumbled upon BMT and decided to change. What helped was I had a group of friends with me. We started on LOTS of strength and conditioning exercises, mainly to improve my posture as it was vital to perform different types of exercises. I can't thank Coach Prince enough for this.
I now gladly trade off 60 minutes on Netflix with a bucket of sweat twice every week and have never felt better. As cliche as it sounds, “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”
Calvin Wong - Setting the right goals with the right people
I manage my own company and it can get quite hectic. Sometimes I have no motivation to workout but setting the right fitness goals with the right people have helped me a long way.
It all began after I quit smoking 7 years ago and decided to change my lifestyle. I joined bootcamp training at COBC with one of my friends before, after realizing how unfit I was. I attempted a 5km run by walking!
From running to high intensity interval trainings, I did it all. I decided to try something more challenging and signed up for my first Ironman 70.3. As I trained for that, I stopped bootcamp training 2 months prior to the event because it took up too much time. I succeeded in my half Ironman, but the following year, I could not complete the full Ironman. I had completely lost strength and endurance. I was doing it all wrong and lost some motivation along the way.
I had to start from the bottom again. That was when I saw a friend grow tremendously under a few months with BMT and I decided to join her group in the beginning of 2019.
It was tough. Mentally and physically, especially when I had to manage my own business as well. But at BMT, I can confide in Coach Prince on my objectives and he makes sure I stick to it. No excuses. He plans workouts step-by-step to help me achieve my goals - despite being in a group class. I was constantly motivated and in just a few months, I could see a difference. That kept me going.
After a few months, I could begin to execute or incorporate what I learned in BMT to the three disciplines - running, cycling and swimming - with better forms and power.
Everything is still a work in progress, and there are some really tough workout days, but if it were easy, everyone would have done it. Having the right goals definitely pushes me through the hardships and consistency is the key to success. Day in, and day out, the same thing.
There are days when I would want to give up and skip training, especially when work gets tough or I have other commitments, but with BMT and the right goals, I can only be motivated to build a better version of myself.
#benchmarktheory #getfitright #nolimits
Find it hard to commit to go to the gym? Let us help you set goals and make no excuses! Just drop us an email at [email protected]!