The new ‘normal’ and staying fit
An interview with May Ooi, a personal trainer with a master degree in Sport Science
Interviewer
Trui Knijnenburg
May
Ooi, is a personal trainer, and not just a personal trainer, she’s my personal
trainer. I’ve always been very 
skeptical about personal trainers, until age was
catching up and I started to struggle from several swimming and running
injuries, latest a broken foot. May has been my savvier because of her very
professional sessions which result in me focusing on what is needed to speed up
the healing process and what needs to be done, to stay out of the danger zone
of picking up bad habits, which often creates these injuries.
She
always prepares the sessions very well and keeps track of my performance,
whilst doing my working out. She provides me tailor made exercises and her
service goes beyond the sessions we have, I often get a message with some
additional information and exercises.
Since
the MCO, we are doing online sessions…. which works out well. In the following
interview, we get some information about what’s needed, to follow a personal
training online.
May, what were your motivations to become a personal trainer 8 years ago and which study did you follow?
I
am a personal trainer by proHonestly, being a personal trainer was definitely
not my top 3 choices. I had my bachelor degree in Biomedical Science & had
my Master’s degree in Sport Science. I have been wanting to get involved with
the National Sport Institute but a few people had advice against it. So I
decided to give personal training a try when my course mate recommended me to
work with a private gym studio and that had changed my perception of personal
training.
In
the commercial gyms, personal training are burdened with hitting sale target to
make a living. But thankful, that wasn’t for my case so I get to really focus
on client’s need when it comes to training. And as I train more and more
clients, I realized that personal training it is not just about helping my
clients to be healthier, stronger & fitter. The most gratifying moments are
when they can know their body better than I do. When they can tell me what they
think is better when they do the movement, I know they are independent enough
to carry on their fitness journey with or without me. That is when I know I’ve
done my job well.
Where are you providing this sessions (which locations)?
I’m
currently providing my service at Bodytech Sdn Bhd at Ukay Heights mainly. But
I also do house calls from time-to-time.
How do you stay updated and how do you ‘keep on learning’?
Thanks
to technology, it is so easy to just access the internet to look up for
information to learn. But the difficulty would be to differentiate the good
quality information to learn. I have always been thirsty on knowledge regarding
human movement due to my martial arts background & thanks to my Master’s
degree training, I often research between the scientific world and the
practicality of applying said theory & concepts.
So
I have been following a few institutes such as Gray’s Institute, Dynamic
Neuromuscular Stabilization & Neurokinetic Therapy as my ongoing learning
platform to stay ahead & relevant with the newest findings in the science
of human movement.
There are all kind of different styles of providing trainings, can you tell us a bit what your style is and why you’re doing it this way? What makes your trainings unique…. What is different?
I
think my training style is greatly affected by my background in martial arts.
My focus of training has always been working and training the body to move
well, because martial arts is about moving the body across space with
efficiency. When one can move his/her body efficiently, it really doesn’t
matter what skill they then want to acquire on in their life, they will be able
to pick them up easily.
So
when I train someone, my priority is always to check on how well they move
before testing how fit they are. Once I assess their movement ability, I’ll
design the program to fit their goal, as well as what I see lacking from the
movement assessment. During the training, I will always check in with how they
feel when they do the prescribed movement & exercises. From their feedback,
I can then gauge how well their body awareness is and then I may tweak the
program further based on their movement control.
I
guess what makes my training style different would be the I put movement health
ahead of fitness. Because when movement quality is there, the risk of getting
injury due to repetitive stress & muscle imbalance will be greatly reduced.
And performance skills such as strength, endurance & power will come with
ease.
What kind of clientele do you have?
I
have been working with people a mixture of both local & expat clients,
ranging from people who wants to rehab after recovering from surgery, to
general fitness, to sport performance purpose.
What do you like about your job and what are the challenges?
I
am really thankful of my clients as they are all very willing to learn about
their body when they train with me. That encourages me to keep improving on
myself & inspired me to be a better trainer. I am most proud when I see the
change in their mood & confidence as they walk out of them gym.
As
for challenges, I have to admit getting people to be discipline to do workout
on their own would be one of them. Because a program or exercise prescription
is only going to be as effect as the amount of time it is being practiced. Also
scheduling for appointments, some slots are more popular so juggling between
limited time slot can be a challenge at times.
Since the MCO, things have changed… are clients open to follow online sessions?
Some
clients are open to online session. Not all, which is understandable as the
feel & energy of training are different without the person-to-person
interaction.
There
are definitely limitations to how much I can observe over a phone/computer.
Firstly, would be I can’t go around and watch a technique from just any angle.
I’d have to ask my client to move the camera around so that I can see properly
and make sure the form is right. Sometimes, placement of camera is limited due
to space or setup restriction, then I have to make do with it and work from
there.
Also,
the focus on doing the exercises might be a little affected as the environment
is not exactly set up for exercise. And of course, when I am coaching new
exercises, it is a bit more difficult as I couldn’t be there in person to
correct the form.
That
being said, it does put me to make sure I have effective coaching cues to get
thing right effectively. And after a while, it is almost like I’m training them
in person.
What kind of equipment do you need, to do an online session….
To
give it enough varieties, I’d say a pair of dumbbells, a yoga mat, some
resistance band & a fitball would pretty much cover it. But bare minimum
would be yoga mat & resistance band to start with.
What have you learned during this MCO…. ?
I
have being observing the change in fitness industry as there were so many
people providing live workout on social media platform as well as zoom classes.
It got me thinking about shifting my focus to create some programs that I can
offer online. So I took the time to upskill on that area, plus more coaching
techniques that cater for online approach.
If you like to get in touch with May, you can
contact her on 012 3873998
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