Singapore #Fitspo of the Week: Alexander Yue
Life goes beyond the digits on the scale and your body is capable of so much more. Yahoo’s #Fitspo of the Week series is dedicated to inspirational men and women in Singapore leading healthy and active lifestyles. Have someone to recommend? Hit Cheryl up on Instagram or Facebook.
Name: Alexander Yue (@alexanderyue)
Age: 26
Height: 1.81m
Weight: 72kg
Occupation: Actor/model/host
Status: Single
Diet: It usually depends on what my goal is for the next few weeks or months. But I generally eat a high protein diet and mix my carbohydrates and fats depending on how much activity or how strenuous my next workout will be. Generally speaking, when I am trying to cut or lose body fat, I'll follow more of a keto diet as I find that works the best for my body.
Training: I don't have a set training plan but ever since Circuit Breaker ended, my love with the great outdoors has been reignited. I usually alternate between training in the gym, doing studio high-intensive interval training (HIIT) classes, and doing circuit and calisthenics workouts at the park.
Q: Did you play a lot of sports in school?
A: Born in Melbourne, Australia, I played a lot of different sports throughout school but I focused mainly on tennis and volleyball. I moved to Beijing when I was 10 and was there till I was 18. Indoor volleyball was my favourite sport and our school would compete in tournaments against other international schools all around Asia. I also grew up skiing and was racing competitively as a kid.
What other sports did you dabble into as you grew older?
I started learning boxing and also took up snowboarding and wakeboarding. It took me many years to decide to put the skis away and pick up snowboarding but I'm glad I've finally learned to do both.
You only started hitting the gym quite late in life. When did you start going to the gym?
I went back to Australia for university and I didn't care about my health and well-being at all. I was eating whatever I wanted and my diet mainly revolved around junk food and alcohol. I was happily cruising along until I realised that the lifestyle I was leading was not sustainable.
When I moved to Singapore five years ago at the age of 22, my group of friends were made up of fitness freaks and Abercrombie models, thus they ultimately convinced me to start working out at the gym. I also had just started modelling and acting at this time, and being in shape is, without a doubt, an asset in this industry.
Once you started going to the gym, you developed a fitness regime and that changed your life completely.
Yeah, my life used to be a lot of late nights (probably drinking and partying)… I honestly can't even remember what my lifestyle was like before I found fitness. I was never conscious about the food and drinks I was consuming each day and how it would affect my well-being.
How has adopting an active lifestyle improved your life?
Having an active lifestyle has changed my life immensely. Not only do I feel stronger and healthier, but it has also helped me become a more confident and determined individual. Fitness has helped me create greater self-awareness, and I've become more of a goal setter, both in fitness and in my career.
Often being in front of the camera, is there pressure on you to maintain your physique?
Lucky enough, I haven't encountered any incidences where my physique was called into question (yet). I believe the pressure comes from within, where I want to be able to present the best version of myself to the audience.
When did you feel the least confident about yourself?
I probably felt the least confident about myself when I first started out acting and modelling. It was difficult to find the courage to take risks as I didn't want to embarrass myself, and I found it hard to accept that failure and making mistakes were all part of the process of growing. Learning to accept these mistakes and failures, as well as improving my work ethic, have helped me become more secure about my skills as an actor and a person.
Are you satisfied with your body now and why?
I've definitely had moments of satisfaction, but those moments don't last long. Building yourself is a never ending process and there is always more that can be done.
Have you ever received any comments about your body?
Who hasn't?
