Singapore #Fitspo of the Week: Brandon Teo and Joseph Edward Gragasin

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: Brandon Teo/Joseph Edward Gragasin (@brandyontherock/@font12_arial)

Age: 29/34

Height: 1.84m/1.77m

Weight: 80kg/74kg

Occupation: Brand communications/regional sales manager

Status: Attached

Food – Brandon: Generally no rice and noodles, eggs and protein shakes for breakfast with more meat and protein for other meals. I love my desserts too and I usually have some after my meals. This is my motivation that serves as a reward to keep up my fitness.

Joseph: I eat any food in moderation, from salads to home prepared foods to fast food. I believe in healthy habits, not restrictions, and understanding what your body needs to achieve certain goals.

Exercise – Brandon: Our training consists of traditional strength and high intensity workouts. I practise yoga too. We will go for city runs and MacRitchie runs on Wednesdays and weekends.

Joseph: We visit the gym about 4 to 5 times in a week. I create my own workout routines with a combination of cardio, strength training, stretching and martial arts exercises.

What were your backgrounds in sports?

Brandon: I grew up playing table tennis, badminton, basketball and volleyball. I picked up volleyball in my junior college days and I believed my height was an advantage in the A Division.

Joseph: Mostly practising martial arts at a very young age. Wushu played a big role when I was growing up. I also studied other martial art disciplines such as sikaran, arnis and taekwondo. I represented my university in the national level competitions and also represented my home country of Philippines in the region as a former wushu national team member.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of working out together?

Brandon: Advantages would be having the motivation and drive to break your personal best and also, not having to plan for the workout after a long day at work. Disadvantages would be a longer workout session and probably more distraction.

Joseph: An advantage of working out together is that it promotes a very encouraging atmosphere to push and challenge each other in every corner of the fitness programme which may yield to a very positive result.

A possible disadvantage is that when both of us have a big gap when it comes to fitness performance level, then one might find particular exercises too challenging, while the other may not be exerting enough effort to make it an effective workout.

That being said we believe that consistency in training is essential as well as patience and understanding to nurture each other and grow together to reach that common goal of fitness training synergy.

Have you experienced any incidents that made you feel insecure about yourself?

Brandon: I was told that I have “chicken’s wing” when I played table tennis in primary school. Feeling insecure, I changed sport to badminton and did high jumps where I gained some confidence because of the advantage of my height.

Joseph: I did experience insecurities and I think it’s normal, but I think they never were the reason for me to change any of my goals in fitness and in life I was always steadfast in my life goals, always reminding myself that I have to keep trying and keep believing in myself to achieve, no matter what I do.

When did you feel the least confident about yourself?

Brandon: When I was in primary school, I requested to be in the Trim and Fit Club (TAF Club). I was big but not overweight. We got to play sports during recess daily and I became more confident after losing some weight and gaining some skills.

Joseph: In competitions and tournaments, I sometimes find myself with an unsuccessful result and that makes me feel less confident of myself. But instead of hating or giving up, I make use of this opportunity to learn and understand how others made it. I see them as a source of inspiration to learn new techniques, improve myself and absorb valuable pieces of advice.

Are you satisfied with your body now?

Brandon: I am contented with what I have achieved so far but I need to continue to exercise because of my love for food and desserts.

Joseph: Yes, I think I have to be happy and I believe that being satisfied with what we have is crucial to one’s happiness. But we shouldn’t stop finding that room for self-improvement within ourselves and we should keep that flame burning.

Is your body a result of your workout regime or is it something you worked towards?

Brandon: It is both. Having a goal in mind helps set the mental and physical strength to attain the results. You can have a superb workout planned but without focus and the right mindset, you will not yield the expected results as well as to maintain it in the long run.

Joseph: It is the result of my way of life, believing in healthy habits and not restrictions.

Have you ever received any comments about your body?

Brandon: Yes. My physique is too big for modelling jobs (excluding fitness modelling). My head is too big for my body. My waist is too thick. Luckily, I have learnt to be contented with what I have now.

Joseph: Yes, most people say I am very fit or muscular, some say I need to train more of this and that part of my body, but ultimately I don’t really care of what other people say unless they are the people that matter to me.

If you could change anything about yourself, would you?

Brandon: I would change the way I perceive and receive such comments as well as how it affects me mentally and emotionally. Like they always say, “There are two sides to a coin”, so find the side that will make you feel good about yourself.

Joseph: NO!