Singapore #Fitspo of the Week: Danie Dharma

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: Danie Dharma (@daniedharma)

Age: 36

Height: 1.71m

Weight: 95kg

Occupation: Personal trainer, online coach, fitness model, stunt actor, professional wrestler

Food: Over the years it became necessary for me to get my macros (protein, carbs, and fat) right in order to maintain my physique and performance during training. Preparing my own meals is the most practical way to do so as I can control the macros.

How I go about is – I work out the macros for the day, weigh my food and do the conversions before preparing my meals to ensure I am getting the correct configuration. For protein, I mostly rely on chicken breasts, fish, eggs and protein shakes. For carbs I mostly do brown rice, sweet potatoes and wholegrain bread, and my fat sources are eggs and fatty fish like salmon.

Exercise: I work out in the gym four to five times a week, close to three hours for each session to cover the various muscle groups. In order to be more holistic with my fitness and to keep my body fat levels down, I also do steady state cardio like running, the stationary bike or the cross trainer at least three times a week, and one weekly track and field session consisting of sprint drills as a form of HIIT.

Besides the workouts, I also do a 20- to 30-minute foam rolling and stretching routine every other day. Flexibility prevents many potential injuries and translates very well into explosive movements like sprinting and jumping.

When you were younger, were you active in sports?

I have been active in sports since I was 13. I was a (terrible) hockey player and a decent mid-distance runner in my teens.

When did you first go to the gym?

I first started lifting weights when I was 15 for two reasons. In my teens, I was short and skinny, weighing only 47kg. I was bullied and beaten throughout my secondary school days. The bullying and humiliation also resulted in me being ostracised by many of my schoolmates as it was uncool to mix around with the guy who gets bullied. I wasn't allowed at the cool table and stuff.

I figured that if the people around me didn't allow me to fit in, I will stand out in style instead and a having a muscular physique seemed to be a great way to do so! I wanted to become a better version of myself, deter the bullies and also have the ability to defend myself in the event I got bullied. I basically just wanted to experience something in my life other than rejection and defeat.

The other main reason for my pursuit was a conversation I had with my dad when I was six. We were watching an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie – I believe it was either "Commando" or "Predator" – and my dad explained to me that Arnold looked the way he did as he was a bodybuilder. He also explained what bodybuilding was. The six-year-old me decided that day that the blueprint of my adult version would be a bodybuilder. I ended up staying true to that and here I am 30 years later still living that childhood endeavour!

How did you get into bodybuilding?

I started lifting when I was 15 years old. I was a science student and always approached things in a factual, practical way. Unlike most people who just walk into a gym and do random stuff, I spent time reading about what I needed to do. As the internet wasn't really a thing yet back in the day, I read many books on bodybuilding.

In the process of that, I realised that I needed to understand nutrition too, so I also read books on nutrition. With the homework I had done, I created a training plan and nutrition plan for myself before I started working out. I could recall the days where 15-year-old me was at the provisions shop looking through the labels of products, figuring out which food items will give me a sufficient amount of protein. My training programme and nutrition plan worked so well that I gained 20kg over the first two years!

What do you like about bodybuilding?

What I love about bodybuilding is that the more you give it, the more it gives you back. There are no shortcuts, you can't slack on your training or cheat on your meals, but if you stay true to the process, you will be rewarded accordingly. Bodybuilding gave me everything I have today. From feeling helpless while getting beaten up, to feeling like a superhero hoisting up weights more than two times my bodyweight for reps, the transition has been incredible!

Also, It puts many things into perspective; [like how you can't achieve something great overnight, or just dream about something without any actions towards it. Bodybuilding showed me that any goal can be achieved if a practical route to it was planned with a reasonable timeline. These things also apply to many other aspects of life, and as a bodybuilder you tend to start using this approach on other aspects in life as well.

What are the challenges of bodybuilding?

In Singapore, the biggest challenges would be time, physical threshold, and finances. The work culture here tends to involve long hours and it eats up your time and capacity to train. Also, as one of the most expensive countries in the world, it can be a challenge financially. Bodybuilding competitions are expensive and there is no support for the local bodybuilding scene by the local sports authorities.

When did you decide to pursue a career as a personal trainer?

I had always wanted to be a personal trainer since my younger days, as I felt I was really suited for the job. Prior to being a freelance personal trainer, I was actually a regular in the Navy for 10 years. I worked as a trainer in a couple of gyms after that, but I felt that my calibre and qualifications were not appreciated and our values didn't align. I genuinely wanted to help people become better versions of themselves instead of just making money off them, so I went on to do some gig jobs and eventually found a job as an IT guy.

Patience, understanding and a level of empathy are needed, especially when working with clients who went through a similar journey to mine, resulting in them seeking a change in their lives via personal training. I feel the universe has a way of placing you in certain situations so you can grow. The IT company I was working in started falling apart and I needed to find another means of making a living. Coincidently, a bunch of people were asking me if I could be their trainer at that point of time. The next thing I knew, I had transited into becoming a full-time freelance personal trainer and online coach. I guess the universe had its way of placing me where I am supposed to be and doing what I am meant to do.

What are some of your achievements in bodybuilding?

In all, I have 24 first place wins over the years. My most memorable ones would be the six international categories that I won over the years, followed by winning the Mr Singapore title twice. Ever since I started lifting, I have a dream to win a gold medal in either the Southeast Asian Games or Asian Games and raise the Singapore flag high. Initially, I didn't know anything about competitive bodybuilding and only turned competitive some years later. When I was just starting out, I would visualise this dream whenever I thought about what my pursuit of a better physique could lead to.

My most memorable international win was during the Asian Championships 2017. Most memorable because it was the first time I won a gold medal for Singapore and got to raise the Singapore flag! Also, it was a very competitive category as there were attractive cash prizes. I felt so thrilled to win against such a high calibre of athletes as I didn't expect to be the victor till my placing was announced!

What else are you training for, other than bodybuilding?

Besides competitive bodybuilding, I am also a professional wrestler. I perform in wrestling matches once every two months or sometimes more frequently if there are events. Also, I do track and field training weekly as a form of HIIT training. I'm currently not training for track and field competitions, but if I do reach a competitive level I would consider competing in events like the 100m, 200m and perhaps the 800m.

When you were younger, did you experience any incidents that made you feel insecure about yourself?

I did experience several incidents in my younger days that made me feel very insecure about myself all the time. On top of physically hurting me, my bullies liked to humiliate me as well. They would often drag me to the front of the class to attack me so everyone could watch. There was one occasion where they held me down and pulled off my pants to humiliate me. I actually had anxiety at this point of time.

I didn't realise it till several years later when I was reading some articles. I often sat at my table wishing I could just disappear and no one knew I existed, as it was just so embarrassing to be seated in the middle of a class who just saw me get thrown around, beat up, and even seen me in my underwear once.

There were two particular incidents that made me decide I wanted to get stronger. The first one occurred during a physical education class. We were playing football and my bully who was overweight and a head taller than me kept pushing me down really hard, causing me to fall and tumble. He did that several times and I decided I had enough. I got up the last time, ran towards him with everything I could muster and threw the hardest punch towards him with all my might.

BOOM. I nailed him on the face, but absolutely nothing happened. He looked at me a little stunned but completely unhurt. All the strength I could generate with my 47kg frame probably couldn't even hurt a fly. He chased me and beat me up after that, but much to my surprise, he stopped pushing me down because I fought back.

The second incident involved the same guy. I entered my classroom and he grabbed me by the collar and wringed me around. I tried to do the same thing back but he didn't even budge. My classmates roared with laughter and he pushed me down to the ground after. Both incidents reiterated to me that I needed to get strong so I could actually defend myself successfully. I read up on bodybuilding after these incidents and started my training. The rest is history.

When did you feel the least confident about yourself?

I felt the least confident about myself when I was 15 years old. I was made to feel like a third-class citizen for three years at this point with all the bullying and rejection. I almost believed this and accepted this as a fact, but I am thankful that I have very good parents who believed in me and taught me many good values. My parents were selfless and didn't think twice about sending me for motivational seminars and stuff. It was their faith in me that made me realise that I wasn't a third-class citizen and that there was nothing wrong with me. I just needed to find myself, upgrade myself and become the best version of myself possible.

First impressions are inevitable. There is no way around it, as you will end up seeing a person first before talking to them on most occasions. My look at that point of time was an anorexic-looking, weak kid and I realised that no one would take someone like me seriously. I felt that having bigger muscles would be the way forward for me to change this, so the first part of my approach was to lift weights and improve my physical appearance.

When my muscles got bigger, people started treating me differently too. People stopped writing me off even before they knew me as a person and this greatly helped to build my self-esteem and also create new friendships. The strength that came along with the new physique made me feel confident that I would be able to defend myself if I encountered a bully, so I wasn't so fearful anymore. The improved physique eventually helped me overcome anxiety.

Are you satisfied with your body now?

Honestly, as an individual I love the way I look today. If I can't improve on my physique any further, I would be okay with that. However, as I'm a competitive bodybuilder and wish to compete at a higher level, I need to continue to improve my physique to be able to do so. From that standpoint, I still have a long way to go.

Have you ever received any comments about your body?

I often wear oversized tops or long sleeves to blend in with the crowd and avoid unnecessary attention, but I still receive a lot of comments about my body from random people on the street all the time. More often than not, the comments in person are positive. However, some people do make disparaging remarks about my physique, or some even go out of their way to question my ability to do day to day stuff like scratching my back or running.

These negative comments are a lot more rampant on social media, especially on TikTok. People who hate themselves tend to behave as such and take their self-hate out on others who seem better off. I know for myself that I have the physical appearance that I once dreamt off and not everyone gets to have their dream body in their lifetime, so the negative comments don't affect me.