Singapore #Fitspo of the Week: Darren Huang

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: Darren Huang (@frostyfrostysnowman)

Age: 35

Height: 1.81m

Weight: 75kg

Occupation: Civil servant

Status: Attached

Diet: No particular diet, I love food too much. I eat almost everything with little moderation.

Training: My main sport now is climbing. I hit the climbing gyms about three to four times a week, and go for runs about one to two times a week.

Q: It’s interesting how you didn’t like sports when you were younger.

A: Yeah, to be honest I didn’t do a lot of sports when I was younger. I was a boys’ scout in primary and secondary school, which had limited physical activities. My parents did introduce swimming and cycling to me back then but I didn’t like it, so I was a scrawny kid who spent most of my free time playing video games and barely passed my NAPFA test.

So when did your interest in sports start?

Something clicked in me when I was in junior college. I joined ODAC (Outdoor Adventure Club) and that’s where I started trying different sports. During my time there, I took courses in rock climbing, kayaking, windsurfing, sailing, and went on trekking and camping trips.

When I was in university, I was in the wakeboarding team and competed too. I swam and ran as part of my own training back then. I also took part in marathons, and ran the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon and Sundown Marathon every year for 10 years since 2007.

Other activities I dabbled in were diving, yoga, dirt biking and skydiving. I was pretty much an adrenaline junkie and was up for anything that would give me that euphoric rush.

How did you start in rock climbing?

I seriously started climbing about five years ago. Rock climbing has an intriguing appeal. As a firm believer of the phrase “Courage is the mastery of fear, not the absence of it”, rock climbing is one sport which truly embodies this. It is a combination of puzzle solving, strength, flexibility and endurance. It’s all about executing movements, at least 20 metres (4 stories) off the ground, tethered by a rope about 9.5mm in diameter. It’s about absolute trust in not just your belayer, but in yourself to have the confidence to make the move.

Rock climbing is the art of weaving all of these elements together, to “flow” up the wall. Most importantly, rock climbing invokes my self-awareness and self-mastery. Finding peace in the face of fear, finding strength in fatigue, finding stillness in uncertainty, all whilst maintaining full spatial awareness of your body’s movements.

What are some of your best experiences in climbing?

The best experiences in climbing have always been about completing your “projects”. A climbing route is considered complete when you’re able to climb from start to finish without hanging off the rope. Climbers can sometimes work on a route for weeks, months or even years. When everything finally comes together for that successful climb, the feeling at the top is absolutely euphoric. I’ve had many of such “projects” through the years, with the longest one had me climbing it repeatedly for almost two months.

What are your fitness goals now?

My fitness goal right now is really all about longevity and staying active. It’s not about how hard I can climb or how far I can run today, but more about how I can continue doing what I love tomorrow. Sustaining a major injury and being out of action for any amount of time is excruciatingly painful on both the mind and the spirit. I want to continue to build on core strength, as I’m a firm believer of “Strong Core, Strong Body”, and keep the doors to try new activities open, especially in my later years.

When did you feel the least confident about yourself?

I would say I was least confident about myself in my younger years, up till secondary school. I was always the odd kid sitting in the corner of class, with very few friends. I hardly spoke, never indulged in any sports or physical activities and played computer games all day. It was not a good place to be in, and I never want to go back there.

How did you overcome it and become more confident?

Life took a big turn for me when I was in JC, when somehow, something clicked. For the first time, I felt like I was actually capable of achieving something. I joined ODAC in JC and that ignited my love for sports. It was a positively reinforcing cycle: being active, staying fit, bolstered my confidence, which allowed me to push harder and continue to be active.

Finding that joy in sports was key. It’s also something that I try to pay forward by encouraging my friends around me to do the same. I hope to influence others around me to be more active, to love what they do, and that sports isn’t a torturous endeavour. It should be something that brings you a certain joy, an euphoria, a sense of achievement.

Are you content with your body now and why?

I would say I’m happy with where I am now with my body, not with how it looks but what I can do with it. But I want to be better! I want to be stronger, more flexible, more agile, and more enduring, and I want to keep this going into my later years. Of course, a nice body is definitely a bonus.