Singapore #Fitspo of the Week: Dylan Goddard

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: Dylan Goddard (@built.not.broken)

Age: 37

Height: 1.80m

Weight: 94kg

Occupation: Co-founder and head coach at ELVTE

Status: Married with 2 kids

Food: To be honest I’m a firm believer in balance. I eat literally everything. My goal is to roughly try and eat the same meals from Monday to Friday (I proudly work with Green Kitchen for my weekly lunches), then on the weekends I eat whatever I want.

I feel like but I always ensure I prioritise my protein intake and I ensure I’m fully hydrated sometimes drinking up to five litres of fluids a day. Many don’t know this but I also have an insane sweet tooth.

Exercise: At the moment I'm following more of a typical bodybuilding “bro split” programme which has been rewarding for the past three months. On top of the bodybuilding style of training, I also include one to two mountain bike rides per week and I also try to do a decent amount walking per day. Due to the nature of my day to day job I feel I'm very active and don’t need to do a massive amount of purposeful exercise to reach my goals.

Q: You were actively involved in a lot of sports from a young age.

A: Yes! Back in South Africa, from the age of 10 to 18 years old, I was on the first team for rugby for my senior school and played at a provincial level. Unfortunately, I got really badly injured in my final year of playing and had to hang up my boots.

While I was playing rugby, I was also active in athletics (from about 10 to 16 years old) where I competed in the 100m, 200m and long jump, representing my province. For about three years during this same period (12 to 15 years old), I also raced in downhill mountain-biking at a provincial level.

I got into competitive bodybuilding next, from the age of 20 to 24, entering numerous competitions and representing my province too. Almost immediately after, I got into mixed martial arts, where I trained for 18 months whilst living in Cape Town.

At 27, I moved to Singapore in 2012 and for the next seven years, I was competing in CrossFit all over Southeast Asia, Australia and South Africa. I have topped the CrossFit Opens in Singapore and earned the "Fittest Man in Singapore" title multiple times and even captained a team to the CrossFit Games Regionals. I’ve also done several weighted cross country runs across Singapore for charity.

You were very prominent in the CrossFit scene for a good number of years in Singapore.

Haha, wow where do we start? It was such a huge part of my life for such a long time and to be honest while I was in the scene it was amazing. Not only was I able to travel through Southeast Asia, Africa and Australia because of CrossFit, but I also made so many lifelong friends through the sport.

The sport itself is hard, like REALLY hard, and takes so much commitment and time if you want to excel in it. At the stage of my life when I was competing, luckily I had the time, the community around me and the ability to do fairly well in the local scene.

When did you become a personal trainer?

I started coaching clients when I finished my postgraduate studies at the age of 22. It was the passion to empower and guide others that bought me into this industry. My love for physical fitness, people and hard work have kept me pushing myself to be the best version of myself over the past decade and a half.

I've had the honour of guiding, empowering and teaching people for the past 16 years. I’ve clocked roughly 25,000 hours of coaching to date.

What do you enjoy about being a personal trainer?

The fact that I can directly have a positive impact on people's lives on a daily basis. I think very few vocations offer that opportunity.

What are some of the challenges though?

Long hours and potentially having to deal with clients that don't adhere to your recommendations. Also the fact that you can often become quite complacent with what you are doing and get stuck in a rut (I see this so often unfortunately).

You're also a father of two. How did parenthood change you?

It massively changed my outlook on what my real purpose is in life. Not only do I now try my best to show up for my family on a daily basis, but I'm also really passionate about getting dads to change their view and priorities to start showing up for their families again and for themselves.

Obviously there are a huge amount of sacrifice that needs to be made when you have a family, but it's definitely worth it.

When did you feel the least confident about yourself?

As a young skinny lad, I decided to start hitting the gym at the young tender age of 13/14 years old. I decided to start building my physique and strengthening my body and mind on a daily basis. You could say I was influenced by my older brother and his friends that I used to hang out with.

I went to an all boys’ school growing up and sports was a huge part of school life. Getting in physical shape for rugby, athletics and the other sports I did was a big priority in my early years at high school. It was in those early years that I knew I had to work hard in the gym to not only build my physique, but also my mental fortitude and my confidence.

Are you satisfied with your body now?

Yes, sure. I’ve worked my ass off, in and outside the gym for the past 20+ years and I’m content with what I’ve achieved. But in saying that, I will continue to keep pushing. I feel now that the life I’ve built helps to maintain what I’ve worked for over all these years.

Have you ever received any comments about your body?

It really depends on the presence of the people I’m around. To be honest, most of the time I get positive comments which fuel the desire to better myself and keep motivated. It’s amazing how positive comments and feedback keep you motivated and light up the fire within.