Singapore #Fitspo of the Week: E.J. Philip

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: E.J Philip (@ejphilip)

Age: 41

Height: 1.75m

Weight: 76kg

Occupation: Celebrity Trainer, Founder and Owner of Alpha Beast Fitness

Status: Single

Food: Weekdays I generally eat healthy, with weekends being the relatively less healthy times which are usually dinner and drinks with friends and family. I make sure I hit my macros in the form of protein, carbs and fat for my meals depending on the period of training that I am in, bulking or cutting.

Exercise: I set aside an hour for training daily which involves strength training and hypertrophy. I take Sundays as an active rest where I swim or do boxing.

Q: When you were younger, were you active in sports or fitness?

A: When I was younger I was really active and participated in school marathons, as well as played soccer for the school team during my secondary school days. I was also a skinny kid!

As I grew older in my 20s, I started lifting weights to grow bigger and also learned Muay Thai for a couple of years.

How did you become a personal trainer?

Coming from a background of F&B, I opened a bar bistro when I was 32 and ran that for four years. The stress of the business coupled with excessive drinking and partying took a hit on my health. It got so bad that I was suffering from borderline depression and almost got hospitalised. That’s when I came to a conclusion that I should sell the business and do something that would be beneficial to my physical and mental health.

I was lucky that an opportunity opened up in an internationally-renowned commercial gym for a trainer and I applied for it. I worked there for three years and eventually decided to leave and start my own brand during the pandemic as I saw a demand for personal training. Shortly after, I opened my own gym, Alpha Beast Fitness.

You train quite a number of celebrities. Is there any difference in training celebrities and regular people?

Well, celebrities are people too and they have their own challenges. The only difference between them and normal people is that their schedule is erratic and sometimes they don't have control over the food they eat on set. Also, they can be mentally and physically drained after a long shoot session.

However, generally they are more focused as they are goal-oriented and preparing for either a photoshoot or a role and they are working on a tight timeline.

You compete in bodybuilding. How did you get into bodybuilding?

After working at the commercial gym for a year, I learned a lot about training methods and ideologies and I was inspired by a couple of colleagues who were already seasoned bodybuilders .I was encouraged by one of them who mentored me in my first competition in 2018.

Being a newbie in a world of bodybuilding, I had no choice but to force myself to be super disciplined with my food and training. Because of that I managed to clinch third in my category, Men's Physique, in one of my competitions.

What are some of your highlights in your bodybuilding journey?

One memorable highlight of my bodybuilding journey was coming in third in an international lineup in 2020 where I competed against competitors from India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore. It made me realise that standing on an international stage is not easy and that I have to continuously upgrade my physique.

What are your goals next for bodybuilding?

I would love to compete in more international shows, maybe compete overseas. and this time bring in the gold medal and come in first.

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

When I was younger, I was a really skinny kid and often got picked on by the bigger boys in school. That made me want to train and become bigger so I can protect myself, but as I grew older I realised that there are many other ways of handling bullies. Violence and intimidation are not the solutions.

When did you feel the least confident about yourself?

When I was running the bar, that's when I was most insecure about the way I look as I had gained a lot of weight and being in the entertainment industry, people judge you based on first impressions. Having an uncle bod was not cool! Also, the extra weight made me look haggard.

Are you satisfied with your body now?

I believe there's still a lot of potential for my body to change and grow. To me, fitness is not only just looking good but also, more importantly, to be able to move pain free and efficiently. Mental health is also very important and exercise releases stress.

Have you ever received any comments about your body?

I’ve received both positive and negative comments about my body. People have said I'm too big or I am too muscular for their liking. Honestly I’m not bothered because how I feel is more important versus how other people think how my body should look like. I wouldn't change anything about my body because I'm absolutely comfortable with how I look.