Singapore #Fitspo of the Week: Brandon Chong

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 Chong (@branstands)
Age: 28
Height: 1.85m
Weight: 68kg
Occupation: Entrepreneur/Yoga Coach
Status: Single
Diet: I try to balance my diet with the nutrients I need, but I eat pretty much everything. I am a huge fan of pasta and love to pair it with red wine.
Training: On top of the daily classes of yoga that I teach/do, I try to do high-intensity interval training (HIIT) twice a week, run twice a week, strength training three times a week, and a recovery swim once a week. I am not too strict about what I do, but I will do what I feel I need more for my body at this point of time.

Q: When you were studying, you competed in Latin dance and was also a model. Tell us more.

A: I enjoyed both a lot. Latin dance was a passion for movement and I competed in it from 16 for a few years, taking it to a very serious level. I won a few awards when I was still dancing, including overseas competitions. It was a great period to do something I was passionate about in the midst of studying, to balance out my life.

Modelling started as a side job in school. I was quite lucky to meet the people in the fashion industry I can now call friends, many of which who followed me through until now.

You were with the Navy for five years.

I was with the Navy for five years as a naval officer. I really liked how the uniforms looked, and after watching “Titanic” as a kid, I just had that dream of commanding a boat and making sure it’s done right.

Why did you leave then?

Well, I felt that I have achieved what I set myself to do and it was time to move on to other dreams and passion. This was a hard decision to make, as I had to just take the leap of faith and come out to pursue other dreams.

It’s the typical question of doing what pays you versus what you love to do, and to make that happen. But I am a huge believer that if you do what you are meant to do, finances would come.

So why yoga?

When I was in the Navy, I was doing all the exercise which army guys had to do and also hitting the gym. But I felt that something was missing in those strength-based workouts. One of my female friends, Melissa, brought me to my first yoga class and I throughly enjoyed it. The after-class feel was great and after that experience, I started going to yoga classes on my own.

As I was in the Navy, I had just enough space for my mat on the boat. I would download some tutorial videos each time I sailed, to stretch and put in whatever practice I could when I found the time.

Wanting to teach came naturally to me – I wanted to incorporate movement techniques I’ve learnt from dance into yoga. Also, I wanted to introduce yoga to everyone and tell my story – that yoga is not just for the flexible, it’s a holistic approach to fitness that everyone can do. Strength and engagement of the core is also a huge focus in yoga. Now, two years later, I see more guys doing yoga everywhere, and that is a great sign.

How did your company Instiinct come about?

I founded Instiinct two years ago, with an amazing team. It is a studio which incorporates mindfulness, strength training and yoga as its core.

I wanted to start a studio known for our ideas and personalities, which we show in events and in the new classes which we conceptualise, such as our signature backlight flow classes. I believe in coming up with fun, holistic approaches to a practice, be it a yoga session, a HIIT session or even a mindfulness session.

What are your plans next?

I’ve a few on my bucket list for 2019. First of which is a YouTube platform called Instiinctual – it’s a platform which showcases artistic lifestyle videos and movement videos to inspire movement and living well. Movement and living well are almost instinctual, but through the distractions of life, we start to forget that. Thus we hope that, with this channel, we can reach a global audience to inspire.

Another plan I am working on with my team is our holistic programme on mindfulness living, which we are launching in our studio very soon, hoping to bring a little bit of mindfulness with a team of experts and making it accessible for our community.

Did you ever not feel confident about yourself?

I never was the person who tried to fit in, this may be due to my personality. I was always the sort questioning social norms and was quite confident in my skin. But I think this comes with growing up and really figuring out what we want and do not want, what we like and dislike.

If there were to be a time in life when I wasn’t confident, it may be when I was modelling. As there were very few local models at that time, around seven years ago, there was always the occasional question of, “Was I good enough?”

Then you realise life isn’t a competition and there are always better-looking people everywhere else. So look inside and show what you are good at, and people will start to see that as well.

I started spending more time on what I’m good at, not just spending all the time doing what the world told me I had to do. I have a saying I tell my friends, which is to spend their time working on their strengths and being mindful about their weaknesses, so that you don’t waste time doing what you are not good at just to be mediocre, but to spend time to do what you are good at, to work hard and to be the best version of yourself.

Are you satisfied with your body now?

I am satisfied with my body yes. It feels great to not care about social norms but to build and embrace a body of what feels the best to me. Our body changes from time to time and I believe a fitness regime should be catered to you, depending on body type, goals and dieting.

Do you ever get any comments about your body?

We live in a world where everyone judges, has comments and criticises, so of course. But I am here to share my art and live with people in the most genuine way I can, and I think most of the people I know feel that.