Gary | Hygieia Strength & Conditioning

Gary

by Shaun Pang, SSC | Sep 7, 2020

I had the pleasure of working with Shaun Pang (a certified Starting Strength coach) this week as I was in Singapore on business. The gym does not have all the fluff you would find at a commercial gym. It has several very nice Rogue racks, a/c, high-quality lifting platforms, barbells, dumbells, and enough weights to keep Ronnie Coleman happy for years.

Considering I pay only 240 EUR per YEAR for my gym membership back in Germany, the barbell clinic (2 hr.) was somewhat pricey at 350 SGD, but I will say that it was well worth the investment. I knew going in that 1 on 1 training with a starting strength coach would be expensive, for good reason, and Shaun is the only certified SS coach in the Asia Pacific as far as I know. It was the perfect opportunity for me to get the coaching I needed.

I left the barbell clinic very sore (I am still sore actually, more than 2 days and one very long flight home later) because Shaun gave me some very valuable tips on how to correct my lifts, and there were muscles working that never really got worked with my crappy form. He also took pictures so I could see exactly what he was talking about with his lifting cues. Overall Shaun’s knowledge is very good, as one would justifiably expect from a SS coach, and I am very happy I invested in his services! I am definitely going back to see him when I return to Singapore – in the meantime, I will put all his tips to use and keep making strength gainzzz.

Thanks again, Shaun! 5 stars from me!

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Bio

My interest in fitness started when I was around 19 years old. Being overweight for most of my growing up years, I decided to do something about it. After months of not being able to achieve the desired results, I began poring through books and articles about training and nutrition. The more I read, the more interested I became in this field, and got better results when the the newly discovered knowledge was applied. After 1 year of persistence and hard work, I lost 24kg and felt fantastic. The sense of achievement motivated me to pursue a career in working with people to help them achieve their own fitness goals.

After achieving my weight loss goal, I tried a variety of training programs for a few years, looking for a new goal to train towards. After aimlessly moving around from program to program, I chanced upon a book called Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training, written by renowned strength and conditioning expert, Mark Rippetoe. Little did I know that this book was about to change my life and coaching career.

At that point, I had experience training with barbells and was relatively familiar with it but never have I come across any material that gave such explicitly detailed explanations of how to perform the barbell lifts. I devoured the book and modified my lifting technique and program. In just a few months, I was pleasantly surprised by how much stronger he had become. I now had a new goal to work towards – getting strong.

With full confidence in the efficacy of the Starting Strength methodology, I began coaching my clients using this program and got them stronger than they ever thought was possible. The consistent success my clients achieved through the program cemented my confidence in Mark Rippetoe’s teachings. I then decided to pursue the credential of being a Starting Strength Coach and I’m currently the first and only certified coach in Singapore and South-East Asia

In my 9 years of experience, I have given talks and ran programs at numerous companies and worked with a diverse group clientele of all ages with a variety of goals. Today, I specialise in coaching people in their 40s, 50s and beyond because it brings me a great sense of satisfaction to be part of the process of improving this demographics’ health and quality of life by getting them stronger.