What is high-intensity resistance training?
FEB 06, 2023
Who are Empower Fitness?
Empower Fitness is a private gym facility that specializes in bespoke personal training and small group training.
Our dedicated team of coaches consists of myself (Lizzie), Andrew, Courtney and KG, are all highly experienced within the fitness industry and aim to ensure our clients reach their full potential. Through carefully thought out programmes designed specifically for every individual we can help all clients with their performance related fitness goals.
We attract clients that are motivated and dedicated to achieve their best possible physical self!
How did Empower Fitness develop?
The funny thing is I never actually wanted to own my own gym, it kind of happened as a result of wanting to provide the best service to our clients.
This meant a facility that complimented our coaching style, a place our clients can call their training home, and a working environment with other coaches that share the same vision.
We were lucky enough to be supported by our clients during covid that gave us the confidence to give it a try! And maybe by luck or coincidence, we found the right space within a few weeks.
Now that I own a gym, I still see myself as a coach first, I have found it difficult to see myself as a business owner and doubt myself to make business decisions. It has been a steep but fun learning curve! It is now my ambition to help others (especially females within the fitness industry) to build a business based on their passion.
We used the word Empower because by definition it is ‘make (someone) stronger and more confident, especially in controlling their life’.
We aim to help all of our clients reach their full fitness potential, whether that be for sports performance or to live a happier and healthier life. We do this by enhancing what people can already do, rather than restricting their lifestyle and playing on weaknesses.
What makes Empower Fitness different from other gyms?
We have taken approaches we like from different gyms and made it our own.
The layout would be similar to a CrossFit Box or those who are familiar with Strength and Conditioning gyms, open space, barbells, Rig (for gymnastic work such as pull ups), with additional equipment you wouldn’t usually see in a CrossFit box such as cables and pulleys – this is so we can cater to all the movement patterns for all our clients no matter what level.
We also want to make sure our facilities match client expectations. We pride ourselves on it being clean and tidy at all times (the military side of me coming out!) with showers and towels provided. The equipment is always accessible – There’s nothing worse than 10 people queuing up for the lat pulldown! This actually means we can give our clients more within the hour – which they obviously love!
We do not have ambitions to grow and take over the Singapore fitness world, we want to constantly upgrade what we have, our facility, equipment, merchandise and also develop our coaches and support them where possible – ultimately to give our most dedicated clients the best service that we are always striving to improve.
We mainly focus on Personal Training but we do also offer group classes, in my unbiased opinion I think we have the best group classes available in Singapore!
Firstly our group class instructors have years of experience teaching group training – from myself spending 9 years coaching Physical Training in the Royal Air Force (UK), Andrew’s CrossFit personal and professional experience, and Courtney who has experience from coaching in a world known group fitness company – and because of these different angles we have been able to take what works from each one, adapt and make it better 🙂
We have a mix of group sessions that are carefully designed to make sure you work at the right strength level, and also push yourself appropriately for the cardio elements to make sure you are using the right energy system.
MetCon
Works the aerobic energy system, here we use lighter weights at higher reps with little rest between sets. We use a mix of equipment and concept 2 cardio equipment (row, bike, ski). The aim of this session is to raise the heart rate – but not max! – move the body through a full range of movement – but not feel dead at the end. This is why we do these on a Monday, the perfect start to a busy week ahead. A Lot of our clients are already working high stress jobs so it isn’t our intention to stress them out before they even start the week.
MetCon Advanced
We let Andrew’s experience lead this session. He has the exact right balance between work and rest ratios. He also uses CrossFit style movements where our clients are able to lift heavier weights (such as barbell cleans), and also some more advanced movements such as toes to bar and pull ups, but he also scales the workouts to make sure every level is catered for – but there is always something to strive for. These sessions aim to work and push your limits and into your anaerobic training zones, hence we do these at the weekend, so you can recover after the session 🙂
Strength
These group sessions are to slow the movement down, concentrate on technique of the major functional lifts such as squat, deadlift, upper body, single leg and core.
The sessions are structured so you can track your progress and see improvements. Something that we highly recommend for all of our clients.
We also make sure we add a cheeky workout at the end of each session to get the heart rate up – especially when Courtney is coaching!
For all of our group sessions we cap the numbers between 6 – 12. This is to ensure you get the most out of your session, our coaches can monitor each client, and you all have access to the equipment you need.
Click here to take a look at the training services we offer >
How have you built the team?
As the saying goes – ‘if you are the strongest person in the room, you are in the wrong room’ (or is it the smartest haha!). We all have our own strengths that are slightly different but all follow the same values as coaches and that’s how we can help each other.
I met Andrew as he was a coach at a CrossFit gym I was attending in between jobs, as a strength and conditioning coach myself, I love olympic lifting – and quickly noticed how good technically he was at coaching this. So as a coach myself I signed up to PT with him.
Lots of PT’s think that getting a coach themselves is admitting defeat, but in my opinion it is one of the best ways to learn. Then due to covid his gym closed down, which then opened the opportunity for him to join Empower.
Andrew is our head coach and definitely gets the best from his clients, he knows how to push them to the physical edge… but they always come back for more!
His background in CrossFit enables him to mix both strength and cardio as a training modality, he’s also a stickler for technique and can help with any underlying issues, and work around these to make sure you get the most out of your session.
He also is an advocate of practicing what he preaches – and to have someone that highly motivated towards his own fitness is contagious!
Courtney and I met through a bootcamp company we both worked at, from the start our business values and coaching styles were very similar. She is a Physical Therapist by trade but due to working visas has had to change her job role while in Singapore. Her love for strength training and High Intensity training coupled with her background in injuries and rehabilitation makes her an amazing Strength and Conditioning Coach.
Not only that, she has followed me around Asia doing crazy ultra runs, to have someone as crazy as me – willing to do those things to develop herself is amazing! We definitely push each other to be the best business women, athletes and coaches we can be!
KG is the glue that sticks us together! When things get a little hectic he’s the one to bring us back to reality – which every gym needs! He is genuinely one of the nicest people I have ever met – and this positive energy is picked up from all of our clients that come to the gym.
He’s definitely a methodical and structured coach (and by that I mean he actually counts his clients reps unlike me!), and gets fantastic results from his clients through well structured programmes and gives advice on nutrition – we are now working on his love for Cardio based workouts.
We are always looking for more coaches to join our team, someone that aligns with our values and can learn from all of our current coaches, and bring more strengths to Empower.
Click here to read more about our team >
What are Empower Fitness’s goals for 2023 and beyond?
We are so happy to have had a successful first year in the business, and by this I don’t mean have made a huge profit, but we have enjoyed every step of the journey.
For myself as a business owner it has been an emotional rollercoaster that I wasn’t quite expecting, but I’m not ready to get off yet!!
We have plans to streamline our services and what our coaches offer, we need to make sure people know how experienced we are in our dedicated fields such as strength and conditioning for sports performance, rehabilitation and injury prevention, and also personal training for CrossFit.
As a coach I will be finishing my Masters in Strength and Conditioning and focus on strength training for performance sports, specializing in endurance sports and also female youth training. I did a little bit of time away from competitions myself and got ready to be Andrew and Courteney’s number 1 cheerleader for the CrossFit opens, we are all routing for Andrew to make the regionals!
But above all we want to make sure our current clients are looked after, pushed to their full potential and make 2023 the fittest and strongest year for them!!
