Biography

Name: Wee Shu Ting
Occupation: Yoga Instructor at Outta Hatha Yoga
Age: 35
Height: 163cm
Weight: 60kg
Personal Trainer: Alex Salihin
Time with Level: Since March 2019

Shu Ting, a yoga instructor, started out taking classes at Level. However, nine months ago, she decided that she wanted to work with a personal trainer to build strength and prevent injury, given her scoliosis and SI joint issues.

Shu Ting wanted to balance her hyper-mobility with stability in her core, and strength in her lower body. Her ultimate goal was to maintain a pain-free yoga practice in the long haul.

Her personal trainer Alex Salihin crafted a personal training programme with exercises that required motor control and body weight movements to help her better understand how to use her body. This included exercises like the Copenhagen plank, as well as other isometric movements.

Shu Ting wanted to injury-proof herself, since she had a bad back.  “I’ve been focusing on overall strengthening and in particular hip stability to balance out my areas of hypermobility. This has help me with better control and awareness in my yoga practice, as well as to close the gap between my active and passive range of motions”, says Shu Ting.

“As someone with scoliosis and SI joint issues, strength training helps me in injury prevention so that I can continue to maintain a pain-free yoga practice in the long haul.”

To help her build a stronger posterior chain, Alex started off by helping her improve her gluteus medius strength, with exercises like the Romanian deadlift. He also incorporated a number of exercises, such as negative pull-ups, powell raises and Bulgarian rows, that would help her build her pulling strength.

The results after 9 months of hard work have been truly remarkable. Shu Ting not only looks different, she moves differently too.

“I feel stronger and have more confidence in day-to-day physical tasks.”

She has gone from shaky squats to deadlifting 65kg without experiencing any back pain. “Working with more dynamic movements and cardiovascular conditioning pushes me out of my comfort zone”, says Shu Ting.

“I like the intention and the tailored programming of personal training. It’s also great to be part of the Level community and sense the mutual support (especially amongst the women).”

Says Shu Ting about her experience training at Level, “I love the trainers and staff, and trust the programming. Everyone is supportive and non-judgemental. I feel safe and enjoy my training sessions. The locations are great too!”