Melissa Sivaraj | Hygieia Strength & Conditioning

Melissa Sivaraj

by Shaun Pang, SSC | Mar 3, 2020

In August 2018, I emailed Shaun about starting barbell training, mentioning that I believed his gym could provide me with the guidance, feedback and support I need. Over the past year and a half, I have received exactly that.

Guidance, in the form of personalized programming, written feedback or screen recordings following each training session, and support through advice, understanding and accommodating any schedule changes.

I previously completed exercise programs on my own and with a personal trainer but never became stronger. Eventually, after reading Starting Strength and watching videos to learn lifting techniques, I began to understand the concept of progressive overload and the benefits of training with barbells. Even so, I was hesitant whenever I practiced the lifts on my own.

If you want to gain strength (read: carry your groceries) and train effectively, I highly recommended training with Shaun or at his gym.

Attending a 120-minute private session with Shaun allowed me to benefit from real-time feedback. Furthermore, follow-up online coaching enabled me to lift more than I ever believed I would—definitely, more than I would’ve on my own—and without injury.

#Previous Post Next Post$

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.