Welcome to our continuing series Glocal Fitness Mavericks where we get up close and personal with some of the industry’s shining stars responsible for the ongoing transformation of the Health & Fitness Industry across Asia.
Join Dr Alan Cheung of International Orthopaedic Clinic in Singapore as he goes in for a no-holds-barred discussion with Aqil, Sports Performance Specialist and currently Strength and Conditioning Coach at Evolve MMA in Singapore.
A former athlete turned coach, Aqil is a Sports Performance Specialist and currently Strength and Conditioning Coach at Evolve MMA. Sports has always been a huge part of Aqil’s life since he was a kid, representing nationals for soccer and club football in Australia, then transitioned to competitive Boxing and Muay Thai.
He has always known he would have a career in the sports industry specifically to coach and help up and coming athletes. Aqil then decided to further his knowledge in coaching in university and eventually became a certified Strength and Conditioning coach. He is also a Masters student of Sports Performance Coaching at the University of Stirling.
Aqil’s current role involves planning and overseeing the overall Strength and Conditioning program of the Evolve Fight Team and running classes for the general members. Each has its own set of challenges but both equally rewarding. Aqil shares with Expat Choice, ”with the fight team, it’s not always an easy or smooth training session, it gets intense and the build-up to fight day can get pretty stressful with emotions flying high as you can imagine. But when they get in that cage and they perform exactly what we’ve been training for, the feeling is truly like no other.”
“The general members on the other hand train to seek improvement in their physiological performance, health and longevity. The challenge with this group I would say is a common experience between coaches. People want results and they want results quick. My first task with them is usually to set realistic expectations and then provide the guidance on how to reach their goals in a sustainable and enjoyable way.”
Whether it be coaching his athletes or a general class, Aqil has a blast doing either. “I honestly think it’s the perfect balance for me at work, kind of like the Ying and Yang. You get the hustle and bustle in a high stressed environment, then switching to a fun session where I get to let my hair down a little. Every day is a different day and that’s what keeps my job exciting.”
"To be in the line of high-performance coaching and working with elite level athletes, there are certainly a few traits that all coaches should possess which I personally continuously work on till this day. Firstly, learning agility, or having the ability to quickly absorb, adapt and execute. It’s an essential skill to have considering the fast-paced environment and high expectations. Consider this, you have a team with a wide spectrum of personalities, different learning styles and preferences, and the unexpected day to day challenges during team practices."
Coaches must always be on their toes and quick with your thinking. Aqil shares, “during my internship days we had 15 athletes coming in for a weight room session. Four were returning from a major injury, six had no scheduled fights, and the rest had fights with one of them competing for the world title. In a session like that with only two coaches on hand, it can become quite challenging and chaotic. This shows that you have to be sharp and make quick adjustments on the fly or risk wasting valuable time in an already packed schedule.”
Aqil is genuine in the way he coaches and cares for his athletes. In turn, his athletes appreciate his approach with their intentions as he cares about each and everyone’s progression. And with that, respect will come. In Aqil’s experience, he has met many coaches in his own career expecting respect from the get-go, not realising that it needs to be earned and it doesn’t matter if you are the coach or not. Aqil shares later in our discussion, “athletes are humans too, if you treat them as such - instead of seeing your coaching role as just a job, you will be surprised of how much you can achieve with just genuine connection alone.”
Aqil is a firm believer in lifelong learning. As a coach, there is always so much more to learn and it is important to keep your skills current in the field. New research is constantly being put out and there are many innovative training methods by coaches around the world. Most definitely you should have your own methods of training and philosophies. Aqil adds, “one key to success would also to be open minded. You cannot possibly know it all and be right at everything, that’s why it is crucial that as coaches we allow ourselves to absorb new ideas, think different and adapt through times.”
So, what is it that Aqil sees as one of his most noteworthy achievements to date?. He shares, “I attribute a lot of who I am as a person and how far I’ve come to my mum. I lost both my parents at a young age. My dad left us when I was 17 and my mum lost her battle to cancer a year after. It was undoubtedly the darkest period of my life. It was tough as she was the biggest inspiration to me and I’ve always wanted to be like her. She was a successful leader in the civil service, managing a division of teams under her belt. Her success and impact as a leader were evident as I saw how much it affected the people that worked with her after she passed. She was soft yet firm, reserved yet altruistic. She was loved by many and that inspired me to work towards being the leader that she was.”
“Seeing first-hand how short life is, I’ve learned to live life to the fullest and to go where gives me the biggest opportunity and adventure. I knew that if I wanted to be amongst the top coaches, I had to learn from the best. Upon graduating, I decided to take a plunge to quit my graduate job in university, fly to America to intern at the award-winning American Top Team gym.”
Aqil worked with one of the top Strength and Conditioning Coaches in the world, Phil Daru and had the chance to be in camp with the current No. 1 ranked UFC lightweight Dustin Poirier. It was truly an amazing experience for Aqil, seeing first-hand how top-level coaches and fighters prepare for their fights.
After the Phil Daru experience, Aqil received multiple call ups for work opportunities and in turn decided on a coaching role at Evolve MMA here in Singapore. “To me, getting the job was already one of the biggest achievements as I knew how big of an opportunity this was. When my mum passed, I was truly lost with no direction in life and now here I am been given the role of training the elite Evolve Fight Team.” shares Aqil.
It’s been close to three years now in the Evolve MMA position and looking back, Aqil remembers the first training practice with the team. He shares, “the athletes were awkward with their movement, falling over during warmups and fast forward now, they’ve all gained the knowledge and know how to train effectively for their fights. Some have gone on to win multiple fights in a row and some winning their first world title on ONE Championship. It was truly the greatest feeling ever, we screamed with joy, and it was all hugs and happy tears.”
The journey to where Aqil is now however would not have happened without going through the loss he has experienced. “Despite it all, I would say that getting out of the suffering and loss will always be the biggest achievement in my life.”
About Dr Alan Cheung of International Orthopaedic Clinic
A keen athlete, Dr. Alan Cheung Orthopaedic Surgeon and Director at International Orthopaedic Clinic trains in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) at Evolve Mixed Martial Arts.
Says Dr Cheung, “As a sportsman who has played a variety of sports and recovered from bilateral shoulder dislocations, and various knee and ankle injuries, I can understand where my patients are coming from. This helps me empathise and build trust, and I can discuss injury management and recovery in an intelligent way.”
He regularly competes in BJJ and has won gold in tournaments in Singapore and Japan. When he’s not practicing martial arts, Dr Cheung enjoys golf, cycling and skiing.
