Filipino-American Fitness Experts You Need to Know To Transform Your 2025
By Jennifer Redondo
It’s January 2025! It’s that time of year where we all vow “New Year, New Me”. By now, some of you may have already fallen off the wagon, but we are here to pick you up so let’s go! We want to help you achieve your 2025 goals for real! We want to support you by introducing you to Filipino-American fitness experts who can help you achieve your health and wellness goals, whether that’s online or in person. That’s right, there are no excuses!
If you’re serious about your health and wellness, read on so you can learn more and get a feel for the four individuals we’ve featured below – from their training approaches to their individual philosophies. Hopefully, you will find a trainer who may be best fit for your needs. Or even better, an entire squad behind you!
Damon (DJ) White, Jr.
Hometown: Inland Empire, California
Current Training Location: Oahu, Hawaii and online worldwide
Specialty: Men’s Performance Coach
Certifications: CrossFit Level 3, Precision Nutrition 1, NCSF CPT, USAW 2 Coach, Eleiko ST, NESTA PFT, TRX ST
About Me:
I grew up in SoCal. My parents moved around the Los Angeles and Inland Empire areas. We lived in 20 homes by the time I was 17 years old! We moved from West Covina, all the way towards San Bernardino and everywhere in between the 909 area code.
I am very grateful that I live in America and that my grandfather worked his butt off to get his family to the United States in the 1970s. He was the youngest of 16 siblings. My mom is from the Philippines and she moved to the United States before the age of ten years old. My father is black, and he is from New York. My parents met at Baldwin Park High School, and they started having kids at a very young age. I am the third of four children. I was born five days after my mom turned 21 years old.
We grew up lower middle class. Though my upbringing was very rich in love and affection, which is very standard to the Filipino culture. I was definitely a lot closer with my Filipino side growing up because a lot of my relatives lived nearby and my mom’s parents used to watch us growing up.
Starting in junior high school, I had really severe knee problems, which kept me out of all athletics. So, I had a lot of time to read! My dad is an absolute book nerd so he was really, really big on raising us on books. If there's anything that really mattered to him, it was knowledge! He used to tell us, “You don’t have to play sports, but you are going to be smart”. I was reading college level books by the time I was in third grade. Growing up, every summer, my dad picked two books for us to read. We got to pick the third book.
As I got older, and when I compared my upbringing to others around the world, even if we didn’t have the most money in the world, we had family! My parents stayed together, we could always talk to them if we needed to and they always gave us affection and guidance. That's the best case scenario.
Fitness Journey:
I wasn't really that athletic growing up. I did a lot of martial arts when I was younger because my grandfather on my mom’s side, used to teach Aikido, Khali and Silat in the Philippines. My favorite thing to do was watch Bruce Lee flicks.
As I mentioned earlier, I messed up my knees playing basketball in junior high. I went up for a layup, I got hit in the air and landed on both my knees.The doctor told me that I was going to need a double knee replacement or, the other option was to do physical therapy and tape my knees with three layers of tape every single day for two years. I wore braces with metal bars on the side. I had tendinosis, which means my knees get worse with exercise. The doctor told me that I was never going to be able to lunge or jump again. So, I accepted my knee situation up until 2007.
In 2007, I started working at 24 Hour Fitness as a membership specialist. During my time there, I saw trainers move around. That's when I decided to become a fitness trainer myself! I took my first certification and started looking into what I could do to reconstruct my knees. I was doing memberships, personal training and I was working on fixing my knees all at the same time. On top of that, I was also going to school. Every couple of months, I made a small breakthrough and found myself in less pain. I looked into the science of the body, and that’s when I realized that all of our muscles are connected – so I started with my feet, ankles, hips, and back. Over time, I started correcting my knees. I didn't do an actual barbell back squat for the first time until I was 26.
Since then, I've trained a lot of basketball players and helped them fix their feet which impacts their ankles, hips and knees. My absolute favorite thing to do in the world is correct people's injuries. I take myself as an injury specialist. It doesn't matter what it is. I'll figure it out and I'll heal you.
I ended up dropping out of school after working at the gym, where they’re mostly focused on certifications. Over the course of my life, I obtained at least 13 different certifications. This is on top of all the books and research that I reference. I also pay for fitness coaches and mentors to investigate other answers out there.
After becoming a certified trainer at 24 Hour Fitness in Montclair, I moved to 24 Hour Fitness in San Francisco. Then I moved on to Crunch, and then Equinox. Equinox opened up and we were doing great – they were number one for three months until the world shut down in March 2020! That’s when my wife and I decided to move to Oahu. That’s when I started doing virtual sessions with a lot of my previous clients.
It wasn’t until two years ago that I began doing social media. I didn’t like filming myself, but with COVID, I had to. I pride myself in trying to take on very stressful tasks. I want to be able to match the same resiliency that my grandparents have shown. It’s my duty to my bloodline to ensure that I’m picking up where they left off. Because without what they’ve done, none of this is possible.
A Day in the Life:
I am a very early riser. I wake up at 3:15 in the morning. I take 45 minutes for myself to wake up, have a protein shake, and get my energy up before I start my clients calls at 4:00 AM. I do a few video calls with clients, walk them through their workouts, correct their form and technique, and whatever else they may need help with. I also have a training app, which is open to clients worldwide. I have close to 4,000 workout routines where I do video demonstrations of each move, including physical therapy modules for those who need it. I also have personalized nutrition plans and recipe books.
I want to make sure that people are getting as much value as humanly possible. I try to make it as easy as possible so I provide my clients with a grocery list, recipes, and demo videos on how to make meals. I have an auxiliary cookbook that has about 70 different recipes, including a healthier version of any cheat food you can think of. I also find food that is affordable, that works for their macro split.
Around 9:00 AM, I have some breakfast. Around 10:00 AM, I do a few more sessions and hop on Instagram Live for 30 minutes Monday through Friday. I answer questions and give free advice. After that's done, that's when I'm usually finishing admin work. I send my clients texts and voice messages every single day. I comment on their workouts, I set their rep ranges and weights on an everyday basis.
I'll go to the gym around 4:00 PM to workout and film content since I film and edit my own content. Then, I come back home, answer a few more messages, and eat some food. I don’t train clients past 7:00 PM. By 8:00 PM, I am done. I am crashing, wrapping things up, and going to sleep.
Words of Wisdom:
The only time that the entire family is going to do well is if the entire family is eating the exact same thing. It always starts with the head of the household. I train predominantly men, most of them are dads. I want the entire family to enjoy the same food together, that way there is no need to prepare something different for the children. That’s too much work. The easier it is for someone, the more difficult it is to fail. It becomes easy to win.
What matters to me is, no matter what your goal is, that you follow a diet that you’re going to stick to! Consistency is how you're going to get where we want to get to. When people change back and forth, then you can't convince me that whatever you're doing is actually working. All that matters is that you stick with a diet that'll allow you to keep the changes permanent.
Sleeping late at night is completely overrated. No one's productive at night. The morning is the best time for everyone to get things done.
Advice to Getting Started:
You have to do it now! The person that wants to wait until tomorrow to get started, the person that wants to wait until January 1st to get started, is the same person that doesn't let you get started now. That person is never happy, and that person is always pushing to the future. Stop procrastinating!
On my Instagram, I have free workouts that people can do, to get started right away. I also have a free three month eBook. Today is when you have to start because if you wait until tomorrow, you're still feeding the same procrastinator.
Do the most basic things, even if it’s doing a five minute workout program: do bodyweight squats for 1 minute, then rest for 30 seconds, then do push-ups for 1 minute, then rest 30 seconds, and then do lunges for 1 minute, rest for 30 seconds, and then do 30 seconds of sit-ups. You're done!
Treat your health like your job. Schedule your health into your calendar, the same way you show up to work for a boss.
Tips and Tricks:
People need to control for two things. If you're trying to change your body, whether it be men adding more muscle mass and losing body fat or whether it be women who want to become longer and leaner. Everyone wants to look leaner because leaner is closer to being healthy.
Multiply your body weight in pounds times 10. That's how many calories you should have per day. As far as protein, multiply your body weight in pounds times one. That’s how many grams of protein you should intake. Do whatever you want with the remaining calories. By making smarter choices, you’re not going to be hungry for anything else because you will feel more full and satisfied.
Cheat Meal:
My cheat meal is food I don’t eat on a normal basis. I won’t eat just any food, it has to be nostalgic!
My mom’s home cooking! She'll do both the black and Filipino side. She’ll make pancit, my grandma’s chicken and potatoes recipe, rice, sweet potato with candied yams and rosemary chicken. All that on one massive plate. I look forward to every single time I visit.
Favorite Filipino Food:
My grandma’s chicken and potato recipe! I love that more than anything else in the world. Next to that, it would be my auntie’s lumpia.
Motto:
My trainer coaching philosophy is based on Epictetus: “Don't speak your philosophy, embody it.” That's really what matters to me the most. You have to embody your philosophy – this is different for men and women. Most women that I’ve trained, want to feel good in their clothes and feel good when they look at themselves in the mirror. They want to look long and lean. Whereas men want to feel powerful. But in order to feel powerful, there has to be congruency.
Your philosophy has to match what you embody. If you believe everyone should be fit, and you’re not fit yourself, then that’s a lie. I want guys to do what they say they're going to do. And that branches out to a lot of things.
Where to find me:
You can find me on Instagram @iamravnfit. I also have a school community that I'm building. It's a free community that people can join.
Jansen Bagon
Hometown: Batangas City, Philippines
Current Training Location: San Fernando Valley, California and online worldwide
Specialty: Weight loss and muscle gain
Certifications: NCSF, NASM
About Me:
I was born in the Philippines. I moved to the United States when I was 5 years old from a city called Batangas. For the first four months, we lived in Pasadena with my aunt, until we figured out what we were going to do to stay in the U.S. My mom was a big entrepreneur – she ran many businesses and ended up running a retirement home in East Los Angeles. In 2003, we moved to the San Fernando Valley.
Fitness Journey:
Before we moved to the United States, I remember seeing a group of elderly doing Tai Chi in the park in the Philippines at 5 AM. I also vividly remember my mom doing Tae Bo, and always staying active. As a kid, I was like a sponge – absorbing what I saw. Eventually, I started to replicate what I saw going on around me. My mom was a big influence in my life, and I still train her every single day.
In middle school, I was the activity director at my mom’s retirement home centers. I would take the residents for walks around the park, have them do squats and do a little band work. That’s when I realized that some of these 60 or 70 year olds couldn’t even get up! I told myself that I wanted to still be able to get up and use the bathroom on my own, and be able to take a shower on my own. I would want to wipe my butt until the day I die. I don't want to be stuck in bed just waiting for the minutes to burn down.
I started seriously working out in high school, as a freshman playing for the basketball team. I wanted to play varsity, so I had to gain more muscle. From 2010 until now, I have not missed a week of working out. I wanted to play basketball overseas, but decided that wasn’t the path for me. Instead, I found myself getting my best friends to work out, and eventually they also became trainers. I also got my family to work out, and it just became part of my daily routine.
In college, I walked on the basketball team at St. Bethesda. That’s where I met PJ, a trainer at the open gym. I would watch him and he taught me a couple pointers. That’s when I knew I wanted to become an athletic trainer. In college, I studied Business and minored in Sports Management.
In 2016, I became a trainer and started working at 24 Hour Fitness. After a year, I started my own personal training business. During that time, BBLs were a thing, so a lot of women started coming in asking for the skinny waist and big butts. With the help of social media, I started to get even more busy.
A Day in the Life:
I train every day from 5:00 a.m. till 12:30 p.m. and then from 4:30 till 9:30 p.m. I train about 60 people a week.
Words of Wisdom:
What you eat every day is who you are. If you eat bad, if you eat seed oils, if you eat junk food, your body is going to turn to junk. Like I tell people, treat your body like a Lamborghini. Would you put 87 Arco gas on it or would you put 91 top shelf clean gas to fuel your Lambo? What would you want to fuel yourself with?
Eat organic, try not to eat processed foods. On the weekends, enjoy yourself because you have to live a little. It's a lifestyle. Nothing's a quick fix. There’s no quick fix just to look good and to have a six-pack. A six-pack is the benefit that comes after you eat clean and work out. The number one thing is your health! Health is wealth! You can’t enjoy your wealth if you’re not healthy.
Build some good habits that you can do for the rest of your life. Even if it’s just working out three times a week or walking every day for 30 minutes. The health benefits by far outweigh the risks. Aim to get between 7,000-10,000 steps a day. When people start training with me, I always ask to see my clients phone. I check to see how many steps they take, and I also look at their Screen Time, and app usage! If you're on your phone every day for three to four hours, and two hours are spent on Instagram and Tik Tok, then you have time to work out! You can scroll on social media while you’re on the treadmill or stair climber!
Advice to Getting Started:
Do something that you can do for the rest of your life. It's a slow progression of everything. Start walking – even if it’s to Starbucks or the grocery store. Turn on a podcast or listen to some music during your walk.
Don’t try to go cold turkey. You can’t just stop something that you are addicted to. You will relapse again. Do something that you could progress on. Start 10 minutes a day, and then eventually increase the time and intensity. Start with walks, then hikes, and eventually you can build up to running.
Do something that you love! Try different things like pilates, boxing, and yoga. See what you like and don’t like. Your goal is to move and to be healthy!
A lot of Filipinos are very unhealthy. It's known that Filipinos have smaller ventricles in their heart because of our ancestors who ate pork and lots of fat. That’s why we see a lot of Filipinos with high blood pressure.That’s why I am an advocate of moving more. Just getting your body moving.
Training Approach and Philosophy:
My goal is not to keep you with me forever! My goal is for you to branch out and keep up these habits on your own. That’s what makes me happy! When I see my clients do different camps, challenges, marathons – when they went from doing nothing to not missing a week of working out! To me, that's winning. You don’t need to be slim and look like a supermodel. You don’t have to be extremely jacked either. People have different body types. So whatever God gives you, make the best out of it. Be healthy and keep moving every single day.
Tips and Tricks:
I am not a nutritionist, I am a trainer– but you can't outwork a bad diet. That's the number one trick. If you eat bad every single day and even if you worked out four hours a day, you won’t get any results. For every meal, have protein. Protein builds muscle, and muscle helps you have more energy. Protein options include eggs, chicken sausage, fish, tofu, nuts, bone broth, protein shakes, and Greek yogurt.
Make sure to fuel your body so that you have energy throughout the day. When your insulin levels go up and down, that’s when you get spikes and crashes. Most people fuel their body with carbs and sugar, and that’s what causes these spikes and crashes.
Track your meals and calories. Track everything, including the oil and butter that you use to cook. If you’re in a social setting, and choose to drink alcohol, consider drinking tonic water, vodka and lime. Wine has a lot of sugar. Every nine days, treat yourself! Go have a nice little dinner, have a drink, and get back to it the next day. It makes it more habitual, it’s a little bit more than a week so you kind of get used to eating clean and working out. That will help you stay consistent.
Aim for 10,000 steps a day! Start small by going for a 30 minute walk, and keep building up to 10,000 steps a day. It's easier said than done, but trust me, I see it every single time. Just taking one step closer to it will get you a lot further with consistency.
Cheat Meal:
I love the double double animal style burger from In N Out Burger. I also love frozen grapes. It’s kind of like ice cream to me.
Favorite Filipino Food: Caldereta
Motto: “Dare to be great.”
I have a big sign of my motto at my gym. I see it every day. When I don't feel like doing it, I look at it, and I am reminded that I started this for a reason. I’m in so deep, going on 14 years of working!
Being great is attainable. You don't have to kill the workout. You don't have to burn 1,000 calories, but if you burn 300- 500 calories, it's better than not doing anything. Everything should be attainable. Just push yourself, a little bit.
Where to find me:
You can find me on Instagram @jbagonfitness. I also do personal training online, so I can take clients worldwide.
Celina Mae Vitocruz
Hometown: San Fernando Valley, California
Current Training Location: Los Angeles, California and online worldwide
Specialty: Functional Fitness, Strength Training, Running, Boxing
Certifications: B.S. Kinesiology, NASM-CPT, PN1-NC
About Me:
I am a first generation American. My parents came to the United States when they were young, so they’re very westernized. I was born in Lancaster, but I've lived in the Los Angeles valley my whole life. I grew up in the Northridge area.
My parents did not pressure me towards a specific career, but they did push me to go to school. I graduated from San Diego State University with a kinesiology degree in 2016. That’s when I started training and coaching others.
Fitness Journey:
I grew up dancing since I was 5 years old. I started with hula dancing, which I feel is super tied into Filipino culture. My mom actually owned her own studio, which she started out of our garage every Saturday. After a couple years, my mom ended up closing her business. I was a competitive dancer throughout high school and college. That's where I get my background for movement and fitness.
In college, I thought I wanted to pursue Physical Therapy, but I couldn’t sit still in school. I never paid attention even though I was a high achieving student. I just didn't want to be sitting at a desk. When I graduated, I worked in a physical therapy office for a little bit while I tried to get into physical therapy school, but then I started teaching group fitness classes. From there, my career started to grow and expand. I figured out that I really love teaching fitness and this is the route that I want to be in.
I was interested in physical therapy and working with others to rehabilitate their injuries. But the more I started to work with the general population, the more I discovered I had more of an impact on people's everyday lives and helping them become healthier versions of themselves. That's how I fell in love with group fitness. I teach a lot of different classes. I got certified in Zumba, which was really fun. Then I also started teaching Barre and pilates.
I landed my first big job at OrangeTheory Fitness. That’s where I learned a lot of my skills and I started lifting weights. Shortly after that, I started working at BoxUnion, a boxing fitness gym. I had done some boxing in college, so it was full circle with me teaching boxing. I also train and coach private clients.
A Day in the Life:
I work at three BoxUnion locations, where I teach boxing classes. I am also a coach at Nike Running Studio in Santa Monica. When I am not teaching group fitness classes, I coach and train private clients in the Los Angeles area. I do house calls. I also coach and train people online. I write personalized programming, do daily and weekly check-ins. I tailor programs for each of my client’s needs. I go through videos and provide guidance where my clients need help.
I try to prepare meals, but unfortunately, I don’t have time to cook because I wake up at 5 AM. I teach some classes, and then I'll have a two-hour break. I'll have another class to teach at noon, and then teach another block of evening classes, or see clients in between. Sometimes, I am not even home for the entire day. I leave at 6 AM and don’t get back home until 9 PM.
If I have time, I will make a couple meals on Sunday. Otherwise, I use a meal prep service or eat little snacks like peanut butter sandwiches, protein waffles, bananas, or packaged salads. When I do buy food, it’s usually Chipotle or Cava.
Advice to Getting Started:
Obviously we think about the end goal all the time. But, I think people should just think about starting small. People often forget about the small steps that it takes to get there. Think about what you can do today or this week that will help you get one step closer to the goal. Maybe it's just doing one workout or making sure you get more vegetables in your diet. Start really really small and then the little habits will turn into bigger habits. Instead of a diet, it will become a lifestyle to help turn your life around.
Stick to something that you enjoy! In my case, I enjoy boxing. If I enjoy something, that will encourage me to go to class every single week. After I am done with class, I always feel empowered or I had a lot of fun. That's what keeps me going back. If I don't like a certain type of movement, I'm not going to make that a part of my routine because I know it's not going to motivate me to want to go. Just picking any sort of movement that you enjoy is enough, as long as you do it consistently.You have to find something that makes your body feel good, not burnt out.
The same goes for your food. Focus on eating foods that you enjoy, that are good for you. The biggest driver for keeping my nutrition in check is movement. I don’t work out solely to lose weight or look a certain way. I eat to fuel my body. I just ran my first marathon this year and I had to think about the foods that would help me run the marathon versus I need to eat this much to lose weight. You have to eat in order to be able to have the energy to run. Just knowing that helped me keep a balanced diet or just be more mindful about the things that I'm consuming because if I eat a cheeseburger and I go to run a marathon, it's probably not going to feel great. But, I would eat the cheeseburger after running a marathon.
Training Approach and Philosophy:
Everything in moderation. Just have fun and like I said, try to avoid burnout. If you do too much, you're not going to stick to it. Do things that make you happy!
It's a balance. Sports and just mindful movement help with your relationship with food.
Majority of clientele: I train a lot of women who come from my group fitness classes. People that come to me are mostly the ones that just want to feel better first, and then a product of them feeling better is just looking better. They want to perform well and feel good about how they move and what their bodies look like. They are focused on overall health and feeling good. Most of my clients are looking for a confidence boost – not just what they look like, but how they view themselves.
Fitness does a lot of that. You think you’re not capable of running a mile, but then all of a sudden, then you realize that you’re unstoppable! What makes training so enjoyable for me, is seeing people hit milestones that were impossible for them! Like at OrangeTheory Fitness, I loved seeing people run the mile benchmark. They go from walking to running to their best time ever. It’s really magical to see.
Tips and Tricks: The fitness community is really nice because people build themselves up. They all have to start somewhere. It’s hard in the beginning, but over time, it is still hard but in a different way. Everyone is capable of doing things they want to do, but they have to think of the tiny steps that it takes to get where they want to be. You just have to take that first step.
Cheat Meal: Pepperoni pizza!
Favorite Filipino Food: Filipino breakfast! I like longganisa with egg and garlic rice.
Motto: “It’s not always easy, but it’s always worth it.”
Where to find me: You can find me on Instagram at @celinavitocruz.
Amir Farahmand
Hometown: San Jose, California
Current Training Location: Bay Area, California
Specialty: Athletes, Moms, Kids – basically, everyone!
Certifications: AMFPT
About Me:
I am 22 years old. I am half Filipino and half Persian. My mom is from Manila, Philippines and my dad is from Tehran, Iran. My mom and dad met through online dating. My dad flew to the Philippines and they got married there. I found that the Persian side is way more strict. If you’re not an engineer, doctor or lawyer, you didn’t make it. Surprisingly, my Filipino mom is more laid back, but she’s still conservative.
I graduated from San Diego State University with a degree in Business Marketing. I have five jobs: I am a personal trainer and group fitness instructor. I train my private clients at The Lab in San Ramon and the Apple corporate office in Cupertino. I teach group fitness classes at Rumble Boxing and Club Studio. I am also a Physical Education teacher at Castro Valley High School.
Fitness Journey: I grew up really skinny. When I was 13 years old, going into my freshman year of high school, I was only 100 pounds. You could see my backbone and ribs. People used to put their hand around my wrist to emphasize how small I was. I was really insecure with my body and how I looked. Now those same people who bullied me, are asking me for training tips.
Growing up, I played basketball and wrestling. I wanted to change my body so I started lifting weights. After I put on more muscle, I started feeling more confident and strong. I haven’t stopped working out since. I played varsity basketball senior year, but I stopped because I didn’t see a career because of my height. That’s when I started to think about how I could apply myself and start a business.
When I was 19 years old, I did my first national bodybuilding competition called Men’s Physique. It was a four month prep and I hired a coach. I followed the plan the best I could, but I would cheat sometimes. I didn’t realize how mental it was not to eat carbs! But, results speak for itself – I got 2nd place. Imagine if I didn’t cheat myself? I could have probably gotten first place. That’s what separates you from first and second place. I would never do it again because I am a foodie. I checked it off my bucket list. If I do decide to do it again, I need to make sure my mental game is right.
My personal training journey started by training some of my friends – some for free to start, then $20 an hour, and have since built up my rates. Everything was online due to COVID. At that time, I was going to school and training clients through Zoom. I was going to go into Physical Therapy, but switched to Business Marketing. Instead, I focused on my certification, my own health, and social media.
After the pandemic, I got my first training job at Fitness 19. After getting my certification and experience, I couldn’t work there long term because the pay wasn’t sustainable. I took it private after I built my clientele through social media and word of mouth.
In January 2024, I booked my first corporate client, Apple. Then, I started teaching group fitness classes, starting with boxing at Rumble. Later this year, I started at Club Studio in Walnut Creek where I teach boxing and HIIT classes. I am going to add heated yoga and maybe pilates to my list of services.
A Day in the Life: I wake up at 5-6 AM. I train 7-8 clients a day plus some group classes. I commute two hours to The Lab to train clients, then coach a couple Rumble classes in the middle day. I go teach PE in the afternoon, then come back to San Ramon to take house calls. At night, I go to Club Studio to teach more group fitness classes. I work out in between my clients. Either in the middle of the day or early in the morning to get it over with. In between, I eat several meals throughout the day – ground turkey, salmon, and chicken adobo if my mom makes some. I would rather eat anything my mom makes than chicken and rice alone.
Words of Wisdom:
There’s a lot of competition out there. Don’t listen to what others say. Don’t be afraid to post that one thing. And don’t be afraid of being judged by others. If I thought that way, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I am working 5 jobs! Just get your foot in the door, get started and stop being scared.
Avoid watching the crazy highlights of these influencers doing crazy backflips and superman pushups. Most of these videos are edited and photoshopped. A lot of stuff in real life doesn’t look the same as social media. Don’t get discouraged. Only look at yourself. You are competing against yourself.
Advice to Getting Started:
It’s all mental. The hardest part is getting in the gym. The first two weeks are the hardest, but once you get into it, you get into a routine. After that, you start enjoying the journey.
Stay on a normal routine. Don’t burn yourself out. Don’t follow some random videos. Start with 1-2 days, with an upper body and lower body split. Build your endurance, and when you feel less sore bump it up to 3, 4 or 5 days. Make some time to rest.
If you’re working out 3 days or more, I recommend a push, pull, legs routine:
Push: chest, tri, shoulders
Pull: biceps, back
Legs: lower body + core
If you are on a time rush or not a gym rat, do 3 full body workouts with some rest in between. You have to program your workouts around your lifestyle and goals.
Training Approach and Philosophy:
All around athlete training. What’s all that muscle if you can’t move it? I like to mix it up with calisthenics, HIIT cardio, boxing, and strength training. It all comes together, and it’s all around fitness.
Tips and Tricks:
It’s all about balance! Everything in moderation. Monday through Friday follow your meal prep. On the weekends, don’t overdo it! It’s a cheat meal, not a cheat day! Cheat meals, not cheat days. That’s overdoing it.
For those trying to lose weight, count calories using MyFitnessPal. Have more protein than your body weight so you can keep muscle and shred weight. Weigh your food!
Do cardio 2-3 times a week. Stairmaster is great for 30 minutes a day.
If you have a remote desk job, set an alarm. Stretch or go for a walk. Doing something is better than nothing! Little things go a long way in the long run.
Cheat Meal: Fried Chicken everywhere: Dave’s Hot Chicken, Raising Canes, and a bucket of Jollibee fried chicken, palabok, and the peach mango pie
Favorite Filipino Food: Chicken tocino. My mom makes it really good. I haven’t had lechon before, but I really want to try it one of these days.
Motto: “Lead by example.” Don’t be a follower, be a leader. This is what my clothing brand, Amir Athletics, is based on. Don’t wait for anybody else to make that move. Go start that business or that fitness journey. You set the tone. You get out there and chase it. Don’t wait for someone to hand you a golden platter.
Where to find me: You can find me on Instagram @amirworkoutofficial and my clothing brand at @amirathletics.
On March 16, 2025, Mikaela Bautista shocked the world as she made her appearance on the screens of millions of people in the auditions for the 23rd season of American Idol.
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