Singapore #Fitspo of the Week Jay Ding: 'I treat my self-doubt as the flu, as I know it will go away'
Be inspired by the success stories of fitness influencers, celebrities, models and trainers in Singapore
Cheryl Tay
·Contributor
Updated Mon, 22 January 2024 at 4:05 am GMT
Singapore #Fitspo of the Week Jay Ding is a gymnastics and fitness coach. (PHOTO: Cheryl Tay)
Life goes beyond the digits on the scale and your body is capable of so much more! Yahoo’s #Fitspo of the Week series is dedicated to inspirational men and women in Singapore leading healthy and active lifestyles. Have someone to recommend? Hit Cheryl up on Instagram or Facebook!
Name: Jay Ding (@jaywalker_ding)
Age: 40
Height: 1.7m
Weight: 62kg
Occupation: Gymnastics Coach/Fitness Coach
Status: Married
Food: I enjoy beginning my day with a simple "Kungfu Tea" ritual. To me, it is a form of meditation and gets my mind ready for the day ahead. There's a soothing feeling as I wait for the water to boil, and I love hearing the sound when the tea leaves unfurl and the pleasant smell that fills the air as the tea brews.
As much as possible, I avoid fried food, reserving them for social gatherings and such. Otherwise, I eat pretty much anything. How and when I eat daily depends on my day ahead. If I have a busy morning ahead, I will have a hearty breakfast to last me through. Otherwise, I might skip breakfast and eat only when I feel hungry. I will make a huge pot of herbal soup or bone broth weekly (which will last my wife and I for three to four days), as part of a holistic diet. It is also comforting to have a bowl of hot soup before going to bed.
Exercise: In a week, I spend three hours on gymnastics skills, dividing them into bars and floor skills, usually more of the basics, like back and front flips, some passes, and swinging on the bars. I spend two hours on strength-based skills, like rings transitions-handstand pushups, iron cross and one arm chin up.
I also have two sessions of lower body training and it lasts about 30 to 45 minutes per session, with things like squats, box jumps and plyometrics. I train for Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) twice and sometimes I run home.
Q: When you were younger, you were competitive in muay thai.
A: Yes, I started muay thai after my O Levels, but the intention was not the best reason. I used to get into senseless trouble and was always the one beaten up, as I’m small and scrawny. I wanted to beat up those who had beaten me up, that’s why I signed up for muay thai.But after joining Hilltop Academy (Hilltop Muay Thai back then) under Master Johnnie, the training got me so tired that I had no energy left to go out with my friends, thus largely avoiding all the senseless troubles.
Jay took part in muay thai competitions in his younger days. (PHOTO: Cheryl Tay)
What are some of the highlights of your Muay Thai journey?
I entered my first competition – The All Styles Martial Arts – consisting of all the striking disciplines (taekwondo, karate, silat, gongfu) in 2001 and won gold. Over the years, even during my time as an army regular, I took part in a few amateur and pro fights.In 2004, I had my first pro fight in Singapore and I was up against an Indonesian opponent. In the opening round, my foot hit his elbow and I knew my foot was a lost cause. In desperation, I went in with a flurry of punches, and I guess I got lucky and won by TKO (technical knockout). I saw a doctor after that and discovered there were three small fractures in my foot.
Another interesting one was in early 2008. I was preparing for another pro bout, but because (Singapore fugitive) Mas Selamat had escaped, I was part of the unit that entered the forests to search for him. This caused me to miss one week of training, and I also didn’t get to sleep much, which probably contributed to me losing the bout. I remember passing out alone in the changing room and regaining consciousness myself, with no one knowing. After the fight, it was back into the forest to continue the manhunt
I moved to Thailand in 2009 for a year to focus on muay thai. I had a few fights there. What was my proudest fight was a disappointing one. It was in the old Lumpini Stadium and I lost via TKO, with a knee to my ribs, fracturing two of them. But I was proud to be one of the first few Singaporeans to step into the Mecca of muay thai.
I also represented Singapore in the World Games in December 2009. After a lustreless showing, I decided to hang up my gloves.
When did you eventually decide to retire from muay thai?
I was just not good enough to make enough money to pay for my daily expenses. Along the way, a lot of self-doubt started to creep in. In hindsight, I should have stayed in the amateur circuit longer, to accumulate experience before venturing into the pro scene. There was probably too much of a jump for me and I went in too deep, too soon.I also felt like the hunger to win from my younger days was gone. My friends (who are still my best friends now) held nothing back about teasing me about the blank looks in my eyes before a major bout. We occasionally bring it up now and then, and it feels so nostalgic.
The final reason (and the excuse that I had used over the years) which made my decision to quit, was a huge fight that was supposed to be held on the Floating Platform and aired live on ESPN. I told myself it was my make-or-break moment, but as I was about to head down to the venue, I received notice that the fight was cancelled because the organiser had fled with the money. When I felt a sense of relief instead of disappointment or anger, I knew my mind was in no state to be fighting anymore.
After his muay thai career, Jay helped set up the BodyTree Gymnastics Strength Training in Singapore. (PHOTO: Cheryl Tay)
What happened next?
I took a sabbatical from everything in late 2010 and went to New Zealand for six months. When I came back, I started learning handstands from a friend and I got into calisthenics. I also met some street workout people and my interest grew.I started teaching with my friend in a fitness corner in ITE West, calling ourselves the “Basic Training Academy”. Back then, I was lucky to be working in an events company with a great boss who supported my decision to switch to part-time so I could juggle my new venture.
Along the way, I saw people doing flips on YouTube, so I went to Bazgym Gymnastics school to use their foam pit to practise. I think the manager realised I was an accident waiting to happen, so he started teaching me the finer details of tumbling. One day, he asked if I was interested in taking a recreational kids class. That was where my gymnastics journey started – at 27 years old.
In 2013, I met two of the founders of BodyTree Group in a movement workshop, and we eventually opened BodyTree Gymnastics Strength Training (GST) together. We were the first of our kind in the market.
However, we were overly dependent on the US-based programme, and we expanded to bigger and more expensive premises while being too complacent and not adapting fast enough to the changing landscape. Many high-level calisthenic practitioners started offering services similar to ours at a fraction of our fees. We started losing market share and did not have enough cashflow, thus the major shareholders decided to cut losses and we all went about our own ways in 2019.
After that, I started learning BJJ and also entered my first competition in March 2020, a month before Singapore went into lockdown for COVID-19.
Then you started The Beacon Movement with your wife.
Back in the BodyTree days, I saw the huge potential of combining fledge gymnastics with the precision of pilates to benefit the adult population, getting them to do movement they never thought possible through gymnastics. This allows those who are very into movement practice to understand their body better and they can expedite their progress by minimising injuries through pilates.I was unable to bring these ideas across to the shareholders back then, but towards the tail end of the COVID-19 situation, my wife and I started dabbling with this thought again. Being more mature and relatively more confident in how we reacted and handled ourselves during those trying times, we decided to put our marriage on the line and give this a go.
What is the goal of The Beacon Movement?
We believe that anyone, no matter their age, gender, or body shape, can achieve physical freedom. We do this by combining the helpful principles of pilates with the energetic aspects of gymnastics to help people reach their full physical potential.Jay and his wife set up The Beacon Movement, which combines gymnastics with pilates. (PHOTO: Cheryl Tay)
We understand how important it is to stay healthy over the long term. That's why we make sure our students use the right techniques and body alignment, and gradually progress safely. This allows them to push their limits while staying safe and healthy.
We have people learning gymnastics skills at an advanced age. The oldest member we have is 72 years old!
When did you feel the least confident about yourself?
It comes and goes. As a scrawny kid, I always got beaten up, made to play the goalkeeper in soccer matches, and seldom got invited for outings. Before big fights in my muay thai days, I would also lack self-confidence.Now, sometimes I get put down by more experienced people in the fitness industry, even though they know nothing about what I am doing. More recently, people have questioned my ability to be a good coach.
It has come to a point where I treat my self-doubt as the flu, as I know it will go away. If it starts to creep in, I will ask myself a question which I saw on social media a long time back: Can it be solved? If yes, why worry? If not, why worry?
When did you struggle with your body the most?
Actually, I would say my mum was the one who suffered mentally. I am the shortest and skinniest in class, maybe even in the whole school for my age group, and there were many “well-intentioned” comments from relatives, parents of my classmates and neighbours about how sickly I look and gave all sorts of unscientific remedies to “help” me put on weight.They would say things like eat more and not do physical activities or try dubious medicines. I would like to use the chance here to tell everyone, that doing this places stress on the parent (who will self-blame, thinking they did not keep the child healthy) and may unknowingly harm the child out of desperation.
Are you satisfied with your body now?
Content but never satisfied. I am happy with what I have today, in relation to my training and diet. But I know I have the potential to keep improving and get stronger and better.Singapore #Fitspo of the Week: Jay Ding. (PHOTO: Cheryl Tay)
