Business Executive Ajay gets a double dose of mental sharpness and energy with U.P.
“The amount of money I’ve saved on healthcare, the energy I now have at work and the amount of quality time I can spend with my family make it money well spent.”
No amount of exercise ever seemed to help Coca-Cola Business Executive Ajay burn away the body fat he'd slowly gained in his thirties.
He was doing miles of road running and spending long hours in the gym, but nothing worked.
When he saw his wife and some close friends totally transform their bodies in startling timeframes at Ultimate Performance, he was hooked.
With his 40th birthday on the horizon and commitments at work throwing his workout routine off the rails, he was desperate to give getting fit a real go with a U.P. trainer.
Now 18 weeks later, Ajay is down 10kg and enjoying the unexpected mental sharpness he needs for his demanding job.
Read more about Ajay’s astonishing body transformation here.
Can you share with us your reasons and motivations for starting your fitness journey with U.P.?
I have always been into fitness. I used to run before. I like to work out. But lately, I found it more and more difficult to stay disciplined, especially in my diet. I also felt like I was spending a lot of time running and working out, but I wasn't really seeing the results of it.
Somehow I felt like it was not coordinated. I've got several friends who've gone through the U.P. program and swear by it. So, I thought if I’ve got to do this, I must do it right the first time. And that's when I decided to join U.P.
How have U.P.’s program and the physical changes made you feel?
I feel the effects of it every day. I feel a lot more energised all through the day. I feel more confident in general. I'm also a little bit more at peace.
I think it's to do with the chemistry of the food I'm eating. I'm not drinking anymore; I'm not overeating anymore. I have a good level of energy all through the day, but also, my emotions are a lot more balanced, whereas there would be a time when we had a lot of ups and downs.
In general, I just feel more wholesome.
Tell us a bit about your experience with the program and your trainer.
Because there's so much literature out there, and there are so many different programs, you could spend a lifetime reading through and trying to do it yourself. But coming to U.P., you kind of feel like, "Okay, I'm going to put my trust in an expert and a specialist," and he will tell you what to do, and you don't question that.
You just kind of follow it. And the results come, which also gives you a lot of trust and credibility.
The atmosphere in the gym is amazing. You have a lot of friendly, supportive trainers and a lot of other clients who are almost in the same boat as you are and trying very hard and struggling through the workouts; it makes you feel like you belong to this place.
It really feels like a community, and I think that's an important element of the process.
And finally, the attention and involvement of the trainer were incredible. He knows a lot about everything, which is super helpful. So, I trust him a lot because if I ask him a question, I feel like I'm going to get an answer that is quite well-studied.
I was very impressed with how he went above and beyond in terms of understanding my travel destinations, understanding which hotels I was staying at, looking at the videos of the gym, giving me the right workouts, sending me messages, looking at menus in restaurants I was going to eat at and suggesting which items I should eat.
How much of an impact do you think your transformation has had on your career?
Having a more balanced emotional state all the time helps a lot because, at this level at work, it's not so much about how well you're able to do your job; it's more about how well you're able to control your emotions and deal with people. So I've definitely seen a change in that.
Second, coming here and doing the workouts, you learn to suffer a bit. And you can take that feeling and translate that into the workplace. You're in the middle of something super stressful, something very difficult. You don't give up; you just kind of go for it because you kind of know how to push yourself. And I can translate that in the work environment, so it's definitely made me a lot more effective.
And third, is that you get a lot of respect. When people see you, and they see that you're in good shape, you work hard, you're working out hard, you're in control, you're on top of how your body is, they respect that and automatically assume that somebody who is that disciplined from a physical point of view has to be disciplined about work as well. So it brings a lot of respect.
Finally, would you recommend Ultimate Performance to others?
It is a big investment, that's for sure, right?
I'm a businessman, so if I try to think about the return on investment, the amount of money you'll save in healthcare, the amount of energy you have, which will help you do better at work, helps you spend more quality time with your family are well worth the money spent.
Even small things like the diet increased my appreciation for food! The amount of money I spent on U.P. is probably what I would've spent on alcohol in the last two and a half months.
So, for me, I think the money is big, but you recover it fast.
