Hot Bods of SUniG 2014

Ever wondered how some people attain their chiseled, to-die-for figures? The Nanyang Chronicle interviews NTU’s own ‘hot bods’ — stunningly fit athletes who represent the school in the Singapore University Games — and find out about the regimes they undergo in order to achieve that aesthetically-pleasing figure.

By Nicholas Tan

PHOTO: SHERRY WONG

Name: Jasveen Sidhu

School/Year of Study: School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering/ 2

Age: 21

Sport: Touch Football

Training regime: We train for touch football two or three times a week. And every weekend, we play in an external league (tournament style) with international schools and external clubs, such as Monsoon and Todaks. I don’t usually exercise outside of my regular training, except for occasional runs when I feel stressed due to schoolwork.

Diet: I don’t follow any strict diet. Usually, I take small but frequent meals that consist of anything I feel like eating. My coach also advocates drinking chocolate milk for recovery after training, as it contains the carbohydrates and protein required to replenish tired muscles, and it helps us to bulk up too.

Motivation to keep fit: Touch football is a very intense game. In order to stretch my physical strength and stay focused during the entire game, it is necessary to build up my stamina and remain competent.

PHOTO: SHERRY WONG

Name: Glendon Phua Zhi Ming

School/Year of Study: School of Biological Sciences/ 4

Age: 24

Sport: Floorball

Training regime: I train in school three times a week — physical training on Tuesdays, and court trainings on Thursdays and Saturdays. I play for my external club, Skools Innebandy, on Sundays, and on Wednesdays, I take a floorball sport elective under the Sport Science and Management programme offered by the National Institute of Education. I’m only free on Mondays, and that is when I go for a recovery run after Sunday’s club game.

Diet: I believe we should eat whatever we desire, as long as we can burn sufficient calories thereafter. That being said, I try to abstain from fried food. Also, I love eating carbohydrates like rice, pasta and bread, and tend to carbo-load a lot due to the physical requirements of my sport.

Motivation to keep fit: I want to continue to enjoy sports as I age. To be good at a sport, you need to keep fit. I hope to enjoy the feeling of excelling at a sport and playing it at the highest level as I grow older. Hopefully I will carry this habit forward.

PHOTO: SHERRY WONG

Name: Nabil Ismail

School/Year of Study: School of Humanities and Social Sciences (Sociology)/ 1

Age: 22

Sport: Soccer

Training regime: I attend my school training sessions three times a week, and hit the gym on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Diet: I don’t eat breakfast; I only consume food between 12pm and 10pm. Outside of this period, I just drink water. This intermittent fasting,which cycles between a period of fasting and non-fasting, allows me to regulate my diet better, as during the ‘fasted’ state, the body doesn’t have a recently consumed meal to use as energy. Thus the body is more likely to use energy from the fat stored. (The body prefers to burn sugar as energy before any other source.)

Motivation to keep fit: I used to be very skinny and severely underweight, which was a problem for me as football is asport that requires a great deal of physical strength.Thus my coaches pushed me to gain more weight. I did and never looked back since. Keeping fit allows me to perform better while on the field.

PHOTO: SHERRY WONG

Name: Lim Cuiwen Yvonne

School/Year of Study: National Institute of Education/ 4

Age: 23

Sport: Cross Country and Touch Football

Training regime: My trainings for both cross country and touch football, inclusive of 10-kilometre runs that I do on my own, take up five days a week.The long runs help to build and maintain my aerobic fitness.

Diet: I love to eat food that is high in carbohydrates such as pasta, and I abstain from fried food as a personal preference.

Motivation to keep fit: I want to stay healthy. There were periods of time when I did not exercise much, and thus I fell sick easily. Also, I like to race for the thrill of it, so keeping fit allows me to be better at that. Touch football was also a team sport I’ve never experienced before university and it had been something I’ve always wanted to try.