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When Hongkonger Amanda Lam Wing-shan was young, she was “obsessed” with toning her abdominal muscles to perfection. Her workout inspiration? Runway models.
Ten years later, the 27-year-old’s ideas have changed.
She has rejected the drive to be skinny and small, instead embracing strength and the power of weightlifting.
Lam now competes as a professional bodybuilder and runs her own gym, Pump Personal Training, with her partner.
She said society also needed to rethink some of the ways it saw women and their bodies.
“I think [we] should definitely have more [visibility of] women’s bodies in different ways,” Lam said, adding social media users should avoid promoting the ideal of skinny women.
“But definitely [society] should have more highlights on women’s accomplishments.”
Lam, who has more than 20,000 followers on social media, also finds time between competitions to train about 50 clients and study functional medicine.
She hopes to inspire and empower women through her online presence and the community she has built in her gym.
Becoming a fitness icon
Lam spent years balancing other priorities before becoming a full-time athlete and gym owner.
After graduating from Polytechnic University in 2019, Lam worked her “dream job” as an occupational therapist, while also preparing for bodybuilding competitions and training clients.
“A lot of girls wanted me to be their trainer ... It was hard for me to say no,” Lam said.
She was left burnt-out from waking up at 5am each day to finish her tasks.
In 2020, the International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation gave her a “pro card”, which is for athletes who achieve the highest level in amateur competitions. It marks her status as a professional athlete.
Lam soon realised she wanted to focus on helping women as a fitness coach.
She quit her occupational therapy job in 2021 and opened the gym with her partner, Isaac Tse.
Still, the fitness influencer admits being a female owner of a gym is rare in Hong Kong.
“I think gym culture is still growing in the women’s community. When I was [first] going to the gym, there were no girls,” she said. “Now, it’s fine ... We have lots of girls at Pump.”
The gym has since moved to a larger space in Central and now has about 500 clients.
“Now, [Pump] is more focused on health and wellness and helping you achieve your individual fitness goals no matter what they are,” she said.
Improvements are not just physical.
Lam said her past job experience helped her handle a range of clients, such as those with mental health issues.
One client found she could control her anxiety after finding a passion for fitness, while another built confidence while battling severe depression.
Women can be strong too
One important lesson Lam has learned is that strength is key to health and longevity. This is especially true for women, given the pressure to be skinny and less muscular.
Lam said some women still had misconceptions about going to the gym to get strong, such as fears that they would look too masculine if they lifted weights.
But she is working to change this, noting that more girls are joining the strength training community.
“I feel so happy to be able to inspire others,” Lam said.
She also wants to see more types of women in the public eye, particularly in runway shows, which tend to promote unrealistic and potentially harmful beauty standards.
Lam knows fitness can be different for everyone depending on lifestyles, needs and commitments.
“Women should ... compete across their own timelines because we have more roles other than being strong and hard-working,” she said.
Lam still has many years ahead of her as a coach, business owner and bodybuilding competitor, with no shortage of ambition.
“The main goal in the future is to inspire more people to come into the circle of fitness and to be stronger together,” she said.
“Just inspiring women and inspiring men to take care of themselves.”
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