He's 55, but doesn't look it
Want to keep fit as you get older? Augustine Lee says you can and should.
Sat, Nov 22, 2008
The Straits Times
By Dhany Osman
If you think middle-aged men are all about pot bellies and receding hairlines, Mr Augustine Lee might change your mind.
At 55, he is super-fit and muscular, trains seven days a week as a competitive bodybuilder and also manages his gym, Fitness Factory, in Boat Quay.
You could call him a poster boy for graceful - and healthy - ageing.
'The most important thing is consistency,' Mr Lee said of his training and diet regime.
On a typical day, he has about five or six meals, which are carefully chosen to balance his carbohydrate intake with his activities. A typical breakfast would be four slices of white bread, five to seven half-boiled egg whites and a cup of unsweetened coffee.
For lunch, he has two bowls of fish soup and two bowls of steamed rice, and this is repeated for dinner.
'It's a lifestyle I've got used to, especially when I want to continue competing,' said the 1997 South-east Asian Games bodybuilding gold medallist.
He has to work out harder now just to maintain his fitness level. Still, he won first place in his age category in last year's Asian Men's Masters championship in Shanghai.
He was not always such a fitness buff.
In his youth, he weighed 70kg at 1.8m tall and made his first visit to a gym only in his late 20s. He now weighs 95kg.
He took up bodybuilding at 30, participated in club competitions and got increasingly involved in competitive bodybuilding.
'It became a passion. I got caught up in seeing the changes in my body,' he said.
Meanwhile, he worked as a supervisor at a manufacturing plant.
In 1998, he joined the Ray Wilson California Fitness centre in Orchard Road as a part-time trainer and was soon promoted to fitness manager.
It was there, while in his 40s, that he had what he called a 'severe panic attack' due to job stress and was hospitalised for two weeks.
He found it difficult to continue training after that as physical exertion would trigger palpitations.
With medication, he whipped himself back into shape in two years and started competing again. Since then, he has been managing his condition carefully.
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He is also a dedicated husband and father.
'Being married is about having someone to stand by you when no one else will,' he said.
His only son, Nathaniel, 20, joins him for workouts occasionally and his wife, Mary, 51, has her own exercise routine.
He hopes to expand his gym business and has no plans for retirement.
'I'm so used to working long hours that I'd rather stay busy and active as long as I can,' he said.
Asked if he has any advice for older men looking to get in shape, he said that it is important to start gradually and work on improving one's overall fitness level.
Increasing muscle mass is also important as a lot of muscle density may have been lost with age.
'Once you have the fundamentals right, everything else will fall into place,' he said.
This story was first published in Mind Your Body, The Straits Times, on Nov 20, 2008.
For more The Straits Times stories, click here.
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