A Story to Tell
MobCoach Profiles: Muhammad Syahir
Photo: Muhammad Syahir
For athletes who have participated in Mobilus events— from ‘Double Trouble’ to our Suicide Awareness Prevention day, to the CrossFit Open— regardless of your results, you will find your hard work well documented on Mobilus Instagram.
A quick search for @gainsbysyah will lead you to a photography page with an extensive selection of profile-pic worthy images capturing powerful moments of fitness in Mobilus.
Photo taken by Syahir, @gainsbysyah
While we’ve had many generous contributors over the years, one of our most steadfast photographers is now our newest addition to the coaching team– Muhammad Syahir.
Though he may be new to some, Syah has been a member at Mobilus Clarke Quay for 8 years, and has assisted us in part-time coaching as well as media coverage before finally joining the team full time in March.
For this month’s Coaches Profile, we sat down with Coach Syah to get to know our newest addition to the team.
What’s something you could beat any other coach at?
Shooting a gun. I’m not the best, but I’m definitely better than the other coaches (haha).
What do you wish your members knew?
I may seem very serious, but I’m very approachable!
What is your worst CrossFit movement?
It will always be double-unders. I felt that I had it at one point– but it’s not consistent. I’ve tried so many ways!
Photo: Muhammad Syahir
Syah is an avid photographer and videographer, as well as a dedicated husband and father. He spent 12 years working with the Singapore Police Force, moving from policing to specializing in the Close Protection Unit after qualifying through an extensive selection process.
Even while with the Police Force, Syah’s passion for guiding others and sharing his knowledge led him to running unofficial fitness classes for his peers.
“Teaching is something that’s been in me for years— in the Police Force I was running fitness classes for my colleagues, I would train them for their IPPT* and stuff”
*IPPT stands for The Individual Physical Proficiency Test, which is a standard physical fitness test used by the Singapore Armed Forces, Singapore Police Force and Singapore Civil Defence Force to test the basic components of physical fitness and motor skills of their members. (Source: Wikipedia)
Syah: Sometimes after our shift ends, we would stay back and train together, and I would conduct short classes for them. I was like the “PT(Personal Trainer)” for the team. Newcomers and National Service(NS) guys would join my “classes” after shift– and (even though) we work 12 hours or more, we would still stay and train for at least one or two hours.
It started out with my team and other teams saw it as well and some of them would even join on their off days to train with me. It was functional training and running, and as time went by, it got bigger and I started doing it for the whole command.
Syah during a competition organised at work. (Photo: Muhammad Syahir)
Syah’s interest in fitness started with his father, who first introduced him to the gym as a way to spend quality time together.
Syah: When I was in secondary school, my dad used to ask me to come and train with him. My dad is a bodybuilder, and he loved going to the gym and lifting weights.
He would ask me to join him for training and stuff, and at first I was a bit hesitant as I wasn’t into fitness at all.
But I still went to train with him, and obviously as a first timer it was painful, and I felt sore. But he would always say ‘if you’re sore just come in, just come in and we’ll do something else’. He was always pushing me to go to the gym.
Syah and father working out. (Photo: Muhammad Syahir)
His father’s persistence paid off, leading Syah to train more regularly on his own. Later on, after completing his National Service, he decided to challenge himself to be as fit as he could be. Some research online led him to discover CrossFit, and he went on the search for a CrossFit gym.
“I actually went to every CrossFit gym in Singapore, just to recce…I came to Mobilus and was like, wow– I love this place…I came to Clarke Quay and it was new, and a nice place so I signed up. ”
In 2016, Syah joined Mobilus, and he’s been doing CrossFit ever since.
Soon, Syah’s enthusiasm for CrossFit extended beyond a desire to get fit. As a student of visual communications, he was compelled to capture what he saw in the gym to help people understand what good was being done.
CrossFit Open 2019 highlights shot by Syah.
Syah: During polytechnic, I was doing visual communications, so I was doing photos and videos for projects, mainly for schoolwork. But when I came to Mobilus I wondered– why don’t we do a video for fitness? I hadn’t seen any fitness videos from any of the gyms, and when I came for classes i wondered why nobody was recording any videos to tell everyone that this is actually out there.
A strong believer in the benefits of CrossFit training, Syah wanted to see more media content to help people understand what the sport entailed, and to not be intimidated by its’ reputation.
Syah: People can be hesitant to go to the gym because they feel like they might be judged, but I feel like there was such a community.
Syah filmed his first video for Mobilus during a regular training session.
Syah: I filmed a video of us, just training with some of the coaches and members back then. It was in black and white. Looking back it’s not as good as I thought it was but it was fine! Because that’s where we started, for everyone to see that we can create content.
Thereafter, Syah was asked to help capture the various Mobilus classes as an introduction to what Mobilus had to offer.
Syah: I filmed every class and we put it together. We would show it during the basics classes, something to help newcomers not be so worried.
Having gained more experience capturing day to day training in Mobilus, Syah went on to test his abilities shooting on a bigger stage at the CrossFit Games in 2019, when one of Mobilus’ coach - Landy Eng, earned a spot to compete.
Syah with Landy at the 2019 CrossFit Games. (Photo: Muhammad Syahir)
As a coach, Syah seeks to create a safe environment for people to learn, whether to achieve their fitness goals or simply to find relief from the stresses of everyday life.
“The reason I wanted to make the career switch to coaching– I feel like teaching has been something that I’ve always wanted to do. I love teaching. I was even doing it voluntarily. I love helping people to get to where they want, in terms of fitness or even mentally.”
Taking from the experience his father gave him in the time they shared in the gym, Syah hopes to pass on what he has learnt, to do the same for others.
Syah: I want to help people from the experience that I have, like how my dad taught me a lot of things in bodybuilding. This knowledge that I got from him, I want to hand it over. My goal and my vision is to help people get to where they want to be.
As he starts his career as a full time coach, Syah hopes to grow not only in coaching, but also in his craft as a photographer in capturing moments and telling a story of the work we do here at Mobilus.
The CrossFit Open 2024 recap, shot by Syah.
Syah: Besides coaching, in terms of media-wise, I’ve always wanted to explore more. I was doing it as a hobby, and I feel like now that I’m doing this full time, if i put everything, 100% into it - imagine how much I can grow, and what I can produce.
I’m hoping to do a member’s spotlight, and also feature the coaches, to showcase not only about the coaching, but how they help people. I feel like there’s a good story to tell, so that people can know what we do.
Look out for Coach Syah on the Mobilus coaching schedule, or keep up with his photography on @gainsbysyah on Instagram.
