Singapore #Fitspo of the Week Lucas Lim: ‘It’s important not to tie my self-esteem to my looks’

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First name: Lucas Lim (@lucasisyourtype)

Age: 27

height: 1.72 m

Weight: 62 kg

Occupation: Actor, acrobat

Status: single

Food: I avoid eating out and try to prepare meals as much as possible. Fortunately, I’m not really a foodie and can eat more or less the same rice, chicken leg and stir-fried vegetables.

Exercise: My first love would be running and I run almost daily and try to do at least 70km a week in the off season. I also do various martial arts, and try to include several sessions of boxing and taekwondo three times a week.

For strength, I enjoy a mix of calisthenics and traditional weight training and try to do three to four sessions per week. In between these sessions, I try to work on various skills and enjoy outdoor activities such as hiking, kayaking and obstacle courses. When I’m resting at home, I do mobility exercises and stretches to increase recovery efficiency.

Q: Did you play sports when you were young?

A: I was actually an overweight kid and it was my older cousins ​​who guided me through my first training when I visited them abroad at the age of 11. After this month long trip, I was hooked. I started running with my dad and he took me to the gym and at the age of 12 I got my first gold medal for the National Physical Fitness Award (NAPFA).

In high school, I was on the school’s cross country and floorball team while dancing competitively. I also enjoyed outdoor adventure activities, climbing mountains in Nepal, kayaking and camping during school holidays.

What were you into growing up?

For a long time, I danced four to five times a week and had to split my workouts between rehearsals and classes. However, during National Service I wanted to achieve a perfect score on the Individual Physical Proficiency Test (IPPT) and my training sessions evolved from maintenance to daily running and multiple strength training sessions per week.

Gradually, it became more than a quick 2.4 km. I wanted to beat all my personal bests, so I went from 5km to finish my first full marathon at last year’s Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon. I also do taekwondo, muay thai and a bit of gymnastics both for my job and to work on a holistic fitness program. My day usually includes two or three workouts due to the multidisciplinary nature of my regimen.

How did you become an actor?

I started dancing as a child, so I knew I loved acting. While doing my diploma in mass communications at Ngee Ann Polytechnic, I took an acting elective. What was supposed to be an easy pass turned into an A and opened my eyes to acting as possibly a race. After graduating from the Polytechnic, I was roped in for a few commercials that needed dancers and this gave me a better understanding of the audition and casting process in Singapore, which led to my career today.

You also specialize in being an acrobat.

In 2019, I was cast as the antagonist in Channel 5’s long-form drama KIN. I played a con artist, and my character’s three-episode arc culminated in a fight scene. Peps Goh, the founder of Sandbox Training Ground and Dilon Ho, the founder of the hoax group The Hype Tribe, played my henchmen. I had a great time on set and was looking for a way to do more stunts for the movie. My opportunity came when Peps decided to open a training space and I went to the interview to join the first batch of students.

What are some of the challenges of being an actor?

The most important would be the irregular schedule. It makes it difficult to plan training programs and workouts with training partners. It also affects recovery and nutrition plans as I can’t always decide when to eat or sleep. However, as a freelancer, I have the luxury of training during office hours when I’m not on set!

Do you feel any pressure to maintain your physique because of your career?

Yes, no doubt, but it’s part of the job. I have to portray a character, and to do it convincingly, I have to look like the character. In addition, being next to stunts, these characters usually wear uniforms or have militant backgrounds. However, I have always been more fitness oriented than looks when it comes to training, fitness is just one of the many rewards of hard training.

Have you experienced an incident that made you feel insecure about yourself?

Definitely. I’ve always been acting and I knew this would mean I was seen more often. There were numerous instances where I had to go with costumes that showed more skin when I felt I wasn’t ready or paired with other performers who had the bodies of Greek gods.

Before shows, I used to crash my diet and it could be as extreme as a seven-day liquid diet. However, these diets were super unhealthy, especially at the intensity I was training at. Over time, I realized that it is not worth risking your health for such short gains and I used these moments as motivation and inspiration to do and be better.

With this pressure they make me step out of my comfort zone and dial in my numbers like calorie intake or recovery time, things I usually neglect, to achieve better results.

Have you ever struggled with your body?

Yes, I don’t think anyone in our line of work doesn’t struggle. It is a struggle to become bigger, thinner, stronger, faster or, on the contrary, to become even smaller. I personally struggle to stay thin. As an older kid, my metabolic rate isn’t what it should be and I’m still struggling to maintain my desired body fat percentage despite running 70km per week. But I personally like a challenge and honestly, if it wasn’t hard, is it worth doing?

Are you satisfied with your body now?

I don’t think that’s the goal. I think the goal is to be in the best shape I can be and not in the shape I want to be. I think how I stay so disciplined is to never be satisfied with the way I am. It drives me to be faster, stronger, more explosive or whatever I need to be this season.

However, it is important not to tie my self-esteem to my appearance. It’s very complicated, but I realize that when I can focus on the different character traits that the pursuit of a better body has given me, such as discipline, determination, follow-through, and resilience, and define- me through these things, I have more confidence. version of myself