In this episode of Before We Get There, host Nicholas Braman interviews Glen Lee, an amateur MMA fighter, and coach from Singapore. Glen discusses his early interest in martial arts, the rigorous training schedules, and the unique challenges of balancing multiple combat sports disciplines. He also reflects on his transition from business studies to sports science, his commitment to staying motivated, and the nuances of coaching clients with different fitness needs. Throughout his journey, Glen emphasizes the importance of mental toughness, learning from losses, and making impacts on others’ lives, all while pursuing his passion for MMA and coaching.
Guest Links:
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Website: https://nicholasbraman.com/before-we-get-there-podcast/
Nicholas: Welcome to Before We Get There, the podcast where we explore people’s journeys. How they got to where they are, what keeps them pushing forward, and where they eventually want to get to. I’m your host, Nicholas Braman, and today, I’m joined by Glenn Lee.
Glenn is an amateur MMA fighter with a record of 5 1. Glenn works as a strength and conditioning, jiujitsu, and Muay Thai coach for Field Assembly and the Physio Circle in Singapore. In this discussion, we’ve talked about how he got into martial arts, and how he balances training multiple disciplines.
Getting prepared for fights, both physically and mentally. How he finds the best training regimes for his clients. The challenges of switching paths in the middle of his education. And much more. Enjoy the show. Hey,
Glen Lee: thanks Nick.
Nicholas: So I’m really excited to have you on the podcast. You’ve had, I think, six amateur MMA fights.
What was it that first made you want to get started in combat sports? Oh,
Glen Lee: I first started when I was, uh, 14 years old at, during, uh, Thai by G. Then I branched out into Brazilian jiujitsu at about 16. Years old, eventually at about 19 years old, I started MMA because it’s the combination of both striking and grappling.
Nicholas: I think most people who, I’ve talked to a few MMA fighters before that do both grappling and striking and they usually have, in their deep hearts, they have a preference for which one they actually enjoy more. Do you?
Glen Lee: It’s hard for me to say, but numerous people have asked me this question. Sometimes I gravitate towards striking.
And other times, if I watch more jiujitsu will gravitate more towards Jiu Jitsu. So, I don’t really have a particular preference.
Nicholas: And what’s interesting to me is MMA is a completely separate sport than just either pure grappling or pure striking. How do you balance your training schedule and continue to get better at all of the different sports?
Glen Lee: I try to make sure the training is balanced. For example, if I’m preparing for a fight, right, I will make sure that I have like equal striking as well as grappling sessions throughout the week. So if I have three striking sessions, I make sure I have three grappling sessions. You can’t just rely on one session being pure striking and one session being pure grappling because it’s a blend.
It’s always the striking focus, but also bear in mind that the guy can sit you down, you know. And there is a grappling focus session, but you also bear in mind that a guy can still punch and strike.
Nicholas: And then you have to fit in strength and conditioning with that as well.
Glen Lee: Yeah. Yeah. So on top of that, in the training camp, uh, I also fit in at least two to three sessions of, uh, strength, conditioning or S& C within a week.
Nicholas: And what does that look like for you? What kind of things do you do?
Glen Lee: So for I can see, I keep it pretty basic, uh, during fight camp. So it’s a lot of like compound movements to things like squat, deadlift, bench. and roll variations or pull ups or like the bend over rolls as well as some accessory work or focusing on like drawing.
With
Nicholas: all that training, how do you know if you’re, uh, getting overtrained or if you just are feeling lazy or not in the right mindset?
Glen Lee: Yeah, so I think that’s a tricky question because there are two ends of the spectrum. Some people on one end, they, they, they don’t push themselves hard enough and always give themselves hell excuses.
And then you have the other end of the spectrum whereby people like push themselves too hard and they do not know when to stop. But I think for athletes, even for myself, you tend to want to gravitate towards doing more. Because it makes you feel psychologically secure, and you know you have done the work, and you know that you have put in the effort, and it makes you feel, like, confident in going into a fight, preparing the best you can.
So I guess for me, the challenge is to try to know when to hold back, and when to hold back on the training if I’m overtraining. For me, I look at cues based on how I feel when I wake up in the morning. Are my muscles aching? Mm hmm. My muscles like sore or do I have motivation to go to training? And also I just monitor my own heart rate as well in the morning.
These factors help me decide if I should, you know, take a rest or do a lighter session instead of pushing.
Nicholas: Have you ever gone to that when you were getting ready for a fight and over trained and your performance suffered?
Glen Lee: I take training for this fight. I ran with this guy called ZG. We fought in the promotion called the Live City Championship in, back in November 2021.
Yeah. I think that fight I was a little over trained for one or two of the sessions leading up to the fight. My skill level for that particular grappling session was not very up to par. Even my training partners could tell me that, Oh, this was not you today. You felt very off. Like just the scrambling positions were not there.
I’m just not able to win any particular exchanges on the ground at all. And that’s just, uh, being very slow and slow to react. So that’s how I knew at that point of time I was a bit over trained. Just the performance, the training was not what I expected. It was not what my training partners knew I was capable of.
Nicholas: But you ended up winning that fight, right?
Glen Lee: I ended up winning by a unanimous decision.
Nicholas: Going back to When you got started as a teenager training, how long after you started training was your first competition?
Glen Lee: Oh, just give you a brief timeline. I started at 14, uh, , 5G, and then I stopped for all levels. So about 60 I stopped.
And then after levels, I started again about 17. So I continued training for two years, and I had my first amateur military fight at ETU. So about two years, two years of continuous training before I started having my first motor fight.
Nicholas: What was that feeling like when you. Got ready for your first fight.
Oh,
Glen Lee: it
Nicholas: was nerve
Glen Lee: wracking. It was terrible. Yeah. I remember I just couldn’t sleep the whole night. After the win, I ran to the event at SMU. The Amateur Maritime Association of Singapore used to hold regular quarterly events at SMU. One of the events was at SMU, this place called The Big Steps. I was there and then I just went back home.
I was feeling very heavy in my legs and my head. I’m not sure if it’s ideological or I was having like a real headache or what. Yeah. So as I lie in bed and then I try to sleep at 10, by the, by the time I reach one o’clock and I was still tossing and turning on you, I wouldn’t, I wouldn’t be able to get any sleep before the fight the next day on Saturday.
So I pretty much went there sleep-deprived, not having slept in no minute.
Nicholas: And how did it turn out?
Glen Lee: Thankfully I still won though, yeah. I won that one by a TKO.
Nicholas: Has that process of getting ready for competitions gotten easier over the years?
Glen Lee: I think with experience and age and the number of fights I’ve had, every fight is like a learning experience.
I get more and more comfortable with the weigh ins, with the face off, and then with the fight itself. Yeah, definitely get easier.
Nicholas: So one thing I’ve noticed in my BJJ competitions, and I tell White Belts when we talk about the first time competing for them, I think you probably heard it a lot more than I have as well, that white belts will often be like, Oh, I want to wait until I’m good enough before I do my first competition.
And I always tell them competing is a whole nother skill than Jiu Jitsu. It’s a skill into itself. You can do good during training and in the gym, but then you might be a completely different Jiu Jitsu player during the competition. Do you think that’s accurate?
Glen Lee: Yeah, I think so too. I faced that as well.
In terms of Jiu Jitsu competition, trying to replicate my training performance in the training room to the, to what, to the competition day in itself for Jiu Jitsu. I think that’s something I’m still trying to grapple with. It’s definitely a different skill set. You can be the best in the training room, but that doesn’t mean you’ll be best on the day of the fight.
It’s who performs the best on the fight. It’s not the guy’s track record, the name, or the guy’s skill level. Yeah, so I think definitely, There are people who are like, very good in the training room, but they don’t replicate themselves in competition. But then, there’s also those that are very good in competition, but they don’t, they are not always the best in the training room.
So they, they are just able to, to make it count and perform when it, when it matters. I think that’s a skill in itself, definitely. How do
Nicholas: you work on getting that better? Is it visualizations, therapy, or just repetitions and getting more competitions under your belt? I think it’s
Glen Lee: a mix of visualization and also getting more competition experience.
I think it’s a mix of visualization and also getting more competition experience. So you compete more as like a muscle, you get used to the whole prep routine, the weigh ins, like um, the preparation, the waking up, the going to the venue, hitting the referee’s head, I think all this plays a part in getting you comfortable also.
Learning how to find your, the optimal level of, of uh, mental state before you can perform, because some people need to be using sports psychology build ups. Some people need to be a bit more aroused, like highly aroused, before they can perform well. But whereas others, if they get super aroused, amped up, emotional, their performance tends to suffer.
They need to have a more moderate or lower arousal state so they are able to perform better. So when they are calm, when they are composed, then they can perform better. So I think it’s about finding that balance and where you are on that scale to achieve your best performance on the mats.
Nicholas: Yeah, and it’s tough.
There’s only so many competitions, there’s times you can fight in a year. So you just don’t have the reps that you do for the actual technical skills in striking MMA or Jiu Jitsu.
Glen Lee: Because you’re training, you can fix it the next session, the next day, the next week. I said, okay, I, I didn’t perform well today, but why?
He said my mental state, I was thinking about something else affecting my training. Like I need to be more present, I need to have an hour’s break for the training session. The next week, but, you know, we are in competition if you, let’s say, you mess it up in this comp. You might need to wait another two, three, or even longer months to rectify it.
Nicholas: So I’ve read some fighters say that they pump up their ego before the fight to tell themselves, I’m better than this guy. I’m going to kill him. There’s no way he can hurt me. All this kind of thing. Do you think that’s common for fighters or is it a mix that depends on your personality and your psychology?
Glen Lee: Yeah, I think it really is a mix depending on the person’s mental state before competition. Some people need to tell themselves, I’m the best. I’m better than this guy. I’ll be in everywhere. Others choose to focus on themselves and what they can control. They don’t care about their opponents. They just focus on their own skill level and their own preparation.
They can’t just keep reminding themselves. Reminding themselves of what they have done and how they have performed and adequately prepared for the competition.
Nicholas: For me, I know I’ll never be a good competitor because I always want to go and shake the guy’s hand and give him some reason. He should not beat me up before I
Glen Lee: make a personal
Nicholas: connection.
It won’t go so hard.
Glen Lee: Some of my opponents have done that. I do take note of some of them during the weigh ins. Try to be all friendly and all that.
Nicholas: One big difference, I think, between Muay Thai and Taekwondo is that MMA and Jiu Jitsu competitions are often in Jiu Jitsu competitions. You don’t know who you’re going to be matched up with until you get there on the morning.
How, how is that for you? For MMA, you know, for a long time, who it is that you’re going to fight.
Glen Lee: Yeah. Coming out with the whole bracket system, you might not have a lead time of two months to prepare for this, for this particular opponent. Like, um, I think to do with the bracketing system was WolfCon platform.
You’re able to know at least one, two days in advance. It’s still not, it’s still not a long time, but at least know beforehand who is your first. But it definitely makes a difference trying to prepare, uh, for one opponent in MMA for, with eight weeks of preparation, versus just, preparing in general and you only know it the opponent’s team on the day off or the day before for a Jiu Jitsu competition.
Nicholas: Do you go through and try to game plan in the last day or two after you know that?
Glen Lee: I think for me, I focus more on myself and what my A game is and what I’m going to do. Yeah, I think that applies even for MMA. I do watch tape, I do analyze his strengths and his weaknesses, but as the fight gets closer, I try to focus more on myself and my own strengths.
I think Jitsu.
Nicholas: What was the toughest loss?
Glen Lee: Back in 2015, I fought the Iranian guy in MMA. So I lost that one by decision. I almost got finished multiple times in the second or third round. Because he was quite tough. Like, um, I remember this instance where I head kicked him with my shin flushed across his face.
And then he just beckoned me on. I don’t know. Okay, I’m in for a fight. Yeah. So this guy is an Iranian guy. I think he went on to fight a professional in the Middle East. Yeah. So that part was tough because the thought of quitting did come to my mind. Because of all the body shots that I took with the knees and the punches.
I just told myself that, no, I’m not going to give it to this guy. I made it to the end, yeah. But my body was really battered.
Nicholas: And so were you able to psychologically feel that, Oh, he was just better than me? Or he had a better day? Or did you still feel down about yourself? How you lost?
Glen Lee: Actually, after that I was.
Basically I was quite damaged, but I think mentally I was proud that I stayed in there, that I didn’t just quit. Even though the thought came into my head, I could have just covered up and the referee would call it. After five to six, I answered punches. I was glad I was able to overcome my self doubt and tell myself I can still push him, I can still fight him, and never give up.
That was really important for me and that fight brought me a lot of confidence. Moving on from that fight into Future Fight gave me a lot of experience, you know, with preparation, with training, and knowing that I can, I can push through when it matters at the hardest level.
Nicholas: I remember my first match of Jiu Jitsu competition, I got stuck in a triangle in the first minute and a half.
And I was stuck in a triangle for the rest of the four minutes. I never tapped, but I never escaped either. That’s what my coach told me, he didn’t give up, so that’s something to be proud of. But for me, it’s not easy, you feel bad because people were watching, your coach was watching, expecting you to do better.
I think it’s a big mentally tough thing to get over a loss.
Glen Lee: That being said, I still think it’s, even though it’s cliché, like they always say, but the loss really makes you better. You take the lessons from it and learn what could have been better objectively. In terms of game day preparation, in terms of preparation leading up, you know, in terms of even the execution of the game plan or the day itself.
You need to reflect on these three parts to make sure a loss makes you better for the next one.
Nicholas: So one thing I wanted to ask you about is the difference between normal people who are exercising for their health and athletes and competitors. You work with a lot of Uh, people like myself who, who are just exercising as a hobby and as a way to stay fit.
How do you adjust your training to people who are not a competitor and athlete like yourself?
Glen Lee: Yeah, so I think just trying to recognize the intent and the motivation behind, uh, each person’s training. I have clients who are just general people, like trying to keep fit and do something fun. So I need to make sure the way I’m pushing them is sustainable for their lifestyle and stress.
Exercise is also a stressor. So I have to make sure their lives is handled before they can exercise properly. So I have to make sure that the stressor I put on them is not too much until they can’t recover. So yeah, it’s just to manage it there and just to keep it, keep the communication open and then modify the training program accordingly.
So that they, they are a bit more stressed outside of work with, with family. or with some other issues outside. I have to make sure that when they come to train with me, the program is modified and tailored downwards accordingly. And at that stage also, if they have a particular goal that they have to reach, I will have to tell them that they have to make the trade off, you know.
So sometimes, even though the work stress might be a little bit high, family stress might be a bit high, but because you have a particular goal that you want to reach, for example, you want to hit a target body weight, or you want to perform for this, uh, particular comp, Then we have to up the NP and up the intensity and the volume of the exercise program, despite the stresses outside.
Nicholas: So stress, you mean both physical stress from other activities as well as the mental side of things from their family and work?
Glen Lee: Yeah, I think all these stresses, not just physical stress from exercise, but also mental stress from your job or from your family. I think it all contributes to Towards your overall stress level, which will affect how you respond to training.
So we always have to make sure that the stress level that we impose on the body is that you’re able to recover from it. If your stress is too high and your body is not able to recover, then we are just pouring water into a jar with holes.
Nicholas: Currently, you are a strength and conditioning coach at the physio circle and at field assembly.
How was that transition from being an athlete and training yourself to becoming a coach?
Glen Lee: I think it’s still a learning process, like, like, when you’re an athlete, you have to be a bit more selfish, you know, focusing on your own training, development, and what you need to work on. Whereas as a coach, you have to be selfless, you have to leave whatever that’s bugging you behind, and you have to focus on the patient, on the client, making sure their session is the best, and that you maximize the time that you have with them, that for their 45 minutes or their one hour that you are, all doubting on them and focusing on making sure they are happy and achieve their goals during the session.
I think having to make that transition from focusing on yourself to focusing on others and what they need to do to achieve their goals, I think is very important and something that I’m still trying to work towards in terms of getting my mindset right before a session.
Nicholas: And then how do you go about balancing your own training on top of that, on top of all your work?
Glen Lee: Yeah, so, um, because I currently have two jobs, so It’s training is definitely a struggle in terms of trying to find enough time to, to prepare and also to train adequately, especially if I have a fight coming up. So what I do is I try to make sure that I can, my own training, allow the, the, the s and c sessions that do with my clients.
So let’s say if I have a good day, master, make sure they’re able to keep at least the morning freeze before going to see my clients. Or vice versa at the af if have the morning, uh, filled up. I try to make sure I release a pocket of time in the afternoon to fit in with my clients. Just making sure that the, uh, pockets of space throughout the day to get training in.
and being consistent with the training. For example, like the training doesn’t have to be like 3 4 hours like how people in Thailand train. Like even a 1 hour or a 5 minute session will be enough if you are present and if you have a structured plan in that training and know what you want to work towards in that training.
Having limited time available throughout the day and limited training sessions helps me level down my focus to know what I need to work on during that training session to make it more efficient. more productive than just mindlessly training and doing exercises that might not be beneficial for my skill development.
So just making sure that I’m really honed in on that. Being at 45 minutes to maximize my time training.
Nicholas: And is it difficult to get motivated to train when you’ve already been in the gym the whole day working with clients or coaching classes and then you still need to go and do your own work?
Glen Lee: For me, I’m okay.
I’m quite self motivated. I haven’t really felt that lack of drive to go train. Like, oh, after a long day, I’m going to train again. Thankfully, I don’t feel that lack of desire yet, which is good because if I do, that means I might need to pull it back. If I feel that lack of motivation after long days of work and that happens more regularly than usual despite having a very low training load then I think maybe it might be time for me to retire.
It hasn’t happened yet. It hasn’t happened.
Nicholas: So you went to NTU for a sports science degree, right?
Glen Lee: I went to NTU.
Nicholas: Was this always the plan to continue to work in this, with these kind of, in these kind of roles?
Glen Lee: Yeah, so definitely, because in a polytechnic, I graduated from Neon Poly, I did like a business diploma.
And then when I went to NTU, I had to do sports science. A lot of people were surprised, including my parents, because I told them I just wanted to change. I was already training retired at that part. So I just wanted to learn more about the human body and anatomy, to see how I could benefit my own training.
That’s the reason why I went to NTU to study sports science and management. Eventually, as I studied there, I got more interested in coaching as well. So I started coaching at Field Assembly part time, and then eventually transited back to full time coaching at Field Assembly and the Physio Circle after I graduate.
So I would say it’s like a natural progression. Sports, learning about sports, learning about my own body, and then getting interested in coaching others to achieve their physical goals.
Nicholas: And so you said your parents were surprised. Were they unhappy?
Glen Lee: They always knew that I was quite an active individual.
Engaged in a lot of sports, since young, football, and I’ve just been outside a lot. They were quite supportive when they first started. I think NTU’s Sports Science and Management course was quite a new course. So my parents didn’t hear of it at all. So they were asking, oh, so is this a new course? I said, yeah, it’s a new course.
And I wanted to try it to give myself a shot. They didn’t really say no or yes, just told me to weigh the pros and cons of it. There are trade offs when it comes to this kind of degree, like it’s not the conventional kind of degree. That you need to be comfortable with the trade offs, like in terms of maybe the monetary rewards might not be there yet for you when you first start.
Maybe the career growth and the prospect might not be there, but as long as you’re doing your passion, you’re sure you want to do this, then go ahead. Yeah, so they’re just asking you to weigh the pros and cons of choosing such an unconventional degree.
Nicholas: Yeah, I would say in Singapore, it’s not a conventional degree.
I think in the West, it’s a lot more common. But here, I think people look at going into the corporate world, having a nine to five job, big name company is a standard path. Do you ever have doubts about the decision you made for this major?
Glen Lee: When COVID hit in 2020, that was the same year I graduated from NTU.
When the circuit breaker hit, everything was closed. You were shot. And there was no way out. I had no job. And then, so I had a degree. I had a student loan to repay, but I didn’t have any like a confirmed job at that point of time. So I think that was quite scary. That was when I kind of second guessed myself if I had chose the correct path.
Because if I had done a corporate job, I would be able to still secure a job, still work from home, still work offline. But because of the nature of the sports industry, I need to be there in person. And with the safety breaker, it was impossible to fire anyone willing to hire. As all the jukes were shot, it was definitely a scary time, questioning my own decision.
Nicholas: Yeah, that was tough. I remember that everybody was trying to do online classes through Zoom, and even the Singapore Sports Council had a call with different gym owners, talking about how they could get back to reopening sooner. For a lot of industries, restaurants, food and beverage, it was very difficult as well.
So, how’s Soon after the circuit breaker and the major turning points of COVID, were you able to land a full time role? I
Glen Lee: think it was around November 2020 that my friend Shulbin decided to open up his own clinic. And that’s when he approached me to join him and asked me if I wanted to work for him as a strength conditioning coach at Pisa Circle.
During the same year, after the country had reopened, I know I managed to find a job. But while also working at Few Assembly at, at the same time,
Nicholas: that’s also not easy as being part of a team that starts a brand new business. What was that experience like? Yeah, so,
Glen Lee: um, thankful for the trust that he placed in me that, uh, he’s willing to hire me as his first hired for his, uh, work company.
I learned a lot from being on the job and even now also as well has learned a lot from being like team, um, truly his world and what he has done, and also seeing him grow as a business owner. I think it’s. Quite interesting to see. I definitely learned a lot from him.
Nicholas: And I think for people who are doing work like yours, whether that’s teaching yoga or any other sporting activity or having any job that you have clients on an individual basis, that could even be barbers and hairdressers.
There’s a lot more work that people don’t think about when you just go there to get your hair cut or you go there for training. You guys have to manage client relationships. You have to be marketing and self promoting for yourself or all those skills. Um, something that you consciously work on is it just come with the job as you grow into it?
Glen Lee: I think it’s a small and medium sized enterprise. You know, every worker, every employee has to, you know, take, take the initiative and have the self ownership to be part of the business and to feel like you own it as well, even though you might not have a stake in it, you still need to feel like you are a part of it.
If you don’t put away your small business, it’s not going to work, it’s not going to flourish in that small team. So you need to look out for each other in your team, making sure there’s open channels of communication and just looking out for each other in the team and also pushing each other to grow, pushing each other to get better in terms of getting more social media presence, building your client relations, getting better in terms of the skill of strength conditioning, sure to self develop, to self improve and make sure that you’re growing as a coach.
I think all that plays a part in a small team. And just having that synergy to help each other grow and get better, I think is very important in a small team.
Nicholas: Yeah. That’s one thing I noticed about you. You have such a wide range. Of course, you work with other fighters and people who are at a high level, but some of the people who have the least experience with training and with Muay Thai or Jiu Jitsu also are dedicated to your classes and think of you as a great coach.
How do you nurture that and cater to both extremes of clients?
Glen Lee: Oh, yeah, definitely. I think the majority of the clients at 3070 doing Muay Thai, they are mainly just doing it recreationally for fun and for sport. But I still want to be able to teach them the art of Muay Thai, learning what works and what doesn’t work in a real fight or a real defense situation.
So I always like to explain to them, we are not just blocking for the sake of blocking your face. Then we are blocking with the intention that guy is only trying to hit you, so the block needs to be as intense as the strike. So I think helping them to learn realistic skills in a safe environment, I think that’s very important for me.
For all my recreational students, having that realistic feel to a fight, that they can be confident that they are learning the correct things, the correct moves, that will actually work, they’re not just there for a good workout. Even though, yeah, A good workout might be what they’re looking for. I try my best to make sure that at the same time as they’re having a good workout and they’re having a good spread that they are also learning like realistic moves and realistic techniques that can translate to a real fight.
These are things that I will also do as well. Just making sure that they know that as well. And I think so far, students have been quite receptive and quite happy that I’m able to, you know, teach them the art of Muay Thai, the true art of, like, self defense, the true realistic moves of the martial arts, and at the same time, they’re able to get a good workout in.
I think they’re quite happy with that.
Nicholas: Do you have a preference, or does one give you more fulfillment than the other between strength and conditioning, weight training, versus combat sports and the more technical coaching that you do?
Glen Lee: I think both have their, uh, merits. I spend more time coaching strength and conditioning clients than my military students.
At this part of my career, I feel more inclined towards training strength and conditioning clients as well. Yeah, at this part of my career, yeah. Largely because I cover more classes and more time spent with brain conditioning clients than with my Maritime students.
Nicholas: I think the advantages are for people who come and train at somewhere like Field Assembly or PhysioCircle versus going down to Anytime Fitness or their own self service gym.
Glen Lee: Yeah, I think Field Assembly is great because it offers like classes and also personal training sessions that are to your individual needs. Whereas sometimes anytime fitness, you’re going there, doing your own thing, meandering around, you might not know what you need to work on. But at least at Field Assembly, you know, we take the burden off.
you thinking of what to work on and you just being able to just be present and just focus on what you need to do with a structured plan and trusting that whatever the coach has planned out for you is is to your best interest and it will benefit you. I think that’s the key part just having to not to worry about what to do and at the gym and just wasting time and just being able to get in for a quick effective and efficient workout.
That’s the main selling point of the field assembly and also physio circle for the strength conditioning side.
Nicholas: I want to go back to when you decided to go to NTU for sports science. You’d previously been studying for business. How was that decision for you? Did you have to think about it for a long time?
Was it impulsive? How did you end up making that decision?
Glen Lee: Funny story. I was serving my last six months of my diploma, uh, at the internship company. Yeah. So I was working like in the office there. So I had to work six months internship before I can get my diploma. And. At the point of time, I was wearing formal wear to work.
I was doing the 9 to 5 job, Monday to Friday, and it just felt like I wasn’t cut out for it. I couldn’t sit still in the office, working six hours, wearing office wear, going to work every day, squeezing on the MRT at night, coming back at 5. I just feel really, I thought it wasn’t right for me. Like, intuitively, I wanted to try a new career path.
Something that is not common. So that was where I first explored like, um, other higher level tertiary options. And then when I saw sports, I was like, let me try that. Since I like sports, though, I’ve been training really tight. And I’m also interested in the, In strength conditioning,
Nicholas: did they give you good guidance about what kind of jobs you should look for after you get your degree or what’s available to you?
Glen Lee: Yeah, so definitely. So we always have a career fair whereby they invite external vendors to look for spective students to secure internships, part-time plans or employment contracts with them. So they organize that regular career fair. Final years as a what size and management student at NU. And also they have, they put you on a career path track whereby you have like workshops throughout your final year, learning more about things like how to design your resume, how to answer interview questions, how to network with employers, stuff like that.
So I had career preparation events happening throughout the final year of SMU as a, as an NTU student, which allows me to be prepared for work and eventual transition to the workforce. I think that helps. If I’m not wrong, they’re still doing that now.
Nicholas: Yeah, that’s very helpful. What I do currently for work is nothing to do with my major when I was in university, but it took quite a while to figure that out.
So I’m always interested in people who have a very direct correlation with what they studied in school and what they end up doing for work. One other thing you mentioned earlier was that you’re very self motivated and self driven. And I I’m curious more about that. Is that the. skill that you’ve developed over time, or does it come naturally to you?
Glen Lee: It’s a hard question to answer for myself. I think you have to ask other people as well. So I’m, I would, I would say, I would like to think that it’s an innate trait in me, like being self motivated and self driven. But obviously we all have days where we feel like, oh, I just want to like, chill and not do anything.
But majority of my time, I, I’m actually quite self motivated in terms of my athletic goals. And also those are my, my career goals in training clients. I think I’m lucky I had that drive. But I’m not sure also whether or not it’s like what I was born with or it’s just like a muscle. The more you push it, the more you work it, the more you feel like you are getting better at it.
It’s a really hard tough question to answer. I’m not sure.
Nicholas: Do you have a guilty food you eat or something that’s unhealthy that you let yourself have once in a while?
Glen Lee: Yeah, so after every fight, I usually do that. But I haven’t been doing that for the past two fights to keep myself in check. I usually have a big McDonald’s meal after a fight.
I usually order a double cheeseburger, upsize, with a four piece duck wings meal. That’s my go to cheat meal after every fight, regardless, win or lose.
Nicholas: Most people say once a week or after a tough training session, but for you, it’s only after an actual fight. That’s, that’s only a few times a year.
Glen Lee: Cutting weight, I start thinking about all the food choices, I can feed them.
If I’m not cutting, cutting weight for a fight, like I don’t crave the McDonald’s. It’s just that when I cut weight for a fight, then suddenly, like mentally, I feel like I want to, I want something healthy, like fast food, McDonald’s or KFC. From day to day, if I’m not cutting weight, I don’t have that craving at all.
Nicholas: No, that’s good. I’m lucky in that I don’t particularly like sweet things, but, uh, there’s lots of other unhealthy eating choices that I make. Um, So let’s talk about the future. What are your goals? First of all, for your combat sports career in MMA, Jiu Jitsu, Muay Thai?
Glen Lee: I would definitely like to continue training with my workload, you know, with my, um, career coming up.
And the strength conditioning, the clients I’m seeing, as well as the rehab students that I’m coaching. You know, time is definitely a limiting factor in terms of my training. I just want to be able to still do it when I’m young and not wait until I’m 10 years down the road and then not able to physically compete and have any kind of regrets.
That’s why I still want to push, push for my MMA career as well. At this point of time, because I want to do it before it’s too late, you know. So I would say over the next 2 3 years, I would still like to compete more often and focus more on MMA. And then longer term down the road, I think I want to focus more on Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
So for the immediate goal, while I’m still young, I want to focus more on competing in MMA because I feel I’m mentally and physically at my peak now. I feel that now is the opportune time that I need to grab before I regret if I wait too late, or if I don’t do it now.
Nicholas: And what’s the challenges for doing that more?
Is it your personal time? Is it finding fights to participate in?
Glen Lee: I think if you want to work, train, and compete, I know just having time outside of that is a challenge. But like with all things in line, there’s always trade offs that you need to make. And you have to be okay with it. I think for now and for this season in my life, I’m okay with the trade offs of having less time outside of work, outside of training and competition.
Because I know that this part of my life is not going to last forever, that I’ll move on to another journey of my life. I need to make it count now that I can compete at the highest level.
Nicholas: And how about for your personal life and career? What is success going to look like for you in 10 years down the road?
Success. I
Glen Lee: think over the years it changed. I used to be like everyone, I want to want to earn big bucks. I want to climb the corporate ladder and stuff like that. But after working, since I started at NTU to now, I think I realized I just want to make an impact on people’s lives. At the same time, we’re earning a, well, we’re earning a good income to be able to sustain myself and my family.
I still want to. impact others day to day in their lives, through the interactions, when they see me for trainings or outside of trainings or when we, even when we are training together in the same training room, I just want to leave a positive impact on people. I just leave them better than, than where they are now.
Come and see me.
Nicholas: That’s great. Well, thank you very much, Glenn, for being here. Where can people find you on social media?
Glen Lee: You can follow me on Instagram, Glenn underscore rockstar. If you want to connect with me or talk to me about anything, feel free to DM me on Instagram below.
Nicholas: All right. Thank you very much, Gren.
Thank you for listening to Before We Get There with your host, Nicholas Braman. Please like and subscribe on YouTube and your favorite podcast platforms like Spotify and Apple Podcasts. You can also find us on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook at Before We Get There Podcast. New episodes are released every Thursday morning.
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