Perfect fit

Exercise is second nature for Bryan Tay. The former Olympian and his wife have gone into the business of fitness by launching boom Singapore. He chats about the venture with alethia tiang

it’s hard to imagine that someone like Bryan Tay, who used to compete on a global stage in swimming, was extremely shy. The former Olympic swimmer reminisces about a time he had stage fright as a child.

“When I was younger, I had terrible social anxiety,” he shares. “In primary three, I went onstage and was supposed to recite a paragraph from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I said nothing. I literally stood there and said nothing.”

Things have certainly changed since. Because Tay is co-founder of boom Singapore, a boutique boxing studio in the Central Business District, where he conducts classes a few days a week. And on the weekend of this interview, he will be doing a fitness talk for 1,000 people.

“That journey of breaking out of my shell started in college, where I was forced to speak. Because if I didn’t, I’d fail,” says the Psychology major of his days at Princeton University. “In the US, people are so willing to speak and the moment you hesitate, they will say what you’re going to say.”

It is with this same energy and determination that boom was born. A business venture started with his wife Victoria Martin-tay, the exercise studio took a year of preparation and planning before it officially launched in March 2018. Both Tay and his wife were spin instructors but decided to find a workout they both enjoyed. “[Spin] wasn’t my kind of workout. It wasn’t holistic enough for me,” says Tay. “We wanted to do something for ourselves, so we came up with this — a little more fun than your typical boxing experience.”

The year 2017 was tough. Not only were they holding full-time jobs — Tay still does regional business development part-time at Symrise, while his wife has since left her job to focus on boom — and planning to launch their business, but the couple was also preparing for their wedding that May.

And they faced many challenges. One of the biggest was finding the right space. It took a year to find the current spot at Cecil Street and it required major work. “This area (where circuit classes are held) was flooded with water. And there were no floors and no lights,” explains the 30-year-old.

Another challenge was coming up with the right programmes. The couple had to do their homework, which included travelling to US and the UK to visit studios such as Rumble in New York. “That took us some time,” Tay says. “Because if you take something from another country and straight-up put it in Singapore, it’s not necessarily going to work because of reasons like culture and fitness level.”

They also had to to train instructors. Before boom launched, the duo would train instructors at 6:30am, go to work, then return to the studio after office hours to train another batch till 10pm. “Part of the training is inculcating empathy,” he explains as they wanted to attract people who are into fitness, but are non-boxers. “These people who come into the room have never done boxing. Some have never even worked out before.”

He adds, “I’m very demanding because at the end of the day, this is my business. This is hopefully our first studio of many. We want to introduce other workouts created by us. We believe we can make changes in other people’s lives.”

His outlook has paid off. Since its soft opening on January 1, almost 1,000 people have walked through boom’s doors. Response, says Tay, has been great because it’s different from what is already in the market and people enjoy it, “which is nice to hear because we put a lot of thought into [the business]”.

He laughs, “I got 500 [wrist wraps] and thought, ‘This is going to last some time.’ But we’re sold out of that, which is wonderful.”

“The best thing is that we’re getting older people in their 50s coming and returning because they enjoy the workout,” he shares. “The best part for me is seeing these people try to change to get healthier or better.” exercise is… “Fun” — that’s the first word that came to me — but no, it’s so much more than that. It’s a way of life. It’s about being healthy and becoming the best you can be. if i had to choose another sport, i’d play… Basketball. It’s very explosive and it’s a team sport. But you can still find ways to express your own skills. a lot of people don’t know this about me but… I had social anxiety when I was young. Literally all I did was swim, study and eat. my idea of unwinding is… Spending time with my wife just lying in bed and watching TV.