Biography

Name: Anjani Sekarsari Percaya
Occupation: Business & Operations Manager
Height: 1.60m
Weight: 68kg
Personal Trainer: Karenina

Having worked in the fitness industry for several years, Anjani struggled with maintaining a healthy mindset with regards to fitness, aesthetics, and food.

Anjani always wanted to build muscle and get stronger but did not know how to do it sustainably. As a result of years of compulsive over-exercising, she ended up injuring herself on multiple occasions.

She realized that she needed someone professional to help her and was particularly impressed with the Level coaches who stood out with their meticulous, science-backed programming and their focus on technique and form.

Anjani started training at Level in mid January 2021 with Coach Karen.

“Being a woman in the fitness industry has its challenges, so I needed someone who could understand and empathize with me. I also wanted a coach who has been through her own fitness journey – so that I can learn from her own struggles and triumph.”

After an initial client assessment, Karen developed a specific training program for Anjani, taking into account prior injuries in her wrist and lower back.

Karen added mobility work to Anjani’s programming to strengthen her flat feet, hip flexors and lower back issues. After four months of training, Anjani saw rapid improvements in her strength. She can now squat up to 60kg with no complaints, from a starting weight of 20kg with poor form and knee pain.

Karen also emphasized the importance of sustainable training. Although Anjani enjoyed her training and progress, Karen reminded her not to train too hard and too frequently. As sustaining a healthy lifestyle was the ultimate goal, Anjani also needed to improve the consistency of her meal intake and develop regular sleeping patterns.

Over the four months, Anjani began to develop a better attitude towards food, as Karen taught her the importance of sticking to a balanced diet with foods that Anjani enjoyed.

Karen’s training and nutrition programme resulted in a steady drop in Anjani’s body fat percentage, which dropped by 5% over the four months. Anjani also gained over 2 kg of muscle mass.

Anjani stopped weighing herself daily because it was mentally stressful, but monthly checkpoints kept her on track and it felt more rewarding. She noticed her body changing, and so did people around her.

What changed the most was her sustainable mindset towards training and nutrition. A favourite maxim of Karen’s is

“Longevity is what we always strive for. Slow and steady wins the race instead of sprinting to the finish line.”

Anjani now understands that the journey in fitness is a marathon, not a sprint. She has learnt to pace herself in her day-to-day life. Besides counting macros and reps, her stress management, sleep, and overall happiness was also important in keeping her body and mind healthy!

When asked about her experience training at Level, Anjani said,

“I like that coaches at Level teach their clients how to pace themselves and not overtrain. The workouts are always challenging and kept at the right level of difficulty, but it’s never too punishing on the body.“

“I learned the hard way that fitness is all about sustainability. It is more important to create habits that will last you a lifetime, rather than going on bursts of “fitness frenzies” and falling off the wagon in just a few weeks or months” she elaborated. “Be kind to your body. You never have to starve it, exhaust it, or overwork it to get the ideal body you want.”

“Fitness is a long life journey, so invest in your body and be kind to it because it’s the only thing that will serve you for life!”