I was always having backache easily after childbirth and also feeling tired most of the time. After one year of giving birth to my third child, my weight did not reduce and my backache was getting from bad to worse. With a busy work schedules & having to look after 3 kids, regular exercise is out of my mind.There is practically “no time”. Then one day I was contemplating between signing up with a Gym or with a slimming centre. After some thought, I decided to sign up with a Gym instead for long term benefit. Generally overall well-being & stamina are also one of the concerns. My husband supported my decision & even paid for my 1st training package.

When I first started training with Matthew, I did not put much expectation that having a trainer could help. However, after experiencing a good sweat out during each & every training session, my mindset changed. Matthew patiently explains how each exercise helps certain part of my body and how I should control my muscles to have the maximum effect of each exercise. He is very professional in his training and “customizes” his training to suit the condition of my body. He knows when to push me and knows when my body needs a rest. He can even tell when I was having too much snacks & needed that extra calorie burn. Training with him was never boring as he always comes up with innovative & interesting exercises that pushes me to my limit. A limit that I myself never ever thought I can reach. For a person who never every completed 2.4 KM run in school, it is my biggest accomplishment to be able to complete a 10K run. I’m so proud to tell all my friends & even my kids that I did it! My kids look up to me & have since then asked me to participate in their school run. That really makes my day. When Mathew first asked me to run the Great Eastern 5KM run, I told him it is a “mission impossible”. He gave me the assurance that I can do it & started customizing the right training programs to train my stamina and perseverance. After a few 5KM run & later the 10KM run, now I can confidentially run the 10KM without a second thought. Who knows I might be running a 21KM run next year.

Now that I have been with Mathew for 5 years, I still do feel body ache after certain training sessions but the “refreshed” body & mind after training overtakes the pain I was “suffering”. I feel “younger” & healthier & my backache is gone.

I would like to thank Mathew for giving me a healthy lifestyle. Without him and having to balance my busy professional schedules & family, I believe I will become “lazy” again and will be back to the lifestyle when I said “no time” to exercise. He is indeed a true friend!

Although Matthew Pinkston has only been my PT for a short period of time (4 Months), I must say that the transformation I've seen in myself has been spectacular to say the least.

When I decided in December 2009 to participate in my first Ironman Triathlon in Perth, Western Australia in the following year, I told myself that I'll need a PT who'll be able to guide and at the same time psh me to my limits to make sure I can achieve accomplish my goal.

When I first read Matthew's qualifications on the wall, I was totally impressed and I knew immediately that Matthew ws the one person I can count on to help me achieve my goal.

After we sat down and discussed my goal for 2010, Matthew mapped out a training programme for me that'll help me achieve my target.

Since mid-December 2009, Matthew has been designing a strict training programme for me that has worked on my upper and lower body's core muscles.

That was last year, December 2009. Since then, I have competed in a series of races that I had planned in advance. The results speak for themselves, I have broken all my own records.

MR25: MacRitchie Reservior 5 laps, 2008 (7:20hrs). 2009 (6:20hrs)
Men'sHealth Urbanathlon: 1:05hrs
Tokyo Matathon: 2009 (3:53hrs), 2010 (3:41hrs)
Singapore Biathlon: 2009 (1:29), 2010(1:24hrs)
Aviva Half-Ironman: 2008 (6:50hrs), 2010(6:26hrs)

To most people, the improvement may be a mere 5-10 minutes, but for epople who take part in these races, we know that the difference between 1 minute could mean being ahead of 30 others participants, And when i check the results at the end of my race, that feeling of accomplishment is so immense that I know all the effort I've put in during my training was totally worth it.

I started training with Matthew Pinkston in late September 2010. At that time, I was only looking for a trainer to help me with strength training to prepare for my marathon at the end of the year. I set a goal for 5 hrs 30 mins for my first marathon in 2010. But training with Matthew has made me faster and I ran my first marathon in 4hrs and 23 mins in the Singapore Standard Chartered Marathon 2010.

This year, I set 2 goals for myself. I wanted to run the San Francisco Marathon in less than 4hrs and 15mins, but I was apprehensive because it was a hilly course. I was not aiming for a Personal Best. However, Matthew didn’t accept that, he had faith in me and was sure I would do well for this race. He prepared me for the hilly race course by putting me on training runs at Mount Faber, Fort Canning Hill and Bukit Timah Hill. Although the training runs were tough, my legs got stronger and my stamina for hilly runs improved. I finished the San Francisco Marathon 2011 in 4:04:47, which was a much better time than what I set out to achieve.

My second goal was to be able to run a sub 2 hour half-marathon this year. I have tried to do it in the past but have never been able to do it. However, the training under Matthew has made me better and faster and I was able to do the Army Half-Marathon this year in 1:50:49.

Under Matthew’s training, I was able to run the NorthFace 50km duo women race in 2:53:56 and came in top 10 (8th position), for women.

I improved significantly from my first marathon time and did my second Standard Chartered Marathon in 2011 this year in 4:01:34 and am in 22nd position among Singapore women.

I ended my year well in 2011 by running the MR25 Ultramarathon in a timing of 11:24:30 and came in top 10 (8th position) among women.

Matthew is a top trainer and is skilled at recognizing the strengths and weaknesses in his clients, and using their strengths to overcome their weaknesses. Also, just as importantly, Matthew knows how to encourage and coach his clients to push themselves and attain their goals. Matthew’s encouragement and belief in me helped me to set my goals higher than what I thought I could achieve for myself and to always have faith and belief in myself. His commitment to his clients is exceptional. He is fully committed to helping his clients achieve their goals. I have been injury free since I started with Matthew Pinkston.

Matthew Pinkston gets my highest recommendation as personal trainer.

I started training with Matt a few months after I broke my left collar bone in 2010. It was one of the best decisions I made! Though I train regularly with him, he never fails to motivate and inspire me. Being a competitive road cyclist, Matt has helped me tremendously in many ways...both physically and mentally ...to be able to achieve, majority of my aims and goals.

I am a competitive person, and when I race, my aim is always to do well and get on podium. My training under Matt is customised. We have a discussion about my goals, and the training program consists of exercises that will help me achieve them. Although I have been competing for several years, I am still learning so much from Matthew. At most training sessions, I learn something new... nutrition, cycling issues and even mental training.

This year in 2012, I’ve competed in 6 road cycling races. In most of these races, I have achieved podium positions, that is, top 3. My biggest and most important race this year is the Tour de Bintan. Having just recently completed it, I managed to come 2nd in a very tough 45 women's field. Being one of the favourites for this race did put some pressure on me. However, the reassurance and encouragement I received always gave me confidence in myself that I will do very well, without stressing myself mentally.

In October 2012, I was invited to join an all Women's team in the Philippines (they were willing to sponsor me to travel there) to do a tour race for them. The experience was both memorable and awesome!! The exciting news recently is that I have been invited to race in Australia next year. The training that I do with Matthew not only caters for improvement in my cycling events throughout the year, it also helps with other daily activities. It involves lots functional exercises that do not involve heavy weights, and also helps with core strength and stability. I am confident that training with Matt will definitely get me what I want. Thank you very much, Matthew!! Also thanks to the Integrated Movement Solutions..a great place to train.

2011 Achievements
1st in Century Ride Malaysia (July)
1st in Changi Series Road race Singapore (September)
3rd in King of Mountain race Malaysia (October)
1st in Tour of Bintan Indonesia (November)

I have been training with Matthew since 2008. Before I trained with him, I always go to gym and do classes and I have not seen any significant improvement in terms of body weight and it’s getting very boring doing the same routine over and over again.

Beginning of training is not easy, and the fact that I have to wake up very early which I am not used to and do all the exercises that I never been done before and he motivated and pushed me to the max which what I needed and each training will have different training exercises and he also making sure that I do it correctly to be risk-free.

I also started to do more outdoor exercise such as running and cycling and go into triathlon. From not being able to run continuously for 10km, and thanks to Matthew’s encouragement, gradually I went into half marathon, short distance triathlon, and in 2010 I had completed my first full marathon and also did Mega Tri middle distance (1km swim, 65km cycle & 18km run).

Matthew also helps me whenever I have some muscle pain after exercise and guides me on how to release the tight muscle after my run or cycle which is one of the best solutions I ever had and shared with my family and friends whenever they have pain or injury.

He also advises me on how to eat healthily and it stays in my mind until now whenever I have my meal and drinks.

Training with him will always be tough, and yet fun; even though waking up early in the morning is hard and laziness kick me each time; but after the session it will be the time where I am grateful that I force myself to wake up as it does make my day feel different afterwards and I always feel refreshed and happy.

Thanks again to Matthew for making my life healthier and to put up with my “morning stoned face” in my training day.

After a fabulous early 2012 in terms of exercising by being able to complete the Japan Oxfam 100km event in good time and health, a patellar tendon injury a few months later due to a fall during a trail run had virtually stopped my exercise program. Several doctors in Japan and subsequently after moving to Singapore had recommended surgery or sessions with an orthopedist. I opted for the orthopedist route but I found the few here that I had seen in 2013 to be overweight and unfit themselves, and felt they were simply going through the motions with me. Results were not great as I was not terribly motivated in working with them. This is not the case with Matthew.

Matthew is thorough and absolutely lives by what he preaches in terms of rehabilitative exercises. I have been going through an exercise program with Matthew now for a month and the results are fantastic. He finds a way to ensure you understand the exercise and its purpose in aligning (or re-aligning in my case) the appropriate body muscles in integrated movements to ensure the best use of the body in maximum efficiency and power.

Not only does my injured knee feel much better but I am progressing step by step towards my first triathlon and marathon in 2014. As a very active person all of my life I feel that most of my previous training regimens have not been holistic and with Matthew, we are building a solid foundation upon which will not only allow me to meet my short term goals but also put me in better stead for the long term in terms of a healthy body.

At the recommendation of a friend, I decided to engage Matthew Pinkston as my trainer. I had only one simple goal in mind: I wanted to enlist his help to sharpen my competitive edge as a club member of a dragon boat team to which I belong. Having picked up the sport only late in my life, I relished in the prospect of achieving my goal quick – occasionally, this had already been much to the detriment of my physical well-being. When I started training, my impatience proved counter-productive; quickly enough, it became evident that I hadn’t the good sense of what good and effective physical training is in order to achieve lasting results. As soon as I began training with Matthew, it became clear too that despite my previous quick athletic progress, I had actually failed to blend my sporting lifestyle with the reality and load of my personal and working life. My hurried agenda began to take a physical toll on me. As a result, I was quite ready to give up as my body gave in to intense fatigue and injuries. It was exhaustingly frustrating. I lost focus and interest. But, through Functional Training and his rehabilitative help, Matthew firmly got me staying on course, albeit patiently and safely with proper training techniques.

Matthew leveraged on his keen understanding of fitness and the ‘load’ that I bore to design a training programme that works for me. He adopted a holistic approach to training, making sure that the routines he designed for me helped me regain my physical strength and fitness level in a systematic manner. The sound training methods he employed proved effective. But more than just that, he taught me the importance of working respectfully with my body – and not in spite of my body – to attain long-lasting results. Matthew complements the innovative training methods that are both rigorous and challenging with many tips and advice that he gives generously. The results? I apply proper and safe technique more conscientiously, I train with consistence and pace myself realistically to ensure lasting results, I manage to increase my core strength and stability and develop the strength of minor muscle groups to improve the overall physical endurance and strength. This regained my confidence and renewed my zest for demanding physical work out. All this, I achieved while experiencing very strenuous work schedule as a school teacher.

I am most thankful for Matthew’s dogged faith and persistent prodding which have served me well. Matthew’s genuine interest in my personal well-being as a person has helped me maintain my steely gaze on my goals. There’s no room for you to give up on yourself with Matthew because he simply won’t do that for you.

Now, I train with greater enjoyment, focus and grit although training has intensified greatly. The fact that I can now continue to chart my progress without further causing injuries to my body is a clear reflection of the value of functional training. I am feeling better about myself than I had and I am still looking forward to striving new peaks of excellence – steadily, systematically and effectively.

Well, thank you Matthew Pinkston for the journey that had helped me gained and regained so much.

I have been very overweight since young and losing the extra pounds was casually mentioned. Due to lack of determination and discipline, it was extremely difficult to cut down on food or do simple exercises. I had tried personal training in various gyms but did not yield any results. My parents, who are also training in FTI, encouraged me to try it out as they saw considerable results for themselves.

The beginning of training was never easy. However, I got the hang of it quickly as Matthew is very motivating; his favourite phrase is: ‘it’s all in the mind’. It is undoubtedly effective and is already etched in my mind (does not only apply to exercise). He constantly challenges me to go beyond my limits, allowing me to believe in myself and in what I can achieve. With his vast knowledge and skills in personal training, he is able to tailor programmes according to my needs, from weight loss to muscle gain and even when I was suffering from knee inflammation. He is very well-informed and is ever ready to answer whatever questions I have with regards to health and eating. Besides exercising, he also taught me that it is actually very simple to eat right; this played an important role in my significant weight loss.

I have been training for around 4 months at FTI and have lost almost 20kg. I definitely feel a lot fitter and have a lot more confidence now. I now understand my strengths and weaknesses which will aid me in reaching my desired weight properly without injuring myself. People around me have also recognized the effectiveness of the training. I am very proud to have Matthew as my trainer and most of the credit should go to him.

I always look forward to training with Matthew as no two sessions are the same and I get to try out new exercises which are interesting and doable. I enjoy going to FTI as everyone there is professional, warm, sincere and friendly. I strongly recommend FTI to my friends if they want to achieve amazing results like me.

I was a runner and triathlete struggling for motivation. I had stopped training for almost a year. I first contacted Matthew on the recommendation of a friend to try and get out of my rut and back into training. I am very glad that I did. From the first time I met Matthew I could tell he knew what he was talking about when it came to training busy people for endurance sport. We set my sights on the Singapore Marathon at the end of the year and started training.

Matthew's style is to push you with his good humour and encouraging words rather than yelling and screaming. I enjoyed this approach from the start and the results started to show. It wasn't long before he invited me to join his small group of like-minded runners and triathletes.

Amazingly, Matthew had us training far less than I expected for a marathon and there was never any stress if my work and other commitments got in the way of training. He has this way of reassuring you that consistency is more important than any one session.

I made it to the start line injury free and I finished the race in a time that was pretty good for a first timer. Most importantly, I am motivated to keep training with Matthew and set my sights on the next marathon!

When my friends, associates, and colleagues hear about the events that I’m participating in, I often hear, “oh, I would love to do that but”... “my back” or “my hip” or “my ankle,” or especially, “my knees” won’t allow me to do that. I used to say the same thing. Off and on over the past 20 years I’ve tried many times to participate in long distance races, particularly triathlons. But, no matter what I tried I was never able to go long distances without knee problems. I tried everything. I saw many different types of doctors and physical therapists and got different opinions on what to do. Some doctors even advised me to give up and find another hobby. I also spent a lot of money on random medicines and other tricks to get back into running shape. My wife was also giving me a hard time for experimenting with so many random remedies and seeing so many specialists.

I’ve had a long-term goal to complete and Ironman Triathlon but I didn’t think I’d ever be able to run a full marathon because of my knee problems. Last year I set a goal to run a marathon. I knew that if I could complete a marathon I’d be on my way to completing an Ironman Triathlon. I wasn’t sure how I’d do it but a guy at a running store told me, “if Matthew Pinkston can’t fix your problem, then nobody can.” So, I gave Matthew Pinkston a call and began training with him at FTI. Since that day, I haven’t seen a doctor, a physical therapist, massage therapist, or any other specialist for that matter.

Matthew taught me immediately tricks to correcting my problems and I began running and cycling pain free! He also gave me the right training programs for my body and my goals. Five months later I completed my first marathon in 3:58. A few months after that I completed three more triathlons including a Half Ironman Distance race where I finished 3rd place in my age group. I’m on my way to completing my first Ironman Triathlon in March of 2013 and I’ll continue to work with Matthew until I reach my goal. Up to this point, everything he has taught me turned out to be right for me and my body. And, better yet, even my wife believes me and she’s also training with Matthew!