Previously a non-believer of supplements, national powerlifter and Team EPN athlete Derrick Kim is now grateful for the introduction to whey protein, BCCA and pre-workout from Elite Pro Nutrition (EPN).
“I admit I was not a fan of supplements and before, a tub of whey protein would last me four months on average. However, ever since my introduction to EPN, supplements have definitely aided me in recovery and endurance, especially for my age,” said the 32-year-old gym manager who is still actively competing in powerlifting.
To satisfy his curiosity, Derrick experimented with almost everything when he first took supplements, from creatine to BCCAs. Currently, he only takes what works, which includes NutriForce Sports‘s Nutriwhey protein, as well as Betancourt Nutrition‘s BCAAs and its popular Bullnox pre-workout that Derrick highly recommends.
“At my age, everything starts to slow down and considering the amount of stress I put on my body through training, it is very important that I get the right nutrition and supplements to speed up recovery. Also, I may skip meals sometimes due to work and family commitments, so these supplements help to make sure that I get sufficient nutrition,” he said.
“The supplements I’m taking from these two brands have great tasting flavours and less additives compared to others. BCAAs (recommended if you are lactose intolerant) and whey protein help to aid my recovery, while Bullnox is an amazing pre-workout which gives me the boost I need for training.”
Once a former national rugby player, Derrick was representing Singapore in Olympic weightlifting for eight years before he switched to powerlifting. His relationship with the gym only started at the age of 22 (never too late!), with the intention of “wanting to get bigger and not get squashed in rugby games”. From there, he has gone on to break national records in both powerlifting and Olympic weightlifting, and is also a four-time National Open Powerlifting Champion and Best Lifter from 2011 to 2014.
Training four times a week in powerlifting, Derrick will be competing at the Singapore Powerlifting Open next. He will also be travelling to Finland for the World Powerlifting Championships, Hong Kong for the Hong Kong Powerlifting meet and Uzbekistan for the Raw Asian Championships.
“I love being under the pressure of weights; the heavier the better,” he added. “Training is a way of life!”
Derrick will also be doing a powerlifting demonstration at Round 1 of ELITE 2015 which is free for public:
