KUALA LUMPUR, July 3 — From being the person whom no one picked for their team in any sport because he was overweight, Faizal Ariff is one of the most important people in the country’s first ever obstacle course race, Viper Challenge.

The 35-year-old Master’s Degree holder was 125 kilos when he started matriculation in Universiti Malaya about 16 years ago but lost more than 40 kilos by the time he graduated.

In his quest to shed the kilos, Faizal took baby steps by first cutting down on meal portions and walked at least five kilometres a day.

After completing his studies in Information and Science, Faizal took up a role in the Ministry of Health as a research officer but he never felt it was the right career for him as his passion was exercise.

But even in his wildest dreams, Faizal did not think he would become a fitness instructor, let alone an event director in charge of internal operations of Viper Challenge. 

Here he talks about his body transformation, finding his path in the fitness industry, becoming a member of Viper Malaysia and juggling work with family.

In his own words:

When I was a teenager, I would eat a lot and I wouldn’t care much about my health or whether or not I was fit. I would just eat four to five servings and about three hours later, I would go out to look for more food. When people asked why I was overweight, I would lie to them by saying that I wasn’t sure and that I ate like everyone else. In reality, I wasn’t lying to them, I was lying to myself.It could be because I was depressed or my sedentary lifestyle but I generally did love food very much until I entered university. Back in my hometown in Alor Setar, I would sit around and not move much. After school, I would return home to eat and then watch a lot of television. In the evening, I would go out to meet some friends at the padang (field) but I was always the last one to be picked in a team. They never told me why I was chosen last but I guess it was because I was just fat and sluggish. Well, no one would want a person who cannot play in their team, right?

My calling or my epiphany came when I entered university. There was no television, no easy access to food and most importantly no transport to get me to wherever I wanted to go. I had to walk from one place to another. It was then that I got really sick of my size and who I had become because I could tell how heavy I was. I didn’t want to be different from others. I didn’t want to eat three to four plates of rice in front of my friends during meal times. I did not know much about fitness but I did know that I had to move and stop eating so much. Therefore, I started walking instead of taking the bus in campus and controlled what I put in my mouth. I walked at least five kilometres a day and started eating one meal per sitting like everyone else. There were results and as I began to notice changes in my body, I felt I was no longer depressed about my weight.

After completing my studies, I was in good shape… about 82kg then although now I am 90kg and like everyone else, I was initially excited to land a job in the Ministry of Health as a research officer. But as time went on, I just did not feel that the job was the right one for me… I wanted to do something in the fitness industry, I wanted to do something that I liked doing… but at the same time, I was afraid as to what my family and friends would say if I had told them. So, I quietly started applying for jobs in gyms and I was over the moon when I got an offer to become a fitness instructor in a commercial gym in the city.

My lecturer, who was my referee in my resume, was very unhappy when he received a call from the gym. He told the gym’s manager that I was meant for greater things in life. My family also did not support me as they always thought I would be a lecturer or an academician. But I grew to like what I was doing as an instructor. My family and friends, who were earlier sceptical, supported me when they realised this is what I wanted to do and I wouldn’t be where I am without their support.

I then met Simran Latif, who was also a fitness instructor in the gym and we were coaxed into joining the Original Bootcamp (OBC) by its founder Selva Kumar. From there, we three founded Viper Malaysia. As you can see, there were gyms first and then bootcamps and now Obstacle Course Races (OCR) are making waves in the industry. In 2013, we initiated the first Viper event in Sepang. It was held over a period of two days and we managed to get about 8,000 participants. It was only the first OCR but we were overwhelmed by such a big turnout. The number of participants then grew significantly in the following years, especially in 2015 when we held four Viper events for the year in Sepang, Shah Alam and Genting Highlands. We managed to record 20,000 participants in the first event of the year. In Viper, I handle the internal operations as in the registration, back-end and other IT-related stuff which I have expertise in while Simran is in charge of obstacle courses. We both constantly have meetings with Selva to ensure operations run smoothly.

In 2015, we saw other OCR organisers like Spartan coming in the country. They are definitely not a threat to us. We, in fact, saw a spike in the number of people joining us after Spartan came to town. We never look at other OCR organisers as a threat and we try not to clash our events on the same day just so participants can participate in all events. There was this one time where several of them took part in the Spartan Super and a week later joined Viper Arena in Shah Alam... that shows people would not skip one event for another as long it (an event) does not fall on the same day.

Moving forward, Viper Malaysia has already made its presence felt in South-east Asia when we organised an event in Singapore early this year. It was well received by the Singaporeans as most OCR events there are considered "very clean” as there is not much mud involved. When we had ours, participants were happy as we made sure there was plenty of mud involved. We are also in the midst of organising another Viper event in Jakarta. It is in our plans to make Viper known regionally as unlike Spartan and Tough Mudder (another OCR event), we do not base our obstacles on a set of programmes.

With OBC going on almost every day and constant meetings with the team for both OBC and Viper, my time is very much packed. My typical day starts at 6.45am in KLCC where I train bootcampers there for about an hour and then I have meetings, if not with the team, it would be with sponsors and other stakeholders. I also train clients in a one-to-one session during the day. At 6.45pm, there is another session of OBC in Petaling Jaya or Kuala Lumpur, which I conduct. So yes, my time is pretty much taken up during the day so I try to keep some free time during the night for the family. It has become tougher for me these days after my baby was born on the first day of Ramadan. Luckily, it is the fasting month and there are no Viper events at the moment.

Many think it is difficult to do what I do. Of course it is, I am not denying that bit but if you are willing to do what you enjoy doing by pacing yourself, I believe it can work for anyone. My recipe for success is fairly simple:I keep on to this motto "persistence, determination and sacrifice.” Find that recipe which works for you so you can wake up every morning saying, "This is my day!”