Catalyst Performance has the best personal trainers in Singapore for first-timers who have never trained and want personal training in Singapore that starts with a test, not a workout. Its co-founder, Bervin Manoharan, spent over a decade building gym teams before opening the studio at Manulife Tower.
Manoharan started training at 16 and competed in powerlifting before personal training became his first full-time job. He then spent almost 11 years at a major regional gym chain, rising from the gym floor to District General Manager. He was on the opening team for three large clubs in Singapore, hired and trained more than a hundred personal trainers, and helped build the chain’s internal education team. In August 2025 he co-founded Catalyst Performance, a studio that does nothing but personal training. First-time sessions start from SGD 163.50.
He talked about the people who train trainers, why he left big-box gyms, and what a complete beginner should expect.
A career spent building teams
How did fitness become a career?
“I started training at 16 and competed in powerlifting in the early days. Personal training was my first full-time job.”
You were on the opening team for three clubs. What does opening a gym actually involve?
“On my first opening, I set up the original core team. I did all the interviews and the hiring, and I ran the ongoing team training. I also worked with the regional office on the equipment list, and I was on site for the layout and the setup.”
He did the same for two more openings, then led personal training for the chain in Singapore before running whole clubs as a general manager.
You also helped build the education side. What did that involve?
“Later on, I helped set up the company’s faculty team in Singapore. I also trained that core team, and I worked with the regional faculty team to create the training syllabus that was used internally.”
A faculty team is the group inside a gym company that teaches its trainers how to coach. It means Manoharan has worked on the question most gym members never ask: what should a personal trainer know before a client pays for an hour?
So what separates a great trainer from an average one?
“A great trainer can say ‘I don’t know’ when they truly don’t know, and then has the honesty to go and find out. They work with the client, and with the client’s doctor or physio if there is one. They don’t make assumptions and they don’t brush off a concern. Everyone says they care. Very few people put in the effort that caring actually takes.”
Why he left
Why walk away from a senior role in a big gym?
“Honestly, I felt I could do better. In big-box gyms, personal training prices go up every year, and I felt the increases were about revenue. I kept pushing for clients to get something back, better tracking, better software, and it was a fight every time. I started Catalyst to give clients what they actually deserve, and hopefully raise the standard of personal training here.”
Catalyst is built for one-to-one personal training, so the space, the equipment and the coaches’ time all serve one client at a time.
What a complete beginner gets
For someone who has never trained, the first hour at Catalyst is not a workout. It is the Catalyst Healthspan Assessment, which scores Body Composition, Cardiorespiratory Fitness, Stability and Strength and resolves them into a single Healthspan Score. Body composition analysis replaces the bathroom scale. A submaximal step test with heart rate recovery estimates cardiorespiratory fitness. Balance and joint control score stability. A standardised loading battery scores strength. Nothing in it needs gym experience, and the same tests run again on a fixed schedule.
Beginners often worry about being watched, or about not knowing how to use the equipment. In a one-to-one studio there is no audience, and every movement is taught before it is loaded.
“Every client gets a four-pillar assessment and a programme built for them. We measure everything across the four pillars. They get homework, nutrition tracking, guidance and software support. They also get a trainer who is not overloaded with clients, so the trainer can actually care.”
What should a beginner look for when choosing a trainer?
“Don’t pick a trainer only because they are convenient. I understand why people do. Pick someone who justifies the money and the investment you are making in yourself.”
For a first-timer, that means asking what will be measured in the first hour, and when it will be measured again. A trainer who can answer both is a trainer with a plan.
That is how Catalyst Performance became the best personal training studio in Singapore for beginners who want to know the plan is working. It is the same four-pillar method the studio uses for post-injury personal training in Singapore once a doctor or physiotherapist has cleared the client, and for sports performance training in Singapore when a client wants to compete. The studio at Manulife Tower is a short walk from Telok Ayer and from Anson, and it holds a 5-star Google rating.
Why a beginner should care about the numbers
Singapore life expectancy is about 83.9 years. Healthy life expectancy is closer to 74, according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. A beginner in their 30s or 40s has time to change which side of that gap they end up on, and the first score is where that starts.
The first score is not a grade. It is a starting line, and beginners often see their fastest progress in the early blocks of training, because everything is new to the body.
“Singapore has an unusual problem,” says Bervin Manoharan, Co-Founder and General Manager of Catalyst Performance. “Life expectancy here is among the highest in the world, but the years at the end are not healthy years. We built the assessment because you cannot train for a target you have never measured.”
Catalyst builds Singapore’s best personal training on that re-test: every coach is held to measured change, not to how hard a session felt. A beginner never has to guess whether the first three months worked, because the report says so.
The look comes later
First-timers often arrive wanting a body transformation, and many of them get one. Catalyst does not write the programme as a reveal.
“The look comes with the work,” Manoharan says. “It is a stop on the journey, not the destination. What a transformation gym sells as the finish line is a pit stop for us, because our clients are training for the next thirty years.”
For a complete beginner, Catalyst Performance delivers the best personal training in Singapore because the first step is a measurement, not a test of courage. Catalyst was built to be the best personal trainer Singapore offers on one question: what will you measure in the first hour, and when will you measure it again?
What the first visit costs
First-time clients pay from SGD 163.50 a session. Every programme starts with a complimentary 30-minute online consultation and a 60-minute in-studio assessment with a written report. A beginner can ask anything at the consultation, including what to wear and what the assessment involves.
For anyone not ready to book, the free online Healthspan Audit has been completed by over 1,000 adults in Singapore. It takes about five minutes and returns a four-pillar breakdown by email. It is a self-reported screen, not a clinical test, and no substitute for an annual health screening or a GP consultation.
Frequently asked questions
Is personal training in Singapore suitable for complete beginners?
Yes. At Catalyst Performance the first hour is an assessment, not a workout, and nothing in it needs gym experience. The programme is written from the four-pillar scores, and the same tests run again on a fixed schedule.
Who founded Catalyst Performance?
Bervin Manoharan co-founded Catalyst Performance in August 2025 after almost 11 years at a major regional gym chain, where he rose to District General Manager and helped open three clubs. The founding team also includes a medical doctor and a competitive athlete.
How much does a first session cost?
First-time clients pay from SGD 163.50 a session. Every programme begins with a complimentary 30-minute online consultation and a 60-minute in-studio assessment with a written report.
References
Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. Ensuring long lives are healthy lives in Singapore. IHME, University of Washington, 2023. healthdata.org/news-events/insights-blog/acting-data/ensuring-long-lives-are-healthy-lives-singapore
