Sharpen Your Shape with Fitness Guru Tim Liu

A One-on-one interview with the Holistic Health Healer, & Style Maven Tavia Sharp.

Excited to interview LA based online fitness and nutrition coach, Tim Liu for this issue of Karjaka Magazine. Tim helps busy men and women, lose fat, build muscle, and get in shape without having to live in the gym. 

I know this to be true because Tim has been my personal fitness coach for the past 6 months. Tim, I’m so excited to interview you because you’ve not only helped me drop the “Covid 15” but also helped to create a healthy, sustainable lifestyle that works for me.

And I know other people reading this want to know how they can do the same so let’s dive in!

TAVIA: Tell me a bit about how you got started and what made you want to become a fitness coach? 

TIM:Growing up in LA, I was inspired to become involved in the health and fitness industry when I was pretty young. My mom had stomach cancer when I was 9 and I grew up an overweight kid. I knew there was a link between what we ate and our health. 

So, as I was graduating high school and trying to figure out what I wanted to do, at the same time, I was exercising trying to lose weight and clean up my diet. I thought why don’t I become a dietician to help other people become fit and healthy.

As I was going through the curriculum and started shadowing dietitians, I realized pretty quickly I didn’t want to work in a hospital as you don’t have much power to create change for the patients and you’re at the mercy of the doctors and nurses.

So when a fitness internship opened up, I applied and finished the whole course and got certified as a coach. Once I graduated, I thought I’m going to give this personal training thing a try. And with my nutrition background, I knew I could help people get fit and be healthy so they don’t end up at that hospital I was working at.

TS: How long have you been transforming lives?

TL: I’ve been at this for 10 years now. Wow, it doesn’t feel like that long!

TS: Can you tell us a bit more about your process? Walk us through step-by-step working with a new client. What is the first thing you do?

TL: First thing, we start with is an onboarding process, where we’ll take you through a fitness assessment. We go over where your fitness levels are at, what you can and can’t do, and discuss any injuries you may have.

We do a video call and I take you through a few exercises, based on where you’re at and what equipment you have available, we’ll write a custom training program just for you. 

I’ll get you set up in my training app where everything is mapped out for you including videos, sets/reps, etc. where you can input your weekly workouts so we can see how you’re progressing. 

After that, we’ll do a diet call where you’ll write down everything you eat and drink, normally before working with me to give me a better idea of what your habits are and then we’ll map out how to eat properly and things to focus on and things you’re struggling with to pick the lowest hanging fruit. 

The goal is to create change and make it sustainable as well. I don’t want you to lose the weight and regain it all back. No, we want to lose it and keep it off. That’s the goal, I don’t want you to yo-yo the same 10-15 lbs year round because that just doesn’t work.

TS: So true, that’s been my journey! Everytime, I lose weight, I go fast and hard and always end up gaining it back.

So working with you has been a good realization for me because this is how you become more sustainable and maintain the weight loss vs. the fast way where you get fast results but you gain it right back and have to do it all over again.I don’t want to gain it back! I’m done gaining back that 10-15 lbs!

TS: What’s the most common reason people reach out to work with you?

TL: They’ve tried the fad diets, they feel like they’ve done everything and not getting results from it. Or they got results from something and they just go back to old habits and balloon back up.

Another reason people work with me is because I document a realistic journey, in terms of getting in shape. I love seeing before and after transformational photos, I think they are awesome but I also want to see what happens after those 12 weeks. So I try to set realistic goals and targets for my clients to reach.

TS: What’s the most common mistakes or pitfalls people make doing this on their own?

TL: There’s a lot of misinformation out there. A lot of people when starting their weight loss journey think they need to drop a ton of weight and they think they need to just need to cut everything out of their diet, be super strict, cut all the carbs and go cold turkey on everything.

Some personalities can handle it but a lot can’t handle all those changes especially when they have a hectic lifestyle and too much going on in their lives. They put fitness on the back burner for years and they expect to go 100% all in on it.

You have to get your mindset right as well. Jumping on fad diets, thinking they have to cut everything and staying consistent.

TS: What’s a day in the life of Tim like?

TL: Haha, okay, well I get up at 6:30am, make breakfast, a couple of eggs and a english muffin, some smoked salmon or chicken sausage and 2 cups of coffee.

I have a couple client coaching calls and afterwards, I hit the gym for my workout.

I have more client calls or teach a few group fitness classes. Then I do some writing and content creation. I may record an exercise video, create a post for social or an email for my subscribers. 

After dinner, I make sure to get outside and leave my apt, get in my daily steps in half hour or 45 min walk. 

TS: How many meals do you eat in a day?

TL: I get in 3 square meals per day and I have a protein shake after my workout. If I don’t get in enough protein, I may add another meal in as well. 

TS: Give me an example of a favorite client transformation. An inspirational client story?

TL: When I first started my business one of my first ever clients, Jeff, reached out to me.

I was trying to figure out my business at that time and Jeff wanted to lose weight. He was over 210 lbs so we got him on a proper workout program, taught him how to eat right and after only a couple of months, the lbs started dropping off. He dropped around 30ish lbs, he then met his now wife and he’s still staying in shape.

Him and his wife are living a healthy, active lifestyle. He is still my client to this day and he inspired me to keep going because during the first year as a business owner, I did question whether it’s going to work out or not. I didn’t know whether I was going to be successful doing it so working with him kept me on track and made me want to keep going so I could help others like Jeff.

TS: Okay, so you help people get their best body and I help them get a style to match, so why do you think having a good sense of style is important?

TL:It’s important because it’s an extension of the image you want to portray out in the world. By having a good sense of style, it communicates that you take care of yourself and have a high sense of worth. 

Guys, are you ready to step up your workout and your wardrobe? If you’re ready to step out looking sharp post Covid, I’ve got a new program called the Sharp Upgrade to help you do just that. I’ve teamed up with Tim and Aleks to help you rebuild your body, refresh your wardrobe, and reboot your image! In this program, you not only get full access to Tim for 3 months to help you get in shape but you also get access to a private group keeping you accountable and on track. You get a VIP shopping and styling day with me in NYC to help you upgrade your image and style and a killer photoshoot with Karjaka to help you show off your new look.

Set up a Complimentary Image Accelerator Call to see if this program is the right fit for you!