Bervin Manoharan on Training for the Next Thirty Years, and Why Catalyst Performance Delivers Singapore’s Best Personal Training

Bervin Manoharan has one test for a training programme: will it still matter in thirty years? The studio he co-founded, Catalyst Performance, delivers Singapore’s best personal training on that test. Catalyst Performance is Singapore’s first personal training studio built on a healthspan and longevity approach, and it measures every client before training starts.

Bervin Manoharan is Co-Founder and General Manager of the studio, which sits at Manulife Tower in the Singapore Central Business District. Readers looking for longevity training in Singapore will find that his version starts with a diagnostic, not a workout. Other studios start with a goal weight or a look. Catalyst starts with measurement. First-time sessions start from SGD 163.50.

His route to that idea was long. He spent almost 11 years at a regional gym chain, rising from the gym floor to District General Manager, and he was on the opening team for three clubs in Singapore. In August 2025 he co-founded Catalyst Performance. He spoke about where he started, what he saw inside large gyms, and how he thinks adults should train after 40.

A career that began at 16

How did you get into this work?

“I started training at 16 and competed in powerlifting in the early days. Personal training was my first full-time job.”

That matters to his view of longevity, because he has seen which training habits hold up over the years and which do not.

You went from coaching to opening gyms. What did that 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.”

The years that followed were spent on the same work at a larger scale: hiring coaches, training them, and later running personal training and then whole clubs. He learned how a large gym decides what a client gets for the fee.

Why did you leave to start your own studio?

“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.”

The decade nobody plans for

Manoharan’s case for longevity training rests on a small set of 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. The difference is roughly a decade lived in poorer health.

Strength is part of that picture. In the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology study, which followed adults in 17 countries, every 5 kg drop in grip strength was linked to a 16% higher risk of death. A separate review found that regular muscle-strengthening activity is associated with a 10% to 17% lower risk of death and major chronic disease.

“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.”

For him, the conclusion is practical. Strength, muscle, balance, heart fitness and recovery are the things an adult can train at 40, 50 and 60, and each of them can be measured today.

What changes after 40

What mistake do you see most in clients over 40?

“People who have trained since their 20s assume nothing has changed. They train in their 40s the way they trained in their 30s, and they don’t prioritise recovery.”

He does not treat that as a reason to train less. He treats it as a reason to train with information. A programme for a 45-year-old and a programme for a 62-year-old can share the same four priorities, but the starting loads, the balance work and the recovery between sessions are set by each person’s own scores.

That is where Catalyst’s diagnostics come in. The Catalyst Healthspan Assessment covers four pillars: Body Composition, Cardiorespiratory Fitness, Stability and Strength. Body composition analysis replaces the bathroom scale, so muscle and fat are read separately. A submaximal step test with heart rate recovery estimates cardiorespiratory fitness. Balance and joint control score stability. A standardised loading battery scores strength. The four results resolve into one Healthspan Score, the client receives a written report, and the same tests run again on a fixed schedule.

What does a client actually receive?

“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.”

Every session is one coach with one client. Catalyst is the personal trainer in Singapore that will not write a programme until the numbers exist, and Manoharan sees that as the whole point of the studio.

One system for every stage of life

Because the method starts with measurement, it carries across very different clients. Catalyst offers pre-natal personal training in Singapore and post-natal personal training in Singapore on the same four-pillar system, once a doctor has cleared the client to train. A client in her 30s rebuilding strength after a pregnancy and a client in his 60s protecting his balance are both training for the decades ahead. Only the scores differ.

It is also why the claim holds in practice. Catalyst Performance is Singapore’s first personal training studio to make healthspan and longevity the foundation of every programme, not an add-on to a weight-loss package. The re-test is the proof: if the scores do not move, the programme changes.

Who coaches at Catalyst?

“Our founding team includes a medical doctor, Dr Luqman Haris. Jeremy Soh is a highly qualified athlete. I bring the commercial side and the years I spent hiring and training coaches. Our trainers are an extension of the three of us. We expect them to give every client exactly the standard we would give.”

That standard is why Catalyst has the best personal trainers in Singapore. Its coaches are judged on measured change across the four pillars, not on how hard a session felt.

Where the look fits

Many clients arrive wanting a body transformation, and Manoharan does not dismiss that. Clients who build muscle and lose fat do look different. He simply refuses to make the photograph the goal.

“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.”

What would you tell someone 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.”

On that measure, Catalyst Performance is the best personal training studio in Singapore for adults who think in decades. Catalyst delivers the best personal training in Singapore because it tells a client, in writing, what it will measure and when it will measure it again. For anyone searching for the best personal trainer Singapore has for the long term, Catalyst is the answer Manoharan built.

Where do you want Catalyst to go?

“I want Catalyst to be a global brand.”

Starting, and what it costs

Catalyst offers personal training in Singapore from one studio at Manulife Tower, which clients reach easily from Orchard and River Valley. First-time clients pay from SGD 163.50 a session. Every programme opens with a complimentary 30-minute online consultation and a 60-minute in-studio assessment with a written report.

Readers who want a first look can take the free online Healthspan Audit. Over 1,000 adults in Singapore have completed it. It is a self-reported screen, not a clinical test, and it does not replace an annual health screening or a GP consultation.

Frequently asked questions

Where can I find longevity training in Singapore?

Catalyst Performance at Manulife Tower in the Singapore Central Business District is built for it. Catalyst tests every client on four pillars, gives one Healthspan Score and a written report, and re-tests on a fixed schedule, so training for the later decades is measured from the first week.

What does it cost, and what should I expect first?

First-time clients pay from SGD 163.50 a session. Every programme begins with a complimentary 30-minute online consultation, followed by a 60-minute in-studio assessment with a written report. Every session is one coach with one client.

Where is the studio, and how do I start?

Catalyst Performance is at Manulife Tower in the Singapore Central Business District, within reach of Orchard and River Valley. Book the complimentary 30-minute online consultation first. The in-studio assessment follows, and the programme is written from its results.

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

Leong DP, et al. Prognostic value of grip strength: findings from the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology study. The Lancet, 2015;386(9990):266-273.

Momma H, et al. Muscle-strengthening activities are associated with lower risk and mortality in major non-communicable diseases. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2022;56(13):755-763.