👋 Hi! Tell us about yourself and your training
My name is Wayne Bester and I am 32 years old. I’m From South Africa and stay in Centurion. I work as a choreographer, dancer and dance teacher.
I love exercising and training people. I’m a qualified personal trainer and did personal training a few years ago but the dancing took over.
My amazing wife and I have been married for 9 years now so 2021 will be 10 years. She is a photographer/ videographer and also my business partner. We don’t have kids yet but we are planning to have some and adopt some in the future.
The dance world in South Africa isn’t as big and developed like in LA and New York. So the opportunities aren’t so big. If you would like to “make it” you have to make it happen for yourself.
I have choreographed a few music videos and live shows for some local artists but my wife and I are running a dance convention, MOOV Dance Convention, in South Africa every July, where we bring in dance educators from across the world to teach a few classes in SA.
The aim is to raise the standard of dance in South Africa and to give the students a chance to work with international dancers. It is the biggest dance convention in South Africa.
I’ve been training since I was 18, that’s also when I started dancing. I think I fell in love with the “struggle’ and then the satisfying feeling of accomplishing something.
I was always a fat child and never did any sports or training. So my friend asked me to join her to go to a dance workshop they hosted at our school.
I don’t know why I said yes because I had NO DANCE TRAINING!!! Made a complete fool of myself, but that next Monday I enrolled for dancing.
For the fun I’m collecting Lego, hoping that one day soon I’ll be able to build my own Lego city. I also love to cook, so in my spare time I try to be a “master chef”. LOL.
We have a butchery called Fleisherei, and they send me a meat package every month that I have to cook. They saw my food page on Instagram and asked me if I would like to collaborate.
So in return I tag them in everything meaty that I make. So would love to collaborate with more businesses in such a way.
⏱ Describe a typical day of training
I like to switch things up and take my body out of its comfort zone.
I try to train 6 days a week. Doing cardio in the morning and weights in the afternoon. If I have a long day of dancing or teaching which I regard as my cardio, as dancing is a lot like HIIT.
For cardio I like to do 30 min HIIT training or 60 min cycling followed by a 30 to 40 min stretch session. I don’t really plan my weight training sessions.
If I have a hectic ballet class I won’t do legs on the same day or the day after. I just see what I feel like doing on a Monday and then plan from there, but I will focus on one muscle group per day doing 9 exercises, 4 sets, between 8 and 10 reps.
I don’t like to follow programs. I easily get bored of doing the same thing over and over. I like to switch things up and take my body out of its comfort zone.
My wife and I train at Virgin Active but we have gym equipment at home so if we feel a bit lazy to travel to gym we will workout at home.
I like to train alone when I’m doing cardio but it always helps having someone pushing you to lift heavier when you are doing weights.
As a dancer I try to go to as many classes as I can. It just gives my brain a break and you learn something new from someone else.
I’m not a big fan of using supplements, I always try to get every thing that my body needs from food but when I have rehearsals or teaching the whole day I like to have a protein shake just to keep me going.
I use Biogen’s Iso Whey and at night I drink magnesium supplements also from Biogen.
👊 How do you keep going and push harder?
I’m not going to lie. I have my off days where I feel like I don’t want to train. And I think its ok to have a break every now and then. We are only human and sometimes it is our body that tells us that we need a break.
Like I said I get bored very quickly doing the same thing over and over again, so by changing things up makes training interesting and fun again.
It also helps me to train with someone, knowing that if you cancel you are canceling on them as well.
Sometimes work gets in the way of training. I’ll just watch what I’m eating; luckily I have an active job so I get some form of training while working.
Something that has really help in the past and currently, is to try a total new sport when I get bored, I just do it for a few months to give myself a new challenge, for an example I have has several phases where I played action Frisbee, did aerial silks and some rock climbing.
When you do new things, it makes you aware of new muscles and ways to move and activate muscles. Then obviously as a dancer I try to go to as many classes as I can. It just gives my brain a break and you learn something new from someone else.
🏆 How are you doing today and what does the future look like?
At this moment we are in lockdown so I’ve been training at home. We have all the equipment that I need so training goes on as usual.
I actually have more time now to train 6 times a week doing cardio, stretch and weigh training.
Two of my teachers Debra and Andrew Gush are doing online body conditioning, ballet and contemporary classes every day, so now I actually have the time to attend all of the classes and I can see and feel the difference in my training and flexibility.
I think it’s amazing that you can get a full body workout by just using your own body weight. My goals would be to explore more body weight exercises like doing crazy handstands and pull up movements, and of cause to be more flexible.
Business wise I think I would like to help my wife out more doing videography. I’m the creative one and she’s more technical so together we make a great team. Then when this Covid 19 thing is gone we would like to start a family.
🤕 How do you recover, rest and handle injuries?
There is no such thing as failure, it is just an obstacle that teaches you something.
I have been blessed in my career to not have any big injuries. The biggest injury that I have encountered was when I tore my ligaments in my left foot. And what was annoying is I didn’t do something dangerous, I was just walking.
Otherwise just a few sore hamstrings and hip flexors that took a bit longer to get back to normal. In the dance world we are conditioned to work and push through the injury and pain but what I realized later is it only takes longer for your injury to heal then.
So I have been listening to my body a lot and when I get an injury I rest the muscle or try to work around it.
Sleeping helps a lot with recovery and energy so I try to get at least 7 to 8 hours of sleep in at night.
Life can sometimes be unpredictable, so if I get a bit busy and don’t find time to workout twice a day, so then I’ll focus more on my weight training or ill do bodyweight training exercises at home.
There is no such thing as failure, it is just an obstacle that teaches you something.
🍎 How is your diet and what supplements do you use?
Diet has always been a struggle for me. Growing up as a fat kid my parents always chose the unhealthy way of eating so I wasn’t educated in making the healthier choices.
When I was 15 I started cooking and researching healthier options and slowly started to loose weight. It was only when I studied personal training that I took my eating more serious. Later I found out I had an underactive thyroid so I tried to adjust my diet.
My wife and I did the Keto diet for about 2 years but it didn’t work for me as I LOVE fruits way to much to cut it out, so we stopped it. Now we just eat everything in moderation and stay away from processed food and sugars eating as organic as possible.
When I go out with friends I will try to have my cheat meal on the same day so it will still fit in with my diet. I usually have one cheat meal a week but it has to be worth it otherwise I won’t have the cheat meal.
If I have cravings I’ll try to look for a healthier way to make it like alternative sugars or flours.
I try not to take any supplements I like to get everything that I need from food. If I have a busy day I’ll have an ISO whey protein shake from Biogen just to keep me going and at night I take magnesium also from Biogen.
I like to start my day of with a cup of coffee before I do my cardio then I’ll have another one in the afternoon. I’m also a big green tea drinker so I like to have a cup after a meal.
My wife and I don’t drink alcohol at all.
👍 What has inspired and motivated you?
I love to watch people who started from nothing, worked hard and then actually achieved something.
My wife is my biggest fan and she always supports me in everything that I do. My teachers also have a big influence in my life and always motivate me to go for it.
I surround myself with positive people and things. I believe that what you worship or spend your time on, you will become.
Psalm 115:4-8 New King James Version (NKJV)
4 Their idols are silver and gold,
The work of men’s hands.
5 They have mouths, but they do not speak;
Eyes they have, but they do not see;
6 They have ears, but they do not hear;
Noses they have, but they do not smell;
7 They have hands, but they do not handle;
Feet they have, but they do not walk;
Nor do they mutter through their throat.
8 Those who make them are like them;
So is everyone who trusts in them.
There are so many dancers and choreographers on Instagram that I follow, I love watching them being creative. Some of my favorites are Mitchel and Derek Piquette, Shannon Mather, Tessandra Chavez and Stephen Tannos.
✏️ Advice for other people who want to improve themselves?
You see people in the gym training every day but they still look the same as day one.
The best advice that I can give someone that want to improve themselves is to just do it! Don’t let anything stand in your way.
My parents didn’t have the money to pay for my dance classes so I though myself by watching YouTube videos. You can learn something from everyone even if you learn what not to do you are still learning something.
Think about what you want to achieve and go for it. There are too many people who don’t have a clear goal and I think that is the reason why they never achieve their goals.
You see people in the gym training every day but they still look the same as day one.
As a male dancer we are lifting our female partners a lot so the weight training has help me a lot.
🤝 Are you taking on clients right now?
At this moment being in lockdown I’m seeing clients on Zoom, and I’m enjoying it. I get to work with people who stay in other countries. New clients are always welcome and I try to work out a program to fit their schedule.
I love working on dance technique, flexibility and losing weight.
Since I’ve been seeing clients on Zoom there has been a big improvement on their posture. They can now feel what muscles needs to be working correctly without me correcting them physically.
📝 Where can we learn more about you?
I’m on Instagram and YouTube. My email is [email protected]
On Instagram, I also have my food page and a Lego page.
