In primary school, she was bullied and called “slow” by peers, especially when she moved from a religious school to a mainstream school.
“My religious school didn’t have science (as a subject). So when I had to take a test, I failed and had to retain in Primary 5. Boys would always disturb me and call me ‘tortoise’.”
Such treatment sparked a competitiveness in her, especially when it came to sports. She took part in as many events and activities as she could, wanting to show up her bullies in 400m sprints and archery competitions.
The fifth out of six children, she became somewhat of a “wild child” in secondary school, finding herself largely unsupervised by her older siblings and parents. Her father worked as a technician and her mother was a cook.
At 17, she took up a customer service role at a gym near her home. After seven years working her way up in the industry, she realised her real ambition was to become a personal trainer.
After giving birth to her first child at 22 and gaining around 30kg, she began working out consistently, piecing together what she could from trainers around her and teaching herself the rest in the gaps.
She got herself certified as a personal trainer and started working as one in 2022.
She was determined to help all her clients find a sense of belonging in the gym, but quickly developed a passion for a particular group: mothers like herself.
MEETING “CIK ROSE”
Some of GymBaddie SG’s most popular videos online feature Ms Maryam training her own 73-year-old mother, Madam Rosemina Hamzah – affectionately known as “Cik Rose” to her followers.
Whether in frame or behind the camera, Ms Maryam encourages and guides her mother through gorilla rows, goblet squats and deadlifts.
But perhaps, Ms Maryam’s biggest feat was getting her mother in the gym in the first place.