‘S’pore’s first arm wrestling gym opens!’ — S’porean quits his job to make his sports dream come true in SG and to get it ‘recognized as NSA’

Opening Singapore’s first arm wrestling gym this week!
byu/MicrowavesHS inSingaporeFitness

💪 A gym built from the arm up

The facility is now open 24/7 to members, featuring specialized tables, professional-grade cable machines, and custom handles for training. Members enjoy 2–4 team practices per week, and the space also offers seminars, competitions, one-on-one coaching, and, of course, pure, unscripted sparring.

Daily passes are S$30, but there are also monthly and yearly memberships available. Greg promises no experience is required: “We’re open to people of all levels… This Friday (Sept 19), we have free trials at our grand opening from 6-10 pm if you’re interested!”

Curious netizens bombarded the Reddit thread with enthusiasm and questions. One asked, “How do you even train for this sport?”

Greg’s answer: “We train in 3 ways: General strength and conditioning, arm wrestling, specific lifts, and table sparring.”

Yes, there are left and right-hand divisions. Yes, there are weight, age, gender, novice/pro, and para categories. And yes, it’s LGBTQ+ friendly too.

🥇 Greg’s Dream: NSA recognition and a viable career path

For Greg, this isn’t just about quitting his job and opening a gym. It’s about putting arm wrestling on the map, specifically on the Little Red Dot.

“I aim to grow the sport in Singapore and Southeast Asia and make it a financially viable career path for future generations of pullers,” and added, “I’ll be working over the next 2–3 years to get the sport recognized as an NSA,” referring to official recognition by Sport Singapore as a National Sports Association.

With Singapore’s biggest-ever arm wrestling event, the Singapore Open, slated for 29–30 Nov at Singapore EXPO, the timing couldn’t be better.

💸 Sweat, sparring, and sacrifice

Opening a niche gym in an already saturated fitness market is no small feat.

“This is a passion project with capital entirely fronted by me and my partner,” Greg shared candidly. “At the end of the day, if I didn’t do it, no one else would… so it’s a sacrifice I was willing to make.”

Some Redditors also playfully offered arm-wrestling-themed interior design tips:

• “Should make the doors immensely heavy to push.”
• “Replace the door handle with an arm wrestling machine arm — you gotta beat it to open the door.”
• “Good idea leh, patrons still in hype mode, might forget to calibrate back their strength.”

Others just wanted bigger biceps or even childhood redemption:

“Used to arm wrestle a lot in class… most of my classmates wouldn’t challenge my dominant arm, coz it’s not fair,” one shared.

Greg laughed it off with a touch of veteran humility: “Many local arm wrestlers start out that way… then we show up to our first practice and get our butts kicked! 😅 Still loving it 15 years on.”

🤜🤛 A stronger future

Again, for Greg, quitting his job and starting this gym isn’t the end — it’s just the beginning of something bigger. He’s inviting the public to drop by, try a session, watch a match, or just follow along on YouTube.

“This sport has been a longtime passion of mine, and it’s something I see myself doing for the rest of my life,” he said.

And to the Redditor who snarked, “Closed within the year,” Greg didn’t skip a beat and replied: “Wanna bet on that?”

So game on, Singapore! The arms are ready. Are you?

• 📍 Where: Eastside Arm Wrestling Gym, B1 Icon @ Changi (near Eunos MRT)
• 🎉 Grand Opening: Friday (Sept 19), 6–10 pm (Free trials!)
• 📣 Follow: YouTube – Eastside Arm Wrestling | Event Info – singaporearmwrestling.com
• 💪 Trial sessions: From S$10 after launch

👊 The real price of Greg’s Dream: S$6,300 + sleepless nights

For those wondering what it actually takes to launch Singapore’s first arm wrestling gym — Greg has the receipts. Literally!

“Total initial capital I’ve needed is S$6,300,” he revealed on his YouTube channel. “That includes deposit and rent (S$3,000), equipment (another S$3,000), and paperwork (S$300).”

He lucked out on renovation costs (zero, thanks to a pre-furnished space), but monthly expenses still hit around S$1,900, factoring in rent (S$1,500), utilities, maintenance, and other miscellaneous costs.

But the numbers don’t tell the full story.

“This was a decision I truly only made last week. It’s uncharted territory for me. I’ve never run a small business like this before,” Greg admitted.

With zero experience running a commercial gym, Greg dived in head-first, fuelled by his decade-long love for the sport and the community behind Eastside Arm Wrestling.

“I haven’t been getting any sleep at all, guys,” he confessed. “But I’ve got a partner on board, and together we’re hoping to transform this into something bigger than both of us.”

So while S$6,300 bought him the space, equipment, and a foot in the door, what truly powers this gym is something you can’t put a price tag on: Passion, sacrifice, and lots of forearm-pumping doses of faith.

And in Greg’s own words: “So many big things to come.”

Hear it straight from the champ’s mouth himself (not just his biceps and forearms). Watch Greg share his full story and painstaking journey below:

And while you’re at Greg’s gym, whatever you do, don’t forget: ‘The gym is not your personal toilet!’ — S’porean asks all gym bros to stop their ‘guttural, vein-popping grunts’ because ‘nobody is impressed’