Katie Chung Hua is no stranger to social media. But during a time when it can be tough to tell when an online trainer is legitimate, even she admits that there are plenty of fakes out there—but she’s not one of them. The IFBB Pro League bikini athlete has more than 60,000 followers on Instagram, and she’s part of FitPlan‘s roster of online personal trainers. One look at her Instagram will tell you she stays creative in the gym and knows how to stay fit.
We chatted with Hua about training, bad pickup lines, and spotting fake trainers.
M&F: As an online trainer, do you feel there are a lot of phonies out there?
Katie Chung Hua: Yeah. For example, if a Brazilian girl is born with a nicer booty than me, an Asian girl, she’ll promote a booty-building program, when really she was born with that butt. I like to get to know people and trainers and interview them, and then help put that out there for everybody.
Any tips for spotting the BS artists?
Some people are going to go for that shock factor, doing a biceps curl in a different way even though a standard biceps curl is going to be just as effective. A lot of people are trying to get views and followers, trying to go above and beyond. You just need to base everything off science.
What’s your favorite body part to train?
My glutes, because it’s my weakest body part. Genetically, I was not born with a big butt.
You have more than 600,000 followers between Facebook and Instagram, so you’re pretty recognizable. What’s the weirdest thing that’s happened to you?
At the Olympia this past year, somebody brought me chocolate-covered macadamia nuts from Hawaii. If you want to bring me food, that’s welcome. As for creepy, I had one guy message me asking me to do crunches in no shirt and to spray water on my abs so it looked like I was sweating. I was like, no.
What’s the worst pickup line a guy has used on you?
Somebody walked up to me and started speaking Spanish to me, and I’m Chinese. They weren’t Spanish or Spanish-speaking—they thought I was Hispanic.
What’s the best piece of advice you would give to someone who’s just starting to train?
Set realistic goals. I think too many people over-shoot it, and then they get completely burned out, and then they completely discouraged, because they think they need to lose ten pounds in two days, and it doesn’t work, so they quit. So I think setting short-term, realistic goals is the best.
