When Ivan Lee was growing up, he thought 60 years old was an old-enough age to “kick the bucket.”
This misunderstanding came from the fact that he was born in an unhealthy family, as he himself put it. Both his maternal and paternal grandparents were diagnosed with osteoporosis in their early 60s.
“I remember when we were travelling, my grandmother thought she should not travel with us and should sit at home with their ‘crackly’ knees and lower back,” he recalled. “They were waiting for their day to come because they were old.”
Even as a child Ivan knew, in her heart, his grandmother wished to travel with her children and grandchildren. She just didn’t want to be a burden as she couldn’t walk independently.
At that time, he could only think: “How can I help my grandma?”
This was still on his mind when he turned 18, when he decided to go for fitness courses and become a certified personal trainer. He hoped he could train his family members and help them stay healthy.
“I was so fortunate that my mum was very supportive when I was a coach,” he expressed. “During my first year as a personal trainer, I coached my mum and she paid my previous company that I work with for the coaching sessions.”
While his mum got to solve her knee strain problem and build lower body muscle mass, Ivan got to earn some money. It was a win-win.
He reminisced, “She was very happy and she even continues to train up until today.”
However, Ivan does regret not being able to help his grandparents before they passed.
But while he might not be able to train his own grandparents, he knows that he can impart his knowledge with other grandparents out there.
So, after eight years of coaching, he started Fit Metrics—a business focusing on women and the elderly.
Persisting despite naysayers
Fit Metrics is a private personal training studio focused on assisting women and seniors to rebuild strength and rediscover the joy of living freely.
“We are not just a typical gym, we are a fitness center that prioritises women and seniors’ fitness needs like falling prevention, rehabilitation, coordinations, reactions, strength, and overall wellbeing,” he said.
This concept might not sound like much, but Ivan said that it’s easier said than done. There’s a reason why the fitness market is filled with programmes focused on six packs and weight loss.
He remembered that when he was starting out, an old friend had asked what sort of business he was doing. Proudly, Ivan told him he was personal training for seniors and women.
“At first, I was full of confidence, but not until he laughed out loud, saying: ‘Where got old people want to go gym oh!? Everyone now wants results like six packs and a big butt’,” he recalled.
Fast forward 14 months, Ivan managed to prove his friend wrong. Today, Fit Metrics has 102 clients who have purchased their packages.
Safety first
Catering to their clientele, Fit Metrics prioritises safety, starting each programme with specific movement assessments such as lumbar flexion and extension to make sure clients’ mobility are in a safe range.
Ivan explained, “Our service can be for those in the post-injury stage. Unlike physiotherapy that helps patients treat their pain, we focus on helping clients prevent having pain again.”
They’ve even trained a client who finished both hips and knees replacement, helping her strength and confidence.
This client even shed tears one day when sharing about her achievements. She even left a note sharing, “You are doing a great business. I don’t want you to fail, I want you to be positive no matter what.”
Running this business, Ivan feels like he’s been given a second chance. “Although I was too late to help my grandparents, my team and I are dedicated to help elders flourish and have a pain-free life during their golden years so that they can carry their grandchild while shopping, move their own groceries back to their cars, and travel safely with their beloved family.”
In the next five years, Ivan hopes Fit Metrics will be the go-to personal training studio for all the grandparents out there.
A metrics-based system
But aside from taking into consideration their clients’ bodies, what else is Fit Metrics doing differently? Well, it’s in the name: metrics.
Every trainer is required to track their clients’ progress religiously, usually with an iPad or laptop. Apparently, Ivan said that this “looks funny” to a lot of people, but believes it speaks to their commitment to training clients using their own metrics-focused training.
These metrics allow trainers and clients to progress sustainably and steadily.
Moreover, Fit Metrics incorporates physiotherapy and employs a senior fitness specialist—a feature that they aim to continue as they plan their expansion.
A physiotherapist or senior fitness specialist means that training will focus more on components like reaction, coordination, falling prevention, stability, rather than the typical personal training packages that focus on just squats, deadlifts, pull-ups, and the like.
That said, outside of women and the elderly, Fit Metrics does also offer services to other kinds of people, such as young males.
Growing the team and business
As of now, Fit Metrics is home to nine team members—seven personal trainers and two in marketing.
“Our trainer retention rate is strong—founding members still remain,” he shared. “One of the reasons is we are working on a stock option investment scheme in our company.”
With a strong team, business has been flourishing for Fit Metrics.
“We achieved a revenue of RM600,000 from March 2024 to Jan 2025 in our first branch (Bukit Jalil) with 25% profit margin,” Ivan proudly shared.
Having been operating with growth in mind, Fit Metrics actually just opened its Subang Jaya location on July 1, 2025.
To dominate the senior and women personal training market, the company is raising RM1.6 million with goals to expand to six branches by 2027, and 15 by 2029.
A life worth living
Sharing his business plans with Vulcan Post, Ivan revealed that he and his girlfriend’s north star is to own a senior living resort.
“Whatever that we are doing right now is a service not just to earn money, but also to make sure elderly are able to walk independently and conquer their elderly lifestyle without much burden to their children,” he said.
And he wants to do the same for himself and his girlfriend when the time comes—especially since the couple has decided (for the time being) to be child-free.
“Regardless of having children or not, we want to have our own senior living resort so that we can build a place for ourselves to pass peacefully,” he expressed. “Life is too short; we only have around 30,000 days worth of living. God has given us a chance to live, and I choose to appreciate it and take full responsibility for this chance.”
Featuerd Image Credit: Fit Metrics.
