Bengkel Strength & Conditioning

Meet Putri, after an illustrious career as a professional diver and medal-winning athlete, she has found her next chapter as a coach here at Bengkel.

Why did you become a fitness coach, and how did you start?
I was a professional athlete my whole life, I fell in love (hard!) with sport. Around 3 years ago, I started asking myself, what’s next? I found the answer here in Bengkel. They gave me an opportunity to learn, build, and express myself, to be something more. I participated in Bengkel’s coaching development at the end of 2023. I had to pause the program to pursue my last hoorah as an athlete at Pekan Olahraga Nasional (PON) 2024, and restarted it again right after the competition. Long journey, but I finally graduated in June 2025. Totally worth it!

What are your hobbies outside of working/coaching?
I love training and traveling. Or training while traveling would be really nice, huh? 😍

What inspires you to be a great coach?
I want to build a supportive environment with the other coaches here, helping our members to achieve their own goals and develop their skills. Be better everyday and enjoy this life, just a little bit more.

What’s your favorite healthy meal or snack?
⁠I love fruits, very much.

Bengkel community day is back!!
This time it’s going to be a rocking one!

We are partnering up with to bring you a hyrox mini challange.

20th September 2025
Session starts at 7.15 and 8.30

It’s a teams of two workout! You may bring your +1. Must have 1 Bengkel member in the team.

On the day, you will be able to try out PUMA Indonesia new running shoes with the chance of winning PUMA shoes!
Not to be missed, get free smoothies from our sponsor !

Contact our front desk today to fill up the registration form! We have limited slots available!

Additionally, there are prizes to be won!
Starting Friday, 12 Sept 2025, post stories of you being active for 7 days straight, tagging and Bengkel. PUMA will pick The Most Active members to win PUMA products. It can be anything, training, running, swimming, biking, any. Prizes will be given during Community Day.

Your warm-up is more than just a way to raise your heart rate. It is the first chance to prepare your body to move well and to protect the areas that need the most attention. This is where prehab fits in. Instead of waiting for an injury, you use the warm-up to strengthen weak links and keep problem areas healthy.

A purposeful warm-up raises your temperature, activates the muscles you will use, and reinforces the movement patterns you plan to train. It also gives you time to address weak spots. If you struggle with overhead positions, include shoulder activation. If your hips or ankles are tight, spend extra time opening them up. If your knees or lower back tend to ache, add core stability and control work. These few minutes can determine whether you move efficiently or fight against your own body during the workout.

Show up at least 10min before class and begin working on your movement prep. Treat your warm-up as part of the session, not something to rush through. Move with the intention to feel each position, and use this time to prepare your body and dial in your focus. Talk to your coach if you have recurring discomfort so they can guide you toward the right prep work.

A good warm-up makes the workout better. A purposeful one not only makes you better but keeps you training without setbacks.

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Jumping into a training session blindly and trusting your coach to guide you is normal when you’re just starting out. But if you want to take your training to the next level, you need to understand your strengths, weaknesses, and what type of athlete you are so you can get the most out of your training.

Self-assessment isn’t complicated. Start by asking yourself:

- Are you stronger in lifting or in conditioning?
- Which skills consistently hold you back?
- Do you perform better in short, high-output workouts or in longer ones?
- Do you recover quickly, or do hard sessions linger?
- Are there movement patterns or workouts you dread? Why?

Track your workouts. Film your lifts. Use this data, not just feelings, to get a clearer picture of your performance.

Once you have clarity, share it with your coach. A clear understanding of your abilities helps you collaborate on choosing progressions, extra work, or scaling options that target what matters most.

Knowing yourself is the first step to training with intent. The better you understand your own game, the better you can play it.

This month we will share insight on how you can train with more autonomy and take ownership of your fitness journey.
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When it comes to metcons, intensity is easy to chase. But there’s more value in learning to approach these sessions with strategy. Instead of just trying to survive the workout, use it as an opportunity to improve how you move, how you breathe, and how well you stay composed under fatigue.

At high effort, your body produces more CO₂. This isn’t just waste. CO₂ helps oxygen detach from hemoglobin so it can reach your muscles. If you start panting and breathing too fast, you dump CO₂ faster than your body can produce it. This limits oxygen delivery and leads to early fatigue, even when you’re still breathing heavily.

This is different from deep, controlled breathing with strong exhales. Fast, shallow panting disrupts rhythm and makes the work feel harder. Controlled breathing maintains gas exchange and keeps oxygen flowing where it’s needed.

Movement quality matters too. Poor positions restrict airflow and waste energy. Efficient movement conserves oxygen, improves breathing mechanics, and helps you stay in control.

Conditioning is not just about pushing harder. It’s about executing better. Breathe with purpose. Move with precision.

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In training, volume is defined as:
Sets × Reps × Load

When people think about adding volume, they usually go straight to adding more weight to their top set. But that’s not the only option, and often it’s not the best one.

Let’s say last week you worked up to a clean and jerk at 55 kg, with earlier sets at 30, 40, and 50 kg. You could aim to hit 60 kg this week. But you have other options.

You could increase your bottom sets. Start heavier. For example:
40 → 50 → 55 → 55
instead of
35 → 45 → 55 → 60
This loading increases your total volume by 5 kg more than the second option, without pushing past your max.

Or you could use a percentage approach. Take a moderate percentage of last week’s top set and repeat it across all four sets with crisp technique. If your top set was 55 kg, using 90% (about 50 kg) for all sets results in more total volume than last week.

Both methods increase volume while protecting movement quality. More weight isn’t always the answer, especially if technique, recovery, or stability haven’t caught up.

Progress doesn’t only happen at the top end. Load smarter.
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Meet Heri, a self proclaimed very very regular person with a regular job and hobbies. He has been training in Bengkel since early 2025. Despite claiming not having any specific goals, Heri is one of our most determined members who proves that being strong simply means showing up everyday and not giving up, no matter how tough it gets.

What was the defining moment that made you want to start your fitness journey?
I guess what drives me is the idea of staying physically independent as I grow older. Just imagining myself being able to move freely and live actively in my later years. Plainly liberating.

What is it about Bengkel that keeps you coming back?
From my personal experience, the training program has been working well for me.
When it comes to CrossFit—especially for beginners—people often think it’s all about high-intensity workouts. I used to believe that doing these workouts consistently would automatically make me better at CrossFit. But I’ve come to realize that it’s not just about going hard. What truly helps is focusing on the slow burn movements, controlled tempo, and proper form—things that Bengkel’s program emphasizes. That’s why it’s been effective for me so far.

What are your short, medium, and long term goals?
I do not have any specific goals, just gotta show up for myself.

What does being strong mean for you?
Strong, for me, isn’t about the numbers or how perfect you are at a certain movement. Strong is about showing up and not giving up, no matter how tough it gets. It’s really that simple.

What has been the most challenging moment in your fitness journey thus far?
I guess when I try to push hard at times and not listening to my body. Just got to listen to our body.

How do you feel Bengkel has helped you overcome those challenges?
I will say the coaches, they are very understanding even though they are meant to push us.

If you were to describe yourself to us in 3 words, what would they be?
Determined, Growth minded, Tough

Continued in comments…

“A workout without purpose is just sweat. But a training session, when executed with clear intention and thoughtful design, is a step forward toward your goals.”
— Jason Leydon, Conquer Athlete

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Most people think they’re bracing. What they’re actually doing is holding their breath, sucking their belly in, or not bracing at all and simply rushing through the movement to avoid collapsing.

True bracing is active. It means creating full-body tension before you move. That tension keeps your spine stable, your ribs stacked, and your pelvis controlled. It protects your spine under load and gives you a stable foundation to generate force from.

Bracing starts before the rep. Breathe into your belly, expand your trunk in all directions, and lock it in. Then move without losing that pressure. Your torso should feel like a sealed soda can: pressurized and hard to crush.

Nearly every movement in the gym — from squats and snatches to toes-to-bar and muscle-ups — requires core tension to move efficiently and safely.

If you’re training and not sure what to focus on, start with your core. Pay attention to how it affects your movement quality.

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We’re always looking to progress our lifts week after week. But lifting heavier doesn’t always mean lifting better. If you’re rushing reps, compensating with poor mechanics, or losing control under fatigue, the load isn’t making you stronger. It’s reinforcing bad habits and increasing your risk of injury.

Reducing the weight lets you focus on quality:
- Full range
- Proper bracing
- Stable positions
- Consistent tempo or technique

This builds better movement patterns. That carries over when the loads get heavy again.

You don’t need to prove anything in training. Leave the ego out. Build the skill now, so when it matters — in testing, in competition, in life — your strength holds up.
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