Gqeberha-born Yanga Ngcayisa surprised everyone with his drastic physical transformation. This was a part of our Men’s Health Belly Off series in 2020. The fitness entrepreneur, product innovator, and founder of The Y-NOT Workout revealed that he lost 34kg in just six months. His love for sports, including rugby and cricket, sparked his fitness journey.
Yanga in his own words opens up about his journey, how fitness changed his life, mental well-being, his newest venture and how he finds balance in between everything.
READ MORE: Fhatuwani Mukheli Has Become Stronger Than Ever
My Journey
I have pretty much spent most of my time and energy on my wellness. This in its entirety is just the perfect body or physical training. My entire fitness regimen has shifted and my lifestyle too. And to get into more detail with that, it’s like I’ve had to, cause I’m obviously building my brand. I know it’s probably something that you have lined up there and I won’t get too much into it. But the reason I mentioned that is that a lot of my energy has also gone into that now.
So I think the transition has moved from Yangisa Ngcayisa’s transformation to that of a brand. My transformation from three years ago to now has been of an energy of creating in the fitness space. This in return was me giving back into a space that’s given me my life basically. Speaking to Men’s Health three years ago was pivotal for my journey because that was a stepping stone for me.
The giving back to the fitness space is through the launch of my product Y-NOT Workout deck. Not just that but there are a whole lot of other things that I am working on within the fitness space. And they are all basically trying to give people the tools to unlock their potential. I lost 34 Kilos within 6 months, which is where everything started. It was basically just the starting point of me unlocking what I’m truly capable of. So within that change, it showed me what I could do and it skyrocketed me in my personal job.
Now, I mean, don’t know if you know this, but I do have a full-time job as well. In that capacity, I serve as an operations manager for Creed Living. Which is a health and wellness company. Creed Living have basically seen me rise and learn through the ranks in my career and I’ve encompassed the principles of that journey and been relentless in the pursuit of what I want to achieve. I am now in a place where I’m just looking to give people the tools to unlock their full potential because that’s what this journey has been for me. It taught me how to unlock my potential to be my fullest self and to live life without limits.
How Fitness Changed My Life
I think it was the one thing I’ll take it back from my childhood. I remember when I was 15, I started waking up early and running. Because I’ve always been the higher-weight kid. I went to Grey High School in Gqeberha and I played rugby. I made the team eventually, but what made me make the team was my preparation, which was my fitness and maintaining that.
Fitness for me has always been an indication of a stepping stone to success and the fact that you had to go through some sort of work or hardship in order to achieve something is a lesson for me on its own. Taking that sort of philosophy which I didn’t understand at that age is only something I’ve reflected on now. But I do think my downward spiral went or came from when I quit rugby. And that is when I lost myself and my identity at that stage in my life. I started drinking and smoking heavily and this all happened at university, which affected me drastically.
University is quite a weird space. You’re trying to figure yourself out amongst these expectations on your academics. I think removing that element of my life, which was rugby, was such a big part of my life up until that point. That left me where I was like, oh my gosh, I don’t know who I am. Fitness for me became an item of philosophy and a lifestyle which I used to reclaim my life back. And I didn’t think it would take me this far.
Mental Wellbeing
I can honestly be like, I’ll say this upfront if I don’t exercise, I honestly feel like my life is out of control. It’s really a bold big statement to make because that’s just how it is. The impact that fitness has on my life if I don’t start my day with a training session is wild. Because what that does for me just gives me so much clarity more than anything. During that exercise process, I think a lot.
And once you are able to think things through, things become clearer. When I get anxious, I’m able to be in my thoughts and figure out what exactly is causing certain things. I feel like a lot of my mental challenges have just been through overthinking or making situations bigger in my head. In reality that wouldn’t be the case and I am able to deal with things better.
READ MORE: Bonko Khoza Is in a League of His Own (And He’s Just Getting Started)
So from a mental health perspective, my journey for me has been way more mental than physical. And I think taking it on from when I started to where it’s at now. I have to deal with making financial and entrepreneurial decisions every day and it has all become a lot more mental in that state because there’s so much to deal with and that comes with so much clutter.
I use exercise as a space to block out the noise and hear my own thoughts and make decisions. Which I find are not always right, but it’s the best that I felt at that moment in time. My colleagues, my family, my girlfriend and every sort of part of my life stems from me grounding myself in fitness. If I don’t do that at that moment I feel stressed. The first person who’s going to get the negative side is my girlfriend because she’s there with me all the time.
Do you know what I mean? And then it’s family, and then it’s my friends and it’s my colleagues. So like I said, I think the journey for me has definitely been a lot more mental than physical. And I think exercise genuinely grounds me and plays a pivotal role in everything that I’ve achieved for me. So for me, looking after my mental health is looking after my physical health. And if I could rewind my journey and make people see the mental transformation that’s happened for me more than the physical and I think that would make me happier.
Y-NOT Workout Deck
Basically how I came about that idea and it’s funny, the entire whole card concept was featured in Men’s Health in 2021 as well. I started my journey in July of 2019, and obviously, we were hit by Covid in March 2020. So I sort of had picked up this momentum and I was being consistent throughout the months. When Covid hit, gyms were closed and we were all forced to come up with creative ways to just keep moving. And I remember we all thought initially it was going to be 21 days and through that 21 days, I just found this pack of playing cards that I had at home. And I was inspired by Ray Lewis, who’s an NFL football player. When I was still in high school, he used to flip over cards and do pushups and sit-ups.
I started mimicking that sort of workout, but I made it my own and I made the heart. Each suit was a different exercise and the number on there would be the number of repetitions that you do of that exercise. So the hearts would be squats, then if you drew a five, then you’re going to do five squats, for example.
I started sharing that on Instagram and people really loved it. People were taking out the aeroplane card at home and doing it and on their stories and sharing that with me. And I thought, oh my word, what a brilliant idea. I want to make it my own. And for me, that kept me sane during the lockdown period. That’s when I realised that there are so many people, one who may be intimidated to go to the gym, two who can’t afford to go to the gym and three, those that don’t know where to start.
And I found that those cards were a perfect way. It’s simple, convenient, and a fun way to get moving. So I sort of tailored it to my own way. I eventually created this 52-pack exercise card now where people would shuffle the deck, pull out a card, and then do the exercise. And we’ve also got an online version, and I also collaborated with Pabi Moloi in which we sort of tried to incorporate the feminine version of the cards just to get the ladies moving as well. So this creation falls under the Y-NOT brand, and the Y is my initial and the NOT basically came from when I started my transformation journey. I didn’t put limits on how far I would go. I just simply wanted to be a better version of myself.
Winning The Nedbank Sport & Entertainment Award
I think it’s unbelievable how it all come full circle because from the start for me was that transformation journey, but it led me onto this entrepreneurial journey in which now I find myself in the position where I’ve been recognised as one of the top young entrepreneurs all within this health and wellness space and within the Y-NOT brand. It’s been very special to reflect on. That moment was truly a representation of how much I’m truly capable of.
My Support Structure
I get the most support from my mother, father, sister, and my partner. And I name them immediately because those are the people that really get to see me a lot.
There’s also Steve Deutch and we’ve got a history in which he’s had a massive impact on my life. And he’s someone who continuously checks on me and his wife, who I refer to as my mom and my sister. So I’ve been genuinely blessed, not only by the immediate people that I mentioned but everyone else who I just meet on the journey who just says, oh my word man, you’re actually doing great. Keep going!
Messages I get from strangers as well on Instagram keep me going. Not to stray away too much from the question, but having that support system for me just is always a reminder of the people that matter more than the things that we do. And I said that because through the lows, they were there and in the wins, they’re still there. That makes a difference when you’ve got that because, in the hard times as you said, you remember the good times and press through because you have these people who are encouraging you with words like, “hey, you know what, it’s not going to be like this forever. And remember what you’ve been through, you’re going to do it again.”
READ MORE: The Rise and Rise of Ghanaian Musician, Stonebwoy
Because sometimes you can’t hear those voices yourself, and you can’t see that far when you’re in a certain space in your life. So for me, it’s always a grounding factor, which leads to motivation and that leads to a sense of calmness in your heart. Especially in the midst of a lot of craziness that happens along the entrepreneurial journey where things don’t quite go your way or you’re struggling with a decision and you can quickly make a call and someone can advise you and you trust that it’s the right decision because it comes from them.
Hype HIIT Monday Sessions
I was asked by Neighbour Hood, a company based in Cape Town. They basically have been hosting these weekly Hype HIIT Monday sessions. And they basically invited me as an instructor to come and host the sessions. This is in collaboration with Hype Energy drinks and Y-NOT. They are honestly enticed by the cards and we get to incorporate those into our workouts. The sessions are free every single week. So people can literally sign up, bring a friend, and come and enjoy a workout there for an hour with me, whilst sipping on the hype energy drink and the space provided by Neighbour Hood.
They also get to experience the Y-NOT cards. This is an awesome tool to get people moving and encourage them to move because sometimes it’s difficult to learn on your own. But when you have a community and you build up some sort of base and relationship around that, you get excited to move with people that encourage and motivate you.
Finding Balance
I don’t believe that there is such a thing as balance. You just have to monitor yourself more than anything. But I do think with everything that I have on my plate that unfortunately, I can’t say I’ve got balance around it. Sometimes I do feel like I’m dropping a ball in some aspects, and I’ll have to put more energy into that. I think planning goes a long way and having timelines and sticking to them.
I feel like I’m more myself when my mind is just always working and thinking about something new. That honestly excites me. So it rarely feels like I need the balance. There are days when I feel drained and I pause and tell myself that I am depleted. This is where self-care comes in and I need to rest and take the pedal off a little bit. But more than anything it’s just monitoring myself.
READ MORE: Award-winning filmmaker, Thapelo Mokoena Shares His Ultimate Grooming Routine
In closing, I am most grateful for the people that have supported me. Especially everyone I meet along the journey because I feel like without people I’m nothing. I believe that all these things that have been happening are a result of people believing in what I do. And having the same people who want to hear my story.
As told to Art Mukhari
