
Rita Ocen in a group training session. PHOTO/E.R BATTE.
It is an early Friday morning, and the dark melts into the clouds, allowing the sun to shine bright onto Mother Earth. Busy bodies sweat as women and men energetically cycle, burning calories and enhancing muscular endurance, increasing strength, and improving cardiovascular strength.
Their female fitness trainer encourages them to listen to up-tempo music. She later introduces herself as Rita Ocen, a certified fitness trainer with seven years of experience helping individuals achieve their fitness, health, and wellness goals.
Her passion is empowering people, especially women, to take control of their physical and mental well-being through group or personalized training programs and nutrition guidance. The fitness enthusiast holds a certificate in pre- and postnatal fitness coaching from ACME Fitness Training Institute and is a certified personal trainer at gold and silver levels from Beyond Fitness Academy.
“I specialize in personal training, group class training such as spinning, and pre- and postnatal fitness coaching,” Ocen says.
Her weekly program starts on Monday with an indoor cycling morning class at 7:30 am at Horse Power Muyenga Tank Hill Road. For one hour, the class rides to dancehall and classic music. She then does personal training sessions at Land Star Hotel in Makindye from 5 pm to 7 pm.
On Tuesday, she holds personal training sessions with clients from 7 am to 8:30 am and 8:45 am to 10 am. “Here, we do full-body strength training to improve muscle strength and endurance, postpartum training with emphasis on lower back strengthening to reduce pain. I do an evening hill run and full-body drills to keep my muscles strong and maintain cardiovascular endurance,” she narrates.
Strength and intensive training
On Wednesday, the fitness trainer supervises an indoor cycling class at 7:30 am in which she incorporates dumbbells of not more than five kilograms into the workout. This targets the upper body, legs, and core to increase calorie burn, enhance muscular endurance, and improve cardiovascular strength.

Rita Ocen does her thing at the fitness centres. PHOTOS/EDGAR R BATTE.
Ocen says it is an intense class, and most clients look forward to it, whereas others find it challenging. On Thursday morning, she trains private clients for full-body strength training and postpartum exercises focusing on lower back strengthening. In the evening, she goes for a hill run and full-body drills.
The trainer is back to steer an indoor cycling morning class at 7:30 am on Friday at Horse Power Gym, where trainees ride to dancehall, club bangers, and classic music, ushering in the weekend in a fitness-focused way.
On Saturday, she holds a bike and abs spin class session from 8 am to 10 am to strengthen the core and upper body, with an exclusive abs session and a cardio session at the end.
On Saturday, she holds a bike and abs spin class session from 8 am to 10 am to strengthen the core and upper body with an exclusive Abs session. There is a cardio session at the end.
Rest and diet
Ocen rests on Sunday. She provides dietary advice to her clients because it plays a crucial role in helping them attain their fitness and wellness goals. For example, hydration plays an important part in people’s lives when it comes to weight loss and maintenance.
“I advise them [clients] to take warm water with lemon, honey, ginger, and cinnamon since this comes with numerous benefits. I emphasise the importance of consuming whole unprocessed foods over supplements and processed snacks. I help my clients to adjust their calorie intake based on their goals, sex, activity level, weight, and age.”
The fitness trainer also tips, “My general advice is to balance macronutrients; they need to eat foods that contain carbohydrates, proteins, and vitamins. During pregnancy, folic acid supplements are essential for the development of the foetus. I highly recommend protein and calcium-rich foods. For the senior citizens, I recommend calcium-rich foods are a must, healthy fats, and vitamin D supplements are essential for bone health as well as protein intake to maintain muscles.”
For those on weight loss programmes, Ocen advises them to go on a calorie deficit of 500 to 750 calories, adding that they need to eat healthy fats found in avocado, nuts, and seeds. She highly recommends protein-rich foods such as fish, eggs, meat, beans, vegetables, and fruits daily.
For people who need to gain muscle or weight, her two cents is for them to go on a calorie surplus from 250 to 500 and above, in addition to incorporating protein shakes as a supplement. Athletes need more endurance; hence, her advice to them is to carb load two to three days before the race or competition. Plus, hydration is key and protein intake in addition to complex carbohydrates.
As a fitness trainer, her feeding and nutrition regime includes a litre of warm cinnamon water as soon as she wakes up, followed by one litre of turmeric, lemon, ginger, cloves, and honey tea. Depending on the nature of the work, she eats three to five sweet bananas or an apple to get her going. She takes spiced black tea most of the day and snacks on fruits, eggs, and homemade pineapple-spinach juice.
Due to her busy schedule, she eats one meal a day, between 4 pm and 7 pm.
Unique
On what it has taken Ocen to stand out as a fitness coach, she elaborately responds, “Fitness coaching in Uganda and most parts of the world is male-dominated and very competitive. For me to stand out, I had to obtain relevant certification to help me obtain knowledge and the skills the other coaches do not possess. I have continually updated my knowledge on exercise science, nutrition, and the current trends.”
Plus, she identified her niche—spinning and pre- and post-natal fitness coaching. She has established a strong online presence using social media platforms such as TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn to push her brand. That is in addition to connecting with other fitness coaches, professionals, influencers, and potential clients.
She does her very best to stay authentic, genuine, unique, relatable, and empathic to clients and envisions pursuing advanced certification in senior-age fitness training and physiotherapy to boost her knowledge and skills.
Male-dominated profession?
Being a female fitness coach in a male-dominated environment presents unique opportunities and challenges. Stereotyping and bias from both men and women are some of the challenges she has to overcome daily since there is an assumption that women are less knowledgeable or aren’t capable of being fitness trainers or coaches.

Rita Ocen in a group training session. PHOTO/E.R BATTE.
Most men think a female coach can only train females even when she has all it takes. “Some think I am still young and do not have the moral authority to train pre- or post-natal mothers since I do not have my own children, even when they know I am a certified trainer in that field. I have faced scrutiny as a female coach and have had to work double my male counterparts to make sure I stay relevant and taken seriously.”
Low number of females
Ocen adds, “We are still having quite a few certified female fitness trainers doing indoor cycling and bodybuilding, CrossFit, nutrition, and general wellness, making it difficult to seek help from a colleague in case you need backup and networking. This is because most of them are in dancing, yoga, and aerobics. As a female coach, I take it as an opportunity to bring in a unique and feminine approach to fitness and emphasise holistic well-being.”
But she has embraced being a female coach as a platform to empower women, inspiring and supporting her clientele to achieve their fitness goals. Community-building fitness coaching has offered her an opportunity of creating safe spaces for women to exercise and connect with their peers.
She uses her profession to introduce fresh ideas, such as the use of dumbbells during her spin classes to increase resistance and tone the upper body too. And like any career, being a fitness trainer is challenging since you interface with your clients regularly, which requires staying as professional as possible at all times.
She sets clear expectations, boundaries, and discusses goals to be achieved at the beginning of her engagement with personal training clients. She conducts a thorough assessment of the client’s health history, fitness level, and sets fitness goals.
Ocen then establishes a contract and agrees on payment terms, mode of communication, cancellation, duration of training, and such other terms. She maintains her relationships with the client to be purely work-related, avoids getting involved with clients outside work, and keeps their personal information confidential.
Ocen further adds, “I dress professionally and maintain a clean and safe workspace. Time management is a very important part of my work. I start and end the workout session as per schedule. I avoid giving medical advice to my clients but rather refer them to professionals when needed.”