How I Became A PT

(Above, me with my beloved kettlebells performing a windmill deadlift)

In 2005 I graduated from MMU Cheshire with a degree in drama with creative writing. In 2009 I graduated with an MA in writing from MMU. Whilst at university I was particularly keen at Teakwondo and basketball eventually coaching the team and living in a house full of team mates. All the other basketball players studied sports science and I was simply bored one day and started reading an article from one of my housemates class on sports psychology (I recall it focused on violence in sports) and from that moment on I started stealing and reading as much of my housemates textbooks as possible. I had grown up playing basketball and was fit and healthy to an amateur point of view, I also knew that I really enjoyed coaching basketball, it soon became apparent that I wanted a career in fitness.

I took GYC Level two fitness instructors course and got a job working for LA Fitness as a fitness instructor even though I knew I wanted to be a PT deep down. I spent eight months studying for my PT qualification and in that time learnt all I could off the PT's there. This would be my best piece of advice to anyone wanting to become a personal trainer from scratch. You can't just know the inns and outs of your sporting hobbies, get a qualification and succeed as a mobile PT. You need to spend time working in a gym, teaching circuits at 06.30 AM, cleaning treadmills and stealing every bit of knowledge there is to steal of the PT's that have been there for years. Hell I used to pretend to clean right next to them when they were taking clients and actually take down notes!


In January 09 I left LA Fitness and started working as a Personal Trainer with Richard Adams at Studio 121. Six months on I'm operating at a full time level and have never looked back.