My Fitness Journey
From Curiosity to Craft
Like a lot of personal trainers, I’ve loved exercise from a young age. Throughout my teens I threw myself into cross-country running, athletics, football and badminton. Anything physical, really. I had a natural pull towards movement, and weight training was no different. I started around the age of fifteen, training in my bedroom with a pair of adjustable dumbbells. Nothing fancy, just the classic teenage setup. Over time I added a bench and even filled a backpack with weight plates so I could do weighted press-ups.
Having basic equipment didn’t mean I suddenly knew what I was doing. I spent a lot of time watching YouTube in the early days of online fitness, which was a proper mix of solid advice and some questionable information. I kept lifting mainly because I enjoyed it and wanted to look better.
I trained consistently and slowly built strength, but aesthetically I wasn’t making the progress I’d hoped for. That pushed me to dig deeper into anatomy, programming and the fundamentals behind real, lasting results. When I turned eighteen and could finally afford it, I joined a gym for the first time. Suddenly I had access to proper kit and it felt like a completely new world. Even then, I was still fairly lost at the start. I’d often hop on the cross-trainer for ten minutes just to give myself time to work out what I was doing that day. Session by session I built confidence, found a rhythm and started to enjoy the process properly.
Around that time Shepton Mallet Leisure Centre changed ownership to Whitstone School and the gym was refurbished. I ended up getting an apprenticeship there, which meant free access to the gym and a massive step forward in my training. I carried on with standard weight training for a while, until I felt the itch to try something different. That’s when I discovered calisthenics, proper bodyweight training. I bought a pair of Olympic rings and started with ring dips, complete with the wobbly form everyone has at the beginning. I stuck with calisthenics for around two and a half years, and it became one of the most enjoyable and productive phases of my training. I learned body control, stability and discipline, all of which still influence how I train today.
My Next Chapter
Moving Forward While Looking Backwards
Then Covid hit, and like everyone else, life was turned on its head. With gyms closed, training moved back home, relying on bodyweight work and whatever bits of kit I had to hand. It was during this period that my interest shifted towards the old-school lifters, particularly the bronze-era strongmen. Their approach made immediate sense to me. Full body training, a focus on strength, and no obsession with trendy splits or constant six-day routines. It was practical, purposeful and rooted in long-term health. The more I explored it, the more it clicked. That style of training felt far better suited to everyday people than the high-frequency, high-volume approaches that dominate much of modern fitness.
Today, my training has come full circle, back to the roots of where modern strength culture began. I follow a hybrid approach, combining weighted and bodyweight movements in a similar way to lifters from the late 1800s and early 1900s, and I train with a frequency inspired by the bronze and silver-era strongmen. Alongside that, I apply modern bodybuilding principles because they translate best to the people I coach. That part matters to me. I believe strongly in practising what you preach.
Some people thrive in group environments like Hyrox or CrossFit competitions or organised events, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. We all take different things from training. For me, it has always been a more personal path. I train for enjoyment, for health, and for the quiet satisfaction of becoming a little stronger and more capable each year.
My own journey has not been a straight line. I have had to figure much of it out as I’ve gone along, and that process has shaped how I see training today. It has taught me to value the simple things: real strength, full ranges of motion, progressive loading and consistency. It is not flashy, but it is honest, sustainable and built on the idea that fitness should support your life, not take it over.
That is the path I am on, and it is the perspective I bring to my coaching. A practical, lifelong approach to strength and wellbeing.