THE PT CHRONICLES
Everything you are about to read is all true, however I’ve changed some of the names of people and locations for my own protection.
Episode 1
The Beginning
13 years ago I was in my third year as a media planner for Mediacom, one of the biggest agencies in the world, and bored out of my mind with producing presentation after spreadsheet after presentation after spreadsheet. One day, my desk phone rings and it’s my friend Chris from Men’s Health magazine sales;
“Niko mate, cover model comp is coming up in 2 weeks, get involved pal”
“Jesu s Chris, 2 weeks! I’ll get destroyed.” I wussed out immediately.
After some back and forth Chris convinced me to enter. I jumped straight onto a call with my Father, 2 time Mr Wales and 2nd in the World for Bodybuilding. Dad is an expert with nutrition and supplements so i asked him to create me a program to get ripped quick. I envisaged a regime of oxygen and protein drinks. I wasn’t far off. Chicken n rice, chicken and salad, turkey n vegetables, water, water, water, and protein drinks at 3am!
I GOT RIPPED.
I was also miserable. Back then I was as sociable as possible , trying to find my way in the big city and find my tribe. If you’ve worked in the centre of London in media or marketing you know that Thursday and Friday evenings are for getting pissed trying to forget the week of kissing clients asses, mind-numbing attention to detail and too much caffeine. So now, because I wasn’t drinking and partying with my peers I became the most boring person in the office. I was also training twice a day and sleeping early.
What this experience did give me was focus and passion. However starving, miserable, and knackered that I was, I was also completely focused on a goal, a target. To become a Men’s Health Cover Model.
The competition was weird. Hundreds of guys all sat in a room being individually called into the “X-Factor” room where we had to stand on the X in front of a panel of 4 people from Men’s Health and GB swimmer Mark Foster. We had to remove our t-shirts and talk about how balanced our training regimes were with our social and home life. Thinking back now, it’s bollocks. I love Men’s Health but to think that your life is balanced to get on the cover is naïve. You have to live, breath, sleep fitness and nutrition. The cover of MH is the pinnacle of male fitness.
Anyway, I got into the top into the top 12 but eventually soundly beaten by a deserved David. The focus though never left me. I was hooked. It seemed I hadn’t chosen fitness. Fitness had chosen me. It had breathed a new vigour and motivation into my life. Media and I were done. I resigned immediately without a thought to the future. I just knew that becoming a trainer was my goal.
I asked my mother to help me pay for a 6 week 9-5pm fast track Personal Training course with The Training Room. The syllabus was useless as most PT courses are but I was lucky enough to have a teacher who would veer off course and add his own experience and knowledge, Brian Walpole. Hugely knowledgeable, but most of all passionate. Passion is vital in anything you do. Without it, you’re just a sheep in the herd.
I lived on Brixton Hill back then. It was winter and snowed basically for the whole 6 weeks of my course in Croydon. Some days the buses were cancelled so walking through snow became my morning routine. Now, throughout the course, I knew that after 6 weeks I’d have zero clients and zero money. I got myself onto Gumtree (yes, Gumtree!) and l searched “personal trainer wanted”. I came across a job post to PTs to become a Reformer Pilates Instructor.
I turn up to Bootcamp Pilates and interview with owner Dee. I fly through it unscathed and watch the last ten minutes of a class. To me, it looked like a breeze. Something wealthy ladies went to pretending they work out. This closed-minded approach would hinder me for the first year of my fitness career and how wrong I was. I joined the next class and nearly died. The reformer is a phenomenal workout. My legs went to jelly, my core walked out the door and left me to fend for myself. I ejected sweat from my body across the room and breathing was an issue. I was hooked.
I accepted the job and as soon as I passed my PT course I became an instructor for Bootcamp Pilates…
To be continued…