A blog all about me.............

Anyone who knows me, knows I'm a bit of a chatter box especially when it comes to anything about health and fitness.  In fact a funny story comes to mind, last year when I launched my Thump Boxing for Fitness class, one afternoon in the gym as I was talking to one of our lady members Helen about how excited I was about the prospects of this class.  So I draw breath and off I go, I never really know when to stop, I hardly pause, just keep going and going (I'm like a Duracell battery!).  Helen couldn't get a word in, till about 10 minutes later when I'd finished, she stared at me and said "Amanda I'm completely exhausted just listening to you".  So I think that shows the passionate kind of person I am, but I will safely say if you are lucky enough to work with me I can rein it in and I promise not to bend your ear too much :)

Me and my earlier years.  Some Personal Trainers come from a sporty background, I gave most sports a go at school, I was pretty good at things like shot putt and discuss and I ran well.  Liked both cross country and shorter sprint distances like 100 and 200metres. At 5' 1" found things like netball bit frustrating, wondered why I never made the grade! 




Me and Sunny in our back garden.

Was active at home, I was lucky enough to have a pony on loan, Sundance (see embarrassing photo left).  Use to go to the shops on him for my mum (aw them were the days) and mucking out every day is bloody hard work!  Then my first job here in the South (if you didn't know I am a Northern lass) was working with horses, again see photo (not working in this one par se) but 6 day week, sometimes 10 hour day out in the yard again is back breaking work.  And I had to share another photo, because I think I look pretty good and so does Talisman, again another horse on loan at a local gymkhana.  You never know one day when I've retired from Personal Training we may don the jodphurs and boots again:)


Working as a groom in Oxshott (well chilling with a mother and her foal here)

 

Tally and I competing

Back to the Personal Training bit, so where did it all start, unlike a lot of Personal Trainers that may qualify as youngsters, I came into the industry quite late, I took my first qualification, Level 2 Gym Instruction in 2005 at the age of 39.  And that was quite by accident, at the time I was working as a Receptionist at the Leisure Centre in Cranleigh, I'd done that since 1999.  As you do, was looking for a change in direction, I was an avid user of the gym and someone suggested that they thought I'd make a good instructor.  And as I love the interaction with people and keeping fit, I thought why not combine both of them together, kill two birds with one stone so to speak.  So the Summer of that year did my research and signed up for a long distance learning course with Focus Training, qualifying in the December with honours.  Infact the course trainers said, 'I had a bubbly personality, and was well suited to the role'.  Well that was nice to hear, it spurred me on, so gained some experience on the gym floor and went for next stage of the ladder which was Level 3, where I qualified in early 2007.  Never really looked back, love my job, and am now at Specialist Level 4 status, and still continually learning more.

The fitness industry is huge and there are 19,00 registered Personal Trainers in the UK alone on The Reps Register http://www.exerciseregister.org/ (my number being ROO34234).  Fitness and exercise to music qualification providers are vast and in some cases you could be fully qualified in less than 8 weeks!  Some Personal Trainers may have Sports & Science Degrees, been mentored by the best in the world, written articles for magazines, trained celebrities and so on and so forth.  I haven't done any of these (although I know Charlotte Ord from The Biggest Loser fame:) so does that mean they are any better than me NO THEY ARE NOT! 

This is me now, lovely, personable, friendly, mature (40 something, but don't feel it :) sympathetic, caring personal trainer.  I will not criticise or beast you within an inch of your life.  If this is the kind of trainer you are looking for then I may not be the trainer for you.  Instead I will work with you and any limitations you may have, encourage, motivate and support you every step of the way.  I don't see myself as providing you with personal training services, I give you the tools, motivation and encouragement to make positive changes to your lifestyles.  See me more as an investment for you and your families future.

In turn I invest in myself with courses and workshops so I can expand my knowledge to continually support you.  All I ask from you is a willingness to give it a go, personal training is not just for the rich and famous, anyone from 9 to 90 can benefit!  Please click on the link to read some testimonials from my happy clients http://www.mw-pt.co.uk/Testimonials

If you like what you've read (sorry a lot of content) then please view my website http://www.mw-pt.co.uk/and read my other blogs (you can get to these from my home page).  I can see I get many views at the blogs, so if you think the content is good, join my site, tell your friends and leave me a comment. 

Also if there is something health and fitness orientated you want me to blog about, please let me know, I'd be more than happy.

Till next time, all the best

Amanda