Success Stories
Polly Jennens
Q. What was your lifestyle like before you started training?
A. A disaster – a heart attack waiting to happen!! Overeating, drinking far too much and very little exercise apart from the odd walk to the pub!!
Q. What made you decide to have PT?
A. A particularly stressful period at work had taken its toll and I needed to lose weight, get fitter and basically change my unhealthy lifestyle. Over the years I’d been a member of most of the gyms in the area, some as many as 3 times and they just hadn’t worked for me in the long term. So I felt that I needed to find a fitness regime that I could do from home and hopefully maintain.
Q. What were you looking to accomplish with me?
A. The most important things for me were motivation (or lack of!) and needing to find something that I would stick to. I wanted to learn different ways of exercising from home and being inherently lazy I needed a trainer for the motivation to get going and keep at it!
Q. Was it what you expected?
A. To an extent yes. I was very apprehensive and self conscious to start with and it’s a great testament to Paul just how quickly I relaxed and it was far more fun than I ever expected it to be! The variety is great and I too can say that not one session over the last 12 months has been the same. Paul just keeps on producing new ways of inducing pain and suffering!
Q. Did you reach your initial goal(s)?
A. Absolutely!! My initial goals were the usual broad type of goals – lose weight, get fitter. I have lost over 2 stone so far (and more to go) and recently completed a 10k race. Bearing in mind that when I first started I could only manage running for 1 minute before gasping for breath……………………it’s a miracle!!! If I can do it, anyone can. I’m now training for a half marathon in Oct and the London marathon next year!!
Q. The benefits you have got out from having a PT?
A. The benefits are fantastic!! Overall the sense of achievement is just brilliant – from managing more crunches than the previous week, to completing a race! It’s all the additional benefits of losing weight and getting fitter and more flexible too. I’ve got so much more stamina, strength and flexibility for other things like skiing, gardening and walking. My blood pressure and resting heart rate dropped significantly which was such a relief! I can wear clothes that I haven’t worn in years and can enjoying shopping for clothes again! Overall I just look so much healthier and feel so much happier – what more could you ask for!
Q. Do you recommend PT..and if so why?
A. Without a doubt and Paul’s fun and relaxed style has made it all so much easier. He seems to have gauged how to keep me motivated and pitched the sessions just right so that they suit my personality – where he pushes me enough without being a monster!! However I know that if I wanted to be really driven then Paul would happily step things up. I have really found it a treat to have 1 hour a week devoted to looking after myself. I think it’s easy to take health and mobility for granted and I am truly grateful for mine now!!!
Ulrikes Schroeter continued from home page . . .
Ulrike Schroeter
Warwick
The moment of change came when my GP classed me as obese and gave me the option of either taking tablets for the rest of my life to manage the health issues or to start losing weight, I decided for the latter option.
I had to build exercise into my daily routine. For some people this would have perhaps only meant signing up to a gym and starting to be active; but for me it was not as easy as that. I had already been a gym member for years but not used the facilities at all as I could not manage to motivate myself. For me Personal Training initially was an attempt to break the bad habits.
Finding the right personal trainer was a challenge in itself. When I started training with Paul at the end of November 2007 I had already completed one year of Personal Training which had not really been that overly successful. The initial enthusiasm soon started to dwindle, the old habits crept back in and I found myself cancelling sessions because of work. Since training with Paul I have had plenty of challenges and the variation I was looking for. No training session seems the same which means I don’t get bored and stay motivated to train by myself between sessions.
Throughout the last 12 months He has also constantly found new challenges to keep me going. Race for Life was the first sporting event I took part in followed by my very first small Triathlon. Paul has taught me that keeping fit can actually be a lot of fun and very fulfilling. Nowadays anybody asking me to cancel or move a personal trainer session has to have a very urgent reason.
Personal Training has helped me to fulfil my initial goal of losing weight – I have dropped 2 dress sizes, from 20 to 16 since training with Paul and lost 15 kg so far – and has given me much more: Achieving my goals and facing challenges such as the Triathlon have meant a lot to me. I have started believing in myself again and have won some of the self-confidence I had lost over the years back.
I can definitely recommend Personal Training. It has definitely helped me achieve my goals and supported me through times when it seemed impossible to reach the end result. It has been a lot of hard work it has also been a lot of fun. Paul always makes sure that I don’t forget the fun side to exercising.
Paul, I owe you a lot for the last 12 months. Thank you.
Stuart Gray
Stratford Upon Avon
Q. What was your lifestyle like before you started training?
A. I had a reasonably healthy lifestyle, including training five or 6 days per week.
Q. What made you decide to have PT?
A. I felt that I was in a rut and doing the same type of training all the time. The lack of variety meant that the enjoyment side was reducing.
Q. What were you looking to accomplish with me?
A. Achieve variety, feel inspired and focus upon working the whole body, rather than just cv work as previously. In addition, I have a demanding job and work long hours so both stress release and feeling healthy are very important.
Q. Was it what you expected?
A. Definitley, I felt that I trained hard before, but I certainly work harder than when training on my own. Also, the huge variety of what we do keeps things fresh. We have typically trained twice a week for the last 18 months and no two sessions have been the same.
Q. Did you reach your initial goal(s)?
A. Yes I feel that I am in a far better all round shape. This also means I have less niggles and injuries as I am not overworking certain muscle groups by doing the same routines all the time. Leading on from this it was also fair to say that my old regime did not work certain aspects at all.
Q. The benefits you have got out from having a PT?
A. In addition to points mentioned above I feel highly motivated and energized.
Q. Do you recommend PT..and if so why?
A. In a nutshell healthy body, healthy mind! But just doing PT is only a small part of the story. Its about doing PT with the right trainer, who understands you and develops good rapport. You score very well in this regard.
Kunny Dhillon
Balsall Common
Earlier this year I slipped two disc's in my back and was fast approaching the big 40 feeling very old and fragile.... I am your ideal gym member (Christmas Card correspondence only) due to a very unpredictable work lifestyle.
After some serious physio on my back I was determined to get back in to positive healthy state and include fitness as part of my everyday lifestyle, so decided to use a personal trainer to get to grips with this..
1st Goal -Strengthen my core: Paul came up with some different routines that made full use of the garage & the garden - rest assured you'll never get bored with the same old routines - no more aching in the morning when getting out of bed.
2nd Goal - Stamina: We started with a couple of sessions a week in order to build my stamina back to acceptable levels - I'm not really a fan of running so our early sessions broke me in gently and now I'm conscious if I've not achieved my 3 x weekly runs and it's part of the self motivation of Paul an found it a great way to de -stress.
3rd Goal - Weight Loss: Fat burning plain and simple.. Realising that you're only cheating yourself when you're not pushing yourself 100% in that session and I love the boxing routines (Paul's really good at find something you like to keep you engaged) - dropped a trouser size and noticeably trimmer (still got half a stone to loose 12.6 st target).
My quality of life has significantly increased as a direct result of my training programme and I would recommend Paul to anyone at any level hoping to improve their health, fitness or simply have some to push you that extra 25% that makes all the difference.