Everyone’s journey with fitness is different and each of our trainers have been involved with different forms of exercise over the years and as a result, have developed their own unique passion for fitness. For our final week, we’re going to be sharing our trainer Josh’s journey.

Where it all started

Other than in PE lessons and knocking a football around at lunch, my fitness journey started for me at the age of 9.

I’ve loved rugby since a young age, my dad would take me on trips across to Leicester at the weekends to watch the almighty ‘Tigers’. This led to a growing desire to want to play, which is where you find me aged 9 being taken down to Peterborough Rugby Union Football Club to start this journey off. Throughout my early teens, I would train weekly and play at the weekends then gradually as we got older, the game got longer, faster and the opponents got bigger, however, I didn’t!

At the age of 16, I sprained my ankle, which helped with persuading my parents to pay for a gym membership across the other side of the city, to help strengthen and rehabilitate back into the game. You may ask ‘why across the other side of the city’ well, that’s where my mates were! Without recognising this at the time, this commitment to my own personal recovery really opened the health and fitness world to me. I was never that big or strong, but I loved training in the gym.

Developing my passion

My passion for fitness also developed into an academic interest, which led me to study Sport and Exercise Science at Leeds Beckett University. This experience allowed me to develop my knowledge in areas such as nutrition, physiology, biomechanics and psychology. During my degree, I obtained my Level 2 Fitness Instructor qualification and I also gained work experience with Darren Fox, helping him organise and deliver strength and conditioning circuit classes.

Throughout university, I continued to play rugby for the university team and local teams in the area. Alongside this, I also continued to develop my interest in strength and conditioning through my own personal fitness journey at the university gym. Here, my desire to share my motivation, knowledge and experience with others developed.

How I got into PT

Once I completed my degree, I began working on qualifications such as L3 Personal Training whilst gaining experience working on the gym floor at David Lloyd. This allowed me to gain confidence, improve my communication skills and it gave me an understanding of class and training program structure.

I was due to start at Elevate in April 2020, but unfortunately this got delayed to unforeseen circumstances. This period of uncertainty gave me the opportunity to complete my L3 PT qualification and cemented the drive and desire to enter the industry. So, I continued to train and push myself in any way I could, whilst awaiting the reopening of the gyms.

Now Elevate is back open, I’m loving every second. It’s so awesome to be able to help guide and motivate my community in the pursuit of their fitness journeys in such an enjoyable and supportive environment.

PT is back! If you’re interested in starting your own fitness journey or want to take your current training to the next level with our experienced trainers, then click here to find out more:

Tailored Personal training for all levels and abilities – Elevate Fitness (elevatefitnessuk.com)

or feel free to get in touch, email: info@elevatefitnessuk.com