"My Fitness Journey: How I became a personal trainer"

In this blog post I'm going to share with you my fitness journey, and the story into becoming a personal trainer; where it all started, where it's taken me so far and into the future, so let's get into it.

It may come as a surprise to you, that I didn't always look the way I do now and I most definitely did not enjoy any type of sport or fitness activity! (shocked faces everywhere). At school I was always one of the last to get picked for someone's team in football, rugby etc. Then it would come round to the summer, the time for athletics, and I hated running, jumping, all of it, and I would do my best to get out of it where possible. What didn't help was that I suffered with asthma and as soon as I started an activity it flared up (what is now known as Exercise Induced Asthma or EIA) and running or walking around the field was seen as a punishment.

When I left school I went to study Animal Management at college and this is when I got to a point where I was so unhappy with my body and how unfit I felt, that something needed to change, so me and my mum got referred from the doctor to our local gym. My instructor at the time who was advising me in the gym, wrote me programs to help keep me on track and on one of them he put running on the treadmill for 15 minutes, so as you can imagine, I thought that was never gonna happen but this guy had faith. He started me with 1 minute running and walking the other 14 with the aim of gradually increasing the running duration. I really surprised myself and finally got up to the full 15 minutes without stopping.

Over the next year or so I lost 3 stone (not 100% sure on the exact time frame), started building muscle and changing my lifestyle and leading to me deciding to turn what I had learnt and achieved, into a full time career and help others.

P.s. if you're wondering why I didn't go into the animal industry, it's because nowhere would take me on at the time as I was under 18, so maybe one day I'll go back down that path.....

Anyway, let's continue.....

I first studied Exercise and Fitness Instructing at college and qualified in 2011 with a range of classes under my belt, including circuit training, studio resistance and walk leading, as well as being able to work on the gym floor. From here I looked at where to go next and the dream was to be a personal trainer. This didn't happen straight away, as I couldn't afford the fees at the college I was currently at, so I would have to look at other options.

In the meantime, I started up my first circuits class (in the upstairs room of the farm shop I was working at) and had no idea how it would go. Over the years I had a variety of members coming to the class and fell in love with how much fun comes with teaching this type of class.

I then found an option to study a PT course online, while still working full time and for all the practical assessments I would have to go to London (bear in mind I live by the south east coast, it was a bit of a trek, but I didn't mind). This course took me quite a while to complete for various reasons but after 2 go's at my final assessment, I finally completed it with my girlfriend at the time, now my wife, acting as my client. Alongside a couple of other modules I completed were core training, pre and post natal exercise, kettlebell training, suspension training and nutrition for weight management. As soon as my certificate came through I made copies, updated my CV and handed it out to wherever I could think of.

Through one of my class members I heard there was possibly a job coming up at a local gym, so I got writing an email straight away with the hope of getting a reply. I did hear back and soon got called in for an interview, and then waited days in anticipation before getting a call to say I'd got the job! What they teach you on these courses is just the basics and working with clients in person is the best way to get experience.

While in my role as a personal trainer at the local gym, I worked with a whole range of clients through inductions, writing their programs and training my own PT clients. This is when I fell into working with injuries/medical conditions and working out the best ways to help people believe in themselves and push past boundaries. With this in mind I qualified with an Exercise Referral qualification and Exercise for Lower back Pain management which has given me so much help over the years. In 2020 this all changed because of COVID-19 and I had to find a whole new way of working, and having very quickly adapt to the situation and the launching of my business; Nathan Dyas Personal Training. Which was VERY scary! During that time, I worked outdoors with many clients come rain, snow, wind or sunshine, launched my kettlebell training class (outdoors and then adapting to online) and training clients through Zoom, from home.

Fast forward 8 years and I decided that the gym floor wasn't where I wanted my business to be and took the massive leap into going it alone, as a mobile personal trainer, working outdoors, in clients homes and online. This was also my opportunity to expand my class timetable and to learn to teach Boxercise, a class I debated about training in for many years, but never found the time (my PT clients love this too!).

My next steps are to keep building the business with new clients and class members, branch out and collaborate with other small businesses (get in touch if you're interested!) and finish my Sports Massage Therapist course and to add it to my service list to help people rest, recover and look after their body.

That's all for now, thank you for reading this far, I hope you enjoyed it and don't hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions or even just for a chat, as it's one of the best ways to look after your mental health.

Me celebrating after a long run in 2024