I’ve been involved in the coaching and educational side of coaching for 15 years now. And as I’ve come to realize as a coach time and time again as in any industry one needs to ask yourself why you wake up in the mornings and why you do what you do. The Japanese take it a step further and don’t just ask why you wake up, but what is your reason for being each and every moment, your ‘Ikigai’. Simply waking up in the morning with a smile isn’t enough, doing what you do, to the best of your ability because you believe in your own cause goes so much deeper.
I’m able to combine my purpose and passion in my daily job , this is my story:
Early days of my fitness coaching
I really like helping people. That sense of giving and teaching and guiding is more rewarding than most things I’ve felt in life. I’ve come to know this from a very early age. I’m lucky in that sense. Most people take a lifetime to discover what they truly want to do in life…..me? I just help people. That along with the crazy home I grew up in and the people I’ve met and shaped me over the years is what I am today.
I grew up in a very active family where the different disciplines and approaches in a team sport AND an individual sport was very much part of our development as children. We received running shoes as birthday gifts and physical training was on the same level as academic success. To give you an idea- my dad is one of 18 people in the world that have successfully completed at least 1000 km in road races each and every year since 1989. He has done over 39000 km in official road races, 4000 short of navigating the globe. He is 65 years old and still going.
It’s this love of sport and movement where I always felt freedom and my best memories as a child were outdoors somewhere on a sports field or on a bicycle exploring and the little world I called my neighborhood.
Decision time
Just like so many people I had to decide what I was going to study at Uni and what I was going to do for a living. I must have come across the saying somewhere that ‘you need to study what you enjoy doing’ mixed with ‘ you need to study your passion’, combined with that funky saying of ‘ if you do your hobby as a job you never have to work a single day in your life’. So this is what I did. My love for design, interest in physics and performance along with my goal to make a difference in this world resulted in me ending up as a Biokinethesist / rehab coach specializing in sport performance.
Into the world of Personal Training
Initially I wanted to work with a sports team, and then quickly realized that less than 5% of the population are really homed in on elite performance training so I had to shift focus to the rest of the public. I knew the rest of the public needed me more than sport teams, that’s where I can make a real difference in this world. Success through community. I started teaching sport, fitness and health sciences at college. I must have qualified well over 1000 young trainers in coaching and PT, who could go out into the world and change other people’s lives themselves and hopefully share my message , views and philosophy along the way. I initially came over to Dubai as a lecturer but got offered a job at Iconic Fitness and quickly realized I was back on track to touching many people’s lives again.
Making a difference to fitness training
I am currently running the Body Transformation and Rehab groups at Iconic Fitness.
I joined Iconic Fitness as their very 1st employee 7 years ago as I believed in their project. The project was to establish a brand new fitness community in Dubai Marina for people who are similar to us – People who care about their health and training, believe in a structured process to be better every week and ultimately being the best they can be through proper nutrition, training and incorporating changes into their daily life.
Being able to meet, assist, educate and help so many different people in Dubai from all over the world with different views, backgrounds and beliefs, influencing them to change their perspective about training and health and shifting their focus towards a healthier and better version of themselves through gradual progression and corrective movements and seeing their lives change is all what coaching is about.
My job is helping people, having fun while doing so while I build relationships and change people’s lives just like movement and enjoying to move has shaped my life…….it just doesn’t get any better than that.
We have countless stories of people who struggled to walk after a car accident who can now lift, run and do just about anything they want. Ladies who struggled to fall pregnant due to complications who are now building families. People who were afraid of stepping outside their comfort zone and introducing themselves are now running marathons and are major game players in their companies. Exercise and community can change everything, and exercise in a community can fix anything.
I’ll stand by this – if you are down and sad, you need to train. If you are unhappy and unsure you simply need to train. If you are confused and overwhelmed you need to train. If you want change in your life you need to train. If you want to start over you need to train. Training , especially with the right people can change your life.
Now that I’m a parent of 2, I’ve realized that coaching doesn’t stop at 5pm, there is simply a shift in focus on what coaching needs to happen at work and at home. I’m a coach from 8am to 5pm, and then I’m a dad coach from 5pm to 8am, and this is who I am. I am a coach.
Click this link to join my 12-week Body Transformation Program.
