About me

How I came to be a Personal Fitness Trainer

Over the last 13 years I have learned to appreciate just how much regular exercise can help improve your body and mind. The benefits and how much better you feel after a good training session are well worth the effort. Back in the old days when I lived a very different life working for a Management Consultancy in London, working long hours at a desk all day, and commuting from Brighton, the only thing that kept my energy levels up, was making sure I found the time to do some regular exercise.

As I increasingly realised just how much my health and fitness was benefiting me and helping me deal with the demands of a stressful job in London, I began to want to help other people feel the same benefits. Having always wanted to set up my own business, I took the plunge and knew without a doubt that this is the industry I wanted to be in. I am truly passionate about exercise and how much it can improve the quality of your life (with even just a couple of hours a week of training).

If you help your body to be its best, then you will be far better equipped to lead a fitter, fuller, happier and maybe even longer life. For my top ten health and fitness tips - things you can do to get started straightaway - simply click here.

I also know just how difficult it can be to lose weight and keep it off. Several years ago I needed to lose 3 stone and I did it by changing my eating habits and building regular exercise into my lifestyle. It took some serious will-power and determination too, so I really can empathise with clients and understand how hard it is to lose weight. But if I did it, I can help you do it too.

Qualifications

After leaving my working life in London, I took time out to re-train and completed the 'Premier' Diploma in Personal Training and Sports Therapy and then became a fully qualified Personal Trainer. I hold a First Aid/CPR certificate and am fully insured.

After completing further training with 'The Tonic' in April 2004 I was awarded their certificate in Advanced Personal Training Skills.

I am also training to learn the principles of NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) and how these can be applied to clients' training sessions to help them achieve their fitness goals even when they may feel extremely challenging.

With continuous professional development a priority, I continue to attend advanced training courses, events, seminars and conferences to keep up with the latest developments in the health and fitness industry.

Experience

Initially I worked for a year as a personal fitness trainer at David Lloyd Health & Fitness in Brighton which provided me with lots of experience and further training. I set up my own business; Justine Shawe Personal Training in February 2002, and left David Lloyd in January 2003 to concentrate fully on my growing business. I have now notched up more than 2500 hours of one-to-one personal fitness training sessions with many clients of varying ages and fitness levels. This adds up to lots of major achievements and much hard work, by many clients over the last 4 years.

I hold Advanced Instructor Level 3 accreditation with the Register of Exercise Professionals (a national body which exists to help safeguard the health and interests of people who are using the services of exercise and fitness instructors, teachers and trainers).

I am also a full member of the National Register of Personal Trainers.

In addition I write articles for the 'mother@work' web magazine as their Health & Fitness expert. Each month I contribute to or write an article for their Health feature. For example, the July 2004 issue focused on Workplace Workouts and the August 2004 issue was all about Exercises for a Healthy Heart.