John Cammish is a Personal Trainer based at the Village Hotel and Leisure Club in Hessle.

I have always been interested in sport and started playing football at the age of 5. At Secondary school my interest in other sports grew.  I excelled in Cross Country Running, Athletics and Badminton as well as football.  Academically, I became more and more interested in human biology and how the body functions as a whole.

I played football at a high level between the ages of 12 and 18 and so my interest in sports conditioning grew to the point where I wanted to become a PE teacher.  I completed A-levels in Physical Education, Psychology, Biology and General Studies, as well as gaining a Community Sports Leadership Award so that I could coach children the basics in sports. Studying Biology further developed my interest in the human body.  How the body worked was not only fascinating, it provoked thoughts about improving fitness and athletic performance in all age groups. Obesity was rising.  Headlines about inactivity and diet were everywhere. I knew I wanted to work in the sport and fitness industry but I still wasn’t sure whether I wanted to work with adults or children. I was inspired, though, to go on to study Sport and Exercise Science at Sheffield Hallam University.

University was a big learning experience where I could read about past experiments, what sports scientists had set out to find – and more importantly what they had found. My knowledge about the body, its energy systems and what influences exercise behaviour all grew to the point where I had to make a decision regarding what I wanted to specialise in. After the first year, I had decided that I really wanted to work in the fitness industry, and specifically where I could share my exercise and nutrition expertise. In years 2 and 3, Sport Nutrition and dealing with elite athletes became my favorite subject, while Exercise and Sport Psychology also intrigued me. I graduated in May 2004 in search of more knowledge and people to share my information with.

I gained by Lifeguard Qualification and my First Aid at Work Certificate.  I then began working at the Village Hotel and Leisure club as a gym instructor, doing 2 main things: Conducting wellness consultations and constructing exercise programs. Wellness consultations consisted of a client interview screening and a health check. The screening identified injuries and medications that could be affected by exercise as well as the goals the individual was working towards.  The health check measured blood pressure, body fat, lung capacity and flexibility. The exercise program followed.

I then learned to teach studio classes such as Spinning, Circuit Training and Bodypump. Being in a class environment opened my eyes to many behavioural patterns and I observed how hard people can work “competing” with each other as well as the exercises they preferred. It’s also a great way to make friends – group fitness is a lot more inspirational than you think!

Being in the gym 40 or more hours a week it was obvious that, even when I had helped people with their exercise planning, it was their nutritional habits that were slowing down (if not completely halting) their progress. I spoke to people about their training, heard what they thought was ‘a good diet’ and then had to re-educate them! For instance, some people try to follow the same ‘cutting edge’ exercise program as their bodybuilding idol. The fact that many bodybuilders’ lives are completely different from the regular ‘man in the street’ often never enters people’s heads. Bodybuilders have lots of recovery time and have the opportunity to manipulate their diet and eating patterns.  There’s also the question of drug use.  I could go on.

It was clear to me that I needed to offer a service for individuals that wanted to further themselves both physically and mentally – and so John Cammish Personal Training was born!  I now offer a variety of training sessions, both individual and group, covering exercise, nutrition and lifestyle.  Whether you’re just starting out and need help prioritising your goals and mastering the basics, or if you’ve been training for years and just want to achieve that higher level with a few master classes, I can tailor a program to suit your individual needs.

It’s not just knowing what to eat and when to eat, how to train and how to plan workouts, it’s all about positively changing your lifestyle – creating good habits and instilling them into your subconscious.