Stockport Personal Trainer

Today I thought I would share with you a few photographs I have from a project I was involved in last year. I was involved as a Stockport personal trainer, brought in to help Dave Goddard, the then leader of the of the council to lose weight.

There is a charity in Stockport called the Wellspring. It exists to provide food, medical advice, housing guidance, teaching and a whole host of other helpful services to disadvantaged and homeless people in the area. The project is funded entirely by donations raised through various means.

One of the fundraisers in 2011 was councillor Dave Goddard, then leader of the council. I had a phone call out of the blue one day from him. The conversation went something like this…

Dave Goddard: “Steve, is it possible to lose three stone (42lbs) in three months?”

Me: “It is Dave, but it would take a lot of hard work and dedication. Why’s that?”

Dave Goddard: “I’m doing a sponsored slim. I want to lose three stone in three months to raise five grand (£5000). Will you help me?”

Me: “Of course I will. See you in the gym tomorrow!”

Challenge accepted. 42lbs in 3 months – that is the sort of weight Ricky Hatton used to shed pre-fight! Not an easy task, especially the time restrictions we had in place. Dave had to run Stockport during politically difficult times – his time was short so we didn’t have the luxury of many hours training time per week.

This is Dave and I in the publicity photograph taken at the start of the challenge…

The other obstacle was his diet. Dave was a big red wine fan, liked a pie and a pint and wasn’t shy of a big meal. In a professional capacity he had to attend countless civic dinners and events. When you are top of the tree, everyone wants some of your time. They also want to feed you, and anyone who has been to an event knows salad is rarely on the menu!

Three courses, wine etc. Hard to resist for anyone. The mission was getting tougher!

There was no doubting Dave’s determination, but we we didn’t have the time to ease him into a dietary change. I went in with shock tactics – a fasting protocol was introduced and for the first fortnight we did a vegetable-heavy cleanse where he would eat lots of fresh soups and drink nothing but water. This wouldn’t be sustainable for the long term, so there was a planned introduction of various dietary changes, alongside a progressive personal training approach in the gym.

And so it began – a three month personal training mission. As you could imagine, the leader of the council is a busy man, so we had to work to schedule. He had 3 personal training sessions per week, each session lasting no longer than 45 minutes. The sessions took place wherever we could fit them in – morning personal training sessions in Hazel Grove, afternoon personal training sessions in Heaton Moor and Reddish. I would catch him before meetings, after interviews etc. It really was a case of fitting in the exercise whenever we both had spare time!

To shed the weight, we worked at a high intensity. Almost no traditional cardio, just high intensity circuits using barbells, dumbbells, kettle bells, boxing training and bootcamp style workouts. They were hard, the weights were heavy but the weight came down. We were on schedule.

Here is Dave, myself and a Wellspring representative at the two month weigh in!

The hard work was paying off – he had lost 2 stone 12 lbs in the two months – a remarkable achievement and a testament to the methods used and his determination. We had a month to go, but that was a busy month – the time leading up to elections. Although Dave himself was not standing, he was the leader of the Stockport Lib Dems and lots of his councillors were up for re-election. His time was even shorter than ever now as he was out working hard to canvas votes for the party.

Fortunately our hard work to this point has provided us with a bit of insurance against a slowing of progress.

Still, we couldn’t let up. I had put my professional reputation as a personal trainer in Stockport and the surrounding areas on the line. I was staking my name on my ability to help someone lose weight in a very public way – the press were involved, the charity were involved and lots of high profile people in Stockport and Manchester had their eye on the progress! We couldn’t fail – it would have embarrassed both Dave and myself if we hadn’t delivered.

We worked on. Dave’s fitness improved dramatically and his clothes needed replacing – he was shrinking! A new suit was bought, belts changes etc! These served as very real reminders of the progress.

Time was tighter than ever and we even struggled to fit in a regular two sessions per week, never mind three, but often we found a way to make sure he was training well when he could. We didn’t weigh in for the last month – it could have killed motivation if we found we were ahead. We were days away from finding out how we had done…

It was a public weigh in – he had to have hit his target otherwise the failure would have destroyed us – me professionally and Dave would have been a target for jibes from political rivals as well as anybody reading the papers. We couldn’t weigh him privately and send in a fake number!

He was being weighed in the middle of the Merseyway shopping centre in Stockport – the most public place of all…..

….AND WE SUCCEEDED!

Here is the publicity photograph taken after the final weigh in. Dave is pictured with a pie and a pint – two things he missed the most during the challenge. Avoiding them helped him lose 48lbs in three months though!

Dave lost a total of 48lbs in three months and raised £5000 for a local charity. Amazing stuff, especially given his demanding schedule! His achievements we a result of grit and determination on his part, setting the correct plan on my part.

Weight loss doesn’t have to be difficult, it just requires the correct strategy. If you are interested in how I can help you lose weight and are looking for a Stockport personal trainer, please don’t hesitate to contact me on Steve@Hoylesfitness.com or 07866361964.

Together we can help you achieve what Dave did!