About DM Fitness, Health & Wellbeing
Hi, my name is Darren and I’m a qualified Gym Instructor (Level 2) and Personal Trainer (Level 3) with a passion for helping people achieve their health and fitness goals.
Understanding what drives and motivates people to exercise, and the reasons why they often give up on their fitness goals, helps me to support my clients and help them succeed where other fitness programmes and fads have fallen short.
My own personal fitness journey has taken me to gyms (where I never really found success in what I was trying to achieve), body building, Muay Thai and to running, which was something I hated at school, despite enjoying most other forms of exercise.
A little bit about me…
In 2015 I was told I had to give up my job as a vehicle technician, my career since leaving school, due to degeneration of my spine – I was in my thirties and had the spine of a 60 year old. I also dropped off-road biking and all other fitness activities, all of which contributed to me becoming very depressed.
After working with a Personal Trainer, and a great Yoga teacher, I started to get back on track, and found a desk job. The working environment was great and so were the people, but the desk job just wasn’t “me”. Meanwhile I was getting my fitness level back and managed to get accepted to run the London Marathon (on my third attempt) which I completed in 2016, and consider to be my greatest achievement to date.
Finding the right personal trainer …
I was lucky to find a personal trainer who had a very advanced knowledge and a highly rated reputation in the industry.
Rob Coles mentored me for 8 weeks covering assessments, injuries, technique and sharing his vast knowledge and experience. Every personal trainer trains differently, but I think Robs way is the best I’ve experienced and this is the way I train my clients.
MINIMISE INJURIES AND LEAVE NO WEAKNESSES
Here is my mentor’s profile, which I think it speaks for itself:
ROB COLES from Serious About Strength
“First and foremost, I’m a coach who loves to train.
I talk the talk and walk the walk.
I’ve been a coach for the past 10 years and my passion is lifting and training properly. I’ve competed in powerlifting and Olympic weightlifting over the years and continue to be a student of all things strength and athletic performance.
For 5 years I headed up the programming and rehab for one of the biggest privately owned gyms in London. I really cut my teeth here with regards to coaching, in those 5 years I delivered over 15000 hours of training. This is experience you just can’t buy and I developed many skills with regards to understanding how people move and how best to achieve results.
From there I moved across London to Performance Rx where I worked as the Director of Performance, working with, and learning from, Joel Proskewitz. Joel, who in my opinion is one of the best coaches in the world, is a director of Backfitpro, Dr. Stuart McGills company. So its safe to say Joel seriously knows his stuff when it comes to both training and injury rehab/prevention. Here I really refined my skills and understanding of injury mechanisms, how to load the body correctly and safely and how to engineer performance out of everyone I work with.
I have travelled around the world to learn from the very best in their fields. Whether that is interning with Doctors of Functional Medicine or assisting in the preparation of NCAA College American Football players, I don’t stop learning.
My goal is to help educate people as to how to train properly to get the best results without breaking down their bodies. I believe that there are two ways to train: the correct way and the wrong way.
Correct training should both enhance the performance whilst decreasing our risk of injuries. Unfortunately, due to a lack of experience or knowledge, this just isn’t the case in the industry.”
The key to success…
Not taking time to listen to clients, understand their goals and taking their lifestyle into account is the quickest route to failure.
I’ve been lucky enough to work with some great mentors and learned so much from taking my Personal Training qualifications. Not only has it helped me to overcome my own physical challenges (my back has improved no end with mobility and strength exercises) but I also recognise how everyone has their own individual goals and needs, which means listening carefully to clients and understanding their lifestyle.
These days most of us have busy lives, juggling home, family and work commitments – I know how hard it can be trying to fit in exercise and trying to eat healthily (I’m married with two children myself), and that’s why I’m here to help you.
