NAME: KIRTHI
LOCATION: HUDDERSFIELD
JOB TITLE: DIRECTOR, BODY TRANSFORMATION GYM
Gym owner Kirthi’s interest in becoming a personal trainer began while he was at university. Having studied physical therapy – learning about muscles, nutrition and other aspects of health and fitness – he wanted to follow a career in a subject he was passionate about.
Although Kirthi found that there were a variety of companies offering the same personal trainer qualifications as CMS Fitness Courses, the other courses were full time, which meant that they were less flexible and more expensive, as he would have had to pay for accommodation and wouldn’t have been able to continue working as he studied.
“With CMS Fitness Courses, they offered workshops at the weekend, tutorials and phone support, all for a very good price,” says Kirthi. The convenient location of CMS in Huddersfield, close to the train station, was another factor.
“I can highly recommend CMS. It was location, good value for money – and I was able to meet up with the person running the course; there wasn’t any call centre. He discussed my options and I’ve never looked back since.”
The CMS course that Kirthi chose to follow was Level 3 Personal Trainer, with modules covering advanced fitness instructing, sales and marketing, client lifestyle appraisal and nutrition. The course was delivered through a combination of tutorials and workshops, covering theory and practice.
“I was given a lot of help and support from the CMS staff,” Kirthi says. “The set up was good, the training was good and if you didn’t understand anything, they would explain it in a way that you could understand.”
Having gained the qualifications he needed to get started in his career, Kirthi was able to get a job as a personal trainer, before deciding to open his own gym. He investigated the start-up costs, looked at cash-flow projections and decided to market his gym as the first 24-hour gym in Huddersfield, putting customers first.
“I was fed up with other gyms treating customers as direct debits, so I set up an incentive for my staff, giving commission for every member they look after. The staff also do their training with CMS Fitness Courses, so everyone’s getting very high standards of training.”
Training with CMS provided Kirthi with the knowledge and confidence to work as a personal trainer and to develop the business acumen and marketing skills needed to open his own gym.
Kirthi set up Body Transformation gym as a one-stop shop for everything a client may need, from gym training and sports training to rehab work and advice on nutrition. Under the banner of Misguided Muscle, he also runs one-on-one coaching, group training and online training programmes for clients in the UK and abroad, even as far afield as Dubai.
His advice to anyone wanting to become as a personal trainer is to work hard and to do the right course with the right company. “I couldn’t be doing what I’m doing now if it wasn’t for what CMS did for me,” he says.
