I’m the Facilities Manager, TBB Gyms, Limerick and am from Newmarket-on-Fergus, County Clare. As a young lad, sport was life. It didn’t matter what it was but if it had a ball or it was physical, I wanted in. This led me down the path of fitness for a career. I studied with NCEF in the University of Limerick and worked 8 years in the leisure centre at Dromoland Castle as a leisure attendant & fitness instructor.
In this industry you meet so many different people: young, mature, people who are training all their lives and people who are just starting out on a fitness journey (remember it’s never too late to start). Meeting and working with the variety of people is my favourite part of the job.
I particularly like doing group classes, working with different levels of fitness at the same time, bouncing around the room to give them that extra bit of energy to keep going when they think the tank is empty. I try to bring as much of my personality to each class as possible. The group exercises classes are a buzz and you can have a good laugh while pushing yourself hard to your limit.
I have done a lot of work with sports teams, my local soccer club Newmarket Celtic, Kilkenny United WFC & Clare Gaynor Cup squads as a coach looking after the football and fitness side of things as well as some 1-to-1 sessions. Nowadays the only coaching I do is in the Limerick gym as I’ve turned my attention to refereeing soccer. With possibly 2 or 3 games some weekends I have no choice but to stay fit, which is good to have that motivation.