Jay Shrimpton, 27, has been named as the YOUR Personal Trainer of the month for February 2022.
Jay, who is a newly qualified PT, gained her level three qualifications in June 2021. She launched her business with YOUR Personal Training in January 2022, and is already making a big impact at Better’s (GLL) Hough End Leisure Centre in South Manchester.
Jay says: “It feels amazing to be recognised by the team from YOUR Personal Training so soon into my career – it was such a surprise to even be nominated!”
Since launching with YOUR PT in January, Jay has already started working with 14 clients at Hough End Leisure Centre, alongside a number of private online clients. She already has a client wait list.
Becoming a PT was a big career pivot for Jay. She graduated from Manchester University in music and went on to work in public relations for six years. Jay says: “To begin with I loved my career in PR; it was exciting, high energy and I had great team around me - but after a few years I started to feel like something was missing. When the pandemic hit and I found myself working very long hours and really started to question what I wanted to be doing with my life. I decided that if I was going to be working long hours, I wanted to spend those hours doing something I was passionate about and that would make a difference to people’s lives.
“I’ve always been interested in fitness and wellbeing, but I would be the first to admit that my fitness journey has had its ups and downs. I would go through cycles of hitting the gym when life was going well and then falling off the wagon when things got tough. It was during the first lockdown that I properly got back on track with my training and it made such a big difference to my mental and physical wellbeing - I suddenly found I was able to cope with everything 10 times better. It was around this time that I decided to switch up my career and signed on to do my PT qualification.”
Discussing the early stages of her PT career and her relationship with YOUR Personal Training, Jay explains: “In terms of my PT education, being fresh out of the level three qualification I feel like I’m just at the tip of the iceberg, but the amount of support and guidance I have received from my regional manager at YOUR Personal Training has been fantastic, as well as the access to online resources, marketing materials and webinars. There’s been a lot of admin to think about in January whilst I’ve been getting things up and running – I have so many spreadsheets - but I live locally to Hough End Leisure Centre so I’ve been able to come home between sessions and I’m finding the time and space to use my down time effectively. It’s early days, but I’m definitely feeling as though I’m now in the right industry.
“The clients I have met at Hough End Leisure Centre are very broad in their requirements. I have a lovely mix of young/old, women/men, weight loss/strength gain and I look forward to seeing each and every client. I‘m finding working with beginners especially rewarding at the moment. Personally, I love hitting the weight room but I find it’s an area that a lot of first-timers are nervous to try. I like to think my fitness programmes take the anxiety out of weight training, and honestly, watching my clients grow in strength and confidence is the best feeling!
“I see most clients twice a week, so the relationships develop pretty fast. I’ve quickly learnt that being a PT isn’t just about the physical activity, a lot is about people skills, being a good listener and allowing clients to be very open and honest with me. Each client is like a puzzle – you have to find out what they want, what they need and what motivates them, in order to compile the right programme that will generate results.”
As her career develops, Jay hopes to take a more holistic approach to coaching, expanding more on other lifestyle factors including sleep, stress and nutrition, to provide a more in-depth and multi-layered offering. She says: “Ultimately wellbeing is about the whole person, and I want my service to be reflective of that.”
She adds: “So far, the move into personal training has gone above and beyond expectation. It’s a great job that gets more and more rewarding with every session. I have the nicest clients and I’m really enjoying the autonomy of running my own business and having the capacity to be mindful of my own wellbeing.”