Debbie is a personal trainer and runs her own fitness business, Fighting Fit Devon. Debbie has a third-degree black belt in kickboxing, she’s completed four marathons and taken on the Forces March six times which is five marathons in five days – this woman is fit and we hear all about how she set up her business.

Talking points include:

• Simple ways to keep fit during lockdown

• The challenges of starting up your own business

• The advantages of working for yourself

• Tips for becoming a PT

• Virtual personal training

• How lockdown is affecting her business

• Debbie’s new fitness exercise class Sexercise

You can find out more over on her website and on Instagram.

Transcript

Karla: Should we start from the beginning? Let's start with an introduction. Can you share a little bit about yourself?

Debbie: I'm Debbie. I work in my business called fighting fit, Devon, and what else I have got lots of very four legged children. I like to walk in the woods. I explore the West Country in my camper van, play music, do all sorts of things in particular, jumping up and down. A lot. I like doing that.

Karla: Yeah, I know you do! So tell us a bit about the story of Fighting Fit. So how did you come up with the idea, why did you set it up? And how did it all begin?

Debbie: Well, it was an accident. Well, it was sort of an accident. With most things with me, I was already doing my personal training qualification just as a hobby, because exercise is my thing, and I was made redundant from my job and couldn't find anything out there. So basically, with my qualification and nothing to do, I decided that instead of sitting about doing nothing and worrying, I set up my own business. So just over nine years ago, that's where it all began.

Karla: And so how did you go about setting that up?

Debbie: I knew people that wanted to get fit, so I knew a couple of people that had said; ‘I wish you were my personal trainer’. And so I said to them, ‘do you want to do some personal training?’ And they said yes, it was just a bit of a fluke, really. And I was already taking boxercise classes, and I already had my own kickboxing club, so it kind of morphed and developed. And because I had time on my hands, I had more time to sort of sort out marketing and get word of mouth out there. 

Karla: Did you face any challenges along the way?

Debbie: Oh, gosh, yes, because starting up a business is not easy. And I know people always say that, Oh, being self employed is not easy. Starting a business isn't and until you get some clients and then word of mouth to other people that you know, actually you can do the job. 

It's tough, and mainly financially. The biggest thing is just trying to afford to live and also spend time on putting yourself out there.

Karla: And what do you love about it, being self employed in your job? 

Debbie: The fact that most people moan about Monday mornings, but I have a nice, gradual break into the day, do a bit of admin, and then start my job. And it's about having control over what you're doing, rather than being told what to do all the time. And to be honest, I'm not very good at being told what to do, so if I'm telling myself what to do, then that's okay.

Karla: That's actually my next question - how do you keep motivated? 

Debbie: Well, I'm pretty tough on myself, you know, sit down and do some work. I'm quite work orientated, though I always have been. Work for me is one of life's pleasures, and it sounds very strange, but also, when you're working for yourself, that's amazing, isn't it? You know, it's like, Yes, I can do all these things today. I'll sit down on a Sunday evening and schedule marketing posts for a month. Although it seems a bit tedious, I find it exciting because it means that I'm putting fitness out there in the world.

Karla: What's been one of your biggest success stories in terms of your clients, like changing someone's routine or their fitness levels? 

Debbie: I've got two kinds of examples for this, if you're up for it. I do an event every year called the Forces March, which is five marathons in five days. And it's kind of like my annual busman's holiday, but I took four of my clients on a day of the Forces March. So four individual people did a marathon with me. So that, for me, was a real big deal. You know, they went from an hour in the park with me to climbing some epic hills in Somerset. 

The other one I've got is training an 80 year old man. Well, he's more than 80 and train him and his wife. And when they first started me a few years ago, his balance was quite bad. He'd have to hold on when exercising. And now, four years on, even though he's older, he can stand on one leg and not wobble, which I think is great. It's those little things that are the win for me.

Karla: What's your process for creating these workouts, and say, boxercise, or your PT sessions?

Debbie:I have a crazy imagination. I think. To be honest, I like writing as well. And so creating and writing things for me and making things amusing, not too tiresome and not demoralising, all have to be included. And because I've got this strange creative brain, I love to just sit down and go, Oh, what can I put down together today? 

I quite like to make things entertaining and amusing and not demoralising for my clients. I think sometimes, if you start giving people things they really hate doing, they're not going to want to train with you, whereas if you give people things that are exciting to them, then they want to come back for more. So I like to create different things for them all the time. Your body needs that change every week. And so I write down what I think I'm going to do with them, and then I'll try it myself. And I'll put my fitness tracker on and see if I burn any calories, or if I find it too hard, I definitely remove it from the workout. If I find it too easy. I changed it about a bit. So I just like to be creative, always changing things for people. 

You probably have never done the same workout more than once with me. 

Karla: Definitely not. So we're in what third lockdown now, if someone was listening and they were thinking of using this time in the third lockdown to get fit, what advice would you give them?

Debbie: Oh, crikey. There are so many different ways to get fit, so it depends on what you personally like. I mean, obviously walking where everyone's allowed to go outside for their exercise. So walking is just so beneficial, fresh air, nature, all the things really, really good. Rebounder, mini trampolines. They're my go to because you can be inside and it's raining outside, and you can watch a bit of telly and bounce around for an hour or investigate online workouts. I do most of my workouts online at the minute, and I just think it's brilliant.

Karla: I was going to ask you that actually, how has lockdown affected your business? How have you had to evolve?

Debbie: Well, basically, I've done better for lockdown, which I feel a bit mean saying, because there are businesses out there that haven't survived it, but I've really, really done well through it. 

I originally launched virtual personal training over three years ago when a client from Devon moved to London, and so we used FaceTime. She didn't want to change her trainer. She wanted to keep me. And so literally the transition from actual to virtual was no big deal for me. It was a very, very easy process. It was just convincing my clients to do the same. 

Karla: I had a look at some PT facts, and the split between male and female trainers used to be about 80:20 and now it's around 65% male and 35% female. Why do you think women are getting into fitness and becoming personal trainers more now than they used to?

Debbie: Oh, well, I think that's easy, because more women are doing all sorts of things that they never did before now, and we find that we can and we're strong enough and committed enough to do it, and men aren't scared of us doing those things now. They're actually letting us get on with it and doing something other than washing up.

Karla: And this is a new question I came up with this morning after looking at your Facebook post. Is talking about women. Do you train women any differently than you do men? Do you have to take into account hormones or whether they've had kids or anything like that?

Debbie: Oh, my God, absolutely. Yeah, that's the biggest difference. So, you know, being a woman, that we are strange creatures, we have our ups and downs and pains and bloating and all sorts of things going on that men don't have to put up with. So if somebody comes to me and they're like, Oh, I'm on my period. Can you go easy on me? Or, you know, whatever, or they're a bit emotional. That's the other thing that happens, you know, somebody might just burst into tears in a session and that's something we have to deal with. So, yeah, definitely deal with women differently.

Karla: Well, I know you like to experiment. So we couldn't do this podcast without having discussed your latest fitness class, sexy size. How did that come about? 

Debbie: Do you really want me to be that blatant? So we've all been with somebody in the bedroom, and one or other of you has gone, can we just change positions? This is really hurting my wrists or my legs or that kind of thing. I mean, that's the long and the short of it. It's exercise. It is about endurance. It's about stretching, strength. It's about getting fit in all those places that you need to for naughty purposes. Basically, that's the long and the short of it.

Karla: And you do this over Zoom? 

Debbie: Yep, over Zoom. I think that's probably the best way to do it, to be honest. But the first five weeks, you do just in your lounge, you know, as normal. And in the sixth week, I decided that I was going to take the whole routine to the bedroom, because it's a whole different ball game. Excuse the pun to be on a bouncy mattress doing plank moves so it went down the storm. It was really good, and I'm going to be bringing it back in March of this year, because it was such fun. Honestly, it's great fun, and it's a good warm up, but we did it on a Saturday, and it just gently warms you up and embraces you into the day. It's really, really good.

Karla: I also couldn't talk to you and not talk about Shaun T and Insanity, because that's how we know each other through Boxercise and Insanity. Why did you choose Insanity? 

Debbie: It kind of chose me. I was working at a Sports Center doing boxercise. Then Mandy, who's an instructor there, said, would you consider going on a training course to become an Insanity live instructor? And I didn't know there was such a thing as Insanity live at the time, I knew about Insanity, and I love Shaun T you know he's my boss. He's the God of all things, JUMPY up and down. And so I thought, oh, might as well go and do it. And there we go.

Karla: If someone's listening now and they think they've got what it takes to become a female. PT, what kind of qualifications and experience do they need? What advice could you give them?

Debbie: Well, obviously, you need to do your personal training qualification. That's a given, and that's kind of the easy bit. I had years and years of sport and exercise experience within me when I became a personal trainer. So, you know, I started doing ballet at three, running at about seven years old, so I've exercised my entire life. But you need more than that. You need to be patient, kind, caring. You definitely need empathy. And you know, I guess life experience. it's all very well, you know, being 18 and keen, and I've got a PT qualification, but sometimes you need a bit of history within you to be able to adapt to people's needs. If that makes any sense.

Karla: No, it does, really does. It's like being a teacher. 

Debbie: Yeah. Totally, totally. It's just, I guess the biggest thing for me that I draw on when I am training people is the fact that I've got life experience, not saying that I'm old, but you know, and you can bring humour to it as well. You have to, because, you know, not everyone finds exercise as exciting as I do. I don't know many people that find it as exciting as I do, but I have to try and make that come across, and humour is one of the best ways of doing that.

Karla: So where do you see fighting fit going? What does the future bring for Debbie? 

Debbie: That's easy. So this year, Fighting Fit Devon will be 10 years old, and with it, hopefully, by then, I will have completed my hypnotherapy diploma. So rather than just fitness, exercise nutrition, I'm going to be splitting out the whole person. So if somebody's got an eating issue or or some kind of past trauma, or anything that is affecting their fat loss journey, basically, can take it to all levels. So it's not just about shouting at somebody getting, you know, getting them sweaty, not that I do that. I never shout at people. Well, sometimes, the boys I shout at, but that's just me. But it's just, it's just about bringing the whole person into the training, working on all levels. So that's, that's the future of Fighting Fit Devon.

Karla: Love it. And finally. If someone's listening to this podcast and they've decided they're going to get fighting fit, how can they find you? 

Debbie: I'm normally standing in the middle of a park pointing at somebody and looking at my watch. But in all seriousness, I am out there on the old interweb. I've got Instagram account, Fighting Fit Devon, I'm on Twitter, and also I've got a website, fighting fitdevan.co.uk, quite easy to find.

Karla: Amazing. Well, thanks Debbie, for taking all this time to talk to me and the technical issues.

Debbie: Thank you for having me.