Smiling together through fitness: what it's like to be a personal trainer
Despite having been a personal trainer for the last decade, Katy Walwyn never found the fitness industry to be that accessible or appealing.
So she decided to take a different approach and create a friendly environment where everyone would be supported to achieve their goals - and leave a workout with a smile on their face.
Katy and her team recently opened a new fitness studio - Nexus Fitness - in Market Drayton.
"My team and I are driven and motivated by the impact of exercise, togetherness and social inclusion on happiness confidence and loneliness," she tells Weekend.
Despite her job title, Katy, who has a degree in graphic design, hasn't always been interested in fitness and had wanted to become a photographer.
But after catching the running bug when she was a teenager, she later retrained as a personal trainer and has worked in the leisure industry ever since.
"My aim has always been to make sure that my clients leave sweaty and well worked but with huge smiles across their faces, comforted in knowing that they belong to a group of like-minded people," explains Katy.
With a dream of working for herself, Katy headed back to university to complete a MSc in Sports Business Management two years ago.
When she found herself out of a job as the Covid pandemic struck, it inspired her to make a change and help people who may be struggling.
