I’d left home in West Cornwall for University in London. There I started weight lifting and jogging… I was consuming huge numbers of calories mostly made up of beer and Kebabs, but I was slim and actually really quite fit. I was in the Royal Naval Reserve at Uni, one of the most excellent things I could have done with my time… it was great. Fitness-wise it was challenging and at 19 and 20 I was living in the East End I used to cycle everywhere at least 10 miles (16 km) every day, to uni, to work, and to thai-boxing too.

BUT that all ended when I started work. I threw myself into a great job in the City of London and spent all hours at work trying to get ahead… it did work, I earned more money than I’d ever thought about at uni… I worked long hours but I had great times with friends and on nice holidays because I could afford the good-stuff…. BUT fitness-wise I was gaining weight fast and loosing all my fitness.

In two years I went from 75kg and fit enough to join the Royal Marines, I used to do circuits based on their entry criteria, to being 95kg lethargic and wondering why I had a flabby patch under each arm

I carried on working long hours, started my own web design business, and had a lot of fun doing it but 10 years passed and I realised that I’d always been about 95kg… there was a time I got myself to 90kg in 2002 and then 100kg in 2004 BUT all in all I was never fit.

ASIDE…. My father died at 37 of a heart attack. He was a bit over weight and had been for years but was never as overweight as I have been. Naturally, it was devastating for my entire family. We all thought he was very healthy, he was never ever ill.

As a father for the first time in October 2007 it weighed on my mind what life might have been like for my sister and if we hadn’t lost our father at such a young age, so I decided I wanted to do something about it. I made a concious effort to try and loose weight… but some months passed and I didn’t get very far… until I met Denny.

Paul “Denny” Denholm was planning on becoming a personal trainer and he had some great ideas and as a former Royal Marine we shared a lot of common ground about hard-work, dedication, determination and GRIT.

Understandably when I told him about my family history and the length of time I’d been overweight Denny asked me to get a Doctor’s note to confirm I was okay… the doctor’s note simply said “94kg and fit to train”

Denny put a detox and diet together for me that provided me with energy to exercise and I started loosing weight from day one. In fact in the first week I lost almost 4kg!

Denny adapted his training and the results now speak for themselves….

Strength: I am stronger now than I was at 19 when I was weight lifting, the weights are heavier now
Cardio: I am able to run more and faster now than when I was at 18 and jogging or 19-21 and boxing
Circuits: The intensity of the circuits I can endure is way beyond anything I have ever done before

Why write about this today?
Yesterday evening was the third fitness test I’ve taken since meeting Denny. Every single time I have improved and yesterday I surprised myself quite a bit.

One of the circuits I used to do years ago included 85 sit-ups (no stopping)… yesterday I hit 102. The run, twice around the oval that took me well over 4 minutes on the first test I did it in 3 minutes 21 seconds – I’m very happy with that

I’m now 79kg which is a good weight for me. My BMI (body mass index) has dropped from an overweight verging on obese at 30 to now being 25 (healthy weight).

Plug for Denny at “OMG Fitness”

If you’re in Brisbane and serious about getting fit then you’ve got to check out Denny’s website at omgfitness.com.au

As a personal trainer in Brisbane, he is great value, worth every cent because you get real results and learn the skills you need to attain and maintain excellent health.

Denny also has a load of boxing and training videos on You Tube, check them out.