Katie Caunt Fitness and Training

Katie Caunt Fitness and Training Level 3 PT. Padwork instructor. Zumba instructor. Low Back Pain & Corrective Exercise Specialist. as you would expect from a personal trainer!

My journey into the health and fitness industry was not a conventional one...

At school I actually excelled in Humanities subjects, not P.E. And you would be far more likely to find me hidden in a corner of the library with my head in a book than out on the playing field. It's not that I was adverse to exercise (in fact I did ballet, tap and modern dance four times a week throughout my childhood)

, but I wasn't any good at sports, or at least not the ones you had to do at school. Plus, particularly at my school at least, for kids like me there was a strong aspect of social exclusion and isolation attached to P.E - put bluntly, I was a massive nerd, and being forced to participate in activities I didn't enjoy and wasn't any good at was a painful reminder. So I went on to study literature at university, and subsequently ended up working in literary publishing for around seven years. At the same time that my career began, I 'accidentally' got myself a personal trainer at my local gym. It seemed ludicrous to me at the time - people like me didn't 'train!' I'd told myself that just wasn't who I was as a person, and I was kidding myself trying to be any different. What did I possibly think I could achieve? Surely it would just end up with me being laughed out of the gym. But, as my career developed, so did my health and fitness - by MILES. Several years into working with a PT twice a week, I had completely fallen in love with training and undergone an amazing physical and mental transformation. I had gone from having very little strength to being able to deadlift more than my own bodyweight, to being able to do unassisted pull ups and push ups, and squat with 50kg on my back. I had gone from barely being able to run to the end of the road, to completing my first 5km event, then 10km, then half marathons and obstacle course style endurance events at least once a year. In July 2022 I finally completed my first marathon. I also started training with a boxing coach and have now competed in two charity boxing matches. By 2018, my career in publishing had hit a dead end. I had been unhappily pushing away at a job for years in an unkind and unrewarding industry, working long hours at a desk with no compensation, travelling frequently, expected to singularly manage unrealistic and overbearing workloads more appropriate for entire departments than one person, constantly stressed out, burnt out and anxious, with poor work-life balance. I had tried moving into different roles, even different companies, but the result was always the same. The gym was the one thing keeping me sane. About six months before I decided to leave the arts industry for good, I fell from a climbing wall at an indoor bouldering centre - something that had become a regular weekend hobby. 'Luckily' all I came away with was a 'cleanly dislocated' elbow which healed within two months, but one day it dawned on me that I could have been so much more unfortunate. I realised two things: that life is very short - too short to be unhappy - and that I had been handed a gift; a chance to start again. So at the age of 30, I decided to completely change direction and qualify as a personal trainer. Now I get to have an incredible, rewarding job making a meaningful difference to people's lives, and I'm so lucky to be able to work with such a diverse and wonderful group of clients who enrich my own life. The most valuable thing I have learned from my own personal journey is to never underestimate your potential. We are so much more than the identities or labels society may place upon us, or that we may place upon ourselves. We are so much stronger than we might have ourselves believe, and capable of incredible things. Only we get to decide who or what we are, and what we can and cannot do. Believe in yourself, because I believe in you :)

I am based at The Gym Group, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, UK

Address

The Gym, Derby Road
Chesterfield
S402EZ

Opening Hours

Monday 6am - 7pm
Tuesday 6am - 4pm
Wednesday 6am - 2pm
Thursday 6am - 4pm
Friday 6am - 7pm

Telephone

07890494626

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Katie Caunt Fitness and Training posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Katie Caunt Fitness and Training:

Shortcuts

Share

Category

My Story

Hey, thanks for visiting my page! Let me tell you a little bit about myself and where I come from. So, contrary to a lot of personal trainers and fitness professionals, my journey into the industry was not a typical one and my background is actually in academia and the arts, not sport or exercise. In fact, at school I was not sporty in the slightest. While more athletically-talented kids were out on the field, I was in the corner of the library with my nose in a book. I wasn’t a lazy kid (I did ballet from the age of three and other types of dancing throughout my childhood) but I just wasn’t any good at sports. I couldn’t throw, catch, kick etc.... and just had no skill in that area at all. Instead, I excelled in subjects like literature, history and languages, so that’s where I focused my studies. I decided that people were born to do certain things and I just wasn’t cut out for physical prowess.

So, fast-track some years to my early twenties, and with a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature and a Masters in Creative Writing, I started working in the publishing industry. This lasted between 2011 to 2018, with a very brief stint in the arts festival business. And in that time, I’d got myself a personal trainer. An amazing personal trainer I might add (check her out over at Jamie Anne Nutrition and Fitness). Over six years, Jamie transformed me from an unfit, lethargic person, obsessed with being skinny and trying to starve myself into being so, to a strong, fit, muscular and confident woman who achieved things she never thought possible. I couldn't even run to the end of the street when I started training; now I run half marathons. I discovered that I loved exercise, and what’s more, I was actually good at it. The thrill of overcoming barriers and smashing goals was incredible. I started doing obstacle courses and physical challenges and I couldn’t get enough of getting dirty in the great outdoors - now they’re my life.

Then, on 23rd July 2017, I had a life-altering experience. Me and my partner had got into bouldering and we were getting pretty good at it. I’d been attempting their highest wall (approximately 15 feet, perhaps a bit higher), which is also angled so the higher you climb, the more you’re forced to lean back and pull your body weight. I’d been trying to get to the top of this wall for weeks and would just miss the last boulder every time. They regularly changed the routes so I was determined not to walk away that day without having succeeded. After a few falls, I was getting tired and frustrated but my pride overtook reason and I rushed back up the wall. I got to the final boulder - only to lose my grip unexpectedly and plummet to the crash mat before I knew what was happening. Because the fall was sudden, I didn't have time to land safely and I fell at an angle onto my outstretched right arm, dislocating my elbow from its joint. I was extremely lucky and recovered in a couple of months after some physiotherapy, with no surgery required and no severe lasting damage, and now I’m lifting weights heavier than ever, doing handstands, chin ups, press ups, olympic clean and press etc.... I was so grateful not to lose the use of my arm - if I couldn’t weight train ever again I would have been devastated. The accident taught me a valuable lesson about respecting my own boundaries and not allowing pride to compromise personal safety - but it also shocked me into realising that I was still alive. I walked away with an injury that day - an injury that fortunately was fairly simple and hasn’t stopped me doing what I love - but I may not have walked out of there at all. If I’d fallen differently...

By the time of my recovery, I’d come to the realisation that I just wasn’t happy in my work and that something had to change. I’d had several different roles in the publishing and arts industry and worked for various people, and although I’d made some wonderful friends and had great experiences, I constantly felt restless. Over the years I’d become increasingly more stressed and anxious, overburdened with deadlines and a slave to my emails, even well outside office hours. I was exhausted all the time, emotionally as well as physically, and I wasn’t a pleasant person to be around at home. Negativity clung to me like a second layer of skin. I hated being in a chair, glued to a computer screen all day, and I’d developed a bad habit of comfort snacking. I wanted out of the 9 to 5 routine. I wanted adventure. And more than anything, I wanted work that felt rewarding. I wanted to feel like I was making a difference to peoples’ lives. Gradually, it dawned on me that I could have lost my life that day in the climbing centre, and I realised that the time for hesitation was over. If I wanted things to change in my life, I had to make that change happen while I had the chance. No point in sticking at something that was making me miserable. Life was for living.