About Your New Gym
in Preston, Lancashire

From rock bottom, to rebuilding, to leading a community. I didn’t come into the fitness industry through the usual door. I came through the hard one. I did my PT qualification in prison – at a time where my life felt completely derailed. When I was released at 32, I didn’t have a home, a job, or a clear identity. I lived in a friend’s spare room and tried to figure out who I was supposed to become. But I did have one thing that kept me together: training. The gym was the only place where my mind slowed down and my confidence started to rebuild. Hard workouts became therapy. Discipline became my anchor. Every rep, every session, taught me the same lesson: You can start again. You can rebuild. You can move forward – even if it’s slow, even if it’s painful.

A Different Path (and a Detour)
After getting out, I didn’t go straight into personal training. Instead, I ended up working with two friends to build Preston’s first health-food restaurant. And to our surprise – it worked. It became a success, and my training ambitions took a back seat. For a while, I thought that might be my future.

But in 2018, when we sold the business, something hit me hard: I felt lost again. Back to square one. No job. No direction. And because of my past criminal record – no easy route into employment. It was my partner who said the words that changed everything: “Why don’t you go back to what you love? Training. Helping people.”

It sounded mad. Risky. Unstable. But something in me knew she was right. So I backed myself for the first time in a long time. I went fully self-employed as a personal trainer… …with zero clients, zero security, and everything to prove.

The Rebuild – Round Two
Those early days were tough. Long hours. Doubts creeping in. No guarantee of money coming in. No blueprint for success. But the same lessons that saved me years earlier saved me again: Show up. Do the hard thing. Stay consistent. Build brick by brick.

Slowly, people started trusting me. Then more people. Then groups. Then a community. And eventually… Fit Forward was born. Not from a business plan. Not from a pile of investors. But from one man rebuilding his life and wanting to help others do the same.

What Fit Forward Really Stands For
Fit Forward isn’t just a gym. It’s a second chance – for anyone who needs it. It’s proof that your past doesn’t define your future. That you can rewrite your story at any age. That movement can be medicine. That discipline can rebuild a life. That community can change everything.

My entire journey – the setbacks, the detours, the failures, the restarts – shaped the core values we live by: Effort over ego. Progress over perfection. Community over competition. Forward over everything.

Where We’re Going – The Next 5 Years
Now, as Fit Forward stands strong with a community behind it and a clear identity, my vision is bigger than ever. Over the next five years, I want Fit Forward to become the place in Preston and across Lancashire where anyone – absolutely anyone – can walk in and feel hope again.

I want to help people overcome their struggles the same way training helped me overcome mine. I want to show people that discipline is transferable. That confidence is built, not found. That no matter your starting point, you can move forward.

My goal is simple: To impact thousands of people, not just physically, but mentally and emotionally. To turn people’s negatives into positives. To give people the same second chance fitness gave me. Because if training could save me… it can save anyone. And Fit Forward will be the place where that transformation begins.