Spire Life Ltd

Spire Life Ltd – Interview with Jonny Sayle.

I have signed up to do the Blenheim Triathlon this June and as it is my first triathlon and it will be my first time exercising in a while I thought that I would call on Jonny Sayle, owner of Spire Life Ltd, a personal training company to get me into shape and hopefully make the training process easier.

Jonny set up the company as he felt “it was the right thing to do”, as he has a degree in Sports Science and a flair for coaching. After teaching in several summer camps he felt it was “time to use the use the things that I am good at.” Jonny said, “There was a lot of demand from friends and family who were too busy for the gym and I decided to create a fitness concierge that was more fun than your regular workout.”

Spire Life is different from other personal training companies. “All of the people working for me are all of a certain standard, they are well educated and well spoken personable people. We are more qualified that most private companies and personality wise we can make exercise fun.” Including Jonny the company employs 10 freelance employees.

Before setting up Spire Life Jonny worked for a similar company but concentrated more on the business development side. He worked to launch the company onto the high street. A benefit of working for this company in the past Jonny feels, “working for other companies, I have seen where they have gone wrong and therefore it makes me want to do better for my company and not make the same mistakes.”

Jonny offers tailor made programmes for his clients. First he breaks down the goals that the particular client wants, whether it is to tone up, bulk up, lose weight etc. Then the timeline is discussed, how long they want to achieve their goals and a realistic time frame, taking into account how often they can train and how hard they can train. A nutrition plan can also be arranged. Jonny aims to “make training a challenge and as fun as possible and make it manageable by breaking it down into chunks.”

I wanted to know how Jonny would be able to get me ready for my triathlon. His reply was, “easy, we will structure a training programme and I will train with you, running together which will make it more fun and easier.”

Being based in London, Jonny says his typical clients are, “Chelsea housewives, aged from 30 to 60 years old. 65% of his total are female. I do however train a broad spectrum of people. At the moment I am training a national show jumper and I train International rugby clients. I train the Sisterhood (a group of women who do extreme challenges for charity) and also heavyweights from business and finance world.”

Jonny does not feel there are any clients that he couldn’t train. He says that he can tailor make a programme to anyone within reason. “At the moment I am training one client who had meningitis and had to have brain surgery as a result. Their coordination is very limited so we are having to go back to the basics in order to build this back up.”

“I also train people who are doing Ironmen Races and what I enjoy is not being confined to training just one type of person.”

With the plethora of celebrity personal trainers offering to train you to aquire the body of a celebrity, I asked Jonny if he aspired to be like these trainers, “yes and no. Yes in that, with the knowledge that I have I know I can offer a more unique and experimental training regime than most. No, because my client base has grown organically from personal referrals as I am good fun to train with. I don’t want people to train with me if they just want to look like a certain celebrity that I train and therefore sign up with me.”

Jonny’s prices are competitive and for the service that he provides, very reasonable. For a one to one personal training session it is £65 per hour. If you train with a partner, it is £30 per hour. If you book in blocks of 20+ sessions it is £55 per hour. Spire Life also offers sports massage which is £80-100 per hour depending if it is in your home or not and also life coaching which is £65 per hour.

A typical one to one personal training session would consist of interval training, strength and conditioning and flexibility, usually consisting of “yogaesque” exercises to warm down after a session.

Spire Life offers specialised training programmes, if like me, you want to get ready for a triathlon or a marathon. The company offers, pre and post natal training, rehab work – if you are recovering from an operation or an injured ligament etc. Also seasonal training say if you want to get fit for the ski season they will tailor make a programme to get particular muscles ready for your ski trip. Spire Life offers the obligatory “beach body” work out, being able to get you toned and ready for your holiday.

The name Spire Life was creates as Jonny “wanted something that was inspirational and directed towards housewives and mums. I wanted it to incorporate perspire – which you get through the training, inspire – which is from working with the body/wellbeing/mind and aspire – through the life coaching.”

Spire Life is much more than personal training, its aims are to look after the person as a whole, working on your fitness but also making you mentally fit as well. It is refreshing that they train with you rather than watching and barking orders at you. I am sure this is going to make it a lot easier to train and hopefully less painful. I look forward to my first training session with Jonny and hopefully this will kick start me into being fitter and healthier as a result.