Blake agreed to take me on as his apprentice in September 2009 for a 6 month period. I had come from a corporate background and in light of undertaking this career change to personal training we collectively decided the focus of my development would need to be technical and practical rather than commercial.

Six months later I can look back retrospectively and realize how far I have come under Blake’s tutelage. I have found my niche in catering for sports specific clients and golf in particular. Blake offered me support, encouragement and guidance in pursuing this goal through some 1:1 training as well as suggesting wider reading and recommendations of external industry leaders where I could seek additional development.

I consider myself to have a strong command of the fundamentals for personal training including strength training and muscle gain, fat loss, core conditioning, posture and injury rehabilitation. A big part of my personal journey came from experiencing my own rehab from a long standing injury to my knee. Through Blake’s structured programming I am now delighted to be playing soccer and squash again to a level I never thought possible of returning to.

I have already confidently prescribed similar exercises for my rehab clients and guided them through to a full recovery from their injuries as well as achieving great results with weight loss and muscle gain clients. I have also embraced Blake’s philosophy regarding holistic health; whilst my specializations lie elsewhere, I am delighted that I am now in a position to provide guidance and counsel to my clients in areas such as sleep, stress, nutrition and digestive health.

I consider this apprenticeship vehicle to have been an accelerated learning platform that has provided me with an excellent springboard to surpass the competency levels of my peers of similar experience levels. I can honestly say that the learning and development I have gained from this experience has exceeded my expectations and catapulted me to a level I had not expected to reach by this juncture. I wholeheartedly recommend this approach to any trainer seeking to gain a competitive edge over their peers and fast track their technical skills.

Alex Hinchcliffe