I’m a personal trainer but not a stereotypical one. Whilst I enjoy sculpting bodies and prepping people for powerlifting competitions (and have had great success with this type of activity) I feel my greatest achievement is that of increasing people’s confidence and self-esteem.
Hi! My name is Adam Parker – also known affectionately as ‘The Tashman’…
About Me
My enthusiasm for this stems from personal experience. I have suffered from anxiety and depression my whole life and know how intimidating gyms can be. My job is therefore to make the gym a less scary place and a place of escape from issues rather than an issue itself.
So, a little about that personal experience. Nine years ago I was a 10 stone depressive with low self-esteem and a lot of self-hate. I found my Personal Trainer angel Sian Ripley. She never pushed me – instead she guided me, motivated instead of belittled, and built me up instead of knocking me down. She is my benchmark for my style of personal training. I started to grow in size, strength, and confidence and after five years I was 13 stone and holding my head high.
I then started to get bored. I struggled to bodybuild as I was not a natural bodybuilder and got frustrated with my growth. I was impatient in those days but then went to watch my first powerlifting competition at the Edmund Road Iron Athlete and was hooked. I trained and competed at several club-level competitions and at 79kg had a 170kg squat, 120kg bench, and 200kg deadlift. Then came the injuries, powerlifting to compete became a risk and rehab more important – another reason for completing my Level 3 NHS referral Personal Training course.
Around this time, and following 15 years working in retail management, I realized that I deserved to enjoy my job and with what little savings I had quit to start up Mean, Clean & Lean. Initially, this was a meal prep company, utilizing my nutrition and gastronomy knowledge and chef’s training focused on supporting the dietary needs of those undertaking Personal Training. This complemented the Personal Training I was offering having completed my Level 3 Personal Training. Since then I have refined the food side of the business to develop tailored diet plans, which I feel makes better use of my time and knowledge than actually preparing the meals. Meanwhile, the Personal Training side has gone from strength to strength (pun intended!) with hundreds of satisfied clients over the last two years – testimonials from a few of these are below. I feel very satisfied to have played an important part in improving these clients’ confidence and wellbeing and greatly look forward to improving the lives of hundreds more.
