One of the parts of my career I still look back on with a lot of pride was the community work we built alongside the personal training business.
On 6 July 2014, we held the third of our charity 5K fun runs at Lily Hill Park in Bracknell, raising money for local youth counselling charity Youthline.
Across the three years we ran these events, we raised thousands of pounds for Youthline.
Fitness bringing people together
The idea was never simply to organise another race.
We wanted the events to feel welcoming and community-focused, giving local people an opportunity to get active, challenge themselves and contribute towards something worthwhile at the same time.
That was increasingly becoming an important part of how I viewed fitness during this stage of my career.
Exercise could obviously improve someone’s health and fitness, but it could also be used as a way of bringing people together.
As I said in the newspaper at the time:
“I have found that exercise lifts barriers and brings people together.”
Looking back, I still believe that.
Supporting Youthline
Youthline was a cause we were particularly pleased to support.
The charity provides counselling and support for young people locally, and over the three years we ran the events we were able to raise thousands of pounds towards that work.
It was a good example of how something as simple as organising a run could create a wider impact.
People got active.
Families and friends came together.
And money was raised for an organisation doing important work within the local community.
Part of a bigger community project
These charity runs weren’t happening in isolation.
They ran alongside our free community boot camps in Bracknell and Yateley and formed part of a wider period where we were trying to use fitness to contribute something positive locally.
It became a significant chapter in my career.
The goal wasn’t particularly complicated.
We wanted to get more people moving, make exercise feel accessible and use the platform we had built through fitness to help support the community.
Looking back
My coaching career looks very different today, but I’m glad this period forms part of the story.
Some of the moments I’m proudest of from more than 20 years in the fitness industry aren’t necessarily individual training sessions or business milestones.
They’re things like seeing a park full of people exercising together.
Watching people cross the finish line of a 5K.
Raising thousands of pounds for Youthline.
And seeing fitness become a reason for people who might never otherwise have met to come together.
The 6 July 2014 event was the third of those charity runs, and looking back now it remains a really positive memory from that community-focused phase of my career.
Joseph Webb.
