I met Jemal when I was recruiting for the first Fighting Chance Programme in August 2015,

He was unemployed at the time so was therefore eligible to do the course and said he wouldn’t mind learning a few Boxing skills.

I found out he was a qualified Level 3 Personal Trainer but he’d had difficulties in the fitness sector – even after finding employment.

Jemal explained to me that it wasn’t as straightforward as just getting a job.

He recently he had taken a position in a well known gym chain but had found it near enough impossible to make a living.

He told me these gyms charge their personal trainers upwards of £1000 per month rent , telling Trainers they will make it easily by charging clients £50 per hour for PT.

This wasn’t the case for Jemal and it just didn’t stack up financially for him .He ended up struggling to meet his bills and wasn’t making any money at all in fact it was getting him into debt.

We arranged for him to join The Fighting Chance course.

Whilst on my course I got to know him a bit better and found out he was passionate about body culture, strength and conditioning training and particularly Calisthenics (training that just uses your own bodyweight for resistance).

Jemal is one of an ever increasing group of people that reject training in mainstream gyms and work out using no weights whatsoever in parks, their homes or any available free spaces using unbelievable core strength and their own bodyweight to perform incredible manoeuvres such as the Human Flag.

Along with other like minded individuals he trains outside ,favouring open air workouts in a recreational outdoor space in Primrose Hill Park right opposite London Zoo over gym weight training .They train outdoors ,rain or shine to hone their skills and sculpt their physiques.

At our one to ones which took place after training Jemal and another participant expressed an interest in starting their own business.

We arranged for a Startup company (Urban MBA) to come and deliver a talk about the basics of starting your own business.

On the day the talk was well received and Jemal was signed up onto their programme.

Since that day Urban MBA have given Jemal a template for starting a business with regular steps to achieve which he has used to good effect and with their support registered his company and business and set up a website www.jsbodyworks.com

Jemal has since won £3000 at a ‘Dragons Den’ type pitching event and also found a job via Urban MBA as a Part Time Gym Instructor.

In addition he has started running both outdoor classes and indoor workouts in conjunction with Islington Boxing Club and is beginning to increase his class sizes.

The next thing he wants to do once he’s trialed his process is expand this training concept by developing it into a package that can be rolled out across gyms or gym chains.
He’s such an ambitious guy he’s sure to do well.