The man who takes responsibility for much of our online personal trainer work is Martyn Sklayne.  Let me tell you that online coaching is a wholly different ballgame from regular one-to-one personal training.  It is in fact significantly harder in many ways.  The lack of personal contact makes establishing the right relationship more challenging, the feedback, from a body composition and gym training perspective, must be proactivley and relentlessly sought after otherwise vital signposts and markers can be missed, and communication must be really on point so that the client gets the right amount of respect and nurturing.

It takes a special character to be able to do of this effectively and make a really good online personal trainer, and I will be the first to admit that as a business we slightly dropped the ball in the past with our online team.  With hindsight we used a former employee who had the knowledge but neither the temperament, maturity, professionalism, or interest in helping others to make it work with those clients who rightly wanted that “little bit extra”.  Several refunds later I thought we may have to draw a line in the online personal training offering, as it wasn’t working to the “real life” standard that we have worked so hard to become known for around the world.  What really changed and propelled it forward is Martyn, fulfilling the role of that special character we needed, throwing his considerable talents into the ring.  A details person, passionate about all things to do with improving the body, health and performance, who, if I may be blunt in my language for a second, really does give a shit.  It is this latter quality, when combined with his endless quest for knowledge, that sets him apart.

The following is an interview we recently conducted to help introduce him to a wider audience, as both an online personal trainer, and as a one-to-one PT:

UP:  Martyn, you are a competitive bodybuilder and I know you to be a highly committed and resourceful “real-life” and online personal trainer, is there room for much else in your life?

Martyn Strutting His Stuff Onstage

MS: Well despite the impression that I sleep in a bath tub of branch chain amino acids and sleep with a Ronnie Coleman doll I do have a life outside of the gym. I am thankfully married to a beautiful and exciting wife who enjoys adventures as much as I do. We often go on long walks and try new things such as scuba diving and learning new languages. I’m also a keen cook and enjoy experimenting in the kitchen, bodybuilding food certainly doesn’t have to be boring. I even baked my own gluten free wedding cake!

I am also an avid reader of history and psychology and enjoy deep movies that make you think.

UP:  You have been a personal trainer for longer than the general industry lifetime average.  How long have you been a trainer, and what made you become one in the first place?

MS: I have been a personal trainer since 2004. I gained first my qualifications through WABBA ( World Amateur Bodybuilding Federation) which provided me with a much higher greater knowledge of training and nutrition common in many fitness industry qualifications today, with the exception of Poliquin certifications.

I first decided to become a personal trainer months after joining a gym originally to rehabilitate a knee injury I had sustained in the Armed Forces.

I wasn’t satisfied with the guidance and answers I was receiving from the instructors at the gym so I decided to do it myself and get qualified. I chose a WABBA qualification as the only personal trainer who seemed to have any idea of how to train himself held this qualification. Unfortunately he was also a drummer with a touring stage show so was seldom at the gym to talk to.

I was at an impasse with my career, working in retail at the time. After gaining my qualifications it dawned on me that it would logical to use my qualifications to carve a career in the fitness industry and it gradually snowballed from there.

UP:  And how has the personal training industry changed over the years, and is it for the better or worse?  Are there good / bad trends that you see?

MS: I think the standard of personal training has decreased in recent years. Qualification times have been reduced down to 6 weeks and courses are often given away very cheaply or even for free which has attracted people looking for something that’ll earn them a bit more than a ‘Mac Job’.

Many of them are promised to get rich quick with personal training, the dream of earning £40+ per hour appeals to them. Unfortunately many of them don’t have any idea how to train themselves, let alone anyone else and are often out of shape. I’m sorry and maybe I will be accused of elitism but as a personal trainer you are you own walking billboard and if you are out of shape you should be ashamed to call yourself a trainer.

This culture has been further worsened by the larger gym chains operating ruthless business and recruitment programmes that pretty much saturate the gym floors with inexperienced and useless personal trainers who’s faces change almost every other week. They recruit volumes of trainers that they know there isn’t the business to support. This forces a very cutthroat atmosphere and I have seen some nasty practices of trainers competing for business, often with clients being stolen.

The bad trends I see is the constant reinvention of training and ‘toys’ that are introduced. What you cannot get away from is that good old fashioned hard work with basic barbells and dumbbells will yield far greater results than any faddy vibration or balance training. People are looking for an easy way to get results. Hard work get results!

Thankfully there are also some positive trends over the last few years as people get back to the old school style of training and nutrition. Charles Poliquin and of course Nick Mitchell have been very influential in this field and their no bull approach to training and nutrition has produced some amazing results for their respective clients.

Charles Poliquin also continues to further education to personal trainers who are serious about being the best they can be in the industry through his various PCIP, BioSignature Modulation courses and Internships. He is constantly updating his practices providing the cutting edge of education in the fitness industry.

The fish is gigantic, it just looks small next to Martyn!

UP: You have some interesting life experiences outside of the gym.  I know for instance that you are a bit of a dark horse and were once in the French Foreign Legion.  What life lessons have you picked up that give you a potential advantage over a less experienced trainer?

MS:  I think that my life experiences give me an advantage over a less experienced trainer as it has given taught me to value determination and what really counts as  “hardship”. Your perception of something being difficult is all dependent on what you have previously experienced, once you raise the bar high everything else seems easier. Glenn Parker is a perfect example of this, as a former Para he is an absolute animal in the gym. I have total respect for this work ethic.

I think my life experiences have made it very clear to me that an intelligent approach combined with hard work will give you the results you want. I’m very studious and strategic in my thinking and like to plan and research deeply what I do. I also do sometimes rely on impulse, listening to your body is sometimes the best way.

I absolutely believe that you can carve your own destiny and I do not like setting limitations. The power of the mind is incredible, you have to believe it before you can achieve it. (I’m not sure who I stole that quote from but it’s a good one!)

Martyn believed he could find a girl to marry him…and he achieved!!

UP:  And do you feel that the specific bodybuilding experience, including the highly focused and specific nature of competition preparation, helps give you a competitive advantage as a personal trainer?

MS: Yes I believe that being a competitive bodybuilder gives me a huge advantage as a trainer. I am my own science lab and I have tried hundreds of different methods of training and nutrition to see what works. I feel this allows me to better apply this experience to helping my clients get results. It’s also allowed me to shift through the bullshit and learn to ignore trends and fads. Nothing beats determination and persistently pursuing a vision of what you want to achieve. I hate people rationalizing and making excuses why they can’t achieve something, you are in control of your own destiny!

Bodybuilding is one of the hardest sports in regards to over reaching. It’s the complete flip of most sports where at your peak you are performing your best and feeling your strongest.

In bodybuilding you are trying to peak to look your best when in fact you probably feel your worst, feeling tired, depleted and weak. Coupled with the fact that a long diet will leave you feeling smaller in your clothes (when in fact you look bigger when onstage) it is a mind game that many people can’t tolerate for up to 20 weeks

UP: You were very well established and successful at your previous gym, what made you move to UP?  I assume my charm alone didn’t make you switch?!

MS: It was your warm and welcoming stare you presented to me back at the Dave Beattie powerlifting seminar when I attempted to ask a question at the same time as you of course!

UP: Laughs out loud!

MS: No really I reached a stage where I felt I had progressed as far as I could ay my previous gym where I was based. I wanted to be part of a team of like minded people who were as passionate and interested in training and nutrition as I was. After a long research I decided UP was the place to be, seeing the consistent results its trainers were getting with clients. It has not been a mistake and I am thoroughly enjoying being part of the UP team, I learn something new from other trainers every day, I am a constant student to my own trade, I would be a fool to think I knew everything there is.

UP:  What do you feel that UP brings to the table that hasn’t been replicated anywhere else?

MS:  I think that UP has the most concentrated pool of talent with the personal trainers. It’s also lead from the front by a management who are not afraid to talk straight and show potential future clients that they have the ability to get fantastic results but they have to be prepared to work for it. We promise people results if they put the time and effort in, nothing more, nothing less

I respect that honesty and integrity in business practices in an industry which is saturated by fads and con men promising quick results for little effort. Why on earth would you want to pay someone £60+ per hour to talk to them and not see any physical improvements at the end to it? If you want to talk to someone interesting then go the pub and buy a war veteran a pint, he’ll be a lot more interesting to talk to than an egotistical personal trainer!

UP:  Do you think that personal training is something that benefits most clients? And what sort of clients do you enjoy working with / enjoying working with you?

MS: I think personal training benefits people who are really ready for change. Personal training should be more a mentorship. You should be able to teach the client practices which they can carry forward in their lives to maintain healthier lifestyle and exercise habits to keep the fat off.

I don’t however think personal training is right for someone who just wants quick results without putting the real work in the kitchen.

Clients should be informed from the beginning that if they see a trainer for 4 hours a week there is another 164 in a week in which they can screw up and undo the good work done in the gym. It needs to be a comprehensive approach incorporating training, good nutrition and lifestyle practices to get the best results. You also cannot just revert back to you old lifestyle practices afterwards and expect to maintain the shape you achieved. When you are on a mission then be on a mission.

However maintaining a good physique doesn’t have to mean living like a monk either. I’m personally a regular visitor for a curry or a piece of gluten free cake on Brick lane on weekends. I’ve even taken out my clients out for dinner there on occasion to show them!

UP:  You are a man who has been physically active all his life.  Can you relate to the more sedentary people who are likely to come to you as clients?

MS: Well I have been more active since I was in my late teens. I was young and bouncy as a child, climbing up trees and doing a lot of cycling on a single gear bike (possibly explains my legs). I did however go through a phase of my life as a teenager where I was quite rotund and over weight.

I was the short, fat geeky kid who used to get picked on. I didn’t enjoy sport much and used to hide I the woods when our P.E. teacher used to take us out for cross country running. My idea of a good lunch was a white bread banana sandwich and I was a regular visitor to the vending machines.

Most of my family are very overweight also so I don’t think I scored too high on the genetic lottery, my father died from an obesity related heart condition. What I do have is stubbornness though, when I want to achieve something I make it happen!

I came to a stage where I had enough, lost a lot of weight boxing (too much really, I went down to nine stone) and then eventually opted for a career in the armed forces. I build up a bit of muscle there but ultimately injured my knee. It has been my hard work in the gym since 2003 which has largely progressed me to the level of strength and development that I possess today. I still have a long way to go though, I plan on winning a pro natural bodybuilding card and most natural bodybuilders do not peak until their late 30’s or early 40’s. I’m just barely hitting 30 this year, I’m a relative baby in the realm of bodybuilding still!

UP: You are a key part of UP online training team; what do you enjoy about that, and do you see any clear positives and negatives to the process?  If any negatives, what do you do to address these issues?

MS: I enjoy being able to reach out to people internationally to help them achieve superior results with their training. It brings me in touch with a broad and diverse mixture of people which helps me further expand and develop my methods in coaching.

I feel that the regular contact that the online training provides allows me to keep people on track better with both their nutrition and training, by utilizing online applications such as Google documents and nutrition tracking software I am able to follow people’s progress more carefully, stepping in when necessary to help get them back on track.

The main negative to online training is ensuring that the client is performing the exercises with the correct form, enough intensity and appropriate tempo prescriptions. To remedy this I often ask my clients to film themselves performing an exercise so that I can correct them. It can also be difficult to diagnose where a person might have certain structural restriction, this is something I will always be able to do best in face to face contact. What I do though instead is to get them photograph themselves from many angles. I can then often spot where there might be patterns of dysfunction, such as rounded back and shoulders, tight pectorals, abnormal pelvic tilt etc.

Martyn takes his protein cans, multi vitamins, and foam roller everywhere he goes…

UP: Is it rewarding helping people all over the world in your role as an online personal trainer?

MS: It is highly rewarding to help people all over the world and I am happy to have taken responsibility for the online training side of Ultimate Performance. I look forward to it expanding and growing in the years to come while achieving some great results along the way.

Just this week we received a testimonial from one of Martyn’s online personal training clients, so I thought I’d add this in as the conclusion of this interview.  It really just encapsulates all that Martyn is about and he should take great pride in such positive feedback:

“As a personal trainer I have a passion to get myself into the best possible physical shape and am not afraid to put the hard work and effort in to do so.  Getting myself into good condition wasn’t enough, I wanted more, which is what led me to UP online personal training.  Having known Martyn through our time working at the same commercial gym and hearing about his achievements I knew he would be the perfect online personal trainer to help me to achieve what I crave.  Whenever he spoke to me I listened with intent, picking up useful tips here and there.  Now that I have been using UP’s online personal training services I have been able to utilise his vast knowledge extensively.  

I could not be more happy with the quality and level of service I have been given.  Everything has been laid out in exact detail (just how I like it) regarding training and nutrition.  Martyn has been extremely efficient in answering all of my emails (of which there have been many!) with a plethora of questions.  Every time I have received a very fast and detailed response.  He keeps in regular contact, requesting weekly updates which is very reassuring, showing that he cares about the progress of his clients.  He emphasises the fact that questioning is the way to progress and gain more knowledge and is always encouraging me to use his knowledge.

In a nutshell I am more than satisfied with UP and Martyn’s online personal training services and would strongly recommend him to anyone.  He is a testament to the quality of trainers you have.”