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FEATURE<br />
Let’s get physical<br />
IN AN ATTEMPT TO KICKSTART A NEW FITNESS REGIME, AMY NORBURY GETS PUT THROUGH HER<br />
PACES BY LICHFIELD PERSONAL TRAINER RAUL ROMERO, OF AMBITION PERSONAL TRAINING<br />
“A few more seconds,” smiles<br />
Raul Romero as the class takes<br />
a collective last push through<br />
the final round of a gruelling<br />
workout. “Keep going…”<br />
It comes to something when<br />
the prospect of planking for<br />
50 seconds is the easiest, and<br />
possibly most enjoyable, part<br />
of a gym session, but Raul is<br />
certainly one for putting you<br />
through your paces. And then<br />
some.<br />
As founder of Lichfield-based<br />
Ambitional Personal Training,<br />
Raul puts his two decades of<br />
experience in the fitness industry<br />
to the test, helping clients fulfill<br />
their ambitions and achieve their<br />
health goals. His boutique studio<br />
in the heart of the city hosts daily small group classes<br />
as well as one-to-one sessions in a friendly, non<br />
intimidating yet challenging environment.<br />
After the obvious ‘new year, new you’ mindset which<br />
sees us rushing to the gym in our droves, eager and<br />
motivated - albeit often only temporarily - to whip<br />
our post-Christmas bodies into shape, it is these<br />
autumnal months which, says Raul, tend to see the<br />
biggest spike in people embarking on - or getting<br />
back into - a fitness regime. With the summer<br />
holidays a distant memory, kids back in school and<br />
the daily grind back into a more settled routine,<br />
many people find it easier to make time for a gym<br />
class.<br />
Fitness has been a lifelong passion for Raul. Growing<br />
up in Barcelona, he loved sport, particularly<br />
basketball and skateboarding, so it was only natural<br />
that he would pursue a career in fitness. After<br />
studying sports science at university, followed by a<br />
PGCE and Masters in Teamwork, he hit the ground<br />
running as a fresh-faced graduate where he gained<br />
experience in all the different sectors of the fitness<br />
industry, including as a fitness instructor, group class<br />
TRX IS AN INNOVATIVE<br />
SUSPENSION TRAINING<br />
SYSTEM<br />
instructor and personal trainer. And it was here that<br />
he was first introduced to the concept of TRX.<br />
TRX is the innovative suspension training system<br />
which is a major focus of Raul’s training methods.<br />
It uses your own bodyweight, constantly challenging<br />
the core while engaging a broad range of muscle<br />
groups all at once, improving total body strength and<br />
mobility.<br />
Raul was headhunted to set up a new gym in<br />
Barcelona from start to finish, where he was<br />
responsible for choosing the equipment, planning the<br />
design and space, creating the class timetables and<br />
managing and motivating the team of staff. He also<br />
introduced new and innovative TRX classes, which<br />
made the gym the first in Barcelona to boast the<br />
TRX and TRX classes.<br />
After moving to England in 2012 for the London<br />
Olympics, Raul met his wife and settled in the<br />
Midlands, working as a personal trainer at a bigname<br />
health club in Lichfield. He branched out on<br />
his own, setting up the Ambition Personal Training<br />
studio a year ago with the aim of offering a unique<br />
and quality personal training and small group class<br />
service to all those who want to reach their fitness<br />
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