We had a chat with Bailey Smith, our newest personal trainer, who hails all the way from the UK. Bailey’s been spending his time getting to know the Habit team, helping his clients meet their fitness goals, and exploring windy Wellington.
I’ve moved over with a friend to try something new. We moved to New Zealand in January and started off doing some travel around the North and South Islands - that was an awesome experience. We knew we’d settle in Auckland, Wellington or Christchurch, and after spending just a few hours, we knew Wellington was where we wanted to be.
There’s so much on offer here - lots of quirkiness and culture. There’s always something going on, plus the Habit Health team here are really knowledgeable and friendly, and it’s a nice environment to be in.
I’ve always liked the idea of being able to help people. Gyms can be pretty intimidating and confusing places sometimes, so I get a lot of satisfaction from helping people to build their confidence in the gym and seeing the progress they can make once they start working with a PT.
I graduated from university in Leeds with a degree in sports therapy and rehabilitation and went out to work with a semi-professional football team where I worked on strength and injury prevention pre-season, injuries during the season, and one-to-one with players on general strength and conditioning. From there, I knew that I wanted to get into a gym environment and keep helping people, so I moved into a PT role within a gym, doing similar work. And now, here I am, getting to do the same awesome work at Habit Health.
I work with all kinds of people with different goals, whether it’s someone who’s never set foot in a gym before or an experienced athlete. I’ve also got a lot of experience working with people who have injuries, which means I focus on injury prevention with my clients, depending on their hobbies.
You’ll get a lot more out of it than you think you will. You’ll build the confidence to push yourself more, and I’ll be there to support you. Whether someone doesn’t know the right technique or the right exercises, or both - having someone to help does wonders. There’s also a level of accountability - it’s hard to slack off with a PT who’s looking after you.
I take a very collaborative approach - I see it as more of a team effort than an individual journey. I get people looking at their goals and understanding how we can work together to best achieve them.
I try to keep my clients engaged by selecting or changing up exercises that I know they enjoy and want to engage in. That makes it more fun for both of us!
I’m around Monday to Friday between mornings from 7-8am and Monday and Wednesday evenings from 2pm until 5.30-6pm.