The best private personal training space in Northampton

We have a fabulous personal training studio, and we don’t show it off enough! We talk a lot about our knowledge, experience, approach, and results. And why wouldn’t we? We’re proud of all those things. But we’re also proud of our studio because we believe it’s the best private personal training space in Northampton.

In this post, we’ll explain why we think our personal training studio is the best in town.

Private

What does it mean, ‘private’? It means it’s not open to the public, and you can’t ‘join’; there is no membership, so you won’t find lots of people coming and going.

If you come to the studio, it’s because you’re a client and you have an appointment. And because all our appointments are 1-1 training sessions with a personal trainer, there will only ever be you, your coach, and, maybe, one or two other clients with their coaches. I say ‘maybe’ because some times of the day are less busy than others so that you may find yourself alone with your coach and the whole studio to yourself. Or if you train at a popular time, you may find you are sharing the gym with – gasp! – one or two other clients.

Our clients love this privacy and the lack of hordes and prying eyes. They either don’t like the gym environment with its typical characters or feel too self-conscious to go to a commercial gym. So, our studio’s privacy offers a sanctuary where our clients can train without feeling intimidated or self-conscious.

And nobody can get in either. The front door is locked, and access is via a keypad in non-COVID times. In a COVID world, your coach will let you in.

Calm, spacious, warm

It’s not a cluttered space. Although there is lots of equipment, it’s tucked away so that the main area is free. So you won’t feel hemmed in.

Because there are no crowds of people, nothing frenetic going on and no pumping music, it’s a calm space. Of course, it doesn’t feel relaxed when you’re puffing hard in the middle of a set. But you certainly won’t get an assault on the senses.

The studio is also warm. It’s not single glazed, and it’s not a draughty industrial unit. We have double glazing, which allows us to control the climate. If it gets a bit warm in the summer, we just open the windows and let the breeze cool us down.

Well-equipped

The huge variety of equipment is probably the feature of the studio of which we’re most proud. There’s very little we don’t have! Here’s a rundown

Power rack

We use this for heavy lifts. We do squats, rack pulls, bench presses, pull-ups, dips, and various other exercises. The rack is essentially where we rack loaded bars and perform lifts. But it also happens to have a variety of pull-up and chinning handles.

Lifting platform

This is a proper platform where you can perform deadlifts and Olympic lifts. With the Olympic lifts, that means you can dump the weight from overhead onto the platform. But, because the surface is smooth, you can use it for sliding stuff across, as you might do with hamstring sliders or towel slides.

Track

When we moved in, we had the partition walls removed so we could put in a turf track along the length of the downstairs. We use it for all sorts of exercises. Sled pulls and pushes are a particular favourite, but it’s also used for walking lunges, shuttle runs, frog hops, dynamic balance drills, and so on.

Dumbbells

We have a full set of dumbbells from 1 kg up to 35 kg and another set from 1 to 12.5 kg. If you think 35 kg is not enough, we have some 5 kg cuffs that enable us to take it to 40 kg when required.

It is very little you can’t do with dumbbells and a bench. They are so versatile; they are essential training studio equipment.

Kettlebells

Our kettlebells go from 4 kg up to 28 kg. These are great for cardio drills, powerful movements, endurance training, and quirky lifts like the Turkish get-up.

A range of bars and plates

We have two sets of Olympic bumper plates from 5 kg to 25 kg, plus ten smaller 5 kg plates and another eight 20 kg plates. We load these onto our range of bars and on the leg press.

We have a variety of bars. These include

• Two EZ bars
• Three 7 ft 20 kg Olympic bars
• One 7 ft 12 kg Olympic bar
• Two 5 ft 12 kg bars
• One safety bar – mainly used for squats
• One trap bar – mainly used for deadlifting

FT2 Functional trainers

We have two of these! Probably more versatile than dumbbells, these replace the array of plate-loaded machines you see in commercial gyms. With two adjustable pulleys, six other pulley attachments, a smith bar, and a pull-up bar, there’s virtually nothing you can’t do.

Here are some things you can do with the FT2 that you can’t do with the rest of our kit

• Seated rows and high rows
• Lat pulldown
• Triceps pushdown
• Straight arm pulldown
• Cable preacher curl and standing curl
• Cable crossover flyes
• Smith machine squats and presses
• Assisted pull up
• Leg curls and leg extensions
• Rotator cuff and shoulder stability drills
• Functional core drills such as chops and lifts
• Functional power drills such as rotating punches and lawnmower starts
• Palof press

And to go with this, we have a variety of handles, bars, and rope attachments.

Leg press

It’s a bit of a beast this! It’s a 45° plate-loaded press. We were going to get a plate-loaded press, but the stack wasn’t quite big enough. This was the next one up! Still, no matter how strong you are, the best will cater to your needs.

TRX

The TRX is for suspension training. You can work the whole body on the TRX, but it’s especially good for core and balance training.

Sled

There’s something primal about pushing a heavy sled. It’s very functional and very tiring! It’ll have you puffing hard afterward and heat you up for the rest of the day.

But you can also pull a sled. We have a battle rope that doubles as something to tie to the sled so you can pull it down the track. That’s also functional, primal, and even more panty!

Bands

We have a selection of standard resistance bands with carabiner attachments, as well as complete-loop power bands. These are great for adding or taking away resistance on other lifts. Or you can add a sideways resistance or rotational resistance to a standard move, turning it into something more functional and challenging.

Resistance bands are also great for postural drills, especially for rotator cuff and shoulder blade stability drills.

Steps

Steps are another versatile piece of equipment. We use them sometimes for plyometric exercises such as push-ups and alternating asymmetrical squats. Or we may use them to elevate a barbell. Or you may end up sitting on them to perform an exercise.

And, of course, they are essential if you want to do heel raises for your calves.

Medicine balls

Our medicine balls go from 1 to 5 kg. They’re great for core work and balance work.

Weighted vest

Our 30 kg weighted vest is out of action during the COVID pandemic, but we’re looking forward to getting back in action when it ends.

It’s great for adding resistance to bodyweight exercises such as push-ups and lunges. But we’ve also discovered it handy for weighing someone down whose trainers are slipping on a heavy sled push.

Hurdles

We have a set of cones and hurdles, which we lay along the track to offer speed and agility work. Have you ever tried frog hopping over hurdles? Ooh, it burns the thighs!

Agility ladder

Again, we can offer agility work with the ladder, and there are many different single legs and two-legged drills of varying complexity. Aim to get quicker and more accurate. Agility drills, done back to back, are excellent cardio and a lot more fun than the boring old treadmill.

Plyo box

Our soft plyo box has three heights for performing box jumps. Sometimes we’ll use a step and a bench to create a mini box jump assault course to train your ability to spring. And because it’s a softbox, it won’t take the skin off your shins if you miss a jump.

Battle rope

This is excellent cardio, and it’ll pump your shoulders up! You can trace various shapes with the rope, and you can also do slams to emphasise the core more.

Treadmill

Believe it or not, this is our least used piece of equipment. That’s because we don’t do cardio with clients. Sometimes we’ll do hill sprint drills, but otherwise, this machine stands idle! Anyone in Northampton looking to buy a treadmill?

Elliptical

Although we don’t do cardio with clients, some like to warm up on the elliptical. In the days when we used to allow clients to let themselves in on the personal door code, they might turn up early and warm up on the cross-trainer. But it’s also the cardio equipment of choice for the coaches.

Concept 2 rower

Every training space should have one of these. It’s supreme for high-intensity intervals, which is what we use it for a lot. It’s a great way to boost general fitness, but also the endurance of the legs and back.

Glute ham bench

It’s good to have some variety for hitting the glutes and hamstrings, two underdeveloped muscles in many people.

Farmer’s walk handles

These are plate-loaded bars with a thick handle to challenge your grip. You’ll have 47 kg in each hand if you put a 20 kg plate on each end. A heavy farmer’s walk is excellent for core and grip training. It’ll also build your upper traps, so be careful to keep that chest up!

Power bags

These are another versatile piece of equipment, great for functional movements and for adding weight to standard bodyweight lifts such as walking lunges. Because they are soft and easy to handle, you can load the weight in novel ways, such as at chest height in front or on one shoulder. This adds unusual challenges to the lifts that help to develop a strong, functional, and adaptable core.

Swiss ball

No gym would be complete without the ubiquitous Swiss ball. It’s great for core and balance training. And for popping your hamstrings!

Made to measure

As well as the gym space, we have a consultation room. We use this to have chats with clients and prospective clients. But mostly, we use it for photos and measurements.

It houses our body composition scanner that measures total fat and visceral fat, muscle mass, minerals, water content, fat, and muscle distribution, waist to hip ratio, BMI, biological age, and various other health and body composition parameters.

As well as our scanner, we have an anatomical tape measure, blood pressure cuff, and blood glucose strips. If you join one of our programmes, you’ll have your health markers checked.

Summary

It sounds good, doesn’t it? Can you see why we think this is the best private personal training space in Northampton? And who knows, maybe it’s the best in Northamptonshire!

Our personal training studio is private, spacious, calm, safe, warm, and well-equipped. It doesn’t matter how fit or capable you are, we have so much equipment variety that you’ll be guaranteed an appropriate and fun workout every visit. And, let’s not forget, we have some of the best coaches you can hire; our certificates fill the wall in our office. But we don’t just have qualifications; we have oodles of experience too, so you’ll get some of the best private personal training anywhere in Northampton.

Don’t let our maturity fool you, though; you’ll get a proper workout when you come here. After all, we have our track record of fantastic results to maintain!