Welcome to The Forge….

What better way to kick off 2017 than with a blog storpersonal trainery about Ballymoney-based personal training business, The Forge, which is bound to be extra inspiring at this time of year. Run by Grace Smith, The Forge has experienced impressive growth since its official launch in November 2016, with a waiting list already in place for clients.

Indeed, such is the success of this new personal training venture that Grace has been inundated with requests not only by aspiring new members, but also, by other trainers, seeking her advice. Just how has she done it? What’s the secret to her success?

Having worked with Grace previously at the Coleraine Chronicle newspaper – me as a journalist and Grace as a page designer and tech expert – it’s great to see a former colleague doing so well in her new business.

2013 was a big year for us both, as I had just left the paper and was taking steps towards remoulding my own career, while Grace was changing her nutritional outlook, starting training and beginning to forge a brand new path for herself….

Weight loss and weightlifting: The perfect combination for health

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Fuelled by a passion for nutrition, fitness and helping people to live healthier lives, Grace Smith has carved out a very successful career as a personal trainer (PT) in a relatively short space of time. Just three years ago, she was working as a designer at a local newspaper – now she’s an in-demand PT designing – not pages – but personal fitness plans for more than 30 clients.

She’s also, like a lot of small business owners, juggling a whole lot of other things in between, including marketing work for the business, admin and everything else that goes with the job. The Forge is her exciting new venture and she’s certainly making her mark up on the North Coast – and beyond – as she even has clients flying in to take sessions when they’re back in the country.

weight loss

Grace post-Forge (L) and before The Forge (R).

The Forge wasn’t a lifelong goal for Grace, however. As she says herself: “It all happened completely accidentally. I didn’t see it coming….”

In 2013, Grace was overweight – more than 100lbs heavier than she is now to be precise – so she decided to get fit and improve her health.

Thus began her new regime of healthy eating, CrossFit training and weightlifting. Grace quickly developed a passion for fitness, taking part in CrossFit competitions and winning multiple awards. In 2016 she was subsequently handpicked to be part of the National NI Weightlifting Coach Development Squad and she’s now a qualified weightlifting coach, nutrition advisor, strength and conditioning coach.

Despite all this however, it was fate and a random request from a colleague that put Grace on the road to opening her own fitness business.

“I was in the middle of a CrossFit competition when I injured my knee badly,” she says. “I found out later that it was a genetic condition, but it basically forced me to completely retire from CrossFit and weightlifting.

“I was doing that seven days a week, so I went from doing it every day to never being able to do it again. I started a new job and my colleagues quickly learned that I had a background in fitness and had lost a lot of weight. In January 2016 one of them asked me to train him and help him lose weight. I thought – I don’t have anything else to do – my knee was sore and I couldn’t train myself, so why not focus on helping someone else?”

After injuring her knee, Grace had also started a personal training course, so thought training her workmate would tie in well with that.

“I helped him from the start of January – his goal was to run the Run Mucker Run obstacle course in Ballymoney,” she says. “I did his training four to five days a week; gave him equipment and nutritional advice … and he did the run. He met his goal. That turned his life around because he had wanted to run it for years.

“From that, about five or six other people from work then asked me to train them, so I was then working with about eight or nine people.”2016-12-05 17.27.00-8

Obtaining her personal training qualifications at the end of April, Grace was delivering her PT sessions both at home and in various local gyms. She realised, however, that she needed a dedicated space to train and decided to convert a room at her house into a personal training studio.

“In May I stripped it and renovated it and got equipment,” she says. “Then I opened the business on May 21, 2016.”

Starting off with 10 clients – all working on different fitness programmes – Grace was, however, juggling her personal training work with her full-time job. Indeed, her rather punishing schedule involved doing a full day at the office, finishing at 5pm and then heading on to her PT sessions for 5.30pm.

“I did two to three personal training sessions five nights a week, until November 25 last year,” she says. “That was my last day at my full-time job.”

Having worked two jobs for six months, Grace was offered a promotion to a more managerial role at her full-time job. She realised it was now or never – if she accepted the position, it would almost certainly mean a rise through the ranks, but it would also likely put an end to any ambitions for a PT business.

“I thought – if I leave now, I’ll be ready for January,” she says. “I went from 11/12 clients to over 30 in just six weeks. I’m now over-booked and there’s a waiting list.”

Working with each client one-to-one, Grace offers what she says is a unique service in the local area – individualised fitness programmes that are bespoke to every person. She’s also keen to point out that she doesn’t offer a quick-fix solution to weight problems. Having been through the entire experience herself, she knows the value of maintaining a healthy eating and fitness regime and instead, offers long-term, dedicated support within these areas.

“Training is challenging but should also be fun,” she says. “Have fun. Eat well. Train well.

Some of Team Forge.

Some of Team Forge.

“I’m training people for the army; triathletes; runners and people who just want to be healthy. My youngest client is 18 and the oldest is 68. I really love mobility, so I’m passionate about helping older people to move the way they should. It’s all about getting back functional movements and balance. I build that into the programmes. If you move better, you feel better.”

Meanwhile, women aged from 21 to 67 are in at The Forge lifting weights and building their strength up, which Grace says is a joy to watch.

“It’s great having women in and seeing them get into lifting weights safely and enjoying the feeling of being strong,” she says. “Weights are good for the back and knees. And, if you have existing injuries, it’s all about knowing how to work around those injuries and how to programme people correctly to build up strength.”

Team Forge

For those who wish to join The Forge, a waiting list is currently in operation and if a slot does become available, it goes to the next person on that list. Clients can choose from three different membership options, with a minimum one-month sign-up at the outset.

Programmes include:

– Kickstart – four PT sessions/month

– Strong and Lean – eight PT sessions/month (most popular)

– Fit for Life – 12 sessions/month

“I implemented quite early on the ‘no signing up for two days after you visit The Forge’ rule,” adds Grace.

The reason? To make sure those signing up, have given it proper thought and attention and are really passionate and committed to becoming part of Team Forge.

The Book

Aside from everything else, Grace is also launching a book in early February, which is currently only available to Team Forge. Having been asked frequently about meal plans, she’s keen to educate people about nutrition and fitness – helping them makhealthy eatinge the best choices, which they can tuse into the future.

“Food shouldn’t be the enemy,” she says.

Packed full of recipes (‘100 recipes that helped me to lose 11lbs), the book subsequently offers practical advice from someone who has lived it and continues to live it out herself….

 

Quick Q&A

What’s the biggest challenge you face in your business?

“Scheduling my own time. I’m the business in every sense of the word. I have to programme for the clients, take the personal training sessions; I’m my own marketer and social media manager. I do all the accounts etc. that’s the main challenge – time management. I also still do freelance web design work.

“The most time-consuming thing is the preparation as I have 30 different programmes to write per month and no two sessions are the same, unless I benchmark it.”

What’s your top tip – from one business person to another?

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“Install systems. If you’re doing social media, what’s your system for that? For example, The Forge has its own Facebook group and there’s something different posted every day. It follows the same pattern every week.

“I also have systems with my booking platforms – for example, I use a platform called TeamUp, which lets clients buy packages and book their appointments. I also have a system in place for my programming – I have a collection of apps for that.

“If you don’t have systems, you end up working in the business all the time, and not on it. With my business, I have to build people around me. Because I offer one-to-one sessions, people would never meet properly, so I’ve created an online community with Team Forge. I also have a Forge mobile app.

“Another tip – know your clients inside out.”

What are your plans for the future?

“I want to train people online as well. I’ve already been doing it for the past few months, but haven’t advertised it. Within the next two to three months I want to have my online programme and website launched. People can then programme their own workouts at home. I could train anybody anywhere in the world.”

What’s in a name…?

“The surname ‘Smith’ originates from the blacksmith trade, where metal is forged from its original form into something new and unique. The Forge was founded to be a different kind of personal training, with genuine, individual attention to clients’ unique goals and lifestyles.”

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Website: http://theforge.pt/

Find The Forge on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/forgept

Chat on Twitter: https://twitter.com/theforgept

Sneak a peek on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theforgept/

Swing by on SnapChat: snapchat.com/add/ForgePT