From England Fast Bowler to Personal Trainer: The Beginning

As a fast bowler for England, I’m still riding high from our dramatic win against New Zealand in the 2019 World Cup Final (one of the best moments of my career) and with some great challenges ahead, I’m enjoying playing cricket as much as ever. Alongside everything I’m doing on the pitch, I’m also constantly on the lookout for opportunities off the pitch to increase my skillset, enhance my career and provide scope for the future…

Throughout my life, I’ve always been driven (and fascinated) by the small margins of error that exist within sport, which can be the difference between winning and losing. In professional sport, these margins become even more minute, with the stakes that much higher!

As a pro-cricketer, I’ve always liked to study the different ways that athletes train to elevate their performance above the competition, giving themselves the best chance of reaching their potential and achieving their goals in those definitive moments. In recent years, one area I’ve become particularly interested in is strength and conditioning training and how this can help to enhance the performance of professional sportspeople. So, when I found out that The Training Room – the UK’s top health and fitness education company, renowned for delivering outstanding personal training courses – is now offering this qualification, it just made sense to work with the market leaders.

In order to qualify for a place on The Training Room’s Strength and Conditioning course, you must first complete your Level 2 and 3 Personal Training qualifications to ensure you have the necessary level of understanding, so the great news is that I’ll also be becoming a fully-fledged Personal Trainer in the process! Not only will this help me as I continue my career in cricket, but these new skills will also be of great value to me in the future, as one potential avenue for me at the end of my career is moving into a more coaching-based role, where I’d be able to pass on my expertise in training, nutrition and elite performance to enable other people to reach their personal and professional goals.

Growing up with a dream of playing for my country, and wearing that illustrious blue cap with those three mighty lions, I’ve always been striving to become the best version of myself – both personally and professionally – so being able to help other people to do the same, especially through strength and conditioning training, really appeals to me.

At The Training Room, they have great tutors with excellent knowledge and a clear passion for what they do, so I’m very much looking forward to embarking on this journey with them. What’s more, you don’t have to do all of your training in the classroom. In fact, if you want to, you can do it entirely through online learning, which is the version I’ll be taking. You can also choose from part-time and full-time personal training courses, which makes it 100% achievable to fit your learning around any current routines and lifestyles.

As a someone who’s always on the move – travelling here, there and everywhere for matches and other commitments – the range of course types available has also been a big bonus. It means that I can fit my learning around my super hectic schedule and add another string to my bow while continuing to play professional cricket, safe in the knowledge that I’ll be receiving the very best education available.
But that’s not the end of this story… I want to bring along for the ride, so I’ll be documenting my road to becoming a certified Personal Training with an additional qualification in strength and conditioning training, sharing each step along the way in a series of blog posts.

I know it’s not going to be easy, balancing the demands of a professional sporting career and busy home life with trying to learn a new profession, but with the support of The Training Room and a sportsman’s dogged determination, I know I’ll get there. So, who’s with me?