WHEN KEVING FREDERICK was about 13 years old he knew that he wanted to be involved in fitness.
“I started being a certified personal trainer about three years ago but I’ve been into the business of fitness literally half of my life, about 15 years, and I’m 32,” he told BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY.
It was his mother Kay Ellis, an “avid gym goer and fitness enthusiast”, who got him interested in bodybuilding while he was in first form at The Lodge School.
“She would take me to the bodybuilding shows at the George Street Auditorium and she introduced me to William Morris, who was a top local bodybuilder at the time. Then I started training with him and my interest grew. Then I looked to read any and everything I could about bodybuilding and to a further extent, fitness. People gravitated towards me and asked questions and at that time, too, I took it up as a hobby to work with people and see if I could put to use what I read and it started to happen,” he said.
After that Frederick moved to get certified, a process he explained was “a challenge” because he wanted to find the right certification body, given the different levels.
He went with the International Sports Sciences Association and has been running Forever Strong Fitness Barbados ever since, operating from two gyms, but will soon be operating from an upscale hotel. He also offers a one-on-one personalised boot camp from his Lodge Terrace home or the Wildey Gymnasium.
The trainer said although it might sound strange to some people, his primary goal is not to make money but to help people because that is what he likes to do.
‘I’ve had clients that I used to do home visits for that paid a pretty penny that I stopped training because I am very results-oriented. There are two things I hate: one is people wasting my time; and, two, this job personal training and fitness is something that needs to be committed to – you need to be committed no matter how weak or unfit you are. I need to see that level of effort,” he said.
“For me, I’ve been known to give clients objectives and if they reach those objectives I train them for free for a month because if I give you something to do obviously it’s going to be a challenge, and if you commit to that my drawback is when you do what I want you to do, all of your friends are going to want to know what you’re doing. While I’m offering you the training for free, you are [showing people what I can achieve].
“This is generally how I approach anything. There are some trainers who tell you that you can’t contact them after a certain time but for me, I’m fully accessible to all of my people at any time,” he explained.
With several people resolving to focus on health and fitness at the beginning of the year, the trainer’s aim is to help as many of them achieve their targets after they start.
“I offer a personalised progressive, functional training programme that is all about you. I believe in working with individuals and that’s why I don’t like group sessions because in those sessions you’re going at the instructor’s pace and nine times out of ten, you’ll find the people in the back opt to go to the back. They go for the beginning then they drift off because they can’t he said.
“Two, if they’re doing anything incorrectly an instructor, as good as he is, can’t focus on 20 people so you can’t tell if a person is going to do something to hurt himself or herself. For me, I prefer to work on ‘Donna’ and get ‘Donna’ to be the best person she can be or ‘Donna’ and her friend or two friends,” Frederick said.
He noted that he helps clients with eating and their nutrional needs because it is all part of their fitness objectives.
“I like to look at it as a lifestyle change because when people think diet they think it is something they’re going to do for two weeks and drop off. I like to look at it as this: if you feel to eat cake you can still have it but you’re training yourself not to have it every day or every week. It’s about listening to your body,” said the personal trainer. (Green Bananas Media.)
