nearest gym and started working
out. “I started talking to a guy.
We moved through the gym and
started doing tricks with the bars
and I just kept beating him, at
pretty much everything.”
Impressed, his new buddy Oscar
told him about FFP and
encouraged Silvino to head
down.
“I didn’t want to tell him ‘oh, by
the way, I’m going back to prison
in a couple of hours’. So I took
down his number.”
Out again, not long after, Silvino
contacted Oscar and headed to
the gym for “one of the most
“
Some
people turn
up and think
it’s too hard.
But I’m able
to say I was
there. Not
that long
ago I was
doing what
you’re doing
right now”.
Shortly before his release date
he approached the tutors and
divulged that he was a serving
prisoner. Sensing the need to
keep him off the streets, they
made room for him on a course
that was already one month in
and fully booked.
With restricted movement part of
his release he was homeless
and hopping from sofa to sofa,
spending 12 hours a day at the
gym in between. The place
became his home, the tutors
and fellow trainees his family.
When there weren’t sessions
running he would sit and read
over course materials to the
point where he knew them off by
heart. “I passed the course with
pretty high marks.” How high? I
ask, “100% I think” he smiles,
modestly.
He swiftly did his Level 2
Certificate in Personal Training
and FFP helped secure him a
discounted position on a Level 3
course. He saved up to fund the
rest of it, working on reception
and helping run sessions. Then
he decided to go into full-time
personal training.
“The best thing they did for me is
that they didn’t hand me
anything on a plate, they didn’t
tell me what to do, they just gave
me options, positives and
negatives and let me choose.
They weren’t trying to sell me
anything, they actually cared. ‘If
you want an education, here’s
what we can provide, if not you
can just use the gym’.”
With his fitness studio now open
from 6am to 9pm seven days a
week, he had to put in some
extreme hours to make his
career move work. “For the first
couple of months what drove
me was not losing money. I
didn’t need to make money but I
needed to break even. Eventually
it started to pay off.”
Specialising in boxing and
martial arts has proved to be his
USP. No other trainer in the gym
has that string to their bow. His
unique journey into the work has
painful sessions of my life.
I didn’t walk out of the gym, I
crawled out.”
Over the following period the
young fitness enthusiast used
his release days to visit his mum
then take part in sessions and
train at the gym. They would
revolve around Muay Thai,
kick-boxing and boxing. It was
high-intensity training that would
steam up the whole room.
@REPsUK
FM 15