REPs Magazine Fitness Matters Issue 9 | Page 18

AN ANTIPODEAN ADVENT s a member of the International Confederation of Registers for Exercise Professionals (ICREPS), UK-born Chris, who had previously worked in Australia outside of the fitness industry, decided the time was right in July of this year to return Down Under and continue his progression within the world of fitness, having become a personal trainer in 2017 in England. “I’m enormously passionate about helping people feel healthier and happier about themselves and decided to put my life’s fitness (and injury) experiences to good use for both me and for others,” says Chris when talking of his decision to move into the Ever thought about plying your trade abroad; taking your knowledge of the fitness industry and spreading your wings? Qualified Personal Trainer and Exercise Referral Specialist, Chris Chatfield, did just that when he made the move to Sydney with the assistance of the REPs direct portability offer. 18 FM www.exerciseregister.org fitness industry. “Throughout my life I’ve been involved with fitness – surfing every week, playing football and rugby, and competing at a state level as a sprinter and hurdler. “I did my PT qualifications with the YMCA at Brighton Uni, tutored by the inspirational Trevor Clarke. I was then lucky enough to get a role as a PT in a Wave Leisure gym in East Sussex. They really look after their trainers, paying an actual salary and removing the sales element of being a PT, and they actively help trainers improve their professional development. Whilst there I kept hearing people say how they were too intimidated by the ‘big gyms’ because they weren’t fit enough or well enough, so at the end of 2018, I completed an NASM