John salutes his Team PB mates after life-changing health and fitness drive

Chadderton-based John Grimshaw has saluted David Lloyd Clubs after they helped him turn his life around after he took part in an innovative health and fitness initiative.

Alongside psychologist Dr Jessamy Hibbard and nutritionist Jenna Hope, David Lloyd Clubs launched Team PB, and John was chosen to feature in the six-strong team.

Team PB was a six-week programme created to motivate, encourage and support people to realise their health goals, specifically with the Coronavirus pandemic and its physical and mental effects in mind.

John, a Product Manager at Elcometer in Droylsden, said: "I had let myself go over the pandemic period, and the five years up to it if I’m being honest.

"My wife was made redundant at the start of the pandemic so I switched from a balanced mentality to be more focused on work and providing for my family vs looking after myself.

"After 18 months of 50-plus hour weeks, eating out of drive throughs/convenience and generally not moving, I’d put on around 15kg.

"I felt tired all the time and was useless at home, so worn out that just paying attention was an effort.

"This programme totally changed that.

"In six weeks I’m 8.2kg down in weight, with 7.7kg of that being pure fat, I’m more energetic and generally happier.

"My diet has changed, it’s still convenience based but built around prepping or selecting good choices rather than quick ones.

"My mentality has changed, I’m more resilient, one bad meal does not make a bad day, which then leads into a bad week.

"I’m also now a regular gym goer, which I never thought would happen.

"I have in the past driven to the gym, parked outside for an hour then gone home, that doesn’t happen anymore.

"I know I’m not where I want to be, I also know that its small actions, compounded, little by little, on top of each other to get there.

"I know if I want to keep feeling this good I need to keep going.

"There’s a long way to go, but I feel that I now have a sustainable framework/foundations to build on.

"I’m just trying to be 1% better each time I turn up to anything - if I can do that over the year it’s a large improvement.

"If this last 12-18 months has shown anything it’s that a year is not a long time - let’s see where I am in 2022.

"I’ve been working with personal trainer Mark Hargreaves of David Lloyds Trafford Park three times per week, for the past six weeks, as part of the TeamPB programme, along with nutritional support from Jenna Hope and mental health support from Dr Jessamy Hibberd every two weeks.

"Mark has worked wonders changing my physical workouts from cardio (trained behaviour) to mostly weights, which is needed for my shape.

"I want to build muscle whilst losing weight so that it fills the space that the fat is leaving.

"I can’t thank/recommend him enough for what he has done to get me to this point.

"It was a mammoth undertaking but he did it all with a smile and a laugh and he really changed my mind on what a workout looks like.

"This in turn made me more confident which helped build the motivation and energy levels to really transform my lifestyle.

"The other silent heroes are the other participants.

"There are five other people going through this process with me and their help and support has got me through times I thought I’d quit.

"They helped me stay focused on the end goal so I’d like to thank them also.

"Without the whole team I’d still be struggling doing the same old thing, getting the same old results."

Members of Team PB had all been significantly impacted by the pandemic in some way and have all dealt with various mental well-being, nutritional and physical challenges brought on by the crisis.

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