My Story

The Driving Force Behind Train Like An Athlete Fitness

I’ve been active for as long as I can remember. Growing up as the only girl among my siblings, movement was second nature to me. In school, I thrived in sports, always picked for teams and competing as a hockey player. My active lifestyle continued beyond school and into adulthood—until I joined a commercial gym.

From Performance to Appearance: Losing My Way

That’s when things changed. Instead of focusing on what my body could do, I became fixated on how it looked. Every workout revolved around appearance. I spent hours on cardio machines, jumping from one to another, convinced it was the key to achieving the “ideal” body. I avoided weights out of fear of looking “bulky” and believed endless cardio would fix everything. My eating habits suffered. One moment, I was undereating; the next, I was overeating because my energy levels were too low.

Despite years in the gym, I looked the same. Frustrated, I started believing my body wasn’t meant to change—that genetics were against me. So, I left the commercial gym, thinking that a great physique was something other people could achieve, but not me.

Rediscovering Fitness: A New Approach

Then, I found something different. I was introduced to an independently run kettlebell group that trained twice a week in a school sports hall. From the moment I walked in, I noticed something different: the energy, the focus, the friendly competition. Workouts weren’t about looking good; they were about performing better. People weren’t obsessing over abs or aesthetics—they were chasing personal bests, lifting heavier, moving faster, and testing their endurance.

At that group, I learned my first burpee. I watched others push themselves, aiming for more reps, heavier weights, and quicker times. No one cared about body image—it was all about what you could do. The more I trained with them, the stronger and fitter I became. My mindset started shifting. I stopped obsessing over how I looked and started focusing on how I performed. Just like an athlete.

I cleaned up my nutrition—not to eat less, but to fuel my body properly. Training became about capability, not aesthetics. And ironically, once I stopped forcing my body to change, it started changing on its own.

The Birth of Train Like An Athlete Fitness

Over the years, I’ve explored different sports and disciplines—tennis, kickboxing, boxing, badminton, track athletics (competing in the 100m, 200m, and 4x100 relay at club level), strength training, running, and cycling.

I became a certified trainer in 2017 but quickly realised that traditional personal training wasn’t my path. What I truly wanted was to share what I had learned—to help others break free from the mindset that fitness is only about appearance.

That’s what Train Like An Athlete Fitness represents. These words serve as a reminder: train for performance, train for strength, train to be capable. Because when you shift your focus from aesthetics to ability, everything changes. It took me years to reach this realisation—I want to help others get there much sooner.

 

Valerie Williams

Founder of Train Like An Athlete Fitness