World Class Fitness Trainers
Kate and Daley have utilised all their expertise to create the first Adventure Boot Camps in the UK and they have selected some of the most accomplished and empathetic trainers in the country to run them.
It's not just about having the highest fitness qualifications, it's about life experience and how they are with people - that means we value empathy as highly as accomplishment.
Our trainers have a phenomenal range of experience between them, some are Olympic or international athletes and champions in their own right; others train the top British Olympic hopefuls - all are professionals who know how motivate and help you become the best you can be.
It’s fantastic and motivating team, at the very top of their game and we feel lucky to have them on board.
Meet your Fitness Trainers
Kate Staples
Director & trainer Kate is an inspirational sporting figure, whose achievements in athletics include breaking 42 British records, 12 Commonwealth records and achieving a ranking of 8th in the world for indoor athletics in 1996.
A former gladiator, Kate is no stranger to media spotlight and her character Zodiac was a well-loved part of the show from 1992 - 1997. Kate also presented the children's Gladiator series. Kate was invited to appear in the new Gladiators series but had to decline as she was expecting her third child.
In 1997, Kate's career took a dramatic turn when she broke her neck in two places and underwent eight hours of surgery, which forced early retirement from both Gladiators and British Athletics, having made full recovery, her experiences prompted her to further her efforts to inspire others to live a fit and healthy life.
A mother of three small children, Kate pursued her passion for educating others to live a healthy lifestyle when she created the government-backed Fitness for Life programme in conjunction with Mark UK. She became director of a nationwide schools programme to promote health and fitness among children.
Kate trained with Premier training, one of the leading personal training bodies in the UK, and started training a select group of celebrity clients in London. In 2003 Kate gained the only qualification in the world to run Adventure Boot Camp, following an intense training programme in California and was the first person to bring Adventure Boot Camps to the UK. Kate is currently training with Chi Yoga, for a world-class international yoga qualification which she will integrate into the programmes on her fitness camps and retreats.
The launch of Kate Staples Adventure Boot Camp in 2003 was a resounding success. Kate recreated the camaraderie that she felt when training on track, and clients are seeing amazing results on their fitness levels.
Currently an international fitness presenter, Kate has just returned from Greece where she launched her programme with Neilsons and will be teaching at the La Manga resort this July, and St Lucia LeSport in November.
Daley Thompson
Director Daley was quite simply the world's greatest decathlete. Unbeaten for nine years, he was the first to hold the World, Olympic, Commonwealth and European titles at the same time as well as the world record.
Daley was Olympic champion in 1980 and 1984 World champion in 1983; European champion in 1982 and 1986, and Commonwealth champion in 1978, 1982 and 1986. He also set four world records in the most demanding of multi-discipline events.
Forced to retire from the decathlon through injury in 1992, Daley went on to play professional football. More recently, he has harnessed his matchless drive and enthusiasm to become a leading ambassador lobbying to bring the 2012 Olympics to London.
Daley believes that the combination of challenge, support and inspiration offered by the Adventure Boot camp brings a new dimension to training women at all levels of fitness. He says that he is consistently amazed at the commitment of the clients and the results that can be achieved.
Nick Buckfield
Cobham Daleys Athletics Academy
Nick has been a full-time professional athlete for over 15 years and loved sport even before that. As a boy he played for Crystal Palace schoolboys and was a county judo player. He took up the pole vault at the age of 15 and by 22 he had broken the 14-year British pole vault record. The following year Nick broke the indoor pole vault record that had stood for 15 years.
Nick currently holds unbroken 13-year records for both indoor and outdoor records at 5.81 metres He was the first British vaulter to jump over 19ft (5.80m) and holds the record for the best British performance at a World Championship (5th place at Athens in 1997).
Nick's career has also taken him to three Commonwealth Games, where he achieved 4th place in both 2002 and 2006; three European Championships and five World Championships. Plus, he has been a double Olympian in 1996 and 2004 (he remembers watching Daley Thompson at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and knew then that he wanted to be an Olympian!).
After fracturing his pelvis in the 1998 European Championships, Nick was impelled to take up sports massage and is now a qualified sports massage therapist. He is also a Level 3 athletics coach, and a multi-skills and athletic coach for primary schools. He 'relaxes' by surfing, body boarding, mountain biking, fishing and just messing around with his son.
Brian Hooper
Brian is one of the country's most experienced athletes. Twice Olympic finalist and Commonwealth medallist, he set 34 British records and eight Commonwealth records over a 15-year careers as the UK's top pole vaulter.
He went on show his all-round athletics ability in TV's Superstars, one of the ultimate tests of sporting fitness. He won no less than six programmes, won the UK championship three times and was the only Brit to win the World Superstars competition. Showing a real competitive streak, he returned to the show in 2003, and competed against athletes many years his junior.
After retiring from competitive athletics, Brian became a sports science lecturer. He specialised in anatomy and physiology, exercise physiology, bio-mechanics and nutrition. He also trained in metabolic typing - determining a person’s individual metabolism.
World champions benefit from Brian's coaching, and he is also developing his own personal training programme that will take trainers to the highest personal training qualification available. Brian will be one of the lecturers at the training camps for new Adventure boot camp instructors.
David Butler
David is the Managing Director of a fitness company and, prior to setting up his business, he was in the police force. He represented the police in various sports including track (800m), life saving, swimming and the triathlon. David gravitated towards training and became the Force Physical Training Instructor. He was then seconded to the Home Office as a Police Sergeant PTI and Self Defence Instructor (Judo, Aikdo and Taiho Jutsu).
After leaving the police, David qualified further with various organisations such as Premier Training, YMCA and became an Advanced Trainer with The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), and also an examiner for one of the ACSM training companies.
He set up one of the first Personal Training Gyms in the country in Kensington for the then National Register of Personal Trainers, and was also part of the Management Team at the launch of Holmes Place Kingston. A keen cyclist, David trains several riders for the L'Etape du Tour each year.
David does what he has always dreamed of: lives and breathes fitness and well-being, and shares his passion with anyone who wants join in.
Rochelle Butler
Rochelle came to London from her native South Africa to complete her Homeopathy Degree at The London College of Homeopathy. Whilst studying, she continued to practice as a Sports Massage Therapist, and her subsequent alternative treatment clinics in west London included osteopaths, reflexologists, cranial osteopaths and homeopaths.
Her area of special interest is back rehabilitation. The combination of prescriptive exercise, deep tissue massage and homeopathic remedies has proven a successful formula in improving joint function, increasing range of motion and flexibility throughout the system and alleviating symptoms. She has created a Back Recovery programme for that has proved a great success in alleviating back issues and delivering increased mobility.
Rochelle's clients include a number of successful tennis players and an ex-world motor racing champion. Her professional qualifications include Homeopathy (LCH); Sports Massage (ITEC) and HFI Fitness Instructor & Personal Trainer.
Samantha Teague
Samantha holds a degree in Sport Psychology from the University of Pretoria (South Africa). Modules in Nutrition, Exercise Science and Physiology and Psychology were complemented by Netball and Gymnastics coaching qualifications, and Samantha also represented the university at Rhythmical Gymnastics.
An accomplished Modern Jazz dancer, Samantha qualified as a dance teacher through the Association of International Dance Teachers (AIDT), and spent time running a Modern Jazz Dance School for girls.
Since moving to the UK in 2007, Samantha has worked as a Personal Trainer. In her spare time she takes dance classes and participates in 5km and 10km runs.
Nicki Banks
Warwickshire instructor Nicki Banks has been passionate about fitness and well-being since childhood. She was a strong player in many school sports and captained the Inter School Hockey team before venturing into the gym with her Mr Northeast Britain Bodybuilder/Fitness Instructor father who trained her for 3 years.
Nicki gained a place from over 23,000 applicants to be a contender in the 1996 Gladiators series. Whilst appearing on the show, Nicki endured a horrific injury that fractured two vertebrae in the spine and shattering her aspirations of winning the ultimate fitness challenge.
After two years rehabilitation and spinal surgery, Nicki had to learn to walk again - a huge physical and mental obstacle to overcome. She was told that she would never be able to participate in active sports again. Through sheer grit and determination, Nicki has come further than she ever deemed possible and her fitness levels have excelled all expectations.
A personal mantra of self-belief combined with a genuine care for people who wish to reach for and achieve their goals has resulted in a very successful personal training portfolio and studio class following. Nicki holds qualifications in Personal Training, Fitness Instruction, Indoor Cycling, and Circuits and Core Stability.
In her spare time Nicki is kept additionally active with her two young boys who are fanatical about gymnastics: she enjoys adventure holidays and participating in long distance cross country bike rides for charities with her husband. Living the 'Good Life' is also a passion, so time in the vegetable garden adds an organic element to a fulfilling day.
Ray Stevens
Ray is famed in the athletics world for winning his 1992 Olympic judo silver medal in spite of a completely torn anterior cruciate ligament.
He was Commonwealth Games Champion in 1986 and 1990, four times British Open Champion, 1983 European silver medallist and British Masters Champion in 1986 He is the youngest person in the UK to hold the grade of 6th Dan.
Since retiring from competition, Ray has moved on to coach champions of the future. He is currently training Olympic hopefuls for 2012 and runs the Ray Stevens Fitness Club in Wimbledon.
As well as setting up his own judo academies. Ray is personal fitness and judo instructor to clients including Guy Ritchie, William Hague, Lord Coe, and Simon and Yasmin Le Bon.
Belinda Eastwood
Belinda has been involved in the fitness industry for 28 years and for the last 20 years she has worked locally in the Wimbledon area. Her enthusiastic, motivational and professional approach has ensured that she has developed a loyal following of enthusiasts wherever she has trained.
Belinda originally trained as a dancer at the Academy of Ballet in Edinburgh and the Royal Academy of Dance in London. After taking a teacher training diploma course at the London College of Dance and Drama, she worked as a professional dancer in Japan.
Since that time, Belinda has gained a wealth of diverse fitness experience teaching in many different fitness centres, gyms and schools. It was whilst working in central London that she learnt to combine her dance skills with fitness knowledge gained from gym work, and developed her infamous 'Belinda's Class' which still draws an enthusiastic following today. She has studied both Pilates and Yoga and has a keen interest in nutrition.
Belinda fitness work includes a BUPA health with Steve Cram; appearances on a local cable TV channel as 'Mrs Motivator' and running a popular annual 5 day fitness holiday to Club La Santa in Lanzarote.
Stuart Lewington
Stuart has been a personal trainer for 7 years and has over 15 years experience in fitness and dance. He has worked alongside the British Olympic 100m & 400m sprint team in South Africa and also runs his own company alongside his bootcamp commitments.
Nick Michell
Nick has been involved in the health and fitness business for over ten years. He holds a Master Trainer award from the European Institute of Fitness as well as being a member of the Register of Exercise Professionals.
Before moving to Bath Nick built a highly successful personal training business in London with a large client base.
Nick is passionate about his teaching and views health in an organic manner using training methods which reflect these ideals, by looking at the body as a whole emphasising emotional as well as physical well being.
With his love of nature Nick embraces all manner of outdoor pursuits and sights surfing as a major passion as it allows a true connection with the natural environment.
Yoga also holds a deep interest to Nick as it actively encourages the link between mind and body.
Through his personal experience of the benefits of good health Nick believes that everyone should be entitled to feel the life enhancing gains that exercise can bring. He is passionate about helping others achieve their health and fitness goals
Murray Williamson
Representing Middlesex from Under 11 – Under 21 level in football and playing semi professional football from 2006 – present, Murrays passion for sport is as high as ever. After a returning home from a football scholarship in North Carolina, he began his Personal Training and Sports Massage career at Fitness First where he was able to build up a great client base and move over to Hillingdon Sports and Leisure Centre with PTC.
Watching clients achieve and go beyond their goals inspires Murray to do this more for other people. Having worked with clients from all walks of life, being involved in Kids fitness programmes and working with people with Mild Learning Difficulties, outdoor training is where he feels he can really express himself and excel in delivering great sessions.
Murray always varies each workout so exercise doesn’t become boring. Being enthusiastic, fun, full of encouragement and motivational is something you will always get from him and when you achieve your goal, he achieves his!
Fran Silver
Fran Silver has lived a life full of sport and fitness. From a very early age he played football and has captained the Middlesex Schools county team. After taking A-levels and a BTEC in sport studies and sports science Fran knew he wanted to forge a career in the fitness industry. At 19 he set up his own personal training business with the aim to give anyone and everyone the chance to live an active and healthy life. Nearly ten years on Fran is a successful personal trainer, working in community gyms in West London. He also has experience teaching aspiring personal trainers gain their qualifications as well as running children’s fitness camps. Fran’s enthusiasm for health is contagious and you cannot fail to be motivated and inspired by his attitude. Being healthy has never been so fun!
Leon Delia
Leon is a fitness professional with close to 10 years working within the industry. His experience should be of interest to anyone who is looking to gain more out of there boot camp experience and fitness journey. Leon conducts personal and group sessions at all levels specialising in pre and post natal adaptations to exercise. Working with Leon you can expect a great challenge with fun and varied sessions. As a youngster Leon was involved in athletics and football playing to a high standard representing the district of south London. His competitive nature led him to follow up on his passion for boxing and is now a competitive boxer and been involved in the sport on all levels from coaching to competing starting his amateur career at the famous ‘Fitzroy lodge’. He has great enthusiasm, determination and commitment to his own training and will endeavour to pass this on to you during your sessions.
Mary Robertson
Mary has always had a keen interest in sport from an early age. She has enjoyed a school girl hockey career which culminated in her playing for the south of England under 21’s.
Post school, she enjoyed competing at an amateur level in triathlons
Mary has worked in the fitness industry for the past fifteen years. After qualifying with the YMCA in 1995, she pursued her passion for fitness by training a host of well known clients. She realised her commitment was to her local community and chose to work from her local borough gyms. Within a few years, together with a colleague, she set up her own company to further her ties with the local schools and GP surgeries.
Within the last four years she has assisted in setting up and delivered a number of activities (including nutrition al education) for both children and parents. This has been a resounding success and is still ongoing.
She was also approached by a GP Consortium to deliver a fitness and nutrition programme for all ages and abilities and with a variety of medical conditions. Once again a challenging brief, but with her enthusiasm and motivation, a high percentage of her groups reached their targets.
Mary is currently still enjoying success a personal trainer at New Chiswick Pool in West London
Paul Murray
Paul started his career in sport at the age of 16 when he started coaching hockey. Before that sport was a real passion of his and something that helped him through school life. With athletics and hockey being the most favoured sports, it was Paul's ambition to start coaching.
After coaching, the natural progression was to move in to fitness training and sports conditioning. Gaining a degree in Health Science and Physiology after various gym instructor courses, helped Paul begin to specialise becoming a Corrective High-Performance Exercise Kinesiologist (CHEK) Exercise Coach.
Branching in to Personal Training in Ireland and running a unique circuit training class, boot camps, group specific classes and continuing his coaching, Paul's career had blossomed. With 5 years of experience on his own whist gaining the FA Fitness trainer Award and IRFU Certified Conditioning Coach, added to the 13 previous years in sport and fitness Paul uses this wide knowledge base in creating a varied, fun Adventure Boot Camp.
Having worked with Irish premier league football team Sligo Rovers and Connaught Rugby, Paul also uses his experience with professional sports to challenge clients but also make training specific to their needs whatever sport or background they may be from.
Paul's training philosophy is "Fitness for all". Paul believes everybody should have the opportunity to learn how to become active and live a positive and healthy lifestyle, knowing how to exercise correctly.
Jozef Lawrence
Jozef has been in the health and fitness industry since 2004 and now operates as a Personal Trainer in The Chelsea Club which is a dream job as a lifelong Chelsea fan.
As a trainer Jozef believes that being in the fitness industry there is no better experience than helping clients achieve their desired fitness goals and seeing the satisfaction and joy it brings once an individual achieves this. That is why he was very keen to get involved with Adventure Boot Camp and feels it is an extremely effective and fun method of training.
Jozef has experience of training clients in weight management, GP referral, strength and conditioning, sports specific training, group PT and even had the luxury of beach PT when he was completing his Level 3 Personal Training Diploma in Spain! As a trainer he enjoys the challenge of coming up with demanding yet enjoyable training sessions to keep clients motivated and help them achieve their fitness goals.
Outside of work Jozef enjoys keeping himself fit utilising gym facilities at his disposal and is also a keen sportsman participating in football and golf as his main sports but he shows interest in many sports and activities and the latest being a 3 week mountain trek in Nepal planned for later on in the year.
Yolanda Smith
Yolanda has always been passionate and enthusiastic about health and fitness. Following her first swimming lesson at the age of 5, she became a strong, competitive swimmer and soon found a love for most sporting and outdoor activities.
After qualifying as a teacher in 1995, she has motivated and inspired children and adults alike, passing on creativity and her love of sport. Yolanda went on to become a Headteacher and it was during this time she recognised the importance of exercise in order to maintain a good work/life balance. This led her to run her first marathon across the Polar Ice Caps in Greenland where she discovered her talent for running. Having caught 'the bug', she followed this up by successfully completing the 49 mile classic Swiss Alpine Marathon. Now coached by a former winner of the London Marathon, she continues to progress her running with the aim of completing a sub 3 hour marathon.
Yolanda has combined her love of fitness and teaching skills to become qualified in Personal Training, Fitness Instruction, Sports Nutrition, Studio Cycling, Circuits and Gym Based Boxing. Yolanda's creativity and dedication to outdoor fitness ensures a varied and fun programme, providing motivation to achieve health and fitness goals.
Chris Kielb
Chris chose to become a Personal Trainer to help others improve the quality of their lives. Unlike many fitness professionals he's not always been fit, healthy and active; quite the opposite in fact. However, he has worked hard to find the best methods to improve his life and the lives of his clients. The results so far have been very good!
Having spent the past five years working in the gym environment the majority of his clients have wanted to lose weight and tone up. But he has also trained clients with very different requirements ranging from low back pain to Parkinson's disease and from Osteoarthritis to training for triathlons.
Chris is also a qualified WRIGHT Foundation Instructor, which enables medical professionals to refer patients directly to him to get them more active. This can improve the quality of life for the patient and reduce the levels of medication and improve recovery condition depending.
"Lack of activity destroys the good condition of every human being, while movement and methodical physical exercise save it and preserve it." Plato
Jenny Cartwright-Ball
Jenny is an ex professional dancer with film and TV performance and choreography credits to her name. Her love of fitness stems from the personal training and yoga sessions she experienced after an injury ended her ballet and contemporary dance career.
A fitness professional since 2006, Jenny has taught group fitness and dance at some of the world most prestigious fitness institutions, both in the UK and internationally. Her training style is inspired by her backgrounds in fitness, yoga, pilates and dance, and she believes training should be both functional and fun!
Jenny is qualified with the IDTA and YMCAfit and is a member of the Register of Exercise Professionals.
Tanya Pascall
Having lived in Bermuda for over 7 years where Tanya had a very active out door life, she became very passionate and enthusiastic about health and fitness.
Tanya moved back to the UK in July 2010 and decided to qualify as a Personal Trainer.In February of this year, Tanya completed her Diploma/Level 3 qualification with Premier Training, and also received a diploma in Exercise to Music. Tanya then went on to become a Body Combat instructor with the Les Mills programme and is currently doing Personal Training and also runs regular circuit classes.
Tanya really enjoys group exercise and helping others to get results. She is currently training for the London Marathon in April 2012 and believes there is something quite special about outdoor exercise, which you just cannot create in a gym environment. She hopes she can inspire people to keep fit and enjoy exercising outdoors.
Graham Mortimer
Graham has fast progressed in the fitness industry, starting from fitness instructing in colleges and leisure centres, and developing into a major fitness coach at HMS Collingwood military base. He has attained all of the skills and knowledge of the military in holding boot camps, but enforces a non-military mentality.
Graham prides himself on his explicit knowledge of muscular conditioning and his dynamic style of instructing whilst maintaining a fun and creative demeanour.
With experience in instructing Boxercise, Spin, Circuits, Boot camps, Core Conditioning, Exercise to music, Kids fitness, Personal Training and Netball and Football coaching; his tacit knowledge is evident in his contemporary style of coaching.
Graham has worked in the field of disability training and has trained a multiple gold medal winning Paralympics’ champion. His experience with training with clients of widely varied backgrounds and lifestyles has helped develop his programme writing ability and his empathy levels. It’s experience such as this that ensures his camps are well varied and suited to any level of fitness and ability.
Nick de Meyer
Nick has been a level 3 REPS accredited personal trainer for 8 years and has developed an unrivalled knowledge of cardio conditioning from being a triathlete for the last 16 years and a level 3 British Triathlon coach for the last 5 years
His focus is also on full body conditioning looking at your body as a whole, and looking at your nutritional eating patterns with analysis.
Your core strength will be challenged in an unstable environment therefore improving posture and waking muscles up, enabling major muscle groups to work better, thus improving your overall metabolism turning your body into an energy burning furnace. This will make you leaner and stronger from the core muscles out.
Nick has a Premier diploma in Personal Training, and is a qualified TRX suspension trainer, spinning and boxercise instructor which are all used amongst other skills in helping you to improve your fitness levels to where you want them to be. Nick has also completed 2 Ironman Triathlons and regularly competes in triathlons and mountain bike events.
Caitlin Silcox
Caitlin’s love for fitness and health came from her dance background, she has competed in the Welsh, British, and Wolrd championships in both Ballroom and Latin dance from the age of just eight, Caitlin has numerous titles to her name from the dancing world boasting over 200 trophies in her collection. Caitlin went on to work with the BBC television show 'Strictly Come Dancing' as a Choreographer at the age of just 16. Along with her competitive dancing she has also gained a black belt in akido, a level 2 boxing and pad work certificate and also is a qualified Zumba instructor, which she pursued due to the love and passion for dance .
Caitlin went on to gain her level 4 Master in Group exercise certificate with Premier International Training, at a tender age of 17, and has since the day she gained her qualification been sharing her love for fitness with clients in both the UK, and Spain, in her Personal Training and exercise classes.
Her training style is inspired by her background in fitness and dance, and believes that the one main factor in her sessions is FUN!!!!
Caitlin is also in the middle of obtaining her degree in sports biomedics and nutrition and has also recently taken on the study of a diploma in nutritional therapy to boost her career. Caitlin is also a member of REP’s (Regestration of Exercise professionals) and BANT (British Association for Applied nutrition and nutritional therapy).
