Northern Insight are delighted to welcome award-winning Personal Trainer, campaigner and motivational speaker, David Fairlamb, as our new Health & Fitness correspondent.
David has been at the vanguard of the North East fitness scene for two decades and will now impart his knowledge to readers every month with workout ideas, diet tips and lifestyle changes.
Throughout his career, David has been transforming lives by helping clients achieve their fitness goals and is particularly committed to trimming the regions waistline with his mix of exercise and sugar clean healthy eating.
David originally honed his skills on an athletic scholarship in Long Beach California, training clients first in LA before qualifying in the UK and returning home to his native North East. From initially training one client once per week, David Fairlamb Fitness has quickly grown to nine fullyqualified personal trainers and three private gyms at his state-of-the-art base in North Shields.
In addition to personal training, they offer awardwinning “Fit Factor” group sessions as well as physiotherapy, psychology, yoga and life coaching.
David has been pioneering in group exercise sessions and was the original trainer to trial “Beach Bootcamps” on Tynemouth Longsands which now run five times per week, including a hugely popular Saturday morning slot which continues to be a start-of-the-weekend staple for many.
Always looking for innovative new training methods, David recently opened a self-contained, floodlit Outdoor gym which is the first of its kind in the country. Formerly a disused compound at Queen Alexandra College, the site has been comprehensively transformed. The gym offers an obstacle-course type session with a strong emphasis on functional fitness. Eagled-eyed readers will have spotted our own Michael and Jack Grahamslaw take on the challenge in our March edition and they can personally vouch for its effectiveness!
With a strong presence in local media, David is an active campaigner on healthy eating and has been particularly outspoken on the dangers of eating sugar and its links to the nationwide obesity crisis. Known, somewhat ominously as “the white death man”, David preaches a sugar clean diet and provides guidance with his “Sugar Clean Lean” cookery classes.
In 2011, David endeavoured to help the North East on a wider scale when it was named the 2nd most obese place in Europe. He launched the Great North Fitness Revolution at St James Park by running a bootcamp in front of 52,000 people . As a result, the North East would pledge their goal online and try to make changes. David wanted to prove small daily changes over time can be life changing. The campaign was meant to last six months but was so successful it lasted five years leading to recognition in the House of Commons from Andrew Lansley, Health Secretary at the time.
Another of David’s major achievements was coaching/mentoring local lad Mark Allison in his “Run Geordie Run” fundraising challenges across America and Australia, raising thousands of pounds for charity in the process.
But all of this considered what motivates David? Well, it’s the desire to inspire confidence and transform lives that drives him to carry the business forward. Moving into the Summer, there’s never been a better time to make some lifestyle changes and readers can look forward to David’s first column next month.
