People
Marek Downing, Founder of Progress 165.
Published: December 17, 2023 | Updated: 15th December 2023
Marek Downing makes the most of his time with clients on the gym floor.
One day that might be weight training – the next, simply helping a sedentary 75-year-old get up on his feet unaided.
But he’s also realised that health and fitness isn’t all big muscles and aesthetics. Three hours at the gym don’t mean anything without a strong foundation back at home.
That’s what his Southampton business, Progress 165, is all about – because it’s during those other 165 hours a week that good habits get cemented.
It was a couple of years ago, while reflecting on his dad’s passing, that Marek came to appreciate the importance of a healthy lifestyle and transform his approach.
“His priority was always his business and his family. He never really focused on himself.
“The bad habits started to snowball – weekly takeaways, smoking.
“My dad was in this comfort zone that he just couldn’t get himself out of when the time came to make those changes.
“Looking back, it was all very much avoidable.”
Since then, Marek has made it his mission to cut through the noise, reaching out particularly to those who are daunted by the gym or put off by intense training regimes and fad diets.
He begins with a complete assessment of a client’s current situation – their sleep, stress management, hydration, nutrition.
“We just look at what they’re doing on a day-to-day basis already.
“I start them off nice and small and gradually build up throughout the course of the programme.
“For someone who’s quite sedentary, it’s just a case of getting their steps in.
“Then we’ll introduce the weight training, because if we’re not using our muscles, we’re losing them.
“A lot of my work is with resistance bands and kettlebells, looking at how people move.
“There’s a whole spectrum of personal trainers. Some will be your typical army sergeant, getting you to do 20 burpees.
“But they’ll have no idea about the physiology of the body – or if someone’s hip is dropping slightly to one side, what exercise they can do to correct that mobility.”
And as it turns out, the biggest wins often stem from simple changes.
One man came to Marek with type two diabetes looking to lose weight. Working on his hydration and keeping within his calorie allowance, he dropped almost two stone in four months.
Not that weight is the be-all and end-all.
“My successful clients are the ones where the scale doesn’t really budge so much, but the measurements do significantly.
“It’s all about breaking down those pre-existing thoughts, like being dependent on the scales to get results.”
Marek has made plenty of progress of his own over the years.
His personal training career began with The Gym Group, but nowadays he works for himself and pays to use their facilities.
“It was a very big learning curve for me – going from full-time employment in housing, where everything was catered for in terms of annual leave and holidays, to taking that plunge as a small business owner.
“What I didn’t realise was that being a personal trainer would be bottom of the list in terms of all the hats I wore. The big one was marketing and advertising myself.”
That was particularly the case over the pandemic, when Marek took the opportunity to focus on his message and build a stronger online presence.
With only so many hours in the week, and only so much he could charge clients, he felt he’d hit a glass ceiling.
So more recently, he’s been working on a three-month curriculum complete with videos discussing nutrition, sleep and other key topics, as well as demonstrating certain exercises.
“That’s given to them in an app that links to FitBit, MyFitnessPal, and all those other trackers.
“It’s a single hub for all their health and fitness.
“The big plan is for the online programme to help me structure my services, spread the message to as many people as I can, and not be tied to a gym environment.”
To get the best of Hampshire Biz News straight to your inbox every week, sign up for our newsletter!
