About Me
Friends, family, my customers and the good people of Cork who I meet around town, often ask me how I got started in fitness and how’s it going.
Here’s my story…
Where It All Started
I first began exercising from a very young age.
I remember working out in my kitchen with my dumbbells from the age of 11 or 12…
The kitchen became my gym and once the door was locked nobody was allowed in. Dinner would have to wait until I was done. Lol! The music was playing so loud on the speaker my mother was shouting in and I couldn’t hear a thing. I just loved it, I was in the zone.
Just a few years after I was old enough to join the local gym and that became my second home. I would learn from the older experienced guys in the gym bombarding them with questions about everything. I was training every day and making lots of friends while doing it. I also loved playing football for a few years but eventually that became second choice to lifting weights.
I even went as far as saving up and getting a shed built out the back garden where me and my brothers would train a lot. It was freezing and full of rusty bars that would nearly give you frostbite but we didn’t care. We also had boxing gloves that were often covered in each other’s blood. 3 big egos going toe to toe after getting a huge pump after a weight session was a small bit mad. But it gave our mother some peace. She needed it raring 4 kids on her own.
As a teenager I had an obsession with lifting weights, getting stronger and building muscle. I also gained interest in Men’s Health Fitness Magazines. They were filled with great workouts and advice on nutrition and training.
I remember buying the magazines and hiding them because I knew I was going to get a fierce slagging – a weirdo with magazines full of half naked men :-)
In today’s society, it’s the norm which is brilliant, but 20yrs ago it wasn’t….
Earning My Own Way
I was about 20 years old then so I gave up on working in a gym for a while and I ventured in between multiple jobs for 7 or 8 years. To be honest I don’t think I was ready then to be the kind of coach or personal trainer I wanted to be. I was inexperienced and probably wasn’t going to gain as much respect as a trainer as a 20yr old as I would later on.
Within those 7 or 8 years I worked on a building site, as a paper boy, I worked as a bouncer, a delivery driver, a painter, and I qualified as a butcher which was my favourite. Let’s just say I done a lot of bluffing lol. But Whatever I done I gave it 100%. I would class myself as a very hard worker. 60 and 70 + hrs of work each week would be the norm for most weeks over the past few years. I worked a lot of hours in jobs I really didn’t like. Most of the time I would have 2 jobs.
I was never an A student in school. But I was always well behaved and gave 100%.
But I knew with a good work ethic and belief I could and would eventually get to where I wanted to be. It takes a bit longer without all those A grades but who cares. I started my first job at 14 delivering papers everyday after school and I’ve been working ever since. So I feel I’ve earned my own way since.
My passion for exercise never died and it was only a matter of time before I got back into the fitness Industry that I now love.
Because it was so long since doing the Sports Studies Course, I completed another course with Image Fitness in 2016/17 it was a 6 month course which help refresh everything I had learned years previous with regards to being a personal trainer.
I wanted to make sure I wasn’t falling behind the rest of the pack in the industry and this was one way of doing that.
I really enjoyed studying fitness again as a mature student; it helped to reignite that flame for me.
Finding Your Passion
As the years went on I gained more interest in the nutrition side of things so I completed a few different courses that had all different ideas on what nutrition should be like. So I just try to take the best of each and help clients apply it to his/her lifestyle.
In a nutshell I think balance with food is key. Including some of the foods you enjoy is so important. It helps maintain a sustainable diet. I’ve learned that different clients need different approaches with nutrition.
Find what works best for you and then build on that…
Pursuing My Dream
Since I opened my gym in 2018 I love the work so much it doesn’t feel like work anymore. How many people can say that?
I love helping people achieve goals and build confidence. It’s very rewarding to know you are having such a positive impact on someone’s life. This is why I do what I do.
Another Interesting thing was that this was the gym I used as a Student for PE in secondary school at Terence McSwiney Community College. To come back a good few years later and take it over was an amazing feeling.
Setting up a gym on my own was always going to be tough, a little bit of a risk but one I was willing to take. I just about got enough money together to do it.
When I first opened I just had 3 machines, a few dumbells and kettlebells. As time went on I added more equipment 1 piece at a time. My first year In business I gave myself a wage of €350 per week. Everything else went back into the gym. Now at least I can call it my own. Its now a fully equipped gym and has the best of equipment.
Since then I have worked with hundreds of people. I have worked with professional boxers, basketball teams such as Neptune and Blue Demons in Cork,football teams and so on. It’s all been a great experience. I’ve worked with kids from the age of 8 as well as clients in their mid 60s. All clients with different goals but all wanting the same outcome, and that’s to be happy and healthy.
Just like everyone else I try my best to juggle my time between family, work and exercise.. Spending time with family is something you don’t get back. So that’s really important to me. Especially as I have 3 young daughters and a fiancée who keep me on my toes.
I’m lucky I have good support from my partner and family. I need that being self-employed.
What Covid Taught Me
In recent times after COVID, I realised how much of a toll it’s had on a lot of us, me included. We all lost our routines and many people lost many outlets and the gym was a big one for so many. Lots of my clients were in touch with me on a regular basis during lockdowns and really missed the gym and the benefits it brought.
I came across another course that I found really interesting so I signed up straight away. I completed my qualification in MENTAL HEALTH AND EXERCISE COACHING so that I could have the right tools to help myself, my clients, family and friends through tougher times using exercise as an outlet. It was a great course and it was so beneficial.
I’m proud to say I’m just one of very few MHEC qualified Mental Health and Exercise Coaches in Ireland.
My Own Struggles and Awakening
A few years back in my early to mid 20s my mental health wasn’t great. I had a lot going on and it took a dip. I was depressed and I was stuck in a rut. During this time I wasn’t training anymore and my healthy eating was non-existent. Eventually I was brave enough to open up and speak about it. I needed to visit my GP and after that I knew I needed to make a change.
I knew I had to get back to the gym and get fit. Within a week or two of being back exercising my whole mood flipped. I had more energy, I was more focused and I was motivated again. I felt great. My sleep improved and I began to eat better. My mental health changed from a negative state to a positive one.
It was around then that I realised how important exercise was for me and how important it was for my head. I knew the gym had a lot more to offer than just building muscle. So since then I have tried to help people through exercise and hope they would feel and see not only the physical benefits but also the mental benefits also.
Thankfully I was asked to speak about my own mental struggles and how I used exercise as a tool to help me overcome my own battle. I done this with James and Timmy from the 2 Norries podcast. It was an honour to be asked and since I have done that lots of people have reached out to me for some form of advice or help. The key message for me here was that not only do we help ourselves when we speak out about our thoughts or struggles but we also help others with theirs.
Exercise will not get rid of your problems but it does go a long way in relieving stress. And when we are less stressed we deal with stuff a lot better. Make no mistake.
Having goals such as building muscle or fat loss is great, but building up your confidence and self-belief is much more important.
My Philosopy at Shane Sull Fitness
My goal is to provide a positive environment in my gym for everyone. Be it a beginner or somebody who is more advanced. Regardless of age or ability, it doesn’t matter. I want everyone to leave in a better mood than when they came in. I want people leaving with a smile and of course feeling well worked out. Yes I make sure my clients get pushed but I also want it to be lots of fun.
I like to take a holistic approach when working with my clients and build a good relationship as it leads to better results. We are all here for one reason and that’s to be happy and healthy.
Today the fitness industry is full of content that mainly focuses only on how you look. Exercise is sold completely on physical appearance. And it’s wrong. I want to be different and promote not only the physical benefits, but also the mental benefits. My goal is to really help people understand what exercise should really be about.
Yes exercise helps us get better physically. We get stronger, more flexible, we improve our endurance and all this makes for a healthier body. But we also need to focus more on how exercise makes us feel mentally.
Benefits such as us becoming more focused, energetic, resilient, more confident and less stressed are just a few to mention. This makes for a healthier mind. In my opinion this is what really matters, we blend the mental and physical benefits together along with a healthy diet and then we really feel and see the benefits. We really have to look after our minds as much as we look after our bodies.
We look after our body by exercising. But a lot of us don’t give our minds the same work and time.
Personally I read books and listen to as much positive and inspiring podcasts as possible and share that info with others.
I like to surround myself with like minded people and cut out the negative ones.
The older I get the smaller my circle gets. I take quality over quantity all day long!
I always hope that my gym is a reflection of my beliefs and my character. It's a place full of like minded people, all just looking to do and be better. I feel no other gym offers the same. Thanks for reading and I hope you would like to join me on your journey. Shane.