This is the first Personal Strength podcast episode where we introduce the podcast, Personal Strength and us.

Welcome to the Personal Strength Podcast. Where we help you, your children, and your students to grow and thrive, through discussions around fitness, self defence, mental strength, well-being and positive psychology.

Transcript

Nicky:

Hello! Welcome to the Personal Strength podcast! This podcast will be a series of interesting discussions on everything Personal Strength. That includes physical strength and fitness, mental strength, resilience and confidence, and also physical safety and self-defence. We hope that listening to this podcast will be engaging, and each time, you’ll learn something new, and leave with a practical tip to help you to thrive. This episode is just a short one. To introduce the podcast, Personal Strength, and us. Tim, as founder of Personal Strength, why don’t you start…

Tim:

Thanks Nicky, more than 10 years ago I started Personal Strength. But it’s never just been about fitness for me. In those 10 years there have been maybe two days when I haven’t wanted to go to work. I love it because I get to spend my days hanging out with awesome people who want to improve themselves. The before and afters I see can’t be captured in a photo. I get to see my 50 year old client continue surfing. I get to see parents fit enough to play sports with their children. I get to hear about the kid from my ninja classes who was getting picked on. Who escaped a wrist grab and told them firmly to stop, and felt stronger and more confident at school. I get to see timid kids, teens and adults realise their own strength and find their voices.

Initially we mainly did fitness and strength training, and were called FunFit, short for functional fitness. But as we grew, and incorporated more and more self defence, and then mental strength programs too, we became Personal Strength. Now we provide age appropriate self-defence, strength and fitness training for kids from 4 (Mini ninjas) through teens, up to adults, and provide a series of mental strength workshops.

While it seems like a diverse range of programs, they are really all building towards the same thing. Confidence for life. The confidence to take on physical challenges, confidence to defend yourself and your loved ones if you need to, the confidence to stand up for what is important to you, and the confidence that you can get through hardships. In short, the confidence you need to thrive. Personal Strength isn’t just a service, it’s a community. An important part of that community are our clients, our students, and our staff. Nicky has been with me throughout this journey as my wife, and now I’m very happy to have her expertise as my co-worker. Nicky is a registered psychologist who has her Masters and PhD in Psychology. Nicky can tell you the rest.

Nicky:

Thanks Tim, I’ve always been fascinated by what motivates people, how people are affected by their environment, and how and why different people can react very differently to similar experiences. And I’ve always wanted to help people, not just to be, to survive, but to thrive. So naturally, I studied Psychology. I’ve been working in Psychology since 2008, first as a research assistant and tutor, and more recently as a Senior Research and Evaluation Officer, and for Personal Strength as a mental strength coach, including researching, designing, conducting, and evaluating workshops.

Throughout my career in Psychology I’ve been involved in research projects on topics including motivation, national defence intelligence analysis, confirmation bias (that was my PhD topic), parenting, sleep, psycho-oncology, childcare, and resilience, and I’ve tutored in statistics and positive psychology.

I’m very excited to have the opportunity to work with Tim at Personal Strength. We have been discussing our vision for Personal Strength for a long time,