Tusting Talks to... celebrity trainer Luke Worthington

I have been doing the job for 27 years!  I was always fascinated by the human body, how it worked, and how we could get it to work better.  I grew up in a small town in the north of England, and from the age of 12 years old I was drawing stick figures doing different activities and trying to work out what made different people better at different things.

I started out in a local authority gym in 1997, then moved into commercial fitness with a small London based chain, spent several years freelancing in elite sports, managing to train World Champions across 5 different sports. Moved back into commercial fitness with a luxury gym group as a personal trainer, and also established and taught their internal trainer education program. I spent 5 years consulting to Nike on all training related matters, and also wrote and taught the Nike personal training qualification.

The last 8 years have been focussed on the film and entertainment industries, essentially preparing actors for film, TV and stage roles, and musicians for the rigours of touring. I'm a big film fan, so getting to work in health and fitness in the film and entertainment industry really is a marriage of two passions.

It really is hard to pick out a favourite as they’re all very different, and exciting for different reasons.  I think my favourite genre to work on is training actors for action roles  - where as well as the aesthetic outcome there is also a requirement too be able to run, jump, fight or climb.I’m fortunate enough to have worked with many Oscar and Emmy award winning actors, so seeing their dedication to their craft is really very inspiring to me to continue to develop mine.

We often think that we need motivation to create action, whereas actually it's the other way around, action precipitates motivation.  

Once we do something, however small it may seem, we will experience the benefit of doing it - this then motivates us to do more and keep going. New Year is absolutely the most popular time for people to start trying to implement healthy changes to their lifestyles. Obviously, it's right after a period associated with over indulging, and also the psychology of the 1st of January being a line in the sand helps start a new year in a positive fashion.  

Whilst there is absolutely nothing at all wrong with this approach, and I'm in favour of any motivations that encourages people to make positive changes – I do think it is important to think long term when it comes to improving our health. Consistency is the most important factor when it comes to health and wellbeing, so any kind of resolution we make for January 1st should be one we can still see ourselves doing on November 1st.

Working out every day for the whole of January might be possible for a month, though probably not too much longer than that, but committing to working out three times a week all year is far more achievable. Preparing all of your meals every day might feel possible for a few weeks, but unless it's your job, at some point life will get in the way and it will become impossible. However, cooking your own food five days a week and giving yourself the weekends to eat out or get a take away might feel a bit more sustainable.

We talk a lot about sustainable energy, sustainable transport, and even sustainable fashion - we should also be talking about sustainable fitness.

At the end of a busy project I'll have the time to focus a bit more on my own training  - jiu jitsu is my main non-work activity so its great to spend some time trying to get better at that. I also have a spaniel called Obi - his needs are pretty simple, a walk in the park and a cuddle on the sofa and he’s a very happy dog. That, for me, is the perfect end of day wind down.  

One resolution that I am looking to make for 2025 is really linked to the above, and thats to ringfence some ‘down time’ at the end of each day. My personal training work is within the entertainment industry, preparing actors for film and television productions, and musicians for performances and tours. This means that it can often require unusual working hours – especially as productions move into the filming phase with training sessions taking place before or after filming days or sometimes being conducted remotely with clients in different time zones.

Incorporating some down time, whether that's watching TV, reading a book, journaling, listening to music, or spending quality time with a significant other (or a pet!), helps to down regulate the central nervous system – moving from the sympathetic (fight or flight) nervous system to the parasympathetic (rest and digest). Having this break state between being ‘on’ and ‘off’ has been shown to improve sleep quality and quantity. It allows us to pass more smoothly between the light sleep when we first drift off, and the regenerative REM and NREM deeper sleep cycles.