A gym instructor who has spent the past 35 years urging the sweaty public of Bristol that they can do one more press up is finally retiring after a career that has earned him legendary status among Bristol’s fitness community.
Everyone from Bristol rugby stars and boxing professionals to Gladiator champions and thousands of people who just need a bit of motivation to get fit have signed up to Len Williams’ circuit training classes over the years.
He’s been running them every Tuesday evening since 1990, but the last Tuesday of February – which coincides with the day Len celebrates his 66th birthday – will be the very last circuit training session at Easton for Len.
The evening session promises to be a bit busy – many people from across Bristol and beyond who have undergone the punishing routines under Len’s watchful eye and encouraging voice are returning for the final one, but Len said it’s time to call it a day.
“That’ll be the day I qualify for my state pension, so it’s time. I feel like it’s just about the right time,” he said. Len used to do the sessions twice a week with Fridays as well, so has probably done between 2,000 and 2,500 sessions, each with as many as 40 or 50 people involved at times.
And each of them will tell you that there isn’t anyone quite like Len in Bristol when it comes to getting someone to do more burpees and sit ups than they thought they could do.
He is, by his own admission, ‘a bit old school’. For decades, Len has split his time between the gym and hall at Easton Leisure Centre and his other work in the prisons system; he currently works at Vinney Green young offenders institution, where his no-nonsense, disciplined approach to getting the young men there to feel the benefits of physical exercise is also legendary.
While at Vinney Green, Len has quite literally a captive audience and, at Easton, people pay good money to be subjected to Len’s unique and traditional approach to fitness.
“I’ve known Len for years, and I’ve loved his work for so long,” said Cameron Bate, the contracts manager for all four of Everyone Active’s leisure centres in Bristol, including Easton. “He’s such a unique guy with such a passion for exercise. I’ve seen him improve so many people’s physical health and wellbeing and it will be such a sorry day when he leaves.
“He’ll be massively missed. He’s been a fantastic colleague and a role model for so many people, and helped so many people. He’s got a unique way of delivering an exercise class and, in a gym setting, he’s a really really good fitness instructor too,” he added.
Len has always worked in fitness, and has always had a variety of roles and part-time positions, preferring never to do any one thing full time. “What I do is all old school stuff – star jumps, press ups, sit ups, running. It’s different each week, we have different 30-minute challenges, but it’s traditional, it’s old school, we don’t have music or anything like that.
“I would say I’m firm but fair with my instructions, and it works. Everyone is welcome and the main thing is for them to do their best, try that little bit harder. It’s not about doing 100 press ups in a minute, it’s about doing two if before you could only do one,” he explained.
It’s a generalisation, but most people from the generation around when Len started in 1990 would think younger generations are a little bit softer and less resilient to being forcefully urged to do sit-ups, but Len hasn’t altered his methods too much.
“I have adapted over the years a bit. Now I’m a little bit more cautious, people are more likely to complain,” he laughed. “So maybe it’s a bit less than before, but at the end of the day it is strict – I wouldn’t say I’ve softened at all though.”
Over the years, they have all come to Len to eke out that extra one per cent – from the boxers at Chris Sanigar’s Empire gym, to Bristol heroine Janet Allen, who was the Series 4 champion of ITV ’s Gladiators in 1995, competed in the world championships of the event, and ended up moving to the US, after Len’s encouragement gave her the extra fitness and strength to win the entire series.
Len, from Bradley Stoke, is looking forward to having Tuesday evening’s free, but will miss the people he’s helped over the years. He’ll turn 66 on the day of his last class on February 25, and is looking forward to doing a lot more travelling in his retirement, and spending a lot more time with his four grandchildren.