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Matt's tips for success

• Know what you're trying to achieve so that you can make the right decisions.
• Be passionate about what you're doing.
• Good communication is essential and comes down to knowing what you're takling about. Don't try and bluff it.
• Be prepared to work hard. Be 100% committed and ready to take chances.
• Organise and structure your days so you can fit more in.
• Don't try and do everything by yourself. Delegate or ask for help.

Raise Your Game: What have been the highlights of your career so far?

Matt Roberts: I think the most satisfying thing for me was starting the first one-to-one training centre in the country. I think to be successful you need to be prepared to take risks without question.

I went to the bank to raise the money for the first one, the gym in Mayfair, and they said it was a great idea 'young man'. I was 21, and they said it was just a bit too risky so, in the end, I had to work very hard and not spend anything. I saved and saved for six to eight months and invested everything into the first centre.

It was a great success. Within six months we were completely packed, needed more sites, more venues and more space. I changed banks to make sure that we got what we needed! I think you have to truly know what it is you're trying to achieve, and then you can enjoy it and make sure that you make the right decisions.

RYG: Are there any lowlights to this job?

MR: Probably long hours - it's a very long day! It's quite intensive - you have to make sure that you're 100% on the ball all the time because people are paying a lot of money to get fantastic advice from you and if you're not there 100% then you won't be able to do this job.

RYG: What are the qualities of a good personal trainer?

MR: You have to be passionate about what you are doing, to like people and love helping them. There are so many trainers out there who do it for purely cash-in-hand reasons and aren't really good career professionals.

You have to be somebody who's quite diligently into understanding the way the body functions, and how someone's psychology works. If you can't get in touch with your client on a mental level, then it's impossible to understand how they are falling down in their programme.

Everyone has barriers to overcome, problems to try and get through. As a good trainer, you should actually have the ability to understand what it is that triggers people to do very well and focus on a programme or to fall off that programme and go backwards. I think that's a real skill that you learn, partially over time, but you need to have a real feel for it naturally as well.

RYG: Are there any other skills you need?

MR: Communication is 90% of what I do. If you can't communicate what you want to get across in a very clear sense then there's no way that people will respect you or understand what you're saying.

It comes back to good planning. If you know exactly what you're doing with an individual or a group of people then your communication is confident because you know what you're talking about. If you bluff at anything, communication becomes useless.

RYG: Any advice for anyone who wants to follow and have a career like yours?

MR: You've got to be prepared for extremely hard work and you have to be wholeheartedly committed and be ready to take some chances. Put yourself on the line 100% and be prepared to lose everything.