The Fitness Factory Totnes - Instructor Profiles
Rory Aitken - Rory was born in Rome in 1962. At school he swam in regional championships and captained the basketball
team in his two senior years. As a university student he rowed in the first 8 and continued rowing at elite level until his first child
was born. Unable to stay away from competitive sports for long, Rory took up competitive cycling, eventually racing as a sponsored rider.
In the late 1990's Rory combined his swimming and cycling skills with a third new discipline - running. Triathlon soon became his new passion and he raced successfully in age-group categories from Olympic distance races (1.5km swim, 40km bike and 10km run) all the way up to the fearsome IronMan, where racers swim for 3.8km, cycle for 180km and then run a full-length marathon of 42.2km.
For the past ten years Rory has been planning the opening of his own gym. The Fitness Factory is the result of realising the dream. Qualified as an instructor in June 2004, Rory's highly motivational approach to teaching classes combines a powerful mixture of dynamics, aerobic and strength-training to cater to participants of all levels from beginners to elite athletes.
Tonia Aitken - Tonia qualified as an ICE trainer in October ‘05 and completed her Pilates Level 1 certification in August ‘06. She leads Easy Rider classes addressing the techniques of our low-impact aerobic exercise system, and Pilates classes addressing the core muscles for all levels of ability.
Tonia has always practiced a variety of sports. Born in Rome from American parents, she naturally took to basketball, and played in the school volleyball and hockey teams as well. At university Tonia cycled for fitness while playing badminton to a high standard.
Her teaching credentials are impeccable: Tonia taught primary school for 8 years until the birth of her daughter in ‘92. Between then and the birth of her son in ‘95 Tonia struggled to get back into shape so she joined a gym to take a more disciplined approach to training and nutrition. With regular exercise her pregnancy-related weight gain was quickly overcome through smart food choices and correct exercise.
Tonia’s holistic view of health and fitness combines nutrition, cardio, flexibility and strength training, as promoted at The Fitness Factory. Easy Rider (L2) is ideal for novices as it offers a pressure-free environment in which to improve slowly. Easy Rider and Pilates can both be as soft or as hard as you want them to be; when practiced correctly you are going to get a great workout at all levels.
Hannah Broughton - Hannah was born in Surrey in 1976, and moved to Devon in 2001. At school she took part in all the sports, specializing in gymnastics. She competed at regional level in this discipline until the age of 18, and continued to practice until her first child was born.
After the birth of her third child in 2001, Hannah took up running, which soon became a consuming passion. As a runner she entered many races and enjoyed local success, particularly in the half marathon, which she has run many times. Hannah is now on a training programme for the London marathon 2008.
Realizing that her vocation was in the field of health and fitness, Hannah qualified as an instructor in 2006, but her interest in all things sporting goes beyond the gym; a love for trampolining is shared with her daughters, who take lessons with her. Hannah also volunteers her time teaching youngsters basic gymnastic, and trampolining, and captains her local netball team (the “Denbury Devils”) who are fighting their way up the ultra-competitive local league.
Hannah’s approach to teaching classes fits in with The Fitness Factory perfectly: friendly, dynamic, motivational, energizing, and enthusiastic. She started teaching here just before Christmas, and is already well-beloved by all our members. You will enjoy her classes, and we are delighted to welcome her on board.
Annita Caron - Annita was born in Bristol. She worked as a windsurfing instructor in Greece for 3 years before moving to live in Singapore. It was during her 10 years in Asia that she developed her passion for bodywork and yoga, and when she returned to the UK, she qualified as a yoga teacher and a massage therapist.
Annita came to yoga through a long history of back problems. It was after a prolapsed disc injury in an aerobics class that her yoga journey began. She will quite happily now tell anyone who will listen that yoga saved her life (at least the quality of it!). She now no longer considers herself to be ‘one with a back condition!’.
And the training goes on! Annita is embarking on another 2 years training, with The Yoga Biomedical Trust in London, training as a Yoga Therapist, the plan being to specialise particularly in Back Care.
John Spurr - John's lifelong fascination and curiosity with life led him to his early studies in Biochemistry and Ecology.
The next 10 years were spent teaching Biology 'A' level and 'GCSE', during which time he rediscovered cycling and started Yoga. He found
both of these exercises to be amazingly effective in promoting strong feelings of physical and mental wellbeing. In the early 80's he
opened a bike shop in Totnes and started a cycle holiday business.
For the next 20 years he started to train seriously, rode competitively and maintained an interest in teaching the benefits of exercise. A serious cycle accident in 1999 left him with only partial use of his right arm, for which Yoga was the remedy when all else failed. This awoke in John a deep interest in the health benefits of Yoga, and was the inspiration for an intensive study of the subject.
In conjunction with John's Yoga studies, he qualified as a Gym Instructor and as an Exercise Referral Consultant enabling him to devise exercise schemes to help manage a wide range of medical conditions. John is close to completing studies in Cardiac Rehabilitation.
Rita Mikalauskas - Rita has nine years experience in Tai Chi Chuan and Chi Gung and is a qualified instructor in the
long-standing Zhong Ding International Martial Arts Association. Rita won a gold medal for the Cheng Man Ching form at the 1999 Zhong
Ding grand Championships held in Birmingham.
More recently when in China in 2004, Rita was selected as a senior instructor at the inaugural meeting of the Worldwide Association of Chinese Internal Martial Arts. Rita has travelled to China, Malaysia and Europe to train with Tai Chi Masters such as Dr Wang, George Zu, Lau Kim Hong, Koh Ah Tee, Liang He Qing, Tan Ching Ngee, Wu Chiang Hsing, Lim Kim fu and Nigel Sutton, the founder of the Zhong Ding Association.
Rita is also a fully qualified Bowen practitioner and finds that its principles - 'less is more' - complement her work in Tai Chi.
Gill Whitmore - Gill was a dancer through her childhood and adolescence, and started her sporting career in Australia in the early 90’s when she trained and qualified as an instructor to teach aerobics, step, aqua-aerobics and Pilates.
Moving to the South Hams in 1995, her son was born in 2000, but that didn’t stop her teaching her popular classes at The Kingsbridge leisure centre, and classes of her own in local village halls.
Additionally qualified as a GP referral and rehabilitation instructor, Gill brings an awesome level of personal fitness and enthusiasm to her classes, which are invariably popular. Her sports related hobbies include running and cycling: just don’t tell her any trade secrets since her husband Nigel runs the Dartmouth leisure centre!
Alan Payne - Alan has had a lifelong love affair with sport, training and nutrition, so it was only a matter of time
before he made this passion his life. Personal training and teaching group exercise classes are his vocation. He is a twenty four seven
trainer always researching new ways to challenge himself and those that attend his sessions.
What's the most important aspect of Alan's work? "Getting members to take control of their lifestyle, because very often their lifestyles are in control of them."
Alan's success with his clients is both in terms of fitness improvement and in their relationship to food. The consequence of this is a sense of wellbeing and inner confidence, which comes through the body being properly nourished, in turn leading to improved energy and vitality. How does this work on a practical level? "As I approach my 47th birthday I appreciate the value of health and a healthy lifestyle. I now realise that my outlook, behaviour, ability to work and train, at consistently high energy levels is directly related to my own sense of physical fitness, and how I have nourished my body."
