My name is Daniel Pardo. I’m a personal trainer from the Central coast NSW. And I often get asked when and why I started my fitness journey.
I started at the gym at the age of 17 weighing in at 49kg. Being a male almost a man weighing so little was quite emasculating and very easy to make fun of. I loved playing football (soccer). It was my passion. However, I decided that if I wanted to put on weight I’d sacrifice playing to concentrate on the gym. With my rapid metabolism and limited knowledge I felt it was the only way.
After moving around all through my childhood and teens and going to 8 different schools it felt great to have something that centered me. From the first weigh in/measurement review, once I had seen that I had made progress I was hooked. I’d leave for school at 6:00am finish at 2:00 and catch the bus to the gym straight after school and get home about 6:30 that night. It taught me dedication and work ethic.
Once my physique had started to take shape a lot of people would ask me for advice. I loved it. Going from a timid, shy boy that felt insignificant to having people compliment me and ask me for advice it felt great.
Growing as a person, I realized I had a passion for helping people in all aspect of life. It took me a long time to pursue this as my career though, and I still doubted myself. I spent a lot of time on my own even though the people that know me say I had a great personality I was always too shy to show it. This led to a string of jobs where I worked long hours for minimal pay, was talked down to, disrespected and had a very limited social life. But I still stuck to my training. It gave me an outlet and something positive to focus on. I used the attributes and lessons learned from my gym training to my personal and professional life and started living up to my potential and self worth. I realized I was actually allowed to make goals for myself and achieve them. I became more confident and social.
Long story short here, I’m doing what I thought I’d never do for a living. I didn’t start out as a typical personal trainer with aspirations to be a fitness model or compete in bodybuilding. All I ever wanted at the time was to be considered “normal” and not be the brunt of everybody’s jokes. I wanted to have the confidence to be myself. Now that I have reached my goal I encourage others to do the same. I’m passionate about helping people achieve their goals no matter what they are! To me there really is no better feeling in the world than changing somebody’s life for the better. I’ve helped people from all walks of life and I can’t get enough.
My goal in life is to help as many people as possible change their lives for the better whether it be physically mentally or emotionally. I have put in the years of research, trial and error, hard work and dedication into my craft and growing myself and my business. I’ve done public speaking at work functions, schools and boys homes. For someone that had a fear of public speaking it’s a big deal to me now. I use my experiences to teach lessons. Every single day I am becoming a better trainer because if I am not working or working out I am studying. This is my passion and my calling. My objective is to be positive energy to every single person I meet even if it’s just putting a smile on someone’s face. My body of work is helping people reach their potential, goals and live life to the fullest. I hope to do the same for you!
You might also like
