Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Lifestyle
Paula Cocozza

A new start after 60: I was treated for cancer, ran a half-marathon and became a personal trainer

Simon Lord at his gym in Oxfordshire.
Simon Lord at his gym in Oxfordshire. Photograph: Jill Mead/The Guardian

In the autumn of 2019, a few weeks after his 60th birthday, Simon Lord began his new career as a personal trainer with a session in his local park in the Oxfordshire village of Cholsey. He had known that this was the job for him as soon as he opened the first page of his coursework.

The following year, just before the UK first went into lockdown, he extended the garage of the home where he lives with his wife, Sarah, and fitted it out with secondhand gym equipment. He now has 15 clients and delivers two group classes a week. All this he fits around his part-time job as a team leader at Tesco.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.