Ben Davie is the focus of next Meet the Instructors series, our Thursday lunchtime regular whose day job is Fitness Advisor to The Body Coach. He tells about his passion for football, his work with Joe Wicks and why he loves Digme Fitness…

I’ve always loved sport and I knew when I left school I wanted to work in fitness. I’ve played football since a really young age and was semi-professional at one stage, but now I play for a club called Smallfield, not far from my home town of Crawley.  

I studied Sports Development and Fitness after I left school and then did all my PT qualifications before starting at Virgin Active as a PT and spin instructor. I also worked overseas for a bit, in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El Sheikh and in Mallorca. I took the fitness classes, one-to-one PT sessions and bootcamps there – it was great fun.

I joined The Body Coach in December 2015 when they did a recruitment drive. Initially I was answering enquiries from people who’d signed up to the plan, but I quickly changed roles to be on the fitness side of things. Now I work closely with Joe on anything fitness-related and I run the timetable for the staff classes as we have a gym in the office.

I help design the HIIT workouts that are filmed for the social media channels, and I helped with the filming of the DVD. Joe could do it all on his own, but he doesn’t always have the time with everything else going on to plan new workouts and look at new stuff. It was a nightmare when we first moved into the offices in Richmond because we didn’t have the gym or the kitchen – the two things Joe uses most. We had to have special sound proofing installed for the gym because it’s on the second floor. 

It’s amazing to be part of it. I love working in Richmond despite the commute from Crawley. I have to be in the office for 6.30am three times a week, so I get the 5.50am train. Through my job I’ve been lucky enough to do some magazine work as well – I was recently in Forever Sport magazine.

I play football once a week, despite breaking my ankle quite badly nearly two years ago. I went in for a 50-50 tackle and my ankle got crunched. I had to have gas and air in the ambulance. I was sedated to put the bone back in place, then I was in a hard plaster for a week before I had the operation to insert a metal plate. After that I was in a boot. I’ve done a lot of mobility and strengthening work on it, so it’s almost perfect now. I was lucky I wasn’t in a hard cast for six weeks like some people, as the rehab is much harder.

I love to run as well and I’ve done four marathons – Brighton twice, Bournemouth and London. I’m not training for anything at the moment – I’m thinking about giving myself this year off long-distance running. I’m getting quite into boxing and do one session a week at the moment.

The Digme studio in Richmond is amazing and I’m loving being part of something so exciting. I’ve never seen anything like it, having only ever taught spinning in health clubs. It’s really exciting now I’m comfortable with teaching using the Spivi system, and I’m enjoying having a regular class on the timetable.

Music is a big part of why I enjoy teaching indoor cycling classes so much. I love End Credits by Chase & Status and anything by Swedish House Mafia. I love the energy I get off people and the buzz afterwards. 

My fitness inspirations as I’ve grown up would have to be David Beckham, Kelly Holmes and Mo Farah.