“This is a skills net. Basically, we try to get clients to have a game of foot tennis or even hand tennis with this after a HIIT [high-intensity interval training] session. The goal is for them to concentrate even when they are tired, and at the same time recover in the quickest time possible,” says Wilkinson as he pulls out a collapsible net from the corner of the studio and begins to set it up on the turf. While he does this, Langdown helps straighten the other end and the two dive into a perfectly synchronised game of hand-tossing the ball back and forth over the net. “What this does is it teaches you to concentrate when you are fatigued. At the end of the day, I can’t tell you not to be tired; but this simple exercise can train you how to breathe properly, especially during recovery time in between or after a workout,” Wilkinson says.
Fitness by design Aside from offering athletic development classes as well as combat and football fitness sessions to MMA and football enthusiasts, the duo also designs HIIT circuit workouts based on each individual’s long-term lifestyle and immediate physical state. Looking ahead, they also plan to roll out group classes that will cost significantly less than the one-onone and private group training sessions currently offered. Wilkinson says that, although he and Langdown do conduct specialised MMA and football training sessions as former pros, aspiring athletes are but only a small portion of their target audience. “We realised that the most fun comes from training ‘regular people’ rather than professional athletes, people who want to get into or stay in shape and want their own space to train flexibly. Because everybody has different fitness levels, there is no one-size-fits-all solution to attaining your fitness goals,” says Langdown. “A lawyer or banker, for example, would more likely be more stressed out or knackered when he comes in at the end of the day [to work out]. So, we have to be able to tailor the course for him accordingly.”
- TRX — Pulses
- Wall medicine ball (Rugby throws)
- Ridge — Hip raises
- Battle ropes
- Jelly — Plank hold
- Ladders — footwork
- AquaBag — Quickfire
- Resistance Band
- Medi-ball — Floor slam
ment of equipment and, looking back on it all, a rather thrilling set of challenges. Wilkinson later explains that he and Langdown had planned out my HIIT workout programme the evening before. He says, “We talked about what your day-to-day would probably entail, and concluded that while you probably don’t have strict, regimented office hours, you do have deadlines to rush. So, as you are used to working at a 100 miles an hour, what we aimed for was to make each HIIT station super quick and super slick. For the stations with the medicine balls, there was also no point giving you super heavy weights to throw around because, based on our general observations, Asian girls tend to have weaker upper torsos compared with other parts of the body.” They had originally planned a slightly more intense workout for me but had to drop the intensity to accommodate the fatigue and dehydration from my hangover. “We reduced some of the weights and made certain stations, such as the footwork drill, a bit simpler. Some people might come in late with only half an hour left to train before they have to head off for work, or maybe the phone rings mid-way… Then we’ll have to change their programme on the fly to ensure they get the most out of the session,” says Langdown.
Transformations in motion It is just slightly over two months since the official opening of the fitness centre, and the men are already handling an average of three clients each on a daily basis. One promise that the pair have made to clients of Slingshot FC is that they will always receive guidance and training from a former professional athlete, even if the client base eventually grows too large for the both of them to handle alone. Wilkinson, for instance, is already looking to rope in a friend of his — S. League player Liam Shotton, who is also the elder brother of Birmingham City player Ryan Shotton — to help out at Slingshot. “We want to set ourselves apart from the competition by creating an environment in which our clients can train at ease with ex-professionals,” says Langdown. For now, the business partners say they are focused on giving their existing clientele their 100%, and are already beginning to reap the fruits of their labour with positive feedback from satisfied cli
ents. A star example is one of Wilkinson’s first clients, a dentist. “When he first stepped into the studio, he was going through some personal troubles, had low self-esteem and was massively overweight. He saw my profile on Instagram and he’d seen me on TV, so he just wanted to come and check out what Slingshot was all about,” recalls Wilkinson. “We started off with a series of HIIT sessions and, initially, I could tell he was really out of his comfort zone… A month and a half later, and he’s already lost 9kg and counting. These days, he comes in three times a week in the early mornings, each time with a massive smile on his face and ready to attack the workout session head-on.” “That guy is an entirely different person now,” agrees Langdown. “If you had met him back then, you probably wouldn’t be able to recognise him now.” Other than weight loss, one of the biggest changes Langdown has witnessed in his clients is a significant gain in confidence and, more often than not, a close friendship that often forms in the process of training. “The job gives you a very nice insight to people’s lives and who they are, what they’re going through. And that can really influence how you train people. Some are more susceptible to being pushed harder when they’re in a bad mood because you know they can use it as fuel; others need a little hand-holding throughout the session,” he reflects. Life’s lessons
After my session and over a quick lunch of pho — and between enthusiastic encounters with the restaurant staff who greet Wilkinson and Langdown as though they were old friends — I learn that it would be a mistake to address them as personal trainers or fitness instructors. Instead, Wilkinson and Langdown prefer to describe themselves as studio directors or performance specialists. Wilkinson explains: “At Slingshot, we don’t want to just focus on achieving physical fitness. What we teach here can be applicable to all aspects of life. Instead of just setting up a circuit or training programme for our clients and just telling them, ‘Off you go,’ we want to understand more about them, build relationships and learn from our clients as much as they learn from us… Because we have been athletes for most of our lives, we don’t know what it’s like to be out of breath crossing the road or climbing the stairs. It’s fascinating to be able to meet people from all walks of life and learn from them.” The two, who jokingly refer to each other as husband and wife, make their fondness and admiration for each other clear throughout the interview. Despite their different characters, Wilkinson argues that it would be a “nightmare” if he and his partner were too much alike. “Stephen’s very lateral-minded and good with things like rostering and getting things to arrive on time. While I enjoy being more creative and setting up ‘games’ during sessions, Stephen’s very straight to the point by coming in short and sharp, which gets results.” Langdown chimes in: “We’re very different, but at the same time we get along so well together because we’re on very similar wavelengths too. Over the years, John and I have realised that what one brings to the table is often something that the other lacks. It would be detrimental for either of us to do [this business] alone, which is why we are together now.”
