Jilly Silvera began her business, Silvera Strength and Fitness, 18 months ago.
The single mum-of-one offers both one-to-one and small group weight training classes, with groups no more than six.
The 42-year-old has been a personal trainer for around five years and started as a kids’ fitness instructor before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Jilly then went on to qualify to train adults and worked a few different jobs at once, including being a fundraiser for a cancer charity.
The business began around 18 months ago (Image: Jilly Silvera)
She has converted her conservatory into a studio and now runs Silvera Strength and Fitness full-time.
The women’s strength and conditioning coach said: “It was a scary decision, but it was honestly the best thing I’ve ever done.
“I love it, it doesn’t feel like work to be honest.
“I just see the difference it makes to these women and how far they’ve come.
“They couldn’t do one sit-up, for example, when they first started, and now they’re bashing them out.
“I have a moment where I look at them, and I’m like, this is amazing.”
Jilly said she has recently hosted a padel event for her clients to socialise and exercise at the same time, and is working on hosting similar events in the future.
She says she focuses on creating a safe space for women to work out as an alternative to a busy gym.
She has converted her conservatory into a studio (Image: Jilly Silvera)
Jilly said: “I get a lot of enquiries through, and everyone says the same thing. They feel intimidated walking into a gym. They don’t know what they’re doing.
“They feel like they’re going to be watched and judged, and I get that. I personally don’t think a gym is a nice environment either.
“So I wanted to create a safe space where women felt really comfortable. They wear whatever they want, they don’t care if they’ve got makeup on or not. It’s not about that.
“Just to prioritise themselves for an hour, forget everything else that’s going on in their life. Everyone’s got stuff going on in their life.
“That hour is their time to work on themselves and to feel that bit stronger, but more importantly, to build that confidence.
Jilly Silvera has been a personal trainer for around five years (Image: Jilly Silvera)
“I’m not interested in weighing my clients; I don’t care what the scales say. The scales are just a number. I always say go off how you feel internally.”
She said the average age of the women attending her sessions is 45 and over.
Jilly said: “A lot of people are going through menopause, and they don’t really know where to start with it, and I think they get put off and they get a bit scared and intimidated just walking into a gym.
“During the menopaus,e you lose a lot of muscle and bone strength as we get older.
“I always say, ‘You want to be able to run around after your grandchildren, you want that healthy heart, you want to be able to lift them and throw them around, you want those strong bones’.
“It’s a long-term thing; it’s not just for the six-week transformations.”