{"id":132147,"date":"2025-09-12T11:43:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T11:43:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/132147\/"},"modified":"2025-09-12T11:43:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T11:43:10","slug":"coventry-granddad-91-hires-personal-trainer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/132147\/","title":{"rendered":"Coventry granddad, 91, hires personal trainer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Rosie EatonIn Coventry and<\/p>\n<p>Shehnaz KhanWest Midlands<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1757510530_331_grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-86c96223-0 iMuqLZ hide-when-no-script\" aria-label=\"image unavailable\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/d67183c0-8f29-11f0-b24c-f71726edbd65.jpg.webp.webp\" loading=\"eager\" alt=\"BBC A man wearing a t-shirt with stripes and shorts on, sits on a rowing machine in a home gym. \" class=\"sc-86c96223-0 fHZDyi\"\/>BBC<\/p>\n<p>Rhys Williams has been taking part in regular fitness sessions <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 bJoRPJ\">A 91-year-old great-grandfather has hired a personal trainer in an attempt to keep up with his grandchildren.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 bJoRPJ\">Rhys Williams, from Coventry, played squash until he was 70, tennis until the age of 80, and celebrated his 90th birthday with a ski trip.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 bJoRPJ\">More recently he had found himself slowing down so decided to sign up to regular fitness sessions with an instructor.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 bJoRPJ\">Mr Williams, who has many grandchildren, told BBC CWR he knew he would have to give up one day, but asked: &#8220;Why not put it off as long as you can?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 bJoRPJ\">He was inspired to get into fitness after finding it more difficult to get up and do daily tasks such as going upstairs, or getting in and out of a chair, he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 bJoRPJ\">&#8220;I thought, well, it can only get worse unless I do anything to try and make it better,&#8221; he explained.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1757510530_331_grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-86c96223-0 iMuqLZ hide-when-no-script\" aria-label=\"image unavailable\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/2c710c50-8f2a-11f0-b24c-f71726edbd65.jpg.webp.webp\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"A man wearing a t-shirt with stripes, stands outside in front of a large green bush. His hands are tucked behind him.\" class=\"sc-86c96223-0 fHZDyi\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The 91-year-old is a grandfather to many and great-grandfather to one<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 bJoRPJ\">Personal trainer Sophie Kennedy said she spent a lot of sessions with Mr Williams listening to his stories.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 bJoRPJ\">She said people she told about her client were &#8220;quite surprised and also inspired by the fact that someone who is 91 is still working with a personal trainer and actually focusing on their fitness and their health&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 bJoRPJ\">&#8220;It&#8217;s very very impressive and he just gets on with it,&#8221; she added.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1757510530_331_grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-86c96223-0 iMuqLZ hide-when-no-script\" aria-label=\"image unavailable\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/cdd980a0-8f29-11f0-8111-31005f7c48fd.jpg.webp.webp\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"A man wearing a t-shirt with stripes and shorts on sits on a chair in a home gym. He is lifting his hands in the air. To the right, a woman wearing a black hoodie also puts her hands in the air. Other pieces of gym equipment can be seen in the background, as well as a darts board. \" class=\"sc-86c96223-0 fHZDyi\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Mr Williams works with instructor Sophie Kennedy during the sessions<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 bJoRPJ\">Mr Williams does not have any fitness goals but said his &#8220;greatest achievement&#8221; was becoming a great-grandfather for the first time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 bJoRPJ\">&#8220;I&#8217;ve got an almost one-year-old great-granddaughter, who&#8217;s really fascinating,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 bJoRPJ\">&#8220;[I] just like to keep up with the grandchildren, or nearly keep up with them for as long as I can.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rosie EatonIn Coventry and Shehnaz KhanWest Midlands BBC Rhys Williams has been taking part in regular fitness sessions&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":132148,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[6647,102,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-132147","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-fitness","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132147\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}