CONNOR O'BRIEN
I established Absolute Body Solutions at the age of 16 in a shed in my parents garden, where I trained a small group of family and friends.
My passion for training and the gym started with a background in boxing, competing at national level as an amateur.
I travelled the world, seeking out the world’s experts in strength & conditioning and personal training. I did this in tandem with honing my craft at home, training my clients in the garden shed. I took all that I learnt and put that into practice and used it to devise the ABS systems which are in place to this day, though of course I’m continuing to learn to constantly improve the programmes we offer.
Owning and running Absolute Body Solutions is my entire life, and I love it, from working with a fantastic team to helping our clients reach their goals.
I look forward to our continued growth across the UK.
GROWING ABS | 5 GYMS
Over the past 10 years I have worked tirelessly to grow ABS from a local back garden PT service to a five-gym chain that is recognised around the United Kingdom for providing the absolute best in personal training services. And we’re not stopping there.
The journey to this point has included accruing over 10 years’ experience on the gym floor, personally delivering over 20,000 personal training sessions. In some weeks that equated to over 70 sessions to keep up with demand.
Our first expansion to a fully equipped gym facility came in South Liverpool in 2013.
As our reputation grew and we attracted a loyal client base, it allowed us to take on a team of personal trainers to expand the business. After working for a couple of years to grow the brand, we made the life changing decision to expand with the opening of a new premium gym space in Liverpool city centre in January 2017.
Located in the heart of Liverpool’s business district, this was our biggest expansion and risk. The gym proved an instant hit and we have grown our presence there ever since, with more trainers and back-room staff who were just as essential to our success.
At the end of 2018, we opened a state-of-the-art facility in Manchester. Close to Deansgate and Spinningfields, the gym offers premium facilities, and we have an incredible team making a huge impact on the city.
In 2019, we were voted the ‘Best Fitness Venue’ at the Manchester Awards, which was a huge achievement as we had not even been open for a full year.
In 2023 we opened two new gym locations outside of the North West. ABS Leeds city centre opened in the New Year of 2023 and became our fourth gym location. The facility opened in the heart of the Leeds on East Parade and we have been working with incredible clients from all over West Yorkshire ever since.
Later in 2023, we opened our very first gym in the capital. ABS London was a huge step but we wanted to make the leap and bring our brand of personal training to the people of London. We found an incredible location for the gym, right in the heart of Belgravia on Buckingham Palace Rd, within eyeshot of the palace gardens. From a garden shed in Liverpool, to the King’s garden in London, it had been some journey but now ABS London is growing fast and becoming a must visit gym destination in the capital.
All of our gyms continue to provide the highest standard of service, and I am so proud at the way the company has managed to expand.
VISION FOR THE FUTURE
My focus now is working with our trainers to develop their skills further, as well as looking to improve our standards of service across the company. This is a job that should never end.
Every week at ABS there is a big focus on education and improvement. Each gym has a manager who leads a weekly education session in which all trainers are brought up to speed on the latest techniques in training, customer service and ABS methods.
I have also just led a company-wide consultation to develop and hone our company ethos and vision so the whole company is working towards a written set of aims and goals.
A big part of this is to make personal training a recognised professional service.
I want to do this because our trainers work with a wide variety of clients with all kinds of different needs and aims. Some have long-term medical conditions or physical issues which require our trainers to adapt and tailor their training and nutrition to suit their needs. In many cases, our trainers have been able to help aid their clients’ physical and medical conditions through the work they do in their sessions and this should be recognised as a professional service in the fitness world.
Beyond this, we are excited to be looking at further expansion around the UK.
WHY ABS?
Our clients come before everything else. We offer a bespoke approach, with no off-the-shelf plans or nutrition guides. We take each client’s goals, fitness levels and lifestyle into account when developing an approach that will work for them.
We train a wide variety of clients and we work hard to create a positive, supportive, and non-judgmental atmosphere across all our gym floors.
We want our clients to look forward to coming to the gym to train with us.
OUR RESULTS
We are so proud of the incredible results our clients achieve on our programmes.
Our programmes and training is designed to get the very best out of you and we are with you every step of the way, keeping you on track to your goals.
See more examples of the results our clients have achieved by clicking here.
You can also see the very latest results by following us on – INSTAGRAM
