CHALLENGE ACCEPTED
Whether testing his limits or promoting inclusivity, fitness coach Tyler Saunders isn’t the sort to concede defeat. This is how he maintains his drive
Men’s Health: You’re a PT-inresidence at Gymshark’s London store, a regular on the UK fitness comp scene and you have a semi-pro basketball background. Has sport always been a big part of your life?
Tyler Saunders: Not always. I enjoyed PE at school, but I couldn’t always keep up. Football is the big sport in England, [but] due to my impaired mobility, I was often in goal, which was soul-destroying as a kid. I was included in the school basketball team, too, but again, I wasn’t able to keep up with the flow of the game.
I also wore a prosthetic leg until I was about 23. [Saunders was born with his right leg missing from the hip.] I had a partner at the time who asked me,
‘Why do you wear the leg if it causes you so much discomfort?’ I’d always worn it to fit in and look like everyone else. After that, I took to using crutches because it was more comfortable.
MH: How did things change when you discovered wheelchair basketball?
TS: It was my first proper introduction to sport. I didn’t pursue it initially because of my studies. But I got back into the sport in my late twenties.
MH: You earned a spot on the GB Paralympic development squad – that must’ve been fairly demanding.
TS: It increased the amount of activity I was doing tenfold. Being around individuals at the top of their game rubbed off on me.
I went to Germany to play semi-pro. I was living the athlete’s life: just training and playing. That’s when I really started to see changes in my fitness and body composition. My nutritional habits improved, I started tracking my food intake and I got more clued up.
MH: What prompted your transition
into personal training?
TS: I decided to qualify as a PT when I got back. Prior to Germany I was working part-time in an administrative role. My eating habits were horrendous. I thought, ‘I can’t go back to doing an office job and not fuelling my body properly, not moving enough.’ I went into my first job immediately after qualifying.
MH: You clearly enjoy pushing yourself. You’ve tackled events such as Hyrox, Spartan Races and the National Fitness Games, not to mention Ninja Warrior. What sparked your love of competing?
TS: National Fitness Games was the first one. I got the opportunity to compete in a team of four as an ambassador for [sports nutrition brand] MaxiNutrition. It was hard, but it was fun. After that event, I thought, ‘Okay… I liked pushing myself, I didn’t die.’ I caught the event bug.
MH: Have you come across any challenges when competing alongside athletes without physical impairments at big team events?
TS: It’s been fairly straightforward.
I’ve kind of just rocked up. As adaptive athletes or athletes with impairments, we don’t want a different workout. You want to do what everyone else is doing and just tweak a couple of things – scale the weights, slightly modify the movements.
MH: There must be aspiring athletes who’d love to compete in these events but don’t realise that they can request modifications.
TS: Yeah. And if people see me do it… an amputee might think, ‘He’s giving it a go, maybe I can.’ Whether it’s a wheelchair user or someone who’s visually impaired, there’s better representation now. It’s not about changing everything for us, just tweaks to make events more inclusive.
MH: What does an average workday look like for you now?
TS: I’m in a private studio, which is geared towards functional fitness. Around training clients, I’m also building an online programme. Then I go home and put on my ‘dad hat’. I have two daughters, who are five and six. And I’ve got basketball training once a week.
I’ve also started a fitness coach and instructor role at Gymshark’s store on Regent Street. I’m excited about that.
MH: With this many plates to spin, how and when do you fit in your own training?
TS: I schedule workouts into the free spaces in my day. I’m currently following an adaptive CrossFit programme by a company called WheelWOD. It’s a five-day-a-week programme, but to be honest, I don’t always hit all five days. I just try not to skip two on the trot.
MH: What’s your next big goal?
TS: I’m doing [endurance race] Hyrox in May and I’ve set myself the goal of doing the whole event without my wheelchair. I normally do the running part in my basketball chair, which allows me to maintain a good pace. But, as I’ve competed at more events, I’ve wondered, ‘How hard can I push myself? Can I do the 1km runs on my crutches?’
A lot of these things I’m doing… yes, there’s an enjoyment aspect, but it’s also about challenging that limiting belief that I have from being a kid. ‘You’re not fit enough, you’re not strong enough.’ That’s really what makes me throw myself into these challenges.
MH: Do you have any other ambitions for the coming year?
TS: I’m turning some of my attention to helping other people in my community, people with lower-limb impairments. I hope I can inspire people who might’ve thought they didn’t have a space in the industry to take their first steps. Because fitness should be for everyone.
‘I hope to inspire people who thought they didn’t have a space in the industry’