BEING a fitness instructor isn’t all about toiling in the gym but a fantastic chance to see people transform their lives for the better.

Brigid Mansfield wants people to realise this at her new Fit4Fun bootcamps she launched in Walpole Park this month.

The 25-year-old, of South Ealing, said: “The best thing about my job is the luxury of being able to train yourself, but also you meet so many different people who you normally wouldn’t meet on a regular basis.

“You can physically see the transformation.

“I knew someone who went through a really bad break up. She wasn’t very happy with her body and you could tell. She started going to the gym and then she got this sudden burst of confidence.

“She realised ‘what else can I achieve?’ She got a promotion and a year later she looked like a different person.”

The freelance personal trainer is also assistant general manager at The Gym, which opened in Uxbridge Road, Ealing, in November last year.

She attended St Mary’s University College, Twickenham, with the intention of becoming a PE teacher. But then a free gym membership offered by the health club she was working for part-time changed her mind.

It was in the gym that she met the personal trainers who inspired her to go down the coaching route. And when people approached her for advice, she realised she could be doing it for a living.

“I’ve always been quite sporty but I never thought I’d make a living out of what I’m doing now,” she said.

And it seems to run in the family, her mother holds a black belt in Taekwondo.

Although helping people achieve their personal fitness goals is already a dream job for Miss Mansfield, her ultimate goal is to train elite athletes. Her role models are Olympic hopefuls, including Team GB’s heptathlon star Jessica Ennis.

She said: “I’m inspired by people I would want to train. Before, I wanted to be quite general and use the most up-to-date equipment but now I want to do a master’s degree in strength and conditioning.

“That’s more specialised to elite athletes.”

With the 2012 Games just around the corner, Miss Mansfield’s fun, non-regimental bootcamps aim to bring out the inner Olympian in each participant.

Email brigid@bfit-pt.com or call her on 07714 772 130 to find out more.