Nicky Clarke Celebrity Hairdresser Gets In Shape

Nicky Clarke, the celebrity hairdresser, tries to squeeze in five early-morning sessions a week with Marshall. "I started putting on fat once I hit 30," he says. "Now I'm 40, he's redefined my shape. He's aggressive in the nicest way and he won't allow me to let up."

Within two or three weeks, my whole body changed after working out with Bodydoctor. I've got a lot thinner. I've always been thin, but now I'm even thinner, and how I've always wanted to be. I used to be a dancer, so I do have a good body, but now David's made it really good. I thought I could never shift any more weight from my thighs and hips, they were always my problem areas, and I was resigned to that, but they've totally gone away. I knew about David from Rachel Weiss, who had fantastic results. I saw her body transformed over night. It's not an exaggeration to say that my whole body changed too in the same way that Rachel's did. I'm just so much leaner, but I still have all my muscles, so I look healthy too, and really fit. I've come down two dress sizes.

From an American 8/10 to a 4/6 which is incredible. In the past I've hated working out, with all those reps, but David does it in a fun way, you can feel each muscle being worked in each exercise. You actually feel the results as you're training. I really enjoyed working out for the first time in my life. If Rachel and I hadn't had the training with David, we could never done the fight scene in the movie. We worked on the fight scene over three days, and we both had the stamina to do that, thanks to David. I've danced my whole life and thought I was fit, but without David, I could never have pulled that off. We were pushed beyond physical human limits. He's fantastic. If I don't see him, I miss it. He doesn't talk bullshit,(?!) he just pushes you to where you have to go. He gets you out of negative moods, by working mind and body at same time. He makes you feel like you're the best. It's a psychological thing. He makes you feel as good as he knows you are!

Nicky Clarke has known David Marshall for many years. He first started training with him when Marshall had a gym in his house. 'I was fairly gym orientated,' he recalls. 'I had read all about different types of exercise, so David wasn't explaining his programme to somebody who didn't understand.'

The personal training fitness programme has evolved over the years. 'He had perfected a simple yet sophisticated approach. He applies the same method to everybody, but just changes the intensity and weights.There are a lot of similarities between the way I work when I cut hair. I use the same method of sectioning for different types of hairstyles. A lot of people found that incredibly difficult to grasp.

'David was unconventional, because he said "do one set of 25 repetitions," when everyone else was saying, "do three sets." I did think it went against everything I had read. He insisted on no real rest period, not hitting the same muscle part often, and equalizing each muscle with an opposite number. But there was no kind of pain threshold 24 hours later.'

Nicky began exercising 'not because I wanted to lose weight, but if I don't do anything then I can quite easily add three quarters of a stone and it is not a nice three quarters of a stone!' But he wanted to 'lose a percentage of body fat.'

'David was very strict about doing the exercises properly. He would drop my weights down in order to make sure that I did them correctly. He is quite particular about the safety aspect and the programme is obviously well thought out.'

Nicky got results 'relatively immediately.'Today he finds it difficult to pop into David's Primrose Hill NW1/St John's Wood NW8 gym, but takes his manual along to his local one. 'I am quite strict about doing it two or three times a week. Once I saw somebody who was quite clearly following David's programme at my local gym. If I don't have time for a full workout, then I will do all the exercises without the aerobics. I can do them in half an hour - I know it will be a tough half-hour, but that I will be in fairly decent shape afterwards.'