Food and Events

Personal trainers would be ideal for all blind people'Ken: `My philosophy is to take fitness to the client It's better for most people than going to a gym Try an active lifestyle Start gradually and build up. It can be a long way to the gym, so going to your clients is the answer. If I didn't knock on their doors a lot of them wouldn't do any exercise'Right: Tony Sharp, 45 (right), switchboard operator, in his garage in north London with daughter Sarah, 7, and guide dog Chere, 4, and his personal trainer, Ken Greaves, 30Tony: `As a guide dog, Chere goes at quite a pace, faster than most people can walk, and sometimes I'd think, "Bugger, I can't keep up" I needed advice and I knew I'd feel a prat in a gym. At our first meeting Sally went straight for the biscuit tin.

My kind of trainer, I thought'Sally: `Convenience and motivation are key for trainers in the countryside. I'd just had a child and needed motivation to get back into shape. I also get to listen to all her problems - in fact, I should be charging her'Karen: `I hate it when people smirk and make sarcastic comments about dizzy blondes teaching aerobics. They're just ignorant, full of excuses and guilty about being overweight, unhealthy and eating badly'Amanda Brandler, 38 (right), former theatrical agent, outside her house in Cambridgeshirewith her personal trainer, Sally Wormall, 43, and hergardener, Mr Bennet Amanda: `I used to be superfit when I lived in London Stuck out here, I suddenly panicked. Now he encourages me and keeps telling Karen to do something about my arse.

I used to think personal trainers were for upper-class people, not for the bottom end of the scale But I didn't like the gym I tried. I was inhibited by the slinky women and got fed up queuing for hours while guys with enormous biceps used the equipment'Grant: `If we looked after our bodies like we do our cars, we'd all be in better shape. If you want your car to last, you service it, fill it with good fuel and give it a regular run'Jacqueline de Sousa, 31 (left), account manager with a mobile phone company, in her hallway near Bromsgrove in the West Midlands with her personal trainer, Karen Smith, 30. Her partner, Adrian, is in the background Jacqueline: `I wouldn't have felt right bopping about with a male trainer, and Adrian wouldn't have been too keen. Now fast food giants are making school food and the Spice Girls promote crisps and sweet drinks It's such a bad example. It's sad'Leigh Silcock, 29 (right), computer technician, in his sitting room in Stone, Staffordshire, with his personal trainer, Grant Foster, 35Leigh: `I needed to train - I'd put on weight after being prescribed steroids.

It's about getting rid of the stress of work, clearing out the dirt that can build up and clog my mind'Floyd: `We're so uninformed about fitness and diet that even our children are unfit. There's no way James would let another man in the house while he's at work in the City'Joanne: `I don't think the fitness profession is properly recognised in this country. The attitude is all wrong - we're not brought up to keep fit Maybe it's the weather. I'm saving up to emigrate to Australia'Left: Jonathan Feld, 32 (right), a partner in a publishing company, in his sitting room in north London with his personal trainer, former kick-boxing champion Floyd Brown, 35 Jonathan: `It's not about looking big, being virtuous, or indulging my vanity.

Karen, on the other hand, remains an indispensable part of her life.Far left: Tracey Farmer, 28 (left), housewife, in her hall in Charing, Kent, with her personal trainer, Joanne Roper, 25 Tracey: `I tried a gym but it was like a cattle market I didn't want to get hassled in the jacuzzi I had to have a female trainer, though. He was obviously such a key part of her life and seemed to get on with the trainer as well - I sensed a power struggle there."Since the photograph was taken, Jacqueline has split up with her boyfriend. "It's a close relationship and, when it ends, you often miss the clients."These portraits are strikingly intimate, partly because of the way exercise is integrated into the clutter and informality of everyday life. Cats, dogs and small children are never more than a few feet away from the aerobic activity. In de Sousa's case, neither is her rather disturbing-looking boyfriend, who preferred to pose with a gun (he was trying to shoot some crows that day) than with a set of abdominisers."He got intrigued and wouldn't go away," Clark recalls, "so I asked him to be in the picture It was Jacqueline's idea that he should dress up. You do become friends - you talk about mundane problems and confide details you wouldn't tell other friends." Her trainer Sally Wormall agrees. "I'm too lazy to go to classes but [my trainer] Karen always drives me.