OUR STORY
How we’re becoming the PERSONAL trainers we want to be!
Founded in April 2014, St Albans Personal Training has been Assisting the Amazing, Ambitious, and Amiable residents of St Albans and Hertfordshire, to take Action and Achieve their Aspirations.
We began our journey as a company by running a free weekly bootcamp for the local community. We taught creative and challenging exercises which could be performed by anyone, anywhere, anytime, and required little or no equipment at all.
Today we provide personal training on a one-to-one basis at our private studio located in City Centre of St Albans (about a 3 minute walk from The Maltings using the cut through, down the stairs, and right opposite the Co-Op on London Road), and at BodyLimits Gym in Sandridge. Many of our clients come to us feeling unsure about how to approach a new training regime, feeling like they do not know how to use gym equipment or perform different exercises correctly, or feeling a real lack of motivation or confidence towards the various aspects involved with choosing a healthier lifestyle. You may have felt like you cannot go into the weights room of a gym, go for a swim at your local swim centre, go running outdoors, or feel unsure about how to approach planning (and enjoying!) a nutritious diet. Knowing where to start with achieving the goals you want to achieve can also be confusing and overwhelming.
Once our clients have started training with us they have found that they can overcome their initial challenges, improve their health and fitness, and achieve their goals. All it took was a little help, knowledge, and encouragement from an expert to get them underway with their decision to live a healthier lifestyle.
We hope and we’ll feel privileged if you decide to choose us to help you on your new journey today.
DAN JOHNSTON
Founder of StAPT. BSc Biomedical Science (2009) from Durham University. Level 3 Personal Trainer Qualified (2013). CIMPSA Registered.
My journey towards living a healthy lifestyle and improving my fitness began at the age of 16. My Dad bought me a Men’s Health magazine which was full of dumbbell exercises. I didn’t know much about gyms or weight lifting so I would read the magazine and copy the exercises with a pair of plastic dumbbells in my bedroom.
Since then I have always gone to gyms and fitness classes, as well as enjoyed sports well into my adulthood. I play rugby (which I decided to take up when I was 24 having never played before!), enjoy swimming, and I love strength training. I have also personally enjoyed activities like Football, Boxercise, CrossFit, and I even tried mixed martial arts for a few months. Why am I telling you this? Because I want all my clients to be able to experience the feeling of taking up new sports or joining exercises classes, particularly for the first time or going back to it if they haven’t done it for a while.
I launched StAPT in 2014 as I had a passion for health and exercise which has been with me from the age of 16, and has stayed with me since. I also believe I was motivated to start a health and fitness business after I experienced an issue with my heart in my early 20’s. The difficulty of going through that gave me the motivation to never again take my health for granted, become a much healthier and stronger person, and is a huge reason why I have this passion for myself and others.
I want to help people make a new start or return to an active and healthy lifestyle. We all have to start somewhere, and for me it was with a Men’s Health magazine. For you it may be the same (probably following a social media channel or influencer more so than a magazine these days!) or it may be with someone like me helping you as your personal trainer.
Today I utilise my background in Biomedical Science and my experience as a personal trainer to teach my clients about the biomechanics of the body. I combine mobility, strength, and cardiovascular exercises with breathing techniques and the science behind nutrition in order to help them achieve their goals. 
SHANE PURCELL
MSc in Sports Cardiology from St George’s Hospital Medical School, Postgraduate Diploma in Sports Performance from the University of Limerick, BACPR Specialist Exercise Instructor for Cardiac Conditions, Level 4 Certificate in Exercise Training for Chronic Respiratory Disease
My journey in health and fitness began through sport — I was always active growing up, which naturally led me to study Sports Science at university. Over the years, I gained qualifications as a personal trainer, swimming teacher, and lifeguard, and went on to complete a postgraduate diploma and a master’s in Sports Performance, eventually earning my CSCS (Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist) accreditation through the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA).
After working with sports teams as a strength and conditioning coach, I shifted my focus to clinical fitness. I saw how exercise could transform the lives of people managing long-term health conditions — yet too few professionals had the clinical knowledge to support them safely. That inspired me to train as a Clinical Exercise Physiologist. Now, I work within the NHS, helping patients with heart conditions, fatigue, and other medical challenges, to use exercise to feel stronger, healthier, and more confident.
Outside of work, I’ve always had a passion for endurance sport — completing triathlons, marathons, and the UK Three Peaks Challenge. After developing hip issues and undergoing a hip replacement in my mid-30s, I experienced what it’s like to be a patient myself — learning how to adapt and keep moving. Now, as a parent balancing fitness with family life, I bring a real-world, compassionate perspective to my work.
I’m also a named author on the SAFE-HCM research paper focused on safe exercise for people with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and I regularly collaborate with cardiologists, deliver webinars for Cardiomyopathy UK, and speak at support groups to promote safe, accessible exercise for all.
LIAM MICKLEBURGH
BSc Sport Science Honours from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) from the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA)
I started my journey as a 16-year-old schoolboy researching exercises to improve my own sport performance (golf particularly, however I also played cricket and rugby). From then on, I have always wanted to be involved in sports performance specifically and training in general. I was hooked.
After finishing school, I studied a Bachelor of Sport Science degree. After completing my 3-year degree I was fortunate enough to be accepted into the honours Sports Science (Exercise Physiology/Science) degree. I also completed my professional qualification, the Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS), through the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA). A great privilege during my honour’s year was being chosen to intern at The Sharks rugby team for the Currie Cup and Super Rugby season of 2015. Here, I was given the opportunity to intern with Mark Steele (Head of Conditioning). I gained an invaluable amount of experience in working with extremely high performing athletes and had the opportunity to pick the brain of one of the top Strength and Conditioning coaches in the world. This has since fuelled my career in the industry, in addition to working as an academic (lecturing) for two and half years at a sport science college, a CrossFit coach and personal trainer for one year, a strength and conditioning coach at an independent boarding school for two and half years, and currently now as the strength and conditioning coach for the Wales Woman’s Hockey Team since April 2021.
As a professional in the field, I use validated/scientific methods that have been shown to work and enhance programmed training sessions that address any weaknesses found during assessment and testing. This results in my athletes achieving a high level of cardiovascular fitness, postural and spinal integrity, greater range of motion and strength, and injury prevention.