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Raise Your Game: How did you become a personal trainer?

David Marshall: I used to play football and I got injured when I was 16-years-old. I couldn't play so I sat at home, ate food and felt miserable. My dream had gone.

All the natural fitness that I acquired as a kid was disappearing fast, so I had to start exercising again. Although it was fashionable to develop muscles through training, I believed that, for sport, you needed a body that was fast, supple and powerful. Through trial and error I began to develop my own method.

RYG: What is your method and how does it work?

DM: It works with your body instead of against it. It doesn't target fat, weight, speed, strength, stamina or any one aspect. When you target one area you're creating an imbalance everywhere else. It's no good being brilliant at one thing and ordinary at everything else. You've got to be very good at everything.

Conventional training works on the basis of working to your strengths and making the best of your weaknesses. We work with our weaknesses until they gain parity with our strengths. Then, when your body's in balance, you can improve everything. Using conventional methods, the gap between your strengths and your weaknesses increases, and increases susceptibility to injury.

RYG: Is there a particular order in the exercises that you do?

DM: We work sequentially through the body. It's like when you do yoga you don't do a face down dog and then do a twist. Everything has to have a sequence, because the idea is that each exercise you do will create a positive and a negative effect.

The positive effects of some exercises are that they will cause muscle contraction, but the negative element is that the muscle, when contracted, is tight. The next exercise in sequence therefore, should be to stretch out the muscle that's just been contracted. I call that 'cleaning as you go.' When you do an exercise you make a mess.

If you do 20 minutes stretching at the end of a conventional workout, when your body's stiff and sore from exercise, the best you can hope for is to get back to the level of flexibility that you started with before your workout. We aim to increase your flexibility while increasing your strength.

RYG: How do you change someone's attitude towards exercise?

DM: By saying 'do the best you can.' I can give someone the tools, but they have to use them. I've never lost an inch or an ounce off anyone. It's down to the individual to take control. If you give someone the opportunity to make a difference, they'll do it.

We do the same thing for everyone. If you've got two arms, two legs, breathe air and drink water, there's a fair chance that you've got normal human physiology. That means you'll get the same results as anyone else.

RYG: How do you motivate people to make a physical change?

DM: I bring the best out of them. I give them something that their body will respond to and embrace. Conventional exercise often leaves you sore, stiff and full of aches and pains. That's not because you've had a mind boggling workout, it's because you've hurt your body. Your body's not saying 'I'm going to get sore and stiff because it was great.' It gets sore and stiff because that exercise was no good for it. We work with the body, not against it.

RYG: You've worked with lots of famous people in the past, why do they come to you?

DM: If you look at the people we've trained, they've all gone on to bigger and better things. That's not because we've made them talented, loveable or funny. It's because we've given them the resources to maximise their potential - healthy body, healthy mind.

RYG: What's the easiest way to get in shape?

DM: There are no short cuts. It comes down to hard work. You get out what you put in. Nothing is handed to you on a plate. You either make the most of yourself or you don't. It's about making choices. You can choose to run around a track and get a faster time, or you can hang around on a street corner.

RYG: How do we go about combating the problem of obesity?

DM: You can't have kids who are inactive. When you're growing up your body's growing. It has a tremendous amount of energy which needs to be expended.

If you don't expend that energy through exercise it's going to come out somewhere else. It starts off with mischief, and then it becomes bullying and you're on a downward spiral.

RYG: What can exercise do for you?

DM: Whoever you are, wherever you come from, exercise makes you feel good about yourself. If you don't feel good about yourself you can't expect anyone else to feel good about you.

We need to be active. People seem to forget we were designed to run after food or run away from being food. We evolved by moving. Your body's supposed to move, so move it.

When you stop doing something that's an essential part of your genetic make-up, you disturb the natural balance of things. Psychological problems are just one element of it; obesity is another manifestation of it. You're not doing what your body is designed to do, therefore your body will behave incorrectly.

RYG: How important is diet if you want to be fit and healthy?

DM: It's very important. You are what you eat. If you eat rubbish, you'll be rubbish - it's that simple. Eat your greens, they're good for you. Drink plenty of water too.

RYG: How can sport help?

DM: It helps in everyway, shape and form. Sport makes you look and feel good. You only look good when you feel good. You only feel good when you look good. You only are good when you're fit and active.