Review of Superstar Studios’ in semi-private PT sessions

The gym, located on Silk Mills Road in Taunton, provides a varied and progressive program, which has helped me not only get stronger, but make positive habit changes that will stand me in good stead for the long term.

Oh and an added bonus – the gym is full of like-minded people, all of whom welcomed me in (coaches and peers alike) and I have been able to create friendships with a lot of them, in just six weeks!

Superstar’s website states: “We pride ourselves on being Somerset's premier fitness facility creating an encouraging and non-intimidating environment.”

Plenty of friendships have been made at the gym (Image: Superstar Studios)

After spending six weeks at the gym, I can attest that it very much is an encouraging and non-intimidating environment. I couldn’t recommend it enough.

The program

Throughout the program, I attended a session at Superstar three times a week, each session no longer than an hour. With ample sessions each day, I knew I could make my fitness work around my busy schedule. 

Each session is a semi-private workout led by one of Superstar Studios’ qualified and expert coaches. There is a maximum of six people in each session, which made the experience very accommodating.

It is broken down into three segments – strength, accessory work, and conditioning.

Strength featured movements like bench press, deadlifts, and squats, while the accessory work included the use of kettlebells, dumbbells, and planks, to name a few.

And the conditioning work (the fun stuff, apparently), it mostly features an erg machine consisting of either a rower, ski erg or bike, mixed in with supersets of burpees, wall balls, box jumps and more.

On top of the gym work, there are several tools available to you to improve your nutrition and health. For me these proved most useful as I particularly needed help in this area and the availability of the coaches to answer questions on this front was great.

Six weeks later

In the six weeks I have been at the gym, I have become stronger, fitter and have lost weight. This might seem too good to be true, but it is all measurable.

When I started, I wasn’t necessarily weak, but I had little to no knowledge on correct technique for certain lifts, which meant I struggled with some parts.

However, after being coached, I have a better understanding of the lifts and consistently see improvement. At the end of the six weeks, I had set several personal bests, which is an amazing feeling.

Founder and trainer Lee Owen (Image: Superstar Studios)

In terms of fitness, at the start I found the conditioning training rather difficult, and I was slow. Now I can get through sessions (they are still difficult, don’t get me wrong), but I push myself further than I thought possible.

With my weight loss, I have managed to drop five kilograms through this period. This has been due to consistent training and changing my diet for the better.

I understand everyone has different goals so weight loss might not be what everyone is looking for, but for me this was a big achievement.

The trainers

At the gym, there are six coaches who run the sessions, all of whom are friendly, approachable, informative, and helpful. But most importantly, all of them want you to achieve your goals.

The gym was founded by Lee Owen, with a great team alongside him consisting of Glen Danbury, Ryan Radford, Grace Brockwell, Matt Trump and Dave Aston.

Personal trainer and coach Glen Danbury (Image: Superstar Studios)

In my six-weeks, my availability matched up with Glen’s sessions best so I worked a lot with him, and I can say he is a genuine fitness nerd (I think he’d agree) who has been able to help with any questions I had.

Each trainer has made a real effort to speak to me, help me if they can and help further the ideology of making the gym a non-intimidating place.

Other offerings

Additional to the semi-private classes, Superstar offers a lot more, making this a suitable facticity to so many. 

The timetable offers a variety of sessions all through the week, with Superstar’s signature larger group sessions, namely Build, Burn and Metcon. Members will also have access to Fitness Pilates, Gymnastics, Olympic Weightlifting, Boxing, with 1-2-1 PT sessions available too. You can also book the gym for private use.

Personal trainer and coach Grace Brockwell (Image: Superstar Studios)

The community aspect at Superstar is also a huge attraction, as it offers an opportunity to grow and develop key friendships with such a variety of people. Superstar hosts different events through the year with an award celebration at Christmas. This is an event I recently attended, and very much enjoyed myself. It was inspiring to hear of so many incredible achievements and feel so much more a part of the wider team. Everyone I have met so far are very encouraging and welcoming, which has certainly helped me stay consistent with my training and make attending much more enjoyable.

For more information on what the gym offers, visit https://superstar-studios.co.uk/ where you can learn more and even book a free call with one of the team.

To wrap up

For me, completing this six-week challenge has been a big deal. After an extended period of not exercising and not eating well it was a big achievement to just see this through.

In all honesty, I feel like it has given me the confidence and belief to maintain these habits going forward and I look forward to seeing further improvement as I continue with Superstar in 2024.

It is a friendly environment! (Image: Superstar Studios)

With the new year rapidly approaching, it is of course time to start thinking about your new year’s resolution, and as improving fitness is a common one, the six-week program should certainly be a consideration for you.

Superstar Studios is often described as one of the best fitness coaching gyms in Taunton and the surrounding areas so why not make the most of them and get into (or back into) fitness.

The promise from Superstar Studios is: “We support locals to look better, feel better, move better, have more confidence.”

After just six weeks at the gym, I can definitely say I feel better, move better and have more confidence, no doubt. Looking better, well that’s a tough one for a bald man in his 20’s…