Personal Trainer · Table View, Cape Town
I'm Ian Orban, a personal trainer in Table View, Cape Town.
I came to this the way a lot of people do. I was a tall, lanky kid in high school with big rugby ambitions, and I figured getting stronger was the way in. There was a confidence side to it too. I thought if I got into better shape, I'd feel better about myself, and everything else would follow.
An uncle of mine trained seriously, and seeing him at family gatherings gave me somewhere to aim. This was before AI, before decent coaching apps, so I learned the way you did back then: YouTube form videos, training forums, and a lot of reading. I got obsessive about it. Anything exercise-related, I wanted to understand it.
Then some friends at school started training too and joined me in the gym. I found myself running the sessions. Correcting their form, telling them what we were hitting that day, writing their programmes. I was coaching before I knew that was a job.
That's still what I'm doing, just properly qualified now. I hold a personal training diploma and nutrition qualifications. These days I train clients one-on-one at Virgin Active Table View, do home sessions around Table View and Blouberg, and coach people online.
What hasn't changed is the part I actually enjoy. Watching someone realise they're stronger than they were three months ago. That's the whole job.