Olympic vibes in Barça
A Thursday night, peak season, somewhere in the Poblenou area in the north of Barcelona, I find myself running towards the subway……the destination is ‘Ciutadella Vila Olympica’, where I will meet Johnny Snel. This self-made personal trainer and founder of ‘BootChamps’, invited me to join one of his classes and talk about some of his Barça experiences.
After getting off the subway, a short walk brings me to the iconic ‘Mapfre’ tower, within a stone’s throw of the old Olympic village of 1992 and directly located on the boulevard, where Johnny and around 15 fellow participants are awaiting me for a session of about an hour.
After the intense session I finish a can of Aquarius in about a second and notice my stomach is trying to reach for food that isn’t there. Not much later Johnny invites me to grab a bite. A short walk brings us to café Rembrandt….and yes this is a Dutch café…, however we have a valid and crucial argument: the Dutch Europa league matches are being broad casted here. With live soccer in front of us, still quite high from the training, and food at grabs, we are basically on the doorstep of men’s heaven and Johnny shares the following:
About the road to personal training
“Already back in 2003 at my local gym in Groningen I got introduced to an in-house training to become a group fitness instructor. I just said yes and joined without really knowing what I got myself into. Every week I learned more about the branche and teaching classes, and so I slowly grew into it. Obviously the gym staff was enthusiastic about me as well and they asked me to come and work for them. It just started with one hour per week teaching Bodycombat, however quickly I wanted more and I was very lucky that they give me the opportunity to grow into the fitness industry. I took every opportunity that came across my path and I tried to develop myself as a fitness coach. This development never stopped, and when I visited Barcelona in 2011 I thought it would be great to move here and start giving some outdoor training & boot camps. About half a year later it was a fact, I landed in the beautiful city of Barcelona.”
Development of coaching skills
“I was a pretty quiet, maybe even shy kid who never wanted to be in the middle of the attention. When I look back to the very first beginning, when I just started teaching Bodycombat it didn´t come natural at all. I guess I just learned over the years by giving a lot of (different) classes. Since in our business you´re working with human beings and every individual is unique in how to approach them, I truly believe (Personal) Training is an experience based profession.”
– While watching the match I notice Johnny is kind of a ‘soccer fact’ encyclopedia-
“Soccer has been a passion of mine from when I was a little kid. Both of my parents and my sister like it as well, but they are not as into it as me I think. When I was younger I followed every single match, national and international. What I especially love about it is that every single person has an opinion about soccer and discussing over it is the best there is.”
Why he likes to adapt but doesn’t feel Spanish
“For example, when I just moved here, I was struggling to find my favorite groceries, as the offer here is quite different from the one in Northern Europe. But slowly you start looking for alternatives. In the Netherlands we are brought up with bread and potatoes and those need to leave your mindset. Peas and beans are plentiful here, while in a regular supermarket (although there are some good bakeries) there is not much choice when it comes to bread. Therefore to start my day, I always make my own smoothie, consisting of fruit and spinach. My main other meals consist of salads, rice and sweat potatoes. Also chicken, meat and fish are easy to find, so happy times for me.”
“Apart from the fact that my Spanish is not as good as it sounds like, I absolutely don´t see myself as a Spaniard. I have friends from all over the world and also a lot of Dutch, so I hardly socialize with the locals, except at my work in the gym. By speaking the language and living here for several years doesn’t perse make you a local I think. It’s more the customs and habits that make you a local. In the Netherlands we have a totally different mentality compared to here.”
Can we learn from this mentality?
“Haha…work less hard and focus a little bit more on the “important” things in life. Enjoy more! In Holland we are raised to go to school, study and make a career. However ‘going Spanish’ can be very simple; go out for dinner or drinks with friends more often, or live outside your comfortable house a bit more.”
About growing his company
“With BootChamps we want to be known for our passion and quality. We want to create a fun community where every individual is welcome to work together with like-minded people to reach their goals. Since October this year, we expanded the trainers team with 4 trainers and we´ve added 7 classes to the schedule. In addition, we are situated on 4 locations throughout Barcelona now. However it’s not about being the biggest or cheapest, or the one that offers the most different programs. We want to satisfy people and help guiding them towards what they are looking for. If as a result we become the biggest, then that´s nice of course. Nonetheless our focus is customer satisfaction and love and passion for what we do.”
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