In conversation with Pat Henry

Best known in Ireland as a personal trainer to the stars Pat Henry has also been a movie extra and musician.

His early working life was far away from his work as personal trainer in Hollywood and an extra in films like, In the Name of the Father, Michael Collins and Excalibur where he first came into the world of Clint Eastwood, Bruce Springsteen, Mel Gibson and Daniel Day Lewis.

He began work as a deck boy with a shipping line before becoming an apprentice with a mechanical engineering company, a sales assistant and general manager in a shoe store

a stint as a guitarist with an Irish showband and a yoga teacher. As he says he could never say no to offers of work that interested him.

A freak accident then almost left him paralysed but unable to walk for a year.. His sheer determination brought him back walking but left him with a lack of confidence and unsure of himself.

A year in California brought back his confidence and he returned to Ireland to open his own gym and put into practice what he had learned in the US.

The Pat Henry gym lasted 39 years and was a magnet for superstars who came to perform in Ireland. It closed earlier this year when its lease expired and Pat is now ensconced with personal trainer Paul Byrne at the Body Byrne Studio in Dublin’s Powerscourt Townhouse. 

In reflection on his varied career Pat talks in this podcast about the influence his wife Marie has had. She was the one who insisted that he should take a year out to “find himself' following his freak accident. The first time he saw her he was was still in his teens and told her that someday he would marry her. They married four years later.

He also discovered at age sixty that he was adopted and how that discovery explained why he had a difficult time at school when he was young

In terms of lessons learned he talks about the challenges and curve balls that impact on someones life and how they learn to deal with them. He also emphasises the importance of doing a job to 100% of your ability and focus your energy into moving onto the next stage of your career either where you are employed or where you want to move to. 

A must listen.

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