Tom Cowen

 "The reason why I now have my own studio and I’ve stayed in the industry for such a long time is down to Carl Smith. Starting with our times working together at the Leisure facilities gyms and our work together at Fitness First, But you are the main reason why I moved across to Xercise4less Hull, helped me make a strong start and maintain that to this day in my own studio. I will forever be indebted to you for that my friend and whatever company you move to next, they will have an invaluable member who will help their business grow exponentially" Owner of Tom Cowen Personal Training Studio 

 "Without doubt Carl is the consummate fitness professional. He practices what he preaches in both business and fitness. With so many great qualities its difficult to focus on one or two but as I have to, his ability to build teams and eye for growing revenue by innovating and spotting new trends were the ones that impressed me most. At Xercise4Less I witnessed Carl consistently get the best from his team (who loved him) and spot opportunities to increase revenue from innovations in PT and small group training that regularly went on to be copied by the rest of the industry. Is Carl good? No! He is much better than good!"    Jon Nasta Business Owner and Industry Expert

  "Carl has a wealth of Fitness Industry experience, contacts and product knowledge gained from an excellent Health and Fitness career to date. A challenging time and period for X4L - when I worked with him for a little over a year, but, I could clearly see his passion for education and training, his traveling the UK to implement great PT products and services, serving the Teams so well.  With an infectious energy and hardworking, resilient attitude he was able to take his Fitness or Group Exercise idea to reality quickly with the Team's backing." Mike Evans Operations Director BMF .

  "Carl is that rare person that is able to combine excellent first rate product knowledge and is brilliant with all people. Carl must be one of the country's leading health & fitness consultants, but simply has no ego whatsoever. Great to work with, he always interacts in a positive manner, always keen to learn and embraces new ideas whilst making his own contribution to progress. Very highly regarded by the Personal Trainer community, where Carl has proved to be an inspiration to both those just starting their journey and a mentor to those more experienced" Simon Tutt Group CFO @ GLOBE-TROTTER 

 "Carl is a very approachable level headed guy. He always makes time for you. With the knowledge and experience he has gained through his own journey, he's a really useful person to know. He was one of the first influences in my career as a personal trainer, and still is willing to help me now as I move on with my own business.  He is a great person to know, and I'm glad to have him in my network" Beki Clinton Personal Trainer and Business Owner

 " Carl was without a doubt one of the main reasons i was able to continually progress my career at Xercise4less during my 3 years there.  Whilst working with Carl I always felt like he had my best interests at heart and he wanted to improve my personal development and see me move forwards with my career. This wouldn't have been possible without his industry knowledge, coaching skills and personality.  One of Carls greatest skills is his ability to communicate with anyone on a professional and personal level. I dont know anyone who didnt love working with Carl and i feel lucky to have been able to work along side him and grow during my period at Xercise4Less." Sam Turpin Personal Trainer, Influencer  and Fitness Model 

 "Over the last 5 years Carl Smith helped me bring my business to the next level.

From a Personal Trainer who just came to the UK and didn't know much about the local market Carl helped me to become one of most successful PT's in the company and best in my city.

Marketing, people skills, gym knowledge, experience in Personal Training, one to one, group sessions, boot camps. 

Carl Smith can help you with all of them." Arthur Pilch Advanced Personal Trainer 

"Carl was a long standing member of the X4L team when I started but was a key part of the full stretch review of the business, of which fitness was a key area.  He was a pleasure to work with and, despite having been with the business for a long time, was always open to new ideas and continued to develop himself as a manager and key member of the executive team.  I always enjoyed working with Carl as he was always positive and optimistic however tough things got. He was popular with the club teams and remained close the core product throughout my time working with him.  I would recommend him to anyone looking for a high integrity and passionate fitness professional." Peter Wright CEO

" I have worked with Carl for a few years now and he is at the top of his game. His experience and enthusiasm is second to none and he is always willing to help anyone that needs a little help. His passion for the fitness industry and improving members health is inspiring. Carl has personally helped become a better manager and his desire to keep pushing forward is infectious and has certainly made me a better all round manager. A genuine, caring, honest team member that will always do all he can to help ." Adam Busby Regional Business Manager at Orangetheory Fitness

"Whilst at Xercise4less I was assigned to a major national project. I reported to Carl who was leading the project which involved a major transformation across the entire gym network. I found Carl was very engaging and extremely passionate about delivering the highest quality product. Carl had a real focus and pragmatic style which got to the root cause of the problem quickly. Carl had a great way to get traction with senior management and got results. I really enjoyed working for Carl and cannot recommend him highly enough. He will is an asset and I hope to work with him again in the future. " Ian Harding Project Manager at Health and Safety Executive

"Whilst I only worked with Carl for a short period before the sale of X4L, I can easily say that I enjoyed working with him along with the many debates & execution of a few key strategies that the business required in short order. Carl simply strives to get the job done. Carl is a long term member of the X4L team but was always open to change and had a passion for his team and the wider club staff and was therefore very popular which allowed him to use his relationships to get the job done. He also has a very obvious passion for fitness on both a business and personal level. I hope our paths cross again sometime in the not to distant future " John Greenwood COO

" I always look back to my full time Personal Training days fondly, some of my proudest career memories to date still come from that period but by far the part I'll always remember the most is the fact that none of those memories or the success I had would have been possible without Carl Smith.  I had all of the passion in the world and absolutely no idea how to channel any of it. My first three weeks in the business saw me quite literally treading water and trying to figure out what I was supposed to do.  After a one hour PT sales and marketing meeting with Carl the trajectory of my entire Personal Training career was forged. I sat, I listened, I absorbed. Then I followed by the letter.  Not only did it work, but the results came (sorry for the lack of modesty) more rapidly than for any other PT I've ever seen in person.  All you need to do is listen. Then all you need to do is follow.  You'll never look back." Jason Diprose General Manager and Owner and Founder or Jason Diprose Personal Training

" Carl is a truly inspirational leader and a natural facilitator. He has an incredible ability to engage with every person in the room; whether that be in a formal training environment or coaching colleagues on the floor. I can honestly say I have never worked with anyone so passionate about their profession. This passion is infectious and I have had the pleasure of seeing Carl inspire and change the lives of so many colleagues throughout the last 4 years. Thank you for always inspiring me with your dedication; for driving up and down the country and working until the early hours supporting myself and our colleagues. I will certainly miss your analogies :) and the natural ability you have to build rapport with everyone around you. " Verity L&D Manager 

 "Carl is a leader who listens, adapts & has an infectious passion for all things fitness. Carl is an agile communicator from board level to PT’s on the dance floor. He adapts his style to be inclusive to all levels of understanding of fitness. He enables his colleagues and his team to be the best version of themselves by championing them. He does this by adapting his leadership style to get the best out of you!  I had the pleasure of working closely with Carl and his awesome team on changing the fitness model and leading new fitness projects at X4L. An experience I’m truly grateful to him for! " James Hirst General Manager

 "Carl is very open to helping trainers progress to where they want to get to. The business side of PT is a bit of a minefield, but Carl was happy to sit down, listen to my ideas and see where I was currently at, he then discussed and suggested ideas as to what needs tweaking, what to cut out, add in etc, all in a professional manner with the aim to help me progress. " Mark Wakefield Owner of "Fit Geek Personal Training"

"Carl is great to work with and to be managed by. He is always there to help and talk through problems . His temperament makes the hardest situation easy to work through . He was an asset to Xercise4less for over 8 years for good reason . Knowing Carl in his next role/project he will adapt quickly to the situation and strive for success and help create high performance standards ." David Hudson General Manager and Personal Trainer

"When beginning my career as a personal trainer there were lots of aspects away from the one to one gym work that I didn’t have a great understanding of. Attending many of Carl’s PT training courses provided me with tools to take my career to the next level as well as the confidence to do so. 

During the summer of 2020 Carl provided a great deal of support to our PT team at X4L. In a time where many things were uncertain, Carl ensured we had a platform to support each other and our members. " Calum Kitscha Personal Trainer

" Carl has been supportive to me since my start at  building my personal training business.  Carl has offered me assistance in developing my skills in gaining clients and building a personal trainer platform. Carl has also presented many training events which I have been a participant in and he has been approachable and knowledgeable in the topic of the training as well as presenting the information effectively and adapting to the needs of the group. How to set up and deliver an effective boot camp was a topic that supported myself and my business a great deal"." Shaun Allison Personal Trainer

" I attended a PT business course that Carl  hosted through X4L and he gave valuable insight in what it takes to run a personal training business and go at it independently.

He was also a valuable source of support during the pandemic giving me an opportunity to film training workout videos and take online classes for the members of x4L.

Carl is reliable, supportive and passionate about helping people progress and move forwards. He has an insane work ethic that leads from the front and inspires you to do better." Jonny Peterson Personal Trainer