Penzance man beats own mental struggles to offer free gym sessions to others
Watch our report from Graham Lewis
A gym owner in Penzance opens his doors four times a week to run drop-in sessions to help people struggling with their mental health.
Nathan Kitchen says a morning workout can really help lift people’s spirits.
He decided to offer the classes, which are completely free, after his own troubles led him to attempt to take his own life.
He wanted to give people something they could just turn up to if they were feeling under the weather.
Mr Kitchen said: “I just wanted to give something back from the heart because a lot of the authorities are stretched now to help people with mental health and I wanted to offer somewhere where people are getting instant help that day.”
The Gym, Touchgloves, doesn’t receive any funding or charge for the sessions. Mr Kitchen added: “I'm dyslexic to forms and stuff so I can fill out the forms to help myself really.
"So rather than sort of whinge about it, I just feel I'm better off just opening up and just keep it going. It is a struggle, but everything is nowadays.”
People don’t have to share anything about their issues or what they are going through but Mr Kitchen said the sessions can give people a real lift: “It's not a shock to the body or anything like you would get with cold water swimming.
"It's like a slow release of endorphins and you feel so positive about yourself. And also they're actually learning a self-defence system as well.
"So it's not it's not like you're just sort of coming in and training, you know, doing press ups and steps and stuff, you're actually learning to do something as well.
"And it's non-contact, we don't we don't do any sparring or anything like that. So no-one's going to get hurt or kicked. We put on some cheesy music to try and lighten the atmosphere and make people laugh a bit."
Kayleigh Witherow was going through a rough patch when her relationship ended and she found herself struggling with her weight.
She started coming to the morning classes and has since lost 11 stone - but more importantly, it’s helped her mental health.
Ms Witherow said: “Exercising and looking after yourself and self-care is so important for you. Not just that, I've got three children that I have raised by myself, so it's really important that my head is in a good space, especially after all I've been through.
"This has helped me because I find a good exercise session in the morning sets you up for the day. This has helped me along my journey with losing weight, keeping fit and my mental health."
Carol Morse goes to the sessions every morning. She said: I’ve got bad hips and bad legs and coming here makes me feel better and I don’t need my crutches so much now and if I can get my knees and hips working I can lose weight as well.”
The sessions run every Monday to Thursday morning at 10.30am at the Touchgloves Gym in Penzance.