Dominic Munnelly

How could you not try a trainer who calls himself «The Transformation Catalyst»? Dominic Munnelly is the man behind the dream and is a highly enthusiastic personal trainer based on the southside. He regularly contributes to RSVP etc, has an interesting blog (
) and is very active answering questions and giving advice on
. When I went to see him he was in a smaller gym but moved to the Crossfit gym a few weeks later-​looks like it’s far more roomy. I’m pretty sure he could put you through your paces in any location-​indoors or outdoors though!
Dominic was great at answering emails enquiring about his services and saw me early on a Saturday morning. Had a little assessment (not so sure about the body fat reading) and a fun workout-he’s quite Crossfit (
) based with solid Olympic lifting thrown in and sensible nutritional advice. I liked it that he also incorporated yoga and foam rolling-​good for the perpetually injured!
Wasn’t thrilled that he insisted on telling me my weight even though I begged him not to… but I’d stopped crying within a week or so. He emailed me a programme a few days later which was nice and gave plenty of things to keep me occupied-​mix of weights and Crossfit workouts. It was a bit too full of push-​ups and bodyweight squats for me though… my shoulders and hip flexors were threatening tendonitis within a couple of weeks. I’d have preferred if the training session included a run through/​more detailed discussion of the programme too-didn’t have some of the equipment in my gym.
Bit pricey at € 80 per session but he is good and is amenable to doing follow up sessions whenever you like. He also includes a free «check up» the week after to make sure you understand all the exercises etc.
I’d probably have to say the Edge (
) suited me better in the end-​David there picked up on shoulder and hip tightness before he gave me a programme and purposely avoided push-​ups and squats to try to correct imbalances. And that was without being told I’d had issues before!
Bonus: Dominic brought me a homemade flapjack. Feeding me on a Saturday morning merits an extra star!