Hey, I’m Luke!

The opening of Integrity Fitness is a big personal and professional milestone, the culmination of over 2 decades of dedication to training, fitness and physical wellbeing. What began as an interest in martial arts, has since led me on a journey of twists and turns and I thought it might be useful for you to understand where I’ve come from to get to this point, with the opening of Integrity Fitness. This is the only time I’ll posting specifically about myself, instead I hope to be providing you with lots of useful information in future posts to assist you in your fitness journey, but just by way of introduction…..

I began training in the Korean martial art Taekwon-do at the ripe old age of 7. What started out as an effort to imitate countless action/martial arts stars of the era, it would quickly grow into a passion that I still enjoy 25 years on. Around the age of 13, I began competing internationally with pretty limited success, but those early experiences of failure proved to be critical as I began to understand, not just the importance of physical preparation but also the key part that education and mental preparedness plays in achieving goals and success, not just in sport but life in general.

In my mid-teens, a friend of mine who was a sport and exercise scientist, and also a Taekwon-do athlete, invited me to train with him in his studio (the garden shed). Learning about resistance based training in this shed opened up a whole new world to me outside of Taekwon-do. The space only allowed for the most basic of equipment: a squat rack, a few dumbbells , barbells and a few plates – in a shed not much bigger than a kitchen table. Working closely with my Taekwon-do coach and spending countless hours in the shed, where I put in some of the hardest training sessions of my life, led me to be become the ITF World Champion in Argentina 2009. I obviously have learned a lot over the years but my core principals and style of training have changed very little since those formative times.

Working closely with my Taekwon-do coach and spending countless hours in the shed, where I put in some of the hardest training sessions of my life, led me to be become the ITF World Champion in Argentina 2009

Luke Woods

Twists & Turns

Then, despite all the hard work and resulting success in my sport, the following year I decided I’d had enough of working and training and set off for Australia – in search of what I don’t know, but I knew within a few months of travelling around, that it wasn’t for me. I still somehow managed to grind out three years there but knew when I came home I wanted to start my journey towards becoming a health and fitness professional.

After all the years spent making weight for Taekwon-do competitions, management of my nutrition for performance, skills learned in ‘the shed ‘ and goal orientated training, I felt I had all the key attributes and experience to make a good personal trainer. Within weeks of landing back in Ireland in 2013, I began a Personal Training Instruction course which I completed. Also in those months before I returned home to Ireland, I’d begun to reflect my earlier sporting achievements and how I could have applied myself a bit better in school (which was in complete contrast to how I applied myself to sport) and so, after completing the Personal Training course, I made the decision to return to formal education and obtain a degree qualification. Four years of university as a mature student was no easy task and was quite possibly my most challenging undertaking to date. However, challenges are there to be overcome and since graduating in 2018 with a a BSC(Hons) in Sport & Exercise Science from DCU, I have helped hundreds of people achieve their health, performance,and weight loss goals.

To the future

That passion for science-led training and conditioning, the ethos of integrity in how I’ve applied myself to my own sport and in working with my clients to date has been the driving force behind the desire to establish a physical space in which to work. So here we are.. my 1st post as Integrity Fitness and a closing message to welcome you all to join us here as we help you on your journey towards…