Gwen Stefani's trainer turns back on celebrity lifestyle to run his Capital gym

Published on Thursday 30 July 2009 09:57

HE HAS a job which takes him around the world and allows him to brush shoulders – and pump iron – with the stars.

But after his latest mission to get Gwen Stefani into shape for her US tour, celebrity fitness trainer Mike Heatlie is leaving the jetset life behind to run his own gym in Edinburgh.

He is currently on a five-month US tour with Stefani's band No Doubt, who he has trained for more than a decade, and is being put up in the county's best hotels and allowed VIP access to all their sell-out concerts.

But he only has two weeks left in the States before he returns to the Capital to get the ball rolling in his new 125,000 Mike Heatlie Personal Training Gym in Meadowbank.

"I love it on tour, but I can't wait to get back into my gym," said the 36-year-old, originally from Gorgie. "I worked so hard to get it going, so to leave just as it was ready was a bit bizarre for me, so I'm looking forward to coming home and working with my own clients again."

Mr Heatlie's story has something of the rags-to-riches about it.

He left school with no qualifications and used to clean the showers and toilets in a local gym as his first step into training.

A client who moved from Edinburgh to London when he was 24 recommended him to a little known band at that time called No Doubt, who had not even released a single at that point.

"I'd never heard of them, and I actually turned the offer down at first," he recalled.

"Eventually the people at the record company just said 'come on, these guys are going to be really big', so I went for it.

"Since then I've been on world tours, had a private tour of the White House, and seen so many amazing things."

It is his intensive fitness work that enables lead singer Stefani to have her renowned "washboard" stomach, which impresses many critics considering she is almost 40 and had two children.

He has established a friendship with the singer, who has also had a successful solo career.

"We're roughly the same age and get on well. She often pops in to see us in Edinburgh when she's in the UK," he added.

And even though he has tasted the trappings of the celebrity lifestyle, he would never embark on such a role full-time.

He said: "I can't leave Edinburgh, the things that are important to me are here; my mum, my dad, my girlfriend and my friends. These are the things that are important. I've been away for five months and coming back in two weeks, I wouldn't go away for any longer than that.

"Because I've not really had the chance to get into the gym and settle in, I still can't believe I've actually done it. I think it's the dream of any personal trainer to have their own place."