All of Author: Steve Theunissen Articles

I’ve had a passion for health and fitness ever since I was a kid. When I was ten, I was stricken with a bad case of glandular fever. I was stuck in bed for months. My house was right next to my school and every morning I’d see, my schoolmates go running past during their physical education sessions. On one occasion, my doctor was visiting to give me a check-up when the kids ran past. He commented, “If you tried to run like them, you’d probably die!”

That comment fueled me to build up my strength, fitness – and confidence. I started working out in my bedroom then, at 15, joined the first gym in my hometown of Rotorua, New Zealand. I came to love fitness and soon managed to combine it with my other great love, writing, to produce a series of audio fitness courses that I sold through the local TV Guide. Within three years, I was managing my own gym. In 1987, I became the first personal fitness trainer in New Zealand, with the opening of Ultimate Bodies One-on-One fitness studio.

In the late 1990’s, I became passionate about doing something to help combat the growing problem of childhood obesity. This led me to complete a teaching degree. For the next dozen years, I combined my love of literacy with my passion for fitness to educate middle school students. I started up the country’s first Bootcamp for Kids, along with providing courses in healthy nutrition and developing the fitness mindset.

I hold the following certifications from the International Sorts Sciences Association:

• Certified Personal Trainer
• Fitness Nutrition Certification
• Specialist in Group Fitness & Guided Study
• Strength & Conditioning Certification
• Sports Nutrition Certification
• Transformation Specialist & Guided Study

For the past five years, I have been a full-time fitness writer.  I also love to write about history and have written more than thirty books on the great battles throughout history. I live in sunny Tauranga, New Zealand with my wife of 33 years, Shelley.