WHEN his most recent group of recruits approached the end of their fitness course, personal trainer Sam Watson turned to one of Newport’s most iconic landmarks and decided to give them an experience they would never forget, leading them on an hour-long fitness session on top of the city’s 74-metre tall Transporter Bridge.

“They seemed to really enjoy it”, Mr Watson said.

“A lot of them had never been to the bridge before, so I thought it would be something cool and unusual.

"It's an iconic location."

Mr Watson said the hardest part for some of his clients was climbing almost 300 steps to the top.

“A few of them were scared on the way up, but they did really well”, he said.

“Once they were up there, they were fine.”

Mr Watson was inspired by a similarly dizzying exercise routine he had while living abroad.

“I used to live in an 18th-floor apartment in Malaysia, where I would exercise on the building’s stairs”, he said.

“I needed somewhere similar in Newport.”

Unfortunately for Mr Watson, high-rise apartment blocks are far less common in South East Wales than in Southeast Asia, but the Transporter Bridge was a perfect alternative.

The group warmed up in Coronation Park before scaling the stairs and pushing themselves through an hour of gruelling exercise.

Mr Watson hopes this will be the start of a regular activity, as long as he can find more recruits as brave as the last ones.