Meet The Kilted Coaches Scotland's Tartan Wearing Fitness Vloggers

With the social media surge of incessant photo filters and seemingly unattainable fitness ideals, it’s only natural to feel somewhat jaded by the wealth of content floating about these days. Sometimes you just need a bit of fun. Thankfully, there’s a remedy for these all-consuming pressures—and it entails two strapping kilted men who just so happen to workout shirtless amidst the most spellbinding Scottish scenery!

Yes, these are the workout videos we’ve all been waiting for and we didn’t even know it. Brought to you from bonnie Scotland, the Kilted Coaches, Stephen Clarke and Rab Shields, are personal trainers from Perth, Scotland, who are revolutionising the health and wellness world with their fiercely funny banter and epic workout videos.

Fuss free, down to earth and ripped, these kilt-clad fitness vloggers earned their cult following and viral status from the word go, thanks to their ‘non-arsey’ approach and signature kilted wiggle. Hop on the banter train and find out more about these cheeky tartan-wearing Scots as the Kilted Coaches reveal all. Pun intended!

We have to ask, why the kilts? Is it the novelty aspect or purely an appreciation of Scottish culture?

We love wearing kilts and love our Scottish heritage. We joke that ‘you can say anything you want whilst wearing a kilt’.

What inspired you two to delve into the world of blogs and vlogs?

We wanted to spread our message of health and happiness to a much wider audience. As personal trainers, we were limited to our direct and local clients, so the online work allows us to help a much bigger audience.

How did your signature move, the iconic kilted wiggle, first come about?

We always joke that when we meet up our tails wag (if we had tails lol) the moment we see each other. That, coupled with the fact that we are both fathers—and so, the dad-dancing kilted wiggle was born.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aOLWwxjeFI

Considering the viral status of your videos, you must get a whole bunch of fan mail? If so, is it mainly from female or male groupies?

It depends on the platform really. On YouTube, it seems to be mostly men that comment, and on Facebook etc., it tends to be ladies. We don’t mind either way, as long as they are polite … and if they aren’t polite, they better have good banter lol!

Has Perth always been home?

We both grew up a mile apart in a town called Glenrothes, which is in Fife. Completely coincidental job choices brought us both to Perth, and we’ve loved it ever since.

What’s your favourite thing about Scotland?

The outdoors. And the fact that we only need to drive for about 15-20 minutes to find true peaceful silence.

Have you ever crossed paths with the Kilted Yoga crew?

When the kilted yogis first appeared, we naturally got our backs up. We felt that they were copying us with the topless kilted workouts in woods. But when we finally met Finlay (the main man behind kilted yoga), we realised that he was a really good lad and that ultimately, we don’t do yoga, so no conflict of interest there. We did a nice collaboration video with him, and any initial friction was put to bed.

The banter between the two of you is both priceless and contagious! Is it amped up for the camera, or are you like that 24/7?

What you see is what you get, really. We do live shows every Friday, and our regular subscribers quickly realised that nothing was staged or ‘amped up’.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_7NKGab5qE&t=355s

How do you decide upon your workout locations?

Honestly, we get in the car and drive! We aren’t really that organised, so we just go to scenic places depending on our availability that day.

Speaking of which, are there any particular spots across Scotland that you’d recommend for outdoor workouts?

Oh, definitely the Hermitage! You have rocks, waterfalls, woodland … trees and stuff 😉

In your eyes, what’s the secret to maintaining that perfect balance of happy and healthy?

It’s accepting that you are human and not a robot. Realising that if you are good and train hard from Monday to Friday, then you can relax over the weekend and still get results.

Do you ever get weird looks for exercising half naked outdoors?

Haha sometimes, yes! Although, not necessarily ‘weird’. More curious! It usually makes people smirk.

Many Scots love a cheeky wee battered Mars Bar here and there! What’s your one guilty pleasure food that makes working out all the more worthwhile?

For Coach Stephen, it’s definitely ice cream, which is dangerous given the fact that he is lactose intolerant. Coach Rab loves butterscotch angel delight!

Best Scottish word/saying?

‘Awfy braw’.

What’s in the pipeline for the Kilted Coaches?

World domination! And under our rule everyone will be happy and healthy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFM35z6bVIo&t=3s

For more Kilted Coaches banter, workout videos, nutrition tips and random shirtless shenanigans, check out their website and subscribe to their YouTube channel. Follow them on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter too. Who knows, you might even adopt the kilted wiggle!