Meet Emma Kirk-Odunubi

Published: 16/05/2025, by: Alex Courbat

Emma Kirk-Odunubi’s no stranger to the gym floor – or the race course. Now a training ambassador and strength coach, she’s on a mission to help others train smarter, not harder. As one of Sports Direct’s new training ambassadors, we caught up with her to chat burpees, burnout, and why HYROX really is a sport for everyone.

Emma Kirk-Odunubi’s journey into the world of running didn’t start on a track – it started behind a till. At just 13, she landed a Saturday job at a trainer shop, where she spent weekends lacing up sneakers and learning what made a great pair of running shoes tick. That early start sparked something. Fast-forward a few years, and Emma’s turned that spark into a full-blown career: helping others reach their fitness goals as a strength and conditioning coach, with a special soft spot for runners.

“I've been in the fitness running space since I was really young,” she says – and it shows. That teenage curiosity about movement soon turned into a proper passion, one she took with her to Brunel University in West London, where she studied sports science. From there, she jumped into roles with Nike and later Profeet, where she got seriously stuck into the science-y side of running: foot scans, custom insoles, gait analysis – the works.

But Emma’s not one to sit still (literally or figuratively). While working full-time, she was also quietly grinding away at her Level 4 strength and conditioning qualification, squeezing in coaching on the side. Then came January 2020. She took the leap, went freelance – and suddenly found herself self-employed on the eve of a global pandemic. Not exactly ideal timing. Or was it?

“When that whole thing was announced, I started launching a big online running community because everyone was running,” she says. Turns out, she’d anticipated the boom before most people even dusted off their trainers.

These days, Emma splits her time between coaching group fitness classes at Third Space gyms across London and running one-to-one sessions online. Whether someone’s training for their first 5k or chasing down a marathon PB, Emma’s focus is on building smart, sustainable plans that combine running with strength – a combo she swears by. And for good reason.

Back in the day, Emma used to compete in athletics at a national level. Later, she became what her coach jokingly called “a cardio bunny” – the kind of person who bounces from spin to HIIT to boxing like it’s a playlist. But eventually, her body raised a red flag.

“I got to a point where I was basically overtraining,” she says. “I just got really injured consistently, unwell, unable to sustain what I was doing and put myself in a dangerous position, getting serious injuries.” That experience – as frustrating as it was – became a line in the sand. “I had to tap into myself and think, ‘You know this, Emma. You know strength work is so important.’”

But for Emma, movement wasn’t just a way to challenge herself. It was also a way to manage something deeper. “A lot of my overtraining was really linked to grief and depression. I lost my dad when I was 19 to a brain tumour.” Like many people, she found refuge in exercise – but eventually realised that even healthy habits can turn unhealthy when pushed too far.

That insight now shapes how she coaches. For Emma, it’s not about doing more – it’s about doing what works for you. And it starts with one simple question. “I say to a lot of people, 'Why do you want to do this?' Because if you don't have a why, when you get into your training, what's going to make you go when you don't want to?”

She’s also a huge advocate for recovery – not as an optional extra, but as an essential part of the plan. “With all my injuries in the past, it was purely because I overtrained. I didn't over-recover.” That mindset especially matters for the kind of clients she works with – often people with packed calendars and high-stress jobs. She doesn’t believe in adding fuel to the fire. “The people we work with usually are in high-stress jobs. I don't want to give them too much exercise that is going to keep them in that stressed state.” So she looks beyond the session. “How can I work with them to go right? I know they need to get the work in, but how can I get them to recover better? Can we dial in on their sleep, their nutrition, their hydration? Because that's all still recovery.”

So when a new client comes on board, Emma helps them take a realistic look at their week. Some weeks might be full of workouts. Others? Not so much – and that’s alright. “There are some people I work with who say, ‘I can only do one session this week.’ And I'm like, ‘That's fine. We'll make it work. Nail the one session that's important.’”

That sense of permission, of compassion, runs through everything she does. “A lot of people beat themselves up. They're like, 'I did two sessions this week instead of six. I'm rubbish.' And you're like, 'No, you haven't. Life got in the way, so we've had to make adjustments around it.’”

Emma’s lived the ups and downs of training. She’s pushed too hard, learned when to pull back, and built a whole career helping others do the same. For her, it’s never been about the most intense plan – just the one that works best for the life you’re living.