My Story

I often get asked how I got into helping others transform and If I’m honest I tend to avoid the subject but I decided to write a post today about my story

Have you ever woken up and feel like you just can’t summon the energy to get out of bed to start the day?

You know, maybe after a big night out and only 2-3 hours sleep.. (or monday mornings?)

Well, what if that feeling was worse than not ‘feeling’ like getting up?

What if you simply couldn’t move?

The energy that you need to get out of bed, get your feet onto the floor and sit up, simply was none existent?

That is where I was back in 2006 – I had chronic fatigue syndrome

If you’ve have heard of this before, you may think it’s just laziness

I actually liked to joke about it too, but unfortunately it’s pretty damn serious

It’s not something that a few days in bed is going to cure..

This had me out of my sport which i was passionate about achieving in, out of school and in a state of depression

From going from being the most active kid, playing sport for hours each day and always being about with friends

To not being able to move & being pushed about in a wheelchair

It was like being stuck in a cage with no lock to get out…

not fully in the ‘sick’ world but not fully in the ‘well’ world either.

Occasionally I was able to get myself to move & do things in the outside world, but would feel it after, feeling more physically exhausted after

The muscles in my body ached to the degree where it became painful

During another period during this time I suffered insomnia

And those were just the physical symptoms

the emotional battle was the main struggle

Initially doctors thought that I had just over-trained, which of course was the most obvious assumption – ‘overly active kid complaining of tiredness and achy muscles’.

This of course probably happens a lot… but

This was fatigue and I knew in my heart that it wasn’t over-training…

It was something else, I just didn’t know what exactly

I was actually scared, really scared that I would be trapped by it forever

And that fear was created from the doctors that said there ‘wasn’t a cure for it’

And the fact doctors said there was nothing i could do but  ‘rest’.

I asked how long I needed to rest for, how long it would go on for. They didn’t know

I was just to rest until it got better…

——————

Before this I had dreams that I wanted to achieve

A physique I wanted to build to feel proud of

A job that would give me freedom and that I enjoyed & one day I knew i wanted a good relationship and maybe a family…

In my current state none of this would ever happen

I knew this and that hurt more than anything…

I was in such pain I KNEW I had to be proactive

I needed to do something about it

partly for my own piece of mind

to know that I HAD to do everything that I could to find out a way of this miserable condition

I was depressed and anyone who has ever had this knows it’s not something that you can just stop over night

But I believed that there had to be a way out…

It just HIT ME

i couldn’t carry on like this i need to make positive change

I tried making small steps each day by working on my mindset towards things and attempting a small amount of bodyweight exercises in my room

But my body’s way of speaking even louder was to give me the symptoms in return…

I didn’t stop

The pain I was in was driving me to continue

I refused to accept that I couldn’t get better and it wasn’t in my nature to sit back and just wait

I knew who I wanted to be and this illness i was diagnosed with wasn’t going to hold me back however hard it may try

———

It wasn’t until I fully embraced mindset, nutrition and the right type of exercise that I discovered what my triggers were and then, slowly, my symptoms started to improve and allow me to train more

This wasn’t an overnight process

I was reading for roughly 6 hours each day on mindset, nutrition (the right foods to fuel my body and to help me feel good) and training

I’d watch workout videos to learn techniques & improve execution to get me better results for the effort I could afford to put in

I would try train my mind to believe what I thought was impossible at the time

Despite all the work I was putting in daily, looking back I knew very very little to what I do now

I was doing press ups in my room, using a can of beans for exercises and some light dumbbells

This of course is far from ideal

but the more I read up on anatomy of the body the better my technique got, the less my joints and muscles started to ache

I even saw some change in my physique despite everything holding me back from going all out

I had the vision to create a body & a job which I was proud of & would love,

I knew at this point I could help others feel great and achieve what they desire most despite the crap life throws at them

———————

After around 12 months I decided it was time to see if I was ready to start training again at the gym again

The next step for me was stepping into a gym

As i’m sure all of you have done at some point

Stepping into a gym can be intimidating

People watching you

Big guys on steroids swinging heavy weights about and grunting looking angry

Despite having read anatomy books, watched tons of experts talk about exercises etc I was nervous

I felt like I didn’t know what I was doing despite the research and work done before

I had never properly used machines and free weights before, i read and read on how to improve while improving my mental wellbeing and mindset

Which is one of many reasons why I’m now so good now at completely transforming other guys from the inside out

Even with nutrition I had so much to learn, at the time i thought I believed in eating ‘clean’

This ‘clean eating’  restricted my life (So i’m very glad to have created my own methods & systems which work 100% of the time and give others freedom so they don’t make the same mistakes as me!)

At this point I had built a semi decent shape (partly skinny fat) but i was healthy and felt good

Although at this time I still had some symptoms of my illness, the difference was like night and day.

After around 6 months I was training for 40-50mins at a time, 3-4 times a week

I was feeling great

Having the support of family around me helped

But the mindset shift I had to go through each morning of visualising my goal of being totally fit and healthy and being someone who was happy and made others feel this way was tough

I had to put in the work to become this way

I actually kept it completely quiet, my own family don’t even know about this

And despite doing all this I still massively lacked confidence in myself

I started a band

I played drums

I knew if i could play in front of people it would help

I was pretty nervous before my first gig but I got the best thrill I had ever got

The reaction after from the crowd brought my confidence on massively

I started playing more regular and more and more were coming to our shows and this was a huge part of my confidence growing

I was proud to have started something which i was able to stick with long enough to give me the satisfaction i wanted from it

I loved music and playing

I was also loving eating well and going to the gym along side this

I knew my health & genetics were no-where near the same as others

I had to be careful

I had grown the confidence to stand up for myself which before starting the band and working out would have been hard if not impossible

I would be offered drugs, cigarettes, alcohol (the normal stuff that bands do) but I’d always say no and stick to eating what I knew would keep my body and mind in a good state

There were days when I would still be effected from my illness but i always worked hard on achieving the best state I could be in to enjoy life to the full

—————

I was so proud of the work I had done, the journey I had gone on to get myself out of such a negative situation

which could have ruined my future job, any future relationships and of course my happiness

I am delighted to say that things have gone from strength to strength since

Of course I still suffer a little from this

I train in a way that gives me best results with the effort I put in, 40 minutes here & there when I can fit it in.

Running two crazy business’ can be pretty time consuming and I so get why fitness gets pushed back! It’s an on going battle with myself to fit in, believe it or not

I now aim fuel my body with the right amounts of foods to keep me lean and full of energy without restricting my life

In fact I enjoy my favourite foods every day, eat takeaways most weeks yet still walk round with a 6 pack year round

I don’t say that to show off, more to inspire that it is possible with the right support and journey to achieve what you actually want

There are so many things that will get in your way

work

family issues

relationships ..

All these things and more WILL get in the way of what you want to achieve

——

I want to be completely transparent

I have days when ‘motivation’ is low

In fact I’m at a stage where I do struggle to cook good meals and have to find alternative to keep in good health due to lack of time

Despite this I’m achieving incredible results with the clients I’m working with

I’m at the point now where I have a very large waiting list to work with me

Having 2-4 applicants apply for my coaching daily, which is totally humbling

At the minute my biggest struggle is to take my OWN nutrition & training more seriously again

For a long time I’ve definitely burnt the candle at both ends, lived on coffee and my downtime consists of researching, learning more & completing courses to become a better coach

I had just rejected a place on a FUNDED degree at a good university because I knew I had a talent helping others that I didn’t want to stop

I still struggle to sleep at night due to things going round in my brain

I wake up thinking about how I can best help a client who may have gone astray for a week with their eating

I genuinely live, breath and sleep my job and have done for the past 6 years

——

Since the days when I was stuck in bed, with depression & un-able to move

I knew what I wanted to achieve

I knew my first step was to build a physique I could be proud of and the power and confidence that would come along side it

There has been more failures and mistakes I’ve made than I can count along the way

But I still haven’t got out of routine or habit of learning each day and growing my knowledge to help my clients better

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I’ve been fully booked for quite a while now in person with a rather large waiting list (if you’d like to be added to that list, please do let me know 🙂

However

The past 4 years now I’ve been very extremely hard in all my free moments to allow me to transform more people from anywhere in the world

Passing many courses & learning from the best in confidence coaching, nutrition, online training (the list goes on)

Online training is an exciting way for me to offer more effective coaching

without the limitations of the gym to offer more convenience, responsiveness, flexibility, perfect for people who value their time 

With it, I can empower my clients with more accountability and support than I ever could in-person to ensure amazing results

I would like to take this opportunity to thank every single one of you who has supported my journey so far,  I LOVE what I do, so thank you all