BurkeFit

You train more than most people you know.

Running, HIIT, classes, HYROX training, maybe some weights thrown in as well.

You enjoy training hard and being fit. But despite training 5–7 times a week, you’re still frustrated that your physique doesn’t reflect the amount of work you put in.

So when progress stalls, the natural response is to do more.

Another run. Another HIIT session. Cut calories further. Burn more.

But when you’re already balancing a demanding job, calorie deficit, multiple high-intensity sessions and potentially poor sleep, adding more intensity can just increase the amount you need to recover from.

This is where I’d change the approach.

Make structured resistance training the foundation.

Use Zone 2 and daily steps to support energy expenditure without every session creating high levels of fatigue.

Keep some running and HIIT because you enjoy it, but control the dose and space the harder sessions properly.

Fuel the work you’re doing and actually give your body an opportunity to recover.

You don’t need to stop training hard.

You need to stop making fatigue the measure of whether your training is working.

If your physique is the priority, the structure of your week needs to reflect it.

I didn’t build my physique and performance by trying to improve everything at once.

I did it through phases.

And it’s the same principle I now use when structuring my clients’ training.

At around 90kg, the priority was getting lean. Training, nutrition and output were structured around reducing body fat while retaining muscle.

Once I got down to around 75kg, the priority changed.

I didn’t need to keep chasing more fat loss. I needed to build.

Calories came up. Progressive resistance training became the focus. The goal was more muscle, strength and shape.

Once I’d built the muscular foundation I wanted, I could shift the priority again.

Perform.

Running, HYROX, triathlon and conditioning could take a bigger role, while maintaining the physique I’d spent years building.

That’s a principle I believe a lot of guys who train hard are missing.

You can want to be lean, muscular, strong and capable.

But your training and nutrition can’t prioritise everything equally, all year round.

Figure out what needs your attention now and structure everything around it.

LEAN - BUILD - PERFORM

That’s the method behind how I approach my own training and how I coach my clients.

If you want to build muscle, stay lean and perform well, your nutrition doesn’t need to be complicated.

This is the basic structure I use myself and with my clients 👇

BREAKFAST — 45g+ protein

• Eggs + egg whites, sourdough + fruit
• Eggs, lean steak + sourdough
• Greek yoghurt, oats, berries + honey

LUNCH — 45g+ protein

• Chicken, rice + vegetables
• Lean beef mince, potatoes + vegetables
• Steak, rice + salad
• Chicken wraps, avocado + salad

DINNER — 45g+ protein

• Salmon, potatoes + vegetables
• Lean mince, rice + vegetables
• Chicken, sweet potato + greens
• Steak, potatoes + salad

3 meals like this = roughly 135–150g+ protein before snacks.

SNACKS

• 0% Greek yoghurt, fruit, honey + dark chocolate
• Greek yoghurt, banana + natural peanut butter
• Boiled eggs + fruit
• Fruit + natural peanut butter
• Fruit + mixed nuts

I aim to get the majority of my protein and nutrition from whole foods rather than relying on shakes and bars.

PRE-WORKOUT — 60–90 mins before
• Dates + pink Himalayan salt
• Rice cakes + honey
• Rice cakes + banana
• Banana + honey
• Oats + fruit

Quick, easily digestible carbohydrates help provide energy to fuel your training and performance.

POST-WORKOUT

Aim for a proper meal containing protein + carbohydrates to support recovery and replenish glycogen.

Chicken + rice, steak + potatoes, mince + rice or eggs + sourdough are all simple options.

Your exact calories and portions depend on your goal, but the foundations remain the same:

3 high-protein meals.
2–3 quality snacks.
Carbs around training.
Mostly whole foods.
A structure you can actually sustain.

Save this and use it to structure your nutrition.

If you’re a busy guy trying to improve your physique while balancing work, training and everything else, your routine matters more than you probably realise.

And since becoming a full-time online coach, I’ve had to learn this myself.

At first, I’d wake up, hydrate and go pretty much straight into work.

I thought starting earlier meant I was being more productive.

But I felt sluggish, struggled to hit my daily steps and found myself spending far too much of the day sitting at my desk.

So I changed it.

Now I wake up, hydrate and head straight down to the apartment gym.

I’ll get some incline steps in, do a light run and read my book at the same time.

Then I’ll come back, have a high-protein breakfast and attack the most important task for my coaching business that day.

And the difference has been massive.

I feel more alert when I start working, I’m more productive and I’ve already made a big dent in my daily movement before the day gets busy.

This is something I see with a lot of the guys I coach too.

You might know exactly what you should be doing with your training and nutrition, but if your daily routine doesn’t support it, staying consistent becomes unnecessarily difficult.

You don’t always need more discipline.

Sometimes you need a better structure that makes the right habits easier to repeat.

My approach to nutrition is simple.

I don’t want to wake up every morning wondering what I’m going to eat, constantly changing my breakfast because of the latest nutrition trend, or relying on two scoops of whey just to get enough protein in.

I want meals that are easy to repeat, that I genuinely enjoy, that digest well and that support my physique and performance.

Most mornings I’ll have 5–6 whole eggs with sourdough. A couple of hours later I’ll have Greek yoghurt with fruit, alongside coconut water and watermelon.

Before 11am, I’ve already got 50g+ of protein in.

Now I know what some people will say…

“6 eggs is a lot of fat.”

And yes, it is higher in fat.

But it works for me.

I digest it well, I feel energised and alert afterwards, it keeps me satisfied, and most importantly, it fits within my overall calories and macros while allowing me to maintain and improve my physique.

I could have egg whites instead. I could fast until midday. I could have a shake with two scoops of whey because it’s quicker.

But why would I change something that I enjoy, digest well and have been able to consistently repeat?

That doesn’t mean everyone needs to copy it.

If you’re in a fat-loss phase and your calories are lower, I’d probably recommend 2–3 whole eggs + egg whites instead. You still get a high-protein breakfast while bringing the calories and fats down considerably.

And if fasting works for you, great.

Personally, I prefer getting protein in early. It makes hitting 180–200g across the full day much easier than getting to the evening and realising I still have a huge amount left to eat.

My nutrition isn’t built around what’s trending or trying to make every meal perfect.

It’s built around foods I enjoy, foods I digest well, foods that support my goals and meals I can repeat consistently.

Nutrition doesn’t need to be complicated.

Find what works for you, build a simple structure around it and make it repeatable

If you’ve been training consistently for years but still don’t look like someone who trains, this could be exactly why.

You’re trying to build muscle and lose body fat at the same time, without ever fully committing to either.

That was Rams.

When Rams started working with me, he already had a really good foundation of muscle.

He didn’t need another year of trying to get bigger.

He needed to get lean enough to actually see what he had built.

So we committed to one clear goal and took him through a structured fat loss phase all the way into photoshoot prep.

And this wasn’t someone whose entire life revolved around the gym.

Rams works full time in a school. He has early mornings, long days, work commitments and a life outside of training.

The solution wasn’t training twice a day or eating chicken and rice out of Tupperware seven days a week.

It was having the right training structure, the right calorie target, high protein, consistent daily habits and adjustments when they were needed.

For months, there was no confusion about whether we were trying to build muscle or lose fat.

We had one goal.

We committed to it.

And the result was Rams getting into incredible shape for his photoshoot and finally seeing the physique he had spent years building.

If you’re a busy guy who trains regularly, has a decent amount of muscle, but still takes your top off and feels like your physique doesn’t reflect the work you put into the gym, stop trying to do everything at once.

Pick the right phase.

Commit to it.

And follow a structure that actually fits around your life.

If you need help doing that, send me a message.

If you’re 25–40, you train consistently but still don’t have the physique you want, it’s probably not because you’re not trying hard enough.

It’s because you don’t have the right system around you.

And that’s something I’ve been working heavily on within my own coaching over the last few weeks.

I’ve been going through my entire onboarding process and looking at where I can make the experience simpler, clearer and more effective from the moment somebody joins.

Because when you’re trying to transform your physique, there’s already a lot to think about.

Training. Nutrition. Steps. Cardio. Sleep. Lifestyle.

The last thing you need is more confusion.

So I’ve built an onboarding system designed to remove as much of that friction as possible.

Every client receives a personalised onboarding video breaking down their training, nutrition and lifestyle.

They know exactly how to use the app, what’s expected from them and, most importantly, what they need to achieve each week.

Because wanting to lose 10–20kg or build a better physique is a goal.

It isn’t a plan.

You need to know what you’re doing this week that moves you closer to it.

That’s what I’m continuing to improve as a coach.

Making the process simpler so my clients can spend less time second-guessing what they should be doing and more time executing it.

You don’t need more information. You need a system you can trust and the consistency to follow it.

3 years ago, I walked into what I thought was just another cover lesson.

It turned out to be something completely different.

An external speaker had been brought into the school to talk to the students about business.

At the time, I was teaching full-time in England and had only recently qualified as a PT, so naturally I was interested in what he had to say.

He gave the students a workbook to complete and I asked if I could have one too.

One of the questions was about where you wanted your business to be in 3 years.

I wrote about having financial freedom, the security to transition away from full-time teaching, creating a new life and building a portfolio that showed I’d helped over 200 people.

I remember leaving that lesson feeling incredibly motivated about what could be possible.

Fast forward almost exactly 3 years…

Last week, while moving apartments, I found that same workbook.

I’d left teaching.

I’d gone full-time with my coaching business.

And I’d helped over 200 people.

Reading back something I’d written three years earlier and realising I was now living it was a pretty surreal moment.

Not because writing your goals down magically makes them happen.

But because when you get clear on what you want, give yourself a direction and continue moving towards it despite the setbacks, a lot can change in 3 years.

Sometimes the best reminder of how far you’ve come is looking back at where you once hoped you’d be.

Luke gained 5kg of lean muscle while keeping fat gain to a minimum.

When guys want to build muscle, I normally see two mistakes:

They start the process already carrying too much body fat, often 15–18%+, and try to build from there. The result? They gain more fat, lose definition and eventually need another long cutting phase.

Or they go down the “dirty bulk” route. Eat everything in sight, chase the scale up and assume more bodyweight = more muscle.

I don’t recommend either.

With Luke, we started from a lean position and focused on making the weight he gained productive weight.

His training needed more structure. We focused on:

• The right compound movements
• Correct form and technique
• Training with genuine intensity
• Progressive overload over time
• Enough recovery to actually grow

Then we addressed his nutrition.

Luke simply wasn’t eating enough to support muscle growth. We put him into a controlled calorie surplus, with enough protein and carbohydrates to fuel his training and recovery without unnecessarily pushing calories too high.

And it had to work around his actual life.

Luke works a hands-on job and spends a lot of his day travelling around in his van, so there was no point giving him a “perfect” meal plan he couldn’t follow. His meals, especially lunch, had to be simple, portable and realistic while still hitting the numbers we needed.

The result: 5kg of lean muscle added without losing the physique underneath it.

Building muscle doesn’t mean getting fat.

You need to start from the right position, train with purpose, eat enough to grow and control the rate at which you gain.

That’s the difference between simply gaining weight and actually building a better physique

Recently, I’ve had quite a few people ask me how many times I train each week and what my training actually looks like.

I think people expect the answer to be more complicated than it is.

Right now, I train weights 4x per week, alongside lower-intensity cardio, daily steps and a structured nutrition plan.

That’s it.

Over the years I’ve trained for marathons, triathlons, HYROX and half marathons, and there have been periods where my overall training volume was significantly higher.

But more training didn’t necessarily mean a better physique.

Since shifting my focus towards physique development, I’ve actually done less, but with far more intention.

I prioritise progressive weight training, quality movement, nutrition, recovery and keeping unnecessary fatigue low.

And physically, I’m in one of the best places I’ve ever been.

The lesson?

You don’t need to do more to get better results.

Especially if you’re a busy man with a career, family and other responsibilities.

You need a structure that gives you enough stimulus to progress, without taking over your life.

More isn’t always better. Better is better.

Comment “SYSTEM” and I’ll send you the exact system I’ve used.