3 Tier Fitness

The happy as Larry meal, because it takes 5 mins to make, ticks all the boxes with micros and protein, is super tasty, and efficiency plus tasty makes me happy. Inspiration from , thus the Larry.

Veggie soup, plus some extra veggies thrown in from yesterday's roast, bit of salad, tomatoes, beetroot, stuffing and couple chicken drumsticks (both left over from roast)

Should keep me fueled for an afternoon of studying

I’m ashamed to say I’ve never given blood, but today that changed.

I kept putting it off, and I genuinely don’t know why. Can’t do that date, too busy to book, I’ll sort it at some point etc etc

Just book it as soon as you think about it, almost like a spur of the moment.

At the minute I’m doing the challenge and training for a half marathon in December to raise money for live life give life. So donating blood whilst also helping this amazing cause is a win win

You can also join the fit to fly challenge by signing up to the Strava group and clocking up any movement you do. Be it walking, running, cycling, hopping, whatever it is, the goal is to get to 19,000 I’m by December because that’s how far the blood travels each day round the body

You can sponsor me in my half marathon by going to www.fittofly.skyfarer.co.uk/donate , it would be greatly appreciated!

What you eat on a daily basis may change depending on hunger levels, but for me I will usually have 3 meals, and very little or even no snacks in between. That’s because my meals are quite large, with the largest at breakfast. Keeping me full throughout the day and minimising the desire to snack. Also, I rarely share all of my food in a day, because what I eat Is based on what I like, want and need for my goals, so shouldn’t make you feel like you have to copy me to be “healthy” because you are not me. 🙂
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Breakfast and lunch were completely vegan meals, so I felt I needed to balance that with meat and cheese
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Meal 1 - oats, fruit, chocolate protein (pea) sludge, nut butter🥜
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Meal 2 - sweet potato and chickpea curry🍠
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Meal 3 - turkey and cheese burgers (mix the grated cheese in with the mince), broccoli, broccoli sprouts and olive oil drizzled over 🍖
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If you know you feel like s**t when you eat like s**t, why do you continue to eat like s**t and then proceed by complaining that you feel like s**t, when it is within your control?

Probably a misleading title for any gym bros as there are no anabolic steroids in this meal, nor do I condone adding them to it, would taste rank. - This is by far my favourite meal (I would and have eaten this for dinner before because why the hell not?). - It’s also very versatile: 1) want to reduce calories? = less oats and smaller portion peanut butter 🥜🥜. 2) don’t have protein powder? = double up the fat free Greek yogurt and add some light hot choccy powder for flavour🤤. 3) don’t like peanut butter? = errrm why? But okay, swap for nuts, seeds or dark chocolate 🍫. 4) don’t like fruit? = okay I’m drawing a line here, wtf is wrong with you? 🤦‍♂️.

Focus on your meals not your snacks. .
This may sound counterintuitive to some, but once you understand why and practice it, it makes sense.
If you are snacking in the 4 hours or so between meals because you are hungry, then the issue isn’t a lack of snacks, its more likely you need to put more thought into your main meals. .
All my meals have certain things in common (swipe through pictures for examples), they all contain:
1) 2-3 servings of plants🥬
2) A serving of protein🍗
3) A source of fats🥑
4) Delicious tasting and looking food (digestion starts in the brain 😉)
5) And sometimes direct carbohydrates.🍚🥖.
This combination means that I stay full for hours between meals, rather than reaching for the biscuits after an hour.
Plants – fruit or veg, there are no limits to variety, aim for a range of sources and colours. -
Protein – aim for ~20-30g of protein per meal, this is roughly a palm sized amount. Protein is the most satiating macronutrient, as it’s the hardest for the body to breakdown, so it makes sense that including it will help keep you fuller for longer. -
Fats – aim for a thumb sized portion roughly for oils and nuts, or half an avocado etc., opting for polyunsaturated where possible (note if you choose a fattier source of protein or cook with oil then that will likely be enough fat). Fats slow down the rate a digestion by reducing gastric emptying, again keeping you fuller for longer. -
One reason may be put off by this approach (and I used to be in this boat too), is that you don’t want to “waste” more calories on your meals, because then “what if I do get hungry between meals?? Then I’ll get the same snacks and I’ll be eating wayyyy more than before!”. I will explain this more in my next post.

How to not only maintain body composition at home but actually continue to improve!
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Firstly sorry for the click bait, I know toilet paper is hard to come by these days.....
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So what you can do:
1. don’t program hop. = find or create a training plan for the week, and stick to it for at least 6 weeks. The more you keep doing new workouts, the less chance you have to progress because how can you improve something the next week if you don’t even do it?
2. Don’t chase soreness. Being sore is often expected in the first week or 2 of doing new exercises, but if you are constantly sore after every workout after a couple of weeks, then you are not recovering sufficiently. If you aren’t recovering then you aren’t adapting optimally. -
3. Train close to failure (within 3-4 reps). This is where people go wrong in the gym never mind at home. Taking a muscle to muscular failure is really difficult because you need to maintain your form through every inch of the rep even when it feels like you can’t contract the muscle anymore. Don’t slack off, focus. -
4. Eat at maintanence or a slight surplus. “You want me to eat at a surplus when I can’t even deadlift bro?!!”. Yes bro. Last thing you want is to be in a state where you are more catabolic (muscle breakdown), so you need to promote anabolism as much as a possible. You may gain a little body fat but should be minimal. -
5. Don’t stress. Even if you do lose some muscle mass, it comes back much quicker than how long it took to build it in first place due to muscle memory. -
6. You will probably lose strength, but strength is not equal to muscle mass. -
7. Don’t focus on building a great physique, but do focus on exercising for health and well-being. -
8. Make sure you enjoy it. If you hate running, stop chasing people.
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Photo taken this morning after a home workout with just resistance bands and a pull-up bar (but bar not necessary). Stay home everyone and stay safe!

As part of the current pandemic, front line NHS staff have been asked to clean shave so that the protective equipment you wear for a patient with positive COVID is more effective.
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So here is my contribution. Unfortunately i forgot to take a before picture, so I’ve drawn on roughly what it looked like before I shaved. I also had a bit of fun trying some different styles before going fully clean shaven. I went from Father Christmas, to Harley Davidson, to a 16 year olds movember attempt, to ready to help the NHS.
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Stay safe everyone, wash your hands, and stay at home!

Top tip if going out for pizza - get a big ass salad as well🥬🥒🥗🍕 This is perfect if sharing too, best of both worlds! And to answer the question of if pineapple belongs on pizza, if you don’t like it, don’t put it in your mouth ffs 🤦‍♂️😂😂

Sad news.

I’ve decided to suspend my personal training for the time being. I like to be transparent, so it’s for 2 main reasons:
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1. It turns out that trying to learn 2 years worth of medical content in one year is not easy and doesn’t leave me with enough time to dedicate to PT.
2. most big gyms charge PTs rent to be able to use the facilities (this may come as a shock to most, PTs in commercial gyms aren’t paid by the gym, they are self employed), and that rent is usually around £400 per month (if you don’t work shifts), so that on top of all my other bills and expenses is a tad stressful.
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I have had a blast during my time as a PT, I have learnt a lot, and helped some people improve themselves (which was the ultimate goal), so it definitely isn’t a complete failure for me. Hopefully I can start up again after this academic year once the content settles down a bit💪
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Thanks to everyone for supporting me, and thank you to all of my clients for trusting me and making some amazing progress with your health and fitness as a result
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I will continue to try and provide hopefully useful content on here for health and fitness tips, as well as my own journey, and perhaps some more university based updates
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Regardless of if I return to Personal Training or not, I will take what I have learnt into my career in the future as a doctor as it is invaluable knowledge