Strong with Stu

I get it.

You’ve had a s**t day at work.

On top of a bad night’s sleep.

And all you want to do is chill out when you get home.

But you have a child that wants entertained.

I know, because I’ve been there.

You know how important it is to be present with your kid.

And you know what going through the motions looks like.

One eye on them, one on your phone.

You might even be doing that right now, reading this post.

Do you know what will help you feel more able to be present though?

If you’re not struggling for energy.

Feeling lethargic because you had yet another crappy meal.

And knowing full well you’ll be knackered just trying to lift them up.

Exercise and a diet centred around whole foods are medicine that will help you perform better in all aspects of your life.

Including being the best dad you can be.

📸:

———

Ready to prioritise your health?

So that you can be there in all the ways your child needs you.

Then join Strong Dads 🙋🏼‍♂️?

Drop in the DMs with a 👨🏻 to get started 🤜🏻🤛🏻

Or click the link in my bio to enquire 👆🏻

Fitness information has a tendency to swing from one extreme to the other 🌪️

From meal timing is a critical part of your progression…

To it doesn’t matter at all, just focus on calories 🫵🏻

As always, the truth is somewhere in the middle.

I’ve outlined a few examples above where thinking about and adjusting your meal timing could improve your performance, and so your results 😅💪🏻

But as I’ve stated above, if you’re completely new to training and worrying about your nutrition…

Focus on some of the bigger rocks first 🤌🏻

———

Ready to finally make a change?

Ready to feel stronger and more confident than you ever have?

Ready to actually prioritise YOURSELF and your future?

Drop in the DMs with the word “STRONG” to get started 🤜🏻🤛🏻

Or keep scrolling and stay where you are 🤷🏼‍♂️

Everyone who has ever began the process of prioritising their health and improving their body has been exactly where you stand right now 🙋🏻‍♂️

Terrified to get started because of that nagging feeling.

The feeling that you’ll fail 🫠

The feeling that you’ll put in all this effort, get nothing from it, and be right back at square one 😰

But that’s where you are, right now. Nothing will have changed 🙅🏼‍♂️

There’s no real risk or cost.

So let’s consider the other outcome.

That you’ll succeed 🕺🏼

That you’ll achieve all you wanted.

Or, through that process of working towards your goal, realise that just being on that journey of constant self development actually makes you happier than achieving whatever the initial goal was 🤌🏻

And that’s the only way you’ll silence that nagging feeling in your head.

Stepping out the door and taking action 🚪

———

Ready to finally make a change?

Ready to feel stronger and more confident than you ever have?

Ready to actually prioritise YOURSELF and your future?

Drop in the DMs with the word “STRONG” to get started 🤜🏻🤛🏻

Or keep scrolling and stay where you are 🤷🏼‍♂️

Trying to reduce your body fat?

Focus on the volume of your food, not just calories 🙅🏼‍♂️

Think how much space it takes up on your plate - the bigger the better.

This prawn stir fry was only 300 calories with 30g of protein, and had me feeling full for the evening.

Add in 50g of rice (weighed raw), and you’ve got a 500 calorie meal (quick maths) 🤓

If you ate that meal 4 times a day, you’d be at an easy 2000 calories, which for my male followers is most likely a good deficit for you to be sitting at.

You’d also be stuffed…though admittedly pretty bored of eating the same thing 4 times in one day 🫠

Compare this to trying to squeeze every treat you want into you calories by playing daily macro tetris… 🧩

Where you amazingly also feel starving throughout the day.

So think less overly processed foods that leave you feeling hungry 5 minutes after eating them.

I’m looking at you McDonalds 🍔🫥

And more vegetables, fruits, whole grains and lean protein sources 🍏🥦🍚🥩🥚🍗

Let’s set a challenge.

This week, try and include a massive portion of fruit and / or vegetables with every meal you have.

I’ll bet you’ll not only feel more satiated and have more energy.

You’ll also find yourself much less inclined to reach for the nearest “healthy” snack or sweet treat you know you really don’t need 👌🏻

———

Looking to improve your training 🏋🏻?

Drop in the DMs with the word “STRONG” to get started 🤜🏻🤛🏻

Or click the link in my bio to enquire 👆🏻

Post lockdown 1 I was in a pretty bad place mentally and physically 🫠

I’d fallen out of love with training, packed some considerable weight on, and wasn’t performing at my best.

So I decided to start the longest fat loss phase I’ve ever done, from January to June 2021 🥩🥦

I lost about 11kg overall in that time, and you can see the change in slide 2.

However, I wasn’t really happy then either 🤦🏼‍♂️

To me I just looked skinny, like a wee boy 👶🏼

Amazing just how much your head will f**k with you if you let it 😨

So after another mini cut in January 2022, where I went from 88kg to 83kg I decided to try and get some muscle mass back.

Which leads me to slide 3. In these two pictures I’m the same weight, but with a massive change in body composition.

And no, the “after” picture is not post workout.

Are you going to see more impressive transformations out there 🤔?

Absolutely!

But considering this was all achieved while also bringing up my first child, I’m pretty happy with it 👨‍👧

Moral of the story.

Progress takes time. Overall this has taken me 2 years to get to a point where I feel much happier 🙌🏻

Not just because I look better, but because I’m stronger, fitter and performing better in every aspect of live 🤌🏻

So try not to get impatient, trust the process, and ask for help and support if you need it 🙋🏻‍♂️🤜🏻🤛🏻

———

Looking to improve your training 🏋🏻?

Drop in the DMs with the word “STRONG” to get started 🤜🏻🤛🏻

Or click the link in my bio to enquire 👆🏻

It’s March, and you’re sick for the third time this year already 🤢

Plus your child has been waking up more often in the night, so obviously you have too 🥱

AND this is all coinciding with a crazy deadline at work 🤯

Making just getting to a gym to train a struggle 🫠

The truth is, as parents we’re all going to go through periods like this.

Which means you HAVE to make the most of the times when you’re feeling good 🫡

We don’t have the luxury of being selective with our time anymore.

It’s guaranteed that there will be times as our kids grow up that we’re too sick or exhausted to train.

So when the opportunity presents itself to actually train 3 or 4 times one week, bloody grab it with both hands 💪🏻🤌🏻

📸:

———

Want to join Strong Dads 🙋🏼‍♂️?

Drop in the DMs with a to get started 🤜🏻🤛🏻

Or click the link in my bio to enquire 👆🏻

Just wanted to give a big shout out to my client Kirk, who’s made some great progress since we started together 💪🏻

And this isn’t just the physical progress you can see above, where we’ve clearly been able to add some quality timber to Kirk’s frame.

He’s also made huge steps with his quality of movement, strength, confidence, knowledge and overall enjoyment of training 🤌🏻

This has taken Kirk from someone who had always dabbled in fitness, to now be in a place where his long term performance, progress and health is a key priority 🏋🏼‍♂️🧘🏼‍♂️

This has been clear to see in how he’s thrown himself into a new challenge of competing , where he smashed his time in his second try in Glasgow this year 🏃🏼‍♂️👏🏻

And I’m sure he’ll do even better later this year in Birmingham.

We’ve just started a cut where Kirk is already making good progress, so will be back on eating purely to fuel his already superb performance soon enough.

———

Looking to improve your training 🏋🏻?

Drop in the DMs with the word “STRONG” to get started 🤜🏻🤛🏻

Or click the link in my bio to enquire 👆🏻

I currently have space for up to 4 new clients to join my 1-2-1 team.

Specifically, I’m looking to help men that are completely new to the gym or feel lost whenever they go in the weights area 🫠

I’ll teach you proper exercise ex*****on, programming strategy and training intensity so that you feel confident to perform at your best whatever gym you step foot in 🏋🏼‍♂️

All from a private PT studio in Glasgow city centre (just round the corner from Central Station) where you can learn and train away from the hectic environment of your typical commercial gym 🧘🏼‍♂️

Training is one of the only goals you can ever have where YOU are the only one truly responsible for your progress 🫵🏻

However, that doesn’t mean you can’t have someone in your corner showing you the right path and holding you accountable for you actions 🤜🏻🤛🏻

Interested? Send me a message or head to my website via the link in my bio to enquire 👆🏻

Have you been wondering if you could improve your squat 🏋🏼‍♂️?

Or just can’t get your head round how to hinge 🤔?

Or would like to chat to someone about positive changes you could make to your nutrition and lifestyle 😎?

Or just want to get put through a bloody great training session 🙋🏻‍♂️?

I’m opening up 2-3 drop-in hours per week for anyone with questions just like this.

These are completely one-off sessions with no obligation to continue personal training.

Giving you the opportunity to get some hands on support in reaching your fitness goals at an affordable price.

All in a private studio where you can perform at your best away from your average hectic commercial gym 🧘🏼‍♂️

I’ll be putting the drop-in hours for the coming week up every Sunday, first come first serve.

Interested? Send me a message and I’ll give you all the details 🤜🏻🤛🏻

Every Sunday and Wednesday I prep my lunches for the days ahead 🥩🥦🍚

Am I ever motivated to do this? Absolutely not 🫠

The entire process annoys me, and it’s even more pronounced since Izzy’s birth because I have more responsibilities and less downtime.

But I’ll always prep those meals, because I know how valuable it is 🤌🏻

Not just because it will help me achieve my physical goals.

It will also save me money, give me more consistent energy, and stop me from actually having to think about what I’ll eat in that week 👌🏻

Because of all that, I have the discipline to ALWAYS do that food prep.

So if you’re a dad like me.

Stop relying on motivation for your good decision making.

Yes it sounds good to say you’re motivated to make positive changes so you can be a better father 👨‍👧

But if you don’t have the discipline to actually follow through on the actions it takes to get there, your motivation most likely won’t be enough.

Trying to build that discipline?

Start with a small positive change that you KNOW you can make, and focus on absolutely nailing that for weeks until you don’t have to think about it 🤠

Then pick something else, then something else, etc. etc.

And eventually, you’ll be much closer to living the life you want and being the dad you want to be 🙋🏻‍♂️

I’ve got a slot opening up at 7:30am on a Monday and Wednesday for either one or two clients 📢

This slot was filled by .skirving who is making the exciting move down to London 🏙️

I’ve worked with Paddy on and off over the last few years, but he’s made the best progress since we started back at the end of last year.

His commitment to training is so much better, getting into the gym 3-5 times a week where previously this may have been a week of 3 sessions followed by a week with no sessions.

Not surprisingly, we’ve seen some great strength progressions 🤌🏻💪🏻

This has all been supported by Paddy getting much more dialled in with his nutrition.

Always someone that struggled so just get high quality meals in, we’ve implemented a number of accountability tools that have greatly improved his eating habits 🥩🍚🥦

I’ll be continuing to work with him remotely to make sure he maintains all this in the big smoke.

But, this means I now have some availability to take on a new client or two.

If you’re interested then send me a message or head to my website to enquire 💻

———

Looking to improve your training 🏋🏻?

Drop in the DMs with the word “STRONG” to get started 🤜🏻🤛🏻

Or click the link in my bio to enquire 👆🏻

Tried to get into running this year and found it realllllly tough?

Well me too 😅

But the best advice I’ve been given that has had a massive impact on how long I can run for 🏃🏼‍♂️

Is to take it much slower than you think when you start.

Whatever your pace is when you start running, take it down a notch 🐌

This will stop your heart rate from elevating to a point that you struggle to maintain 🫠

Once it’s at the point it can be really difficult to get back down.

So just slowing down from a fast pace doesn’t work nearly as well.

Give it a go and let me know how you get on 🤌🏻

And thank you to and for the advice 🙌🏻

———

Looking to improve your training 🏋🏻?

Drop in the DMs with the word “STRONG” to get started 🤜🏻🤛🏻

Or click the link in my bio to enquire 👆🏻