Sampbfitness

The biggest lie in the fitness industry is getting people to chase one single date instead of a lifestyle.

Weddings, holidays and other events people like to get in good nick for.

Chasing these forces people to crash diet, smash unnecessary extra workouts and try to do whatever it takes to look right for one specific day or week.

Then the day happens. And it all stops.

Nobody plans for the Wednesday after the wedding, or the month after the holiday photos.

and thats the actual problem.

Not that people want to look good for something, thats completely normal, (Who doesn't want to look good around the pool right)

But when you just built your plan for that one event with no plan for after, because life continues when you get back off holiday.

and progress that only lasts until you go on holiday is just a costume in reality.

The stuff that actually matters is what's true once the occasions long gone.

Because let's be honest, if you cracked this stuff year around, you wouldn't actually have to panic diet next time you booked a holiday.

I have a life lesson for you today that I can thank the younger version of me in this photo for.

The older I get, the more grateful I am that I've put time into my health and fitness.

It's not something you feel much at 20.

Everything just... works and you don't think about it.

But it matters more with every year that passes.

Recovery slows down.

Things that never used to ache, start to.

The margin for neglect gets smaller.

Here's what I've genuinely come to know though.

The longer you leave it, the bigger the job becomes.

Not because it gets harder to start.

Because there's more ground to make up once you finally do.

I personally believe that most people don't start because of how far away their actual goal feels.

But they tell themselves other stories to avoid that reality.

I'm grateful I didn't wait.

Not because I had it all figured out early, I definitely didn't.

Just because I started before I needed to, not after.

If you're on the fence about starting something, for whatever reason, that's the one thing I'd actually want you to take from this.

It only gets bigger from here. Never smaller.

If I started over again the gym, I'd do one thing differently.

I'd hire a coach from day one.

Not because I couldn't have figured it out myself eventually.

I did in the end.

But it took me years. Years of trial and error and working things out alone with nobody checking if what I was doing was right.

A coach wouldn't have just given me a plan. They'd have fast tracked me to doing things properly straight from the start.

Here's the bit that people sometimes forget though.

Having a coach isn't a shortcut that all of a sudden disappears when you stop working with them.

Once you've actually learned to do it properly, the skill is yours forever.

I clearly believe this because I've done exactly the same thing since.

I spent around £25k over 2 years working with a business mentor (Phil Graham) for the exact same reason.

Not because I couldn't have worked it out myself eventually.

Because I didn't want to spend years finding out the hard way when someone could show me properly in a fraction of the time.

(To date this is one of the best investments I've ever made into myself by the way.)

If I'm honest, that's most of why I coach the way I do now. I don't want anyone else spending years working out what I could show them properly in a a way shorter timeframe.

Want to celebrate someone who's been absolutely killing it this year!

Danni has just come through a maintenance phase.

Not the most exciting sounding phase on paper.

But here's what actually happened during it.

Firstly, she was a bit dubious about upping calories and actually running a phase like this... worried that she might end up back at square one.

But actually what has happened is...

She's got stronger.

She's built her energy back up (the kind of thing a progress photo can't show)

She's still got leaner!

Maintenance isnt a break from progress. Done right its exactly what sets the next phase up properly.

You can't just restrict continuously forever, so learning how to hold your weight throughout the journey is important!

Which brings us onto the next phase.

We're about to get stuck into a new fat loss phase and she's going into it stronger and even more ready than the previous dieting phases.

Thats the result of patience and trusting the process.

Awesome work girl, proud of ya!

Why you shouldn't just "eat less" for more definition.

Most people thing definition just means smaller.

Eat less, get leaner, job done.

Except if you cut too hard, you don't just lose fat.

You lose muscle along with it.

So you just end up with less shape, which is not really the result anyones actually after.

Definition isn't about eating less, it's about keeping enough protein to hold onto the muscle whilst creating a deficit big enough to get the fat off.

When you do it properly, you can lose body fat and maintain or even build more muscle.

If you want to know how much protein you should be eating, comment "calculator" and I'll send you my evidence based protein calculator.

Not sure whether you should be cutting, bulking, a Recomp... neither?

Comment "QUIZ" and I'll fix it.

What got me started with training?

I was 17 when I started in the gym, self conscious and I just wanted to feel respected.

That was it initially,

There was no grand plan or intention of becoming a coach one day.

Just a kid who wanted to feel better about himself.

Funny how that turned into over a decade of doing this.

Studying Sport Science at uni, qualifying as a PT and then over 150 clients and 10+ years later here we are.

I'll be honest though, my reason hasn't really changed that much.

I still remember exactly how it felt like to want to feel more respected.

Which is probably why I care so much about helping other people get there too.

What got you started?

Let me know in the comments

Ever find yourself looking at someone in the gym and thinking... "I wish I looked like that"?

It's happened to me before too!

Turns out I was stood in front of the mirror.

Haha only kidding, but here's why this doesn't actually help you.

You're only seeing the current product, you're not seeing the potential years that got them there.

You're not considering, their genetics, what they've sacrificed, how long they've been doing it for.

You're comparing your right now... to their potential years of work.

Thats not really a fair comparison.

Tell you what to compare to instead?

You now, vs you a few months back.

You've got control over that comparison!

Mum of 2 and she's back into a size 12 for the first time since she had her first baby over 3 years ago!

This was never about a number on a label though.

It was always about feeling more confident and strong again.

Finding the version of her that she felt she'd lost a little over the past few years.

Since the start of this year she's lost 8.8kg

She's built a significant amount of muscle in the meantime too meaning she's not just smaller, she's stronger!

That size 12 isn't just fitting again, it's a completely different body wearing it.

Confidence doesn't come from a number, it comes from feeling like yourself again and this is exactly what this was for this client.

I used to struggle with consistency, this is how I fixed it.

When I first started as a PT I had no schedule.

Clients booked whenever suited them and I just tried to slot my own training in around that.

Which often meant moving workouts or skipping them completely.

I told myself that I was being flexible, but in reality I was just letting everyone else's schedule take priority over mine.

Here's what changed that:

I started scheduling my own workouts into the diary first, before anything else.

Concrete days and times and not just "whenever I get a gap"

If you're a 9-5 person your version won't look identical to mine but the principles are the same.

Block the time out first outside of work before life fills all of the gaps for you. (Because it will)

Nobody "finds time" to train consistently.

You take the bull by the horns and make it happen on purpose before anything else claims the time.

Stop waiting for the gaps to appear and be intentional about it.