Apex Performance

That’s it… 5 years of Univeristy… DONE✅

An undergrad degree which wasn’t quite for me, learning that the hard way! Learnt lots made life long friends!

A Masters overshadowed by Covid then being MIA in the USA…😷🇺🇸

But here we are…

Sun shining on the lovely Carniege School of Sport building!💜☀️

Onto the next Chapter… if anyone knows of any Part Time Strength & Conditioning gigs going please get in touch or point me in the right direction!

Would be greatly appreciated!

I am experienced in Rugby and Football, but willing to try other sports out🤓

Here we go…2 months in the States🇺🇸🇺🇸

Set up base camp✅
Night one exploring NYC by night✅

Going to be one hell of a ride… An Adventure of a lifetime!

Can’t wait for the placement with Stony Brook University provided by IUSCA and Andrew Langford 🤓🏈⚽️🏀🇺🇸

Soooo... You may or may not have noticed I have been SUPER quiet on here recently...

I've been rather busy!

A - with MSc work (dissertation proposals)

B - Uni Placements (the exciting bit)

C - Focussing on my own Progress

I have been super lucky to be working with two outstanding Sports Clubs in:



Both amazing opportunities, with the Bulls I am currently working as an Assistant S&C coach with their academy.

With Wakey Trinity, I am the Head of S&C also, Assistant Manager of the U21's Team, a bright and upcoming team with a big future.

Therefore, I thought I'd give you some insight into my current situation and why "Time" Cannot be a barrier to YOUR success in achieving YOUR GOALS.

So I currently work everyday in some capacity...

Monday:
A.M - PT
P.M - Bradford Bulls U18

Tuesday:
A.M - PT and Uni
P.M - PureGym Shift & Wakefield Trinity

Wednesday:
A.M - Off
P.M - Bradford Bulls U18/16s

Thursday:
A.M - Puregym Shift & PT
P.M - Wakefield Trinity

Friday:
A.M - Puregym Shift & PT
P.M - Off

Saturday:
All day - Off (play football)

Sunday:
A.M - Off
P.M - Wakefield trinity

With that Schedule, I am still able to, albeit resentfully manage:

- 3-4 regular Gym sessions in a week
- 10-12k Steps a day
- Track Calories (not always perfect but still tracking them)
- Play the sport I love at least once per week
- Have a Social Life...

Now you tell me You, on your 9-5, Mon-Fri struggle to get to the gym even once a week? Struggle to track calories? Steps?

I call BU****IT

You're not prioritising your health nor your goals...

If it means something to you, you would do something about it. SIMPLE AS THAT.

Now I get motivation bounces up and down especially at this time of year, with Christmas coming up and the weather turning...

But again they're just excuses you are allowing to control you.

Your Actions Define YOU. Make Them Count.

There is no time like the present. Don't sit back and regret the actions you didn't take.

PROGRESS...

What is PROGRESS:
1. "forward or onward movement towards a destination."

2. "development towards an improved or more advanced condition."

However we define progress, for us all, it looks slightly different...

For example, for me currently, building muscle while keeping my body fat down would be PROGRESS

Whereas, lets say "Jess" is really desperate to build her glutes but lose weight. If she was to drop a few KG but her glutes were visibly increasing... PROGRESS

However if the roles were reversed would that be progress for Jess? probably not...

So looking at these photos here, as you can see the 'Before' is just over a year ago, I was UNHAPPY with how I felt and looked and with a bit of help a year later I look like a totally different person.

Although I am a PT I was extremely nervous posting topless images of myself not because i am ashamed, just a self-consciousness I have and thats absolutely nothing to be ashamed about its natural too

A year ago if you said to me your going to be posting a topless photo on Socials i'd have laughed at you and told you to F*** Off...

One year is a long time, especially for self-development, and body recomposition.

A LOT can change if you take ACTION...

- OR -

Absolutely f**k all will change, potentially get worse without ACTION.

Now, action doesn't need to be flipping your life upside down, taking little steps is PROGRESS

Not going to name names, but recently one of my clients told me they drank roughly 3x Redbull a day... they've now managed to drop that to 1x can a day... PROGRESS

It may seem stupidly ineffective but you add that WIN to another and another suddenly you have enough PROGRESSION to create CHANGE...

Ultimately the thing you want is CHANGE, may that be in mindset, health or body composition even happiness...

Is tracking really necessary…
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Something I get asked quite regularly and for good reason!
⠀
I personally ask most of my clients to track things from Workouts to Nutrition to Steps and Sleep.
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Now, could my clients achieve their goals without tracking the above?
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Maybe…
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I would never say someone can’t achieve something…
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…But the likelihood of someone actually achieving what they want without monitoring their goal dramatically reduces
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“What gets measured gets managed…”
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Therefore if you’re tracking your calories, you know exactly why you are or are not losing weight…
⠀
For Example:
A - If I tracked my calories for a couple of weeks and noticed my weight had gone up, I can conclude I am probably eating more calories than I am expending, suggesting I need to either eat less or move more
⠀
B - If I hadn’t of tracked my calories and my weight had gone up, I can conclude the same outcome however, I have no idea how much less to eat, as I don’t know how much I ate over the last few weeks
⠀
I know which situation I’d rather be in, the situation in which I was in control and knew what to change about how much by…
⠀
For some, tracking may seem a bit overkill and those people are unlikely to get exactly where they want to be, and if they do get there it’ll take a hell of a lot longer than someone who’s tracking, monitoring and ultimately managing their situation.
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At the end of the day though, it all boils down to:
⠀
HOW BADLY DO YOU WANT IT…
⠀
If the answer isn’t anything but badly then you can afford to chill out and take the slow road and not track or monitor
⠀
But these days most people view themselves as short for time and need to get it done.
⠀
These people need to track to get to their end goal as quick as possible.
⠀
Examples of things you can track:
- Calories in
- Calories out
- Steps
- Workouts
- PBs
- Sleep
- Water
- Blood Pressure
- Heart rate
- Speed/Time
- RPE (how hard you find things)
- Mood
- Tiredness
- Energy levels
- Progress
⠀
The list is endless…

𝗘𝗫𝗣𝗘𝗖𝗧𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝘃𝘀 𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗟𝗜𝗧𝗬….
⠀
So, some hard truths today… you need to LOWER your expectations.
⠀
Why should I lower my expectations you ask?
⠀
Too many people I’ve spoken to recently expect results to occur over night…
⠀
It would be great if they did, but unfortunately that’s just not the case!
⠀
For serious results to occur you need a good 8-12 weeks of serious graft
⠀
No doubt in that time frame you’ll have ups and downs, wins and loses.
⠀
Now I’m not saying you cannot achieve good results in 6 weeks as you most certainly can.
⠀
How can I achieve my goals if I don’t set high expectations…
⠀
1). Set high expectations - demand a lot from yourself be realistic about it but be honest with what you want to achieve
⠀
2). Set a timeframe - how long do you have to achieve you goal… don’t leave it last minute give yourself a buffer
⠀
3). Be open minded - things won’t always go the way you planned, if you planned to lose a pound a week and a week in you didn’t gain anything or you even gained don’t stress you’ve not f**ked up.
⠀
4). Push yourself, get uncomfortable - if it’s easy you’re not doing enough. SIMPLE.
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5). Trust in the process - this for me is key. You don’t trust the person or the process you won’t achieve anything.
⠀
So let’s use myself as an example:
⠀
I want to be roughly 10-12% body fat, weighing 75-80kg but I also want to add muscle to my current physique
⠀
12 weeks fat loss, 20-24 weeks muscle building, 12 weeks fat loss… (48 week, just short of a years process) let that sink in…
⠀
For myself as an experienced lifter I have to chose one half of my goal and attack that before I can achieve the other therefore I got as lean as I could in lockdown and since being back I’ve been in a muscle building phase
⠀
I currently weigh in @ 85kg!! A stone over my goal - is this a problem? No, why? Because I trust in the process, I believe in myself and others around me and we’ve had set backs and so forth and can deal with change in situations.
⠀
I still haven’t found anyone who says fat loss is easy… or muscle building being easy. They’re liars…
⠀
Morale of the story - Set the bar high, accept current rate of achievements and try better yourself!

Training in the heat🏋🏼‍♂️☀️😎

So, here are my Top 5 tips for combatting the heat while going to the gym!

1. Drink plenty of water aiming for a minimum of 2litres per day, with at least 0.5L before training.

2. Train when cooler, simply get effective avoid doing exercise during the middle of the day

3. Wear minimalist and light clothing a simple yet effective way of avoiding excessive sweat loss and dehydration

4. Remember to refuel post workout, vital during hot weather like this. Dehydration is a killer, ensure you replace water, electrolytes and salt as well as always getting in some protein!

5. Listen to your body, training at your usual intensity may not be the smartest idea. Potentially look at taking 5-10% off or achieve near failure but not quite full failure. As exhaustion can lead to illness during heat like this🤮

These apply to training outdoors too, however, if outdoors remember to apply that sunscreen🧴😅

For anymore training Advise drop me a DM

Fat loss can be hard.
⠀
In fact IT IS HARD.
⠀
And it should be in my opinion, you got yourself in the situation one way or another potentially it may or may not be directly your fault but it was still you.
⠀
It should serve as a reminder for those who chose to better themselves not to let themselves go again, as they will have to go through the journey/battle once again...
⠀
With that being said, we want to enable as many people as possible to lose weight as that would lead to a healthier society, healthier people, healthier relationships etc...
⠀
Therefore there is a need to simplify fat loss.
⠀
𝙎𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙞𝙘𝙞𝙩𝙮 = “𝙏𝙤 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙧 𝙙𝙤”
⠀
And as we’ve just discussed, fat loss isn’t easy, so therefore we must make it 𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱.
⠀
By improving the simplicity of fat loss, the process will become easier to navigate and the likelihood of success increased🙌🏻
⠀
However...
⠀
People seem to want quick fixes easy alternatives and look to over complicate things.
⠀
Through the use of Fad diets and/or super strict regimented lifestyles - 𝗧𝗼𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘂𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗿𝘆 ❌
⠀
Why would you want to increase the amount of stress put on oneself?
⠀
Isn’t life stressful enough? Why add more pressure of trying to remove whole macronutrients from your diet or fasting all morning/evening?!
⠀
Life should be about balance, about being sustainable while still making progress towards that fat loss goal!
⠀
The reason for this post...
⠀
Trying to show you how to make life easier for yourself, how to actually make progress by understanding the process.
⠀
Obviously the process is person dependant, but it gives you a nice guideline to follow if you’re not sure where to start✅
⠀
If you have any questions or need help in setting up your own process, drop me a message saying “ 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗖𝗘𝗦𝗦” and I’ll do the rest and get you on your way to losing fat🙌🏻

Fat loss can be hard.
⠀
In fact IT IS HARD.
⠀
And it should be in my opinion, you got yourself in the situation one way or another potentially it may or may not be directly your fault but it was still you.
⠀
It should serve as a reminder for those who chose to better themselves not to let themselves go again, as they will have to go through the journey/battle once again...
⠀
With that being said, we want to enable as many people as possible to lose weight as that would lead to a healthier society, healthier people, healthier relationships etc...
⠀
Therefore there is a need to simplify fat loss.
⠀
𝙎𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙞𝙘𝙞𝙩𝙮 = “𝙏𝙤 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙧 𝙙𝙤”
⠀
And as we’ve just discussed, fat loss isn’t easy, so therefore we must make it 𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱.
⠀
By improving the simplicity of fat loss, the process will become easier to navigate and the likelihood of success increased🙌🏻
⠀
However...
⠀
People seem to want quick fixes easy alternatives and look to over complicate things.
⠀
Through the use of Fad diets and/or super strict regimented lifestyles - 𝗧𝗼𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘂𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗿𝘆 ❌
⠀
Why would you want to increase the amount of stress put on oneself?
⠀
Isn’t life stressful enough? Why add more pressure of trying to remove whole macronutrients from your diet or fasting all morning/evening?!
⠀
Life should be about balance, about being sustainable while still making progress towards that fat loss goal!
⠀
The reason for this post...
⠀
Trying to show you how to make life easier for yourself, how to actually make progress by understanding the process.
⠀
Obviously the process is person dependant, but it gives you a nice guideline to follow if you’re not sure where to start✅
⠀
If you have any questions or need help in setting up your own process, drop me a message saying “ 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗖𝗘𝗦𝗦” and I’ll do the rest and get you on your way to losing fat🙌🏻

𝗜𝘀 𝗠𝗼𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗵𝘆𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝘂𝗽 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲?
⠀
Would you go to the gym without motivation?
⠀
I guess that depends on who you ask...
⠀
Would you require a lot more mental strength & resilience to exercise with low motivation?
⠀
HELL YES, however some people still manage to grind out a workout in these states... why? How?
⠀
Well let’s start off with the definition:
⠀
“𝘈 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯[𝘴] 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨/𝘣𝘦𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘺.”
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In Essence: A justified behaviour. A reason for wanting to do something.
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Most people won’t do anything without some form of justification and that’s where motivation comes in handy...
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For example:
⠀
Have you ever started something new? A new sport? Or even a new job?
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Initially you’re super buzzed to be there, pushing yourself all the time, and eventually that feeling wears off...
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The motivation levels drop and you either continue because you’re seeing some success/enjoyment or you stop while you’re ahead...
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However, what if I told you if you’d have stuck it out 2 more days and you’d have made a success out of it? Would you have continued for those 2 extra days?
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More than likely you’d answer yes... So is motivation all it’s hyped to be? My answer is no...
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..Consistency and self belief is king👑
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With these, you will no doubt be successful. You will push through the difficult times and ride out the good times.
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Motivation levels rise and fall all the time due to all matter of variables, from mood to period (females) to stress levels and so forth.
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Therefore focussing on being consist and believing in yourself will see much better results than relying on motivation as the primer for your behaviour.
⠀
𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀.

1-1 online Coaching Clients Results
⠀

⠀
So Harry came to me with the goal of getting back into fitness and getting leaner...
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As many of us, he’d put on some body fat throughout previous lockdowns
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No shame in that, however he decided he wanted to do something about it.
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Harry wanted to get leaner but wasn’t quite sure how... he understood core principles but lacked nutritional and training knowledge
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So rewind 12 weeks ago, Harry and I began the process, initially Harry struggled with time
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He’s a busy working man earning a living, sometimes working up to 12+ hours!
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Therefore we knew getting him exercising wasn’t going to be easy especially since we started during a lockdown
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However, credit to Harry he had some kit at home and did absolutely everything he could even going out for runs regularly
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The most important changes though for Harry were:
1. reducing the amount of alcohol consumption
2. Focusing on Smarter Nutrition choices
3. Increasing his NEAT (non exercise activity thermogenesis)
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Sounds so simple yet Harry like many others wasn’t able to achieve this by himself.
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That’s where I came in, I held him accountable, encouraging him & educating him about exercise and nutrition
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The things he learnt, he quickly put into place and started to notice results when he applied his knowledge into actions.
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That old chestnut of “actions speak louder than words” rings true for Harry and many of you too!
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If you are like Harry, struggling for direction, lacking the knowledge or just struggling to keep yourself accountable and seem to find yourself trapped in a constant cycle of trying to get leaner but never quite managing it...
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Drop me a message quoting “Results” and I can get you exactly what you’re asking for. All I ask of you is you become an action taker on the knowledge I provide you.