Remove guesswork with a workout program built for you
Not knowing what to do or second-guessing whether what you’re currently doing is working makes it hard to stay motivated because you’re operating in the dark.
Let’s Solve that problem permanently with a program built for your body and your goals, created by an expert personal trainer.
Your health & fitness program
How Your Program is Built
My process of complete customisation for optimal results
Tell me about your goals
Once I know your goals, I’ll begin forming a strategy to help you achieve them. The more I know about your goals and motivations, and of course your doubts about achieving them, the more informed I’ll be on our call.
Your initial consultation call
You and I speaking directly allows us to confirm we’re a good fit for coaching and explore how your individual circumstances in detail are going to inform our strategy.
Detailed info gathered
Once we’ve decided to move forward I’ll send you a comprehensive form that will provide detailed info to bolster the notes I took on our consultation call.Â
Build your training program
I have a 28-step process of personalisation. I go through when building a custom workout program to ensure it’s as well-calibrated for you as it possibly can be.
Building your meal plan
I’ll inform our resident nutritionist Dr Katie Turianytsia of the calorie and macronutrient targets you’ll need. Your meal plan is then crafted meal by meal to your preferences.
Program Delivery
Your program is delivered seamlessly via my fitness app with a comprehensive explanation and instructions, we’ll then schedule an onboarding call to discuss it.
My 28 Step Process of Personalisation
Over the last 14 years, I’ve built over 10,000 custom workout programs. Imagine how good anyone would be at anything if they’d done it that many times. I’ve accumulated so much data about which workouts work for who and why, that over the years I’ve created my own process of creating tailored workout plans.
I’ve found that there are 28 important factors that inform the success of a fitness program. Some of the more obvious ones are:
Age specific training
Age isn't the barrier you might think it is, but it does influence ideal training load, recovery and how to offset future problems, it's all down to calibration.
Optimised for your gender
Most training principles are universal, but there are nuances to the specifics of how hormones influence exercise and vice versa, especially when cross-referenced with age. This is crucial if you want to think beyond fitness, and into wellness.
Targeted training goals
Not all workouts are appropriate for all fitness goals. When you know your workouts are aligned with your ideal outcome it provides a whole new level of peace of mind that you're doing the right things.
Other important factors include psychological preferences for intensity, diversity and types of exercise. Not to mention aligning a workout program to account for logistical influences such as time available to exercise, frequency of exercise and available exercise equipment plus your current workload outside of exercise as this influences your ability to recover from exercise.
Want to take a deep dive? I outline my full 28-step process of personalisation here
Just don't feel like yourself anymore?
If you’re considering investing in a custom-built workout program, you may or may not already be working out on a regular basis. If you aren’t that’s an easy problem to solve. But if you are already exercising, you may have found that regular exercise is definitely a great thing as far as your health goes. But it may not be helping you achieve your desired result, because exercise alone isn’t a guarantee of success, at least not if your goal is a change in weight or composition change.
If that’s the position you find yourself in, one of two things is occurring. Either what you’re doing just isn’t right for your goals, or you instinctively feel that you should be getting better results for the amount of effort you’re putting in.
To showcase the ways in which you might currently be following a sub-optimal program, below are some examples of what could be going wrong. They are all common challenges or misconceptions I help my online personal training clients with on a regular basis:
Running generally won’t make you lean:
Walking is great for fat loss, and so is sprinting. Unfortunately, jogging is good for mindfulness and it’ll get you fit, but it’s a very blunt tool for fat loss for a number of reasons. So if it’s long been your go-to for getting toned and it’s never really worked for you, this is why.
Lifting the heaviest weight you can isn’t how you gain muscle:
The utility of how heavy you lift is only relative to your workout protocol. Essentially, it’s a way of measuring progress. Lifting very heavy is for getting stronger, not more muscular. There is certainly a cross-over, but make sure you aren’t training for the wrong goal just to look strong in the gym.
You don't track your workouts:
A series of random engaging workouts will feel good and have its benefits, but if you want predictable results, you need to track and plan your sessions to ensure you’re being exposed to incrementally more challenging workouts, that’s how you get results. Without this, you might always feel like you’re getting a good workout in, but there is no real way to know if you are progressing.
You can eat too little to lose weight:
Most people approach weight loss thinking the fewer calories they eat the better. However your body is a survival machine, if you put it in a depleted state the last thing it’s going to do is use up stored fat, which is considered stored energy for survival. Through adaptive thermogenesis and hormonal adjustments, you could be eating too little to lose weight, as counterintuitive as that sounds. Almost everyone trying to lose weight makes this mistake. Don’t get me wrong you do need a deficit of calories, but there is an optimal range and eating below it can undermine your goals.
If you don’t manage stress, you won’t get optimal results even from an excellent workout plan:
Stress has a detrimental effect on the body, including your ability to gain or hold onto muscle and burn fat. Not to mention an influence on how and where you accumulate fat. You simply must find ways to manage stress if you want to get the most out of your workouts. Crucially, over-exercise and under-eating can act as cleverly disguised additional forms of stress.
If you don’t dedicate time to mobility work, eventually you’ll get injured doing everyday activity and exercise will be off the table:
How often have you heard someone say they can’t lunge, do deadlifts or run? Often it’s a mobility and work posture problem at the route of this and it could easily be offset with minimal daily mobility exercise, please don’t neglect this.
A calorie is not a calorie - What you eat matters, not just how much:
Hitting calorie targets and following your macros looks good on paper, but your body keeps the real score. Don’t eat poor quality, processed, pro-inflammatory food just because it fits your macros if you know it’s unhealthy. There is more to getting results and staying healthy than mathematics.
You won't solve a weight loss problem running distances:
Running distance races is a great achievement, but it’s not an effective way to approach weight loss. Firstly because running won’t burn fat very well, and second because even if you are successful with it, the only lifestyle you know will be massive mile counts each week which isn’t sustainable. Focus on one goal at a time, and establish a year-round framework that you can depart from and return to whenever you want to run a race goal.
A workout is only as good as your ability to recover from it:
If you train too frequently or don’t manage recovery factors you will accumulate a ‘debt of fatigue’ in each workout, eventually, you’ll burn out and have to take time off. Crucially, more is not automatically better, many of my clients get much better results when they start exercising less often with greater efficiency.
You won't gain muscle if you aren’t eating enough food:
Your exercise efforts might be perfect, but if you don’t eat enough it might be mathematically impossible for you to achieve your goals no matter how hard you train. Focus on both getting enough calories and the correct macronutrient distribution.
Learn more about my coaching process and how I get my results.
Results in fitness should be predictable. Are Yours?
You wouldn’t build a house without a blueprint. You probably wouldn’t even drive to a neighbouring city without a sat nav. So why approach fitness without any prior planning or direction simply looking to wing it in the gym and hope for results?
With a custom training program that’s built to meet you where you are and get you to your specific goals, perhaps for the first time, getting results in fitness will become a predictable process. Which of course if you’ve grown used to guesswork will be a game changer.
How to end guesswork in fitness:
- Follow a workout program that’s actually right for your body and your goals
- Develop consistency with your workout routine
- Gradually expose your muscles and cardiovascular system to more stress (progressive overload)
- Get the right nutrition to support your goals
- Successfully manage two crucial lifestyle factors: stress & sleep
- Adapt training programs before the point of diminishing returns
- Drop the all-or-nothing mindset, aim for net-positive day not perfect ones
- Respond positively to the inevitable setbacks you will face
- Repeat
That’s basically it. If you follow this process you will see results. No need to reinvent the wheel. 90% of your progress will come from the fundamentals, the nuance, the rabbit holes and the deep dives will help you maximise the last 10% of your potential, but if you chase that first you’re building your whole relationship with exercise and nutrition on unsteady foundations.
Think of it like this, if you want to be successful in an area of life, it’s going to take a cohesive plan of action. Let’s take the example of financial planning, if you want to be able to save money or make an investment, you’d have to know how much money was coming, in, and how much was going out, at a minimum. Then as you got more advanced you could go for a deeper dive into how to earn more, or make saved money earn interest, you’d begin to weigh high-risk vehicles against low-risk ones and so on…
It’s the same with fitness. If you want results, you have to know the types of exercise that actually deliver for your goal. You also need to know what activities costs you energy and which restore it. Not to mention understanding when to harness the power of repetition and progressive overload, and how to switch things up and introducing new variables at the right time.
And that’s only the exercise side of things. To make your work in the gym pay off, you’ll also have to match your nutrition intake and lifestyle with what you’re trying to achieve. All ideally without fitness consuming your life. Once everything is pulling in the same direction, fitness will feel like it’s ‘clicked’ for you, and that’s when you stand to break through to a new level of results without feeling like you’re pushing a boulder uphill.
Over time as your body gets more conditioned you’ll need to look for novel and advanced stimuli to keep your body guessing, it’s a process of mastery through consistently implementing the fundamentals. Exactly like pretty much every other skill you’ve acquired in your life.
The advantage of hiring an expert personal trainer to build your program for you is that all of this will be taken care of on day one of your online personal training program.
Guesswork costs more than you think
Injury rates:
According to a study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, improper exercise form and programming are leading causes of injury in the gym. Customised programs can significantly reduce injury risk by ensuring the plan is well-calibrated and exercise selection is thoughtfully selected and performed correctly based on the individual's fitness level and goals.
Achievement of fitness goals
A survey by the National Center for Health Statistics indicated that approximately 50% of people drop out of fitness programs within the first six months. One reason for this high dropout rate is a lack of personalised guidance and unrealistic goal setting, which could easily have been mitigated by a tailored approach from working with an experienced exercise professional.
Nutrition misinformation:
Research in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior highlights the prevalence of nutrition misinformation online and its impact on diet quality and health. A custom-built program with professional nutrition guidance can help avoid the pitfalls of such misinformation. This is huge because this kind of 'content' pushes perpetual diet culture and unrealistic body images. Consider that it's human nature to see the world through your own lens. Personal trainers and nutritionists are just as prone to this as anyone else, which is why we take an agnostic stance to nutrition and focus only on what is in the best interest for the individual.
Effectiveness of personalised programs:
A study from the Journal of Medical Internet Research found that personalised, adaptive intervention strategies were more effective in promoting physical activity than one-size-fits-all approaches. This underscores the value of a personalised workout plan built by a competent personal trainer in achieving better results.
Mental health and exercise:
Research has shown that inappropriate exercise regimens can lead to increased stress and anxiety, counteracting the mental health benefits of physical activity. One can imagine this is only made worse if reprimanded by an ego-driven coach or trainer. Tailored programs that match an individual's psychological state can enhance mental well-being alongside physical health.
Could you get better results whilst spending less time & energy on exercise?
One of the biggest mistakes in fitness occurs when you overestimate what it would take to get results. In fact so many people overestimate what it takes to get results that they don’t even bother starting. The problem is they are taking their cues from athletes, bodybuilders and influencers who have built their careers by loving the gym and exercising almost every day.
It’s common to set out on this kind of program thinking that you have to exercise 6 days a week and have every meal meticulously calibrated in order to move the needle. But when your typical schedule involves work pressures, travel, family responsibilities and frequent location changes you realise that it’s just not feasible for the vast majority of people to live like an athlete or bodybuilder.
Unfortunately, the typical reaction to this supposed limitation is to completely give up on their fitness goals because the thought process essentially amounts to the notion that if it can’t be perfect, it’s not worth doing. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
There is a huge and misleading disconnect here, which is that what it takes for a professional bodybuilder or athlete to move the needle is going to be overkill for the vast majority of people. Their bodies are just so used to training and the years, if not decades of consistent training have maximised their potential to the extent that they now need to put in a lot of time and work to continue to see even incremental results. In fact, for many people, emulating this would be such an intensive workload that their lifestyle constraints of a lack of sleep, and high stress just couldn’t handle it. It’a akin to taking a Formula One car out for your first driving lesson.
The good news is that it often takes a lot less time and effort to see results, take Dr. Lizzie Stutters for example, who was able to get better results than ever before when I put her on a program of less, frequent, shorter sessions with more calories.
You likely have a lot of low-hanging fruit on the table right now. Because the less conditioned you are the less work it takes to see progress, because simply introducing well-calibrated workouts will be a huge positive contrast and contrast is where all the progress is.Â
To be clear, I’m not talking about shortcuts. I’m trying to convey just how effective workouts can be with efficient training.Â
You have to think of it this way, the purpose of a workout is simply to ask enough of the body to force an adaptation in the direction of the goals you’re trying to achieve, that’s it. Thats the purpose of every one of your workouts.
So if that’s true, it no longer matters how long a workout is, or how many calories it burns just that it conveys to your body that it needs to adapt in some positive way to the new (incremental) stress you’ve put it through. Once you realise this, it opens up a whole new world of exercise options.
High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)
Studies have shown that HIIT can be incredibly effective for improving cardiovascular health, strength, and fat loss in a shorter time compared to traditional steady-state cardio. For example, a study published in the Journal of Physiology found that just 20 minutes of HIIT, performed three times a week, significantly improved aerobic capacity, insulin sensitivity, and muscle health.
The Physiological Society. Keeping fit with HIIT really does work: Short bursts of activity you can easily do at home keep your fitness up. ScienceDaily. April 15, 2021. | DOI: 10.1113/JP281210
Strength Training
According to research published in “The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research,” significant strength gains can be seen with sessions as short as 13 minutes if the workouts are performed to muscle fatigue.
Roth, Ralf1; Donath, Lars1,2; Zahner, Lukas1; Faude, Oliver1. Acute Leg and Trunk Muscle Fatigue Differentially Affect Strength, Sprint, Agility, and Balance in Young Adults. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 35(8):p 2158-2164, August 2021. | DOI: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000003112